The technologists that I know who have been most effective, are the ones that have a deep understanding of customers
Together with Sir Ralph Norris, whom he succeeded as Air New Zealand CEO, Fyfe is also one of the New Zealand CIOs who have stepped up to the top role.
“One thing I have always preached, is successful businesses are always incredibly rich in customer insight,” says Fyfe.
So how does he apply this to the CIO role?
“As a CIO, to add value to your organisations, you have to personally be very customer insight driven,” he explains.
“One of the things you always battle with as a CIO is you look at your priorities, where you are going to invest your resources.
“There is always a tendency for the organisation to drive you towards spending on ERP systems, financial systems and all sorts of things that make us feel better because we understand our business.
“But that does not necessarily mean we understand our customers.
“So I think the critical success factors for business and ultimately for CIOs, is ensuring that a sufficient portion of your budget should be deployed to help you better understand gathering insights from your customers. Because ultimately they will be the source of your competitive advantage.
“I think the information technology space is all about knowledge and learning, that it is a great stream for people to come through and develop their skill set to ultimately be business leaders.
“The challenge is to make sure that knowledge is constantly centred around customers and customer insight.
“That is when you find that your effectiveness and opportunities start to blossom,” he says. “The technologists that I know who have been most effective, are the ones that have a deep understanding of customers.”
Fyfe was on the board of Icebreaker before becoming its CEO. But he wrote in his LinkedIn profile how he became a convert to the brand long before that.
In 2011, he joined a group of Air New Zealand employees on a trek to Everest Base Camp. “We went from +27 degrees in Kathmandu to -20 degrees when we reached Base Camp and the Icebreaker layers performed so well I was hooked.”
He says when he announced his departure from Air New Zealand, Jeremy Moon, the founder and CEO of Icebreaker, was one of the first to offer him his next role.
Moon pioneered in the retail category of merino outdoor clothing. Today, Icebreaker products are sold in more than 43 countries and its products are stocked in around 5000 stores around the world.
Across industries
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Fyfe shares his approach when moving to a new role.
“The first two or three years in a completely new industry where you don’t know much, all of the people around you know a whole lot more than you and you are constantly asking questions.
“And you are learning, you are exploring and it is often the time where you have the greatest insights. Because you are not conditioned by that industry.
“I have always been a deeply inquisitive person. And that period of exploration is almost like an adventure when you go to a new organisation and it is all new, and you are trying to figure out how it works.
“My background is in engineering and being involved in technology all the way through my career really, I love trying how things work and trying to figure out a better way.
''And I find that throughout my career, that is probably the strand that probably connects all my different roles together.''
The apparel industry, particularly outdoor apparel, is quite a conservative industry. The same is true for the airline industry, he says.
“I love going into a conservative industry and seeing whether I can mix it up a little bit, bring a new dynamic to the business and that is fun,” he says.
“Throughout my career, I charged and changed through different industries and I think that is when I am at my best, when I come in with my fresh eyes.”
“I believe the role of the effective leader is not about knowing the answers, it is knowing the right questions to ask.
“When I arrived here I was bombarding people with questions, 'why do we do it this way'?
“We want to take the company from rather than just being a merino wool company...We are trying to go deeply back into customer insights and saying, what can we learn from those customer insights?
''What those insights are telling us is people love us for our merino wool. But more importantly, they see us as an innovator, as being deeply committed to the environment and sustainability.
“They see us as a natural fibre company and they built a real sense of connection and trust with Icebreaker.
“Our question now is, 'where does this take us for the future?'”
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