“Many times, people get confused about what you’re really doing as a technologist,” Rich Gilbert, Aflac’s Chief Transformation Officer and head of its largest P&L, says. His answer? “It’s simple: Serve your customer.”

Of course, when you have 50 million people counting on you, customer-centricity takes on a whole new dimension.

During our recent conversation for the Tech Whisperers podcast, Rich and I discussed the seven Cs of top IT leaders, which include customer-centricity as well as courage, change, communication, collaboration, cultivate, and culture. Afterwards, we spent some time drilling down further into a few of these traits that enable the best leaders to drive significant business value, even in times of crisis. Read on for more insights from Rich (and to find out what “C” he would add to the list).