J&J’s Jim Swanson brings mission-driven leadership to the CIO role

Another area where leaders can make a difference is in developing more diverse interview panels, Swanson says, noting that to hire the best talent it’s important to ensure candidates see themselves represented during the interview process and view the company as an inclusive space with diverse viewpoints. Swanson and J&J are also working with organizations such as Year Up to foster more diverse talent pipelines — moving away from the traditional focus on college degrees to find passionate young people from underrepresented demographics who are eager to learn and embark on a career in tech.

Fostering growth, focusing on mission

Employee retention has become a key issue in IT, and one way Swanson is tackling that at J&J is in placing a strong emphasis on professional development, noting that the “half-life of an IT professional is about 18 months — that’s how fast technology continues to evolve.”

“I use myself as an example,” Swanson says. “I finished my master’s in computer science in, I think, 1998. Think about the technology in 1998. It was things like the Mosaic browser and client/server. There’s no way I’d be in this role today if I wasn’t continually learning and evolving.”                      

To establish tracks for continuous learning, Swanson identifies skills the organization will need in the future, whether it’s product management, AI, cloud computing, user experience, or design. Curriculums targeting those skills are then built on the J&J Learn platform, where employees have access to self-paced learning to gain new skills. They also have the option to participate in job rotations where they can gain hands-on experience.

“I don’t think any CIO is going to be successful unless they invest in developing their skills internally to make their organization, what I call, ‘always future ready’ by putting the environments in place and the incentives in place [for employees] to do it,” Swanson says, adding that CIOs must also be selective in bringing in external talent to help amplify or accelerate that work.

To that end, Swanson identified the need for more product management skills in-house, so he brought in external hires who are helping shape the product management curriculum on J&J Learn around what it means to be a good product manager. This curriculum is beneficial for those in the organization who need to better understand the product manager role, or to take on the responsibilities of a product manager in their own role.

What Swanson loves most about his role as CIO at J&J is that his work is mission-based. It’s about using science and technology to “improve patient’s lives,” and he’s working in an environment where “science and technology really do matter.”

“I’ve loved the people. I love the challenges. I love the excitement of technology, and I’m convinced there’s no better time to be a CIO, no matter what industry you’re in. And I don’t think there’s a better company on the planet than J&J, it being the largest most diverse healthcare company,” he says.