IT Management = Good CEO, Part 1 – Making Decisions

Let me start with an apology. My previous blog was written in haste. In fact, it was written more of test then a creative piece with any substantive information in it. It does, however, touch on a subject that may need some further discussion. I must also admit that putting ink on paper (or pixels in the shape of letters on a screen) is not my strong suit. Learning to write well is a goal of mine and I’m hoping that in trying to portray my thoughts to you, I’ll get better at it.

We may be able to have a spirited discussion on whether leaders are made or born. In my estimation, it is a little of both. Someone has to have to propensity to be a leader. This may be some funny concoction of charisma, personality, charm, humor, sensitivity, logic, and the list goes on and on. Whatever qualities a person is born with that fuels their path to being a leader must be mixed with a catalyst to get the right reaction. The essential catalyst is experience. In the world of IT and IT leadership there are several areas one will most assuredly gain experience in that serves as the catalyst for one day serving as a great corporate leader (i.e. CEO, COO).

First a leader must be able to make decisions with a limited amount of data. It seems that making a decision is paralyzing to many people. This may be because having to make a decision incites a feeling of drastic finality. It may be because making the decision may lead to the wrong outcome which could feel all too much like failure. IT leaders need to make decisions everyday, a majority of which are made from limited sets of available data. Do I go with this vendor or that? Do I go with this platform or that? Do I use this widget or that? Do I hire this person or the other person? Decisions are a habit. The more you analyze questions (or situations) and make decisions, the more comfortable you get until it becomes second nature. In addition, one learns to be able to make post decision course corrections to make sure the end goal is achieved. Not many decisions are ultimately final and many need a tweak here or there along the way.

Not every decision is the right one. We’ve all made bad decisions, given the wrong order or headed the wrong direction. Here’s the key: You made a decision! We learn as much, if not more, from our mistakes as we do our successes. The next decision down the timeline was likely a better one because of previous mistakes. It’s life, we learn and we improve.

Being able to make decisions is crucial in leadership. The IT leader is forced to learn the art of decision making all along the career path. This is one of the qualities that help make IT leaders great corporate leaders.

Next well investigate innovation, complex thinking and capacity planning as experiences that help make IT leaders great corporate leaders.

The Emerging Role of the CIO/CTO

There’s been much discussion about the expanding role of the CTO/CIO within the enterprise as a business leader. My biggest comment on the subject would be “hasn’t this always been the case?” For if this is not the case then certainly the enterprise has suffered. First, let’s accept the generality that the role of the CTO/CIO is to craft the technology and solutions for simplifying and automating various complex business processes. If we accept this then should we not expect the person laden with the responsibility of creating the technology solutions to also be an integral part of the business process themselves? (Now this does not mean the CTO/CIO is involved at an operational, day to day, level. This does mean that they should be involved on a strategic level in defining and optimizing the processes in question.) In my opinion, the answer is “yes.” The first wave of career CIO/CTO leaders is now hitting retirement age. In their tenure they’ve been forced to add “innovator”, “collaborator” and “strategic planner” to their quiver which once only held “IT expert”. Where once it was enough to just be able and produce a budget for the IT department (call it what you will), now we must understand the enterprise P&L and our impact on it. Yesterday we might aspire to obtain a post graduate degree in Computer Science or any of the various Engineering disciplines. Today we find ourselves needing an MBA. Accept the transition since in my humble opinion; the organization is stronger with the CTO/CIO helping make the strategic decisions.