Here are some highlights and great quotes I want to share with you from yesterday's panel on Emerging Stronger from the Downturn:

--Bob Brennan, President and CEO of Iron Mountain: “Driving top-line growth is the only sustainable way to grow. Top-line growth doesn’t come from cost-savings. You can’t take out any more costs.”
--Sundar Subramaniam, chairman and founder Knome and Cambridge Technology Enterprises, on accountability and security: “If you are committed to change, you will figure out the rest…otherwise, you will never change.”
“Existing business has a high need for security; innovative business can take more chances.”
--Bob Burke, President, CEO and Director of ATG: “The CIO is a business facilitator…just as we are for our customers…they are a unifying force among all the silos.”
--Bob Brennan on CIO responsibilities: “Separate the I from the T; emphasis is on finding great people; don’t hunker down” and just focus on technology. Being a CIO is becoming a “ridiculously hard job; CIOs can’t play defense.” We look for so many qualities, it's like seeking a "purple squirrel."
--Chris Capossela, Senior VP, Microsoft: “CIOs want solutions, not products; they don’t want to be ‘sold to.”
--Sundar Subramaniam: CIOs who are mired in legacy have only three choices: migrate to something new, rearchitect what you have or “burn it and start over.”

Valauble advice or unrealistic in your everyday world?