Career planning for CIOs: Define your last job first then reverse-engineer the path | Rusty Atkinson

Описание: The director promotion is where technical skills stop paying the bills. Rusty Atkinson discovered this at ST Microelectronics when he realized he'd never be the head geek in the room—but he could lead them. His framework: define your last job before retirement, then reverse-engineer every move to close capability gaps. Now as VP of Technology at Clearway Health and author of "The Integrity Edge," he shares why boardrooms don't want technology discussions, how extreme ownership means production failures are leadership problems, and why AI adoption in 2026 is repeating every mistake from cloud migrations in 2008.

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ABOUT RUSTY
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Rusty Atkinson is VP of Technology at Clearway Health and author of "The Integrity Edge: Leading with Honor in Technology." He started building PCs and teaching networking classes in 1992, began leading teams in the late 1990s, and set his sights on becoming CIO at a public company by 2000. His career includes roles at ST Microelectronics, where he made the calculated decision to focus on leadership over technical depth, and Signify Health, where he served as CIO at a public company. He defines the "integrity edge" as the measurable engagement, loyalty, and innovation leaders earn when teams know they're protected and trusted—a concept he teaches through coaching and his book.

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KEY MOMENTS
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00:00 AI First? It’s Not About the Technology
00:11 Leadership Shows Up When It’s Hard
00:20 Start With the End in Mind (C-Suite Mindset)
00:50 Meet Rusty Atkinson, VP of IT & Author of The Integrity Edge
01:15 Falling Into Tech in the Early ’90s
02:31 First Engineering Roles & The Wild West of Tech
03:23 Realizing Leadership Was the Path
04:27 Setting the Goal: CIO at a Public Company
05:37 Why That Goal Changed Over Time
07:09 From IC to C-Suite: The Leadership Shifts
09:26 The C-Suite Is About Peers, Not Technology
11:10 Getting Into the Room Where the Work Happens
13:05 Real-World Example: Recruiting Complexity at Signify
15:42 The Integrity Story: When Credit Was Taken
20:05 Leadership Done Right: Sacrificial Integrity
22:51 Coaching Technologists Beyond Tech Skills
26:36 Defining Your “Last Job” Before Retirement
27:55 AI in 2026: Revolution or Hype?
29:46 Don’t Start With the Solution (AI Strategy)
32:27 The “It’s Not About Technology” Epiphany
35:00 Recommended Resources for Growth

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RESOURCES
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• "THE INTEGRITY EDGE: UNLOCKING THE HIDDEN POWER OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP" BY RUSTY ATKINSON
https://www.amazon.com/Integrity-Edge...
• "EXTREME OWNERSHIP: HOW U.S. NAVY SEALS LEAD AND WIN" BY JOCKO WILLINK AND LEIF BABIN
https://a.co/d/5LcrQ7h
• "THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE" BY STEPHEN COVEY https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-...
• RUSTY ATKINSON'S LINKEDIN
  / rustyatkinson  
• MATT PETERS' LINKEDIN
  / matt-peters-5984b5  

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ABOUT MATT
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Matt Peters is the CEO and Co-Founder of Fixify, where he's redefining the IT Help Desk for the AI era. Before founding Fixify, Matt served as Chief Product Officer at Expel, leading engineering and delivery of 24x7 security monitoring. He also held senior leadership roles at FireEye and Mandiant, where he helped pioneer some of the earliest managed detection and response services. Over the course of his career, Matt has worn many hats—software developer, network engineer, team leader, and technologist—but his focus has remained constant: building technology that empowers people rather than overwhelms them. Whether it's AI-powered service desks or next-generation IT operations, his passion is designing technology with care and craft—the kind that inspires, not alienates.

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