Adapting to Change with Gerard McGovern

Adapting to Change With Gerard McGovern

In today’s episode , we hear from Gerard McGovern who is one of the really well-known - and respected figures in the NFP CTO world (if there is such a thing!). He’s led Tech at several organisations including Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and over many years has been an active contributor in many charity technology forums.

He tells us his personal story of adapting to change in both personal life as well in his career.

We are also joined for the second episode with co-host, Janani Sridharan, who shares more about international development and her work in the sector.

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Tech News

It’s often interesting to figure out how much tech stories are understood by the public. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the two big compliance headaches - Cyber and Data Protection - landing in the biggest way imaginable. The retail sector getting hit by major Cyber Crime (M&S/Co-op/Harrods), and the MOD suffering the worst type of data breach (large numbers of people/sensitive data/resulting in risk to life).

Taken on their own - the impact of the M&S hack, and the impact of the MOD data breach are both about as bad as it gets, and they will be sure to feature in case-studies for future board-simulations of the types of incident and severity of impact that is possible.

Over the past ten years within charity sector we’ve put a lot of effort into developing the right culture within our organisations to reduce the risk of these types of incidents - and to ensure that if they occur, leadership knows the important things to consider when handling this type of crisis.

Looking to the future, something that we may have to put a lot more consideration into, is how we transfer that culture to AI systems that we use - there is a complex mix of access to data, immature governance, suppliers, and lack of transparency in AI that will really test our internal compliance teams in coming years.

And back to public understanding of the impact of failures - we really need to make sure that we continue to consider the precarious position we are in, that the public has entrusted us with their data, which is becoming increasing valuable, whilst at the same time we are building increasing complexity that is poorly understood, into the systems we use to manage that data.

If all of that has interested you - please do book onto a webinar I’m running on 31st July for leaders, execs and trustees all around AI governance

Which leads nicely to the podcast, where we do have some discussion towards the end around whether we will see a change in data ownership from company to individual…

Season 3 Episode 2:

Janani Sridharan is back for a very welcome second episode as co-host on the show. As well as discussing the interview with Gerard, we also talk a bit about using AI to solve global problems - whilst focusing in on the problem of shared smartphones in certain contexts.

With the main guest, Gerard McGovern, we discuss the unpredictable nature of careers and the importance of being adaptable. We look at risk within charities, why many organisations have been slow to adopt agile techniques and why this may be a problem with AI

We also talk around concerns about personal data usage and privacy. Gerard gives his predictions around individuals needs on controlling their data in an AI driven world.

Stay Tuned for more insights in future episodes

If you’re new to the podcast - then definitely take a look back at some cracking episodes in the previous two seasons. Whilst there is a storyline flowing through the episodes, they work in any order, so don’t feel obliged to listen to them chronologically.

If you’re keen for me to feature something going on in your charity, please get in touch - and do comment on anything in here, or in the podcast that you like.

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About our host and guests

Gerard McGovern has been a technology leader across multiple sectors for nearly 30 years. He is passionate about helping improve the world through technology, and helping people and organisations become the best they can be.

Away from work, he is kept busy by his wife, two young daughters, a cocker spaniel called Buddy, and an unhealthy dedication to Tottenham Hotspur.

Janani Sridharan helps teams design technology use within programs in INGOs. She has lived and worked in rural areas, which inspires her community-centric approach. She is also a trained vocalist and teaches Indian classical music in her free time.

Stuart McSkimming, Podcast Host

Stuart is an independent consultant and founder of the sector-specific Technology consultancy, Virtue Chain . He is an award-winning leader with over twenty years’ experience in NFP/Charity leadership roles, predominantly in the technology/digital and transformation space. He is an expert in getting the most from teams and focusing organisations on strategic goals to get the most from Technology & Digital. He is passionate about organisations focusing on inclusion and finding ways to attract a diverse mix of top talent into their teams. He has worked as a CIO for two organisations – Shelter and Royal British Legion, and also a variety of roles elsewhere. Stuart is extensively networked in the not-for-profit sector both in the UK, and internationally, and is the Vice Chair of top membership organisation, Charity IT Leaders. Stuart enjoys regular public speaking, and also has been known to do stand-up comedy gigs occasionally.

Virtue Chain builds the link between enthusiastic and talented technology teams, and organisation strategic goals. By focusing on people, strategy, governance and decision-making structures, Virtue Chain can help your charity get the right leadership approach across Technology, Digital, Data, AI, and transformation. We use maturity models, and partnering approaches to help trustees, CEO’s and exec leaders see the potential for technology in their organisation, and understand where to start in turning ideas into action.

Get in contact with [email protected] if you’d like to chat. Typically the conversation starts from either a trustee, CEO or CTO level.

In case its not obvious, views expressed are Stuart’s own view, and don’t represent those of any organisations he is working with or mentions