New Book Helps CIOs Build Business Leadership Skills
PR.com: http://www.pr.com/press-release/278447

News Blaze: http://newsblaze.com/story/2010111900030200003.pr/topstory.html

The CIOInsight Daily: http://paper.li/CIOInsight

Yikes! If CIOs follow this advice, they will be on the endangered species list!

I do agree with all that Mr. Evans writes in the body of the article, however. I understand and agree with what he’s trying to communicate, it’s just that the point in his opening statement is dangerous to CIOs, and to CEOs who tell their IT organizaations that they don’t want business-IT alignment.

This is like saying to a caboose, “don’t align yourself with the engine, align yourself with the passengers and their needs.” Hmmm, doesn’t the engine know where it’s going? Isn’t it the engine’s job to align itself with the passengers’ needs and wants?

So if IT aligns itself with the business, isn’t it by defnition aligning itself to the customer? Or is IT so arrogant to believe that it’s the only unit in the company that is able to align itself with the customer?!  Doesn’t the CEO and rest of the business leadership team understand that their job is to grow the value of the company? Why would IT not want to align itself with where the business is going and do all that it can to support that direction and all related initiatives?

This about much more than just semantics. It’s about a mindset, teamwork and focus.

I guess it’s your choice. You can align IT with the business — tactically, strategically and innovatively — or not.

This is great news!  We continue to head in the direction of CIOs becoming business leaders first and foremost.  Huge kudos to the authors!

Here is a CIO.com article about the book… The CIO Edge.

And here are the author’s seven leadership skills they say a CIO needs in order to drive greater results:

1. Commit to Leadership First and Everything Else Second.  Amen to this one!!

2. Lead Differently than You Think.  Lead “collaboratively”.

3. Embrace Your Softer Side.  Or as I say in my book, let go and lead with humility.

4. Forge the Right Relationships to Drive the Right Results.  Get out of the technical details, out of IT and out of your office and build relationships.

5. Master Communication. Communicate to teach and grow people.  And remember that your communication includes verbal, non-verbal and whether your actions match your words!

6. Inspire Others.  Brian, the CIO character in Haunting the CEO, learns that vision is one of the core leadership traits of truly effective leaders.  And visions DO inspire people.

7. Build People, Not Systems.  Make this your mantra and your effectiveness and career as a CIO will skyrocket!

In Haunting the CEO, I talk about the three core leadership traits that every CIO, and every leader for that matter, needs to develop and employ in order to be truly effective.  The authors of this book hit on two of these traits very well — humility and vision.  The third, trust, is just as critical.  Begin developing these and you will see your team respond almost immediately with greater focus, productivity and results.

Leaders can be bought, I don’t disagree with that, and it does happen often.  But I do agree with Susan that there’s a “spotty track record” when companies hire leadership talent from the outside.

Primary causes for the spotty track record:
1) Culture mis-match- the company likes the results the leader has delivered in other companies, but they neglect to check for a culture fit
2) Personality mis-match - when a personality is not fully understood before the hire, the company risks clashes with the existing team, peers or higher levels of management or board
3) Mis-communication – the right hire is made for the right reasons and the person is told they will have the freedom to execute, but then they’re prevented from doing so; frustration follows, then an exit

Overall, the best and most effective leaders for a company are built, not bought. And building leaders requires a hungry pipeline of talent and a proven process for developing them and setting them free.

It first helps to understand that the technical skills that likely got you to his point in your career will be the same skills that will doom you if you don’t let go of being a technician. Your value to your company as a brilliant developer, architect, network engineer or whatever is over.

Your CEO now needs you to become a business leader, positioning IT for business advantage.

Here are just some of the roles that you now need to play:

• Build relationships with company execs, other CIOs, vendors, industry leaders, etc.
• Develop the management and leadership abilities of your direct reports

1. They should be doing the same for their direct reports
2. Jack Welch said he spent 50% of his time developing people; not a bad example to follow

• Teach your team how to think and problem solve (see related blog posting Fix the dam thing!)
• IT sales (yep, bragging about all the good that IT’s done lately, in a humble way, of course, making sure that everyone knows it had nothing to do with you, but your talented team)
• Strategic business planning (make sure you know where the business is headed, influencing it where you can, and ensuring that IT is positioned with the right people in the right roles doing the right things the right way)
• Market scanning – what technologies are on the market or coming that might help achieve business strategic, or better yet, change it for the better

Agree? Disagree? Any to add?

I didn’t understand why he was just sitting there.

One of the game commentators finally addressed the oddity of this. He said that Tom told him that he would do this because winning as a coach was going to be more special than winning as a player. He planned to just sit there and enjoy his players celebrate.

I’ve played a lot of sports and won a lot of games, trophies, etc. I’ve also coached (rec) winning teams. I do agree with Tom. Winning as a coach, as a leader, is much more rewarding than winning as a player.

So have fun in the game while you’re there. But if you have the desire to move into leadership roles where you will be responsible for a team and having to “win,” you have such a joy to look forward to.

(For those who care, I’ve gotten over the Cards’ ’87 loss, and even their ’05 loss to the Red Sox (that one hurt), now I’m in tears over their 2010 end-of-season meltdown to the Reds.)

At least I’m not a Cubs fan.

First, imagine a company where leading up is welcomed, where the “bosses” welcome constructive input from those below them, all with  the intent of achieving greater organizational results.  Don’t think about the individual and how they might feel, think about the greater results that might be achieved if a manager hears that they hijack meetings and limit others’ input.

Now, contrast a culture that values leading up with a company culture that suppresses it. Instead of being open to feedback, contrary opinions and new ideas, the culture says that what the boss says goes, that we don’t have time for complaining or touchy-feely discussions.  We have sales to make, products to ship, customers to service.

Which company is better positioned for growth? For a breakthrough? For rough economic times? Which company will be able to acquire and retain talent?

I think this used to be what we still call having an “open door policy.” Most companies still have the policy, but the emperor has no clothes.

Leadership isn’t a position. It doesn’t require a certain title. It doesn’t even require direct reports.

Leadership at its core is about continually finding more and better ways to make a difference, and then making that difference.

For leadership development programs within a single organization there are core components required, which include:

• Involving everyone (even if that means different tracks for different levels within the org)
• Communicating the core individual, management and leadership traits the organization values
• Communicating company values, purpose, vision, mission, etc.
• Communicating that everyone is a leader and can lead others, whether below them, at their peer level, or above them
• Making a clear connection for each individual to how they make a difference everyday for the company

As we learned in that groundbreaking work Everyone Poops (where we finally learned that everyone poops), we also now know that everyone leads. How liberating.

This is the purpose of business-IT alignment.

A good BITA model ensures that IT is continually working on the highest-value, highest-return efforts for the business. And this does work if the business leadership team is in control of prioritizing strategic initiatives that IT either leads or is involved in (which today means practically all initiatives).

And if the business and IT are having regular, truly open dialogue/collaboration about business problems and opportunities, then you will eventually uncover new initiatives that may be more valuable than what you currently have on your list.

This is innovation in its easiest, most basic form – uncovering ways to leverage technology you otherwise wouldn’t have discovered. And collaboration is the key.

And a good BITA model works the tactical side as well, helping ensure that IT is solving the right (highest-value) day-to-day problems and small enhancements and projects.

IT has limited resources and the business has unlimited demand. Let’s talk (and talk and talk…) about what demands to invest those limited resources in.

Carr also believes that much of what IT manages today will also become a utility. I believe, albeit slowly, that we are seeing this happen with external cloud computing. If we can buy or rent storage, software and computing power through a “utility “ company like Amazon or Google, then at some point, won’t we CIOs simply become vendor managers?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the sound of that!

I’m planning ahead. I’d prefer to find a way to add strategic business value now in case this nefarious world does come to pass. Other CIOs are planning ahead as well. Some have taken on business operations like supply chain, tech innovation with stores and customer service centers.

(Okay, let the slings and arrows fly!)

Do you think IT’s area of expertise will be converted to a utility? How are you planning for the changing role of the CIO? Share your experience in a response to this blog post or in our Leadership Exchange Forum.