I read a blog post today which called innovation the CIO's secret weapon. Innovation isn't just for the "C level" suite. It should be used at every level within the corporation. I would challenge anyone to find a department, a process or a function which couldn't be improved upon or used in a different way. One of my favorite examples is bagged lettuce. A few years ago, we would have said that there was nothing new that could be done with lettuce. It was a commodity, necessary, but boring. Enter two organic farmers who were creating bags of lettuce for their personal use. They decided  that other people might like the convenience as well and started selling pre-washed lettuce in bags. Fast forward to today where bagged produce of all kinds is a multi-million dollar business.

The leader who can use their unique insight and vantage point to identify opportunities that might not be apparent to those at a higher level automatically raises their worth to the organization. Here are the strategies recommended for CIO's that you can use as well.

1. Become a student of your company. Understand your company’s markets, products, challenges and opportunities in business terms.
2. Talk about business results, not a detailed technical solution. Don't describe your idea using jargon.  Focus on how the business will benefit in  concrete financial terms.