Preface

How This Book Is Structured

Four broad themes provide the structure for this book:

This book grows out of the work we have done with the CIO Institute conducted at Columbia University and the Executive Master of Science in Technology Management program at Columbia University, along with several projects working with the technology management staff within corporations focusing on developing their staff to the strategic realities described earlier. Part of this work has experimented with educational and mentoring strategies with successful CIOs to foster strategic mindsets and the capability of meeting the challenges of navigating into senior executive roles.

Specifically, this book provides a comparative analysis of case studies of organizations with CIOs widely regarded as being at forefront of addressing the challenge of strategically positioning technology within the business models of their organizations. These CIOs are recognized as having successfully made the transition into the C-suite and having earned their “seat at the table” through integrating technology as a business driver.

Each case study involves interviews with the CIOs, their colleagues in the C-suite, and chief executive officer (CEO), along with archival documents to describe both the personal and organizational transitions that have occurred. The cases involve Procter & Gamble, Covance, Cushman & Wakefield, Merck, and Prudential, among others. Cross-case analysis reveals the essential and unique themes of strategically positioning technology in the organization along with developmental practices for high-potential technology managers.

The remaining chapters of this book develop the remedies as we see them based on best practices from our cases, the integration of theories in the areas of learning and development and how they relate to the successful growth of the CIO position. Here is a brief summary of each chapter.

Chapter 1: The CIO Dilemma

Chapter 1 addresses why CIOs need to make technology an important part of business strategy, and why few of them understand how to accomplish it. In general, we show that most CIOs have a lack of knowledge about how technology and business strategy can and should be linked to form common business objectives. The chapter provides the results of a research study of how chief executives link the role of technology with business strategy. The study captures information relating to how chief executives perceive the role of information technology (IT), how they manage it and use it strategically, and the way they measure IT performance and activities.

Chapter 2: IT Drivers and Supporters

This chapter defines how organizations need to respond to the challenges posed by technology. We present technology as a “dynamic variable” that is capable of affecting organizations in a unique way. We specifically emphasize technology's unpredictability and its capacity to accelerate change—ultimately concluding that technology, as an independent variable, has a dynamic effect on organizational development. This chapter also introduces the theory of driver and supporter and responsive organizational dynamism (ROD), defined as a disposition in organizational behavior that can respond to the demands of technology as a dynamic variable. We establish two core components of ROD: strategic integration and cultural assimilation. The chapter also provides a perspective of the technology life cycle so that readers can see how ROD is applied on an IT project basis, defining the driver and supporter functions of IT and how it contributes to managing technology life cycles.

Chapter 3: The Strategic Advocacy Mindset

Chapter 3 provides a framework for engaging in strategic advocacy, linking strategic learning practices such as analog reasoning, and scenario thinking with political savvy influencing practices in organizations. Distinctions between technological, adaptive, and generative challenges that confront the IT executive are presented along with the implications for effectively building productive relationships with senior executives. Specific practices are provided along with examples from both our research and working with a range of IT executives. How the IT executives' mindset impacts the effectiveness of how they utilize these practices is also developed.

Chapter 4: Real-World Case Studies

In Chapter 4, we provide five case studies of companies that as a result of the strategically focused business mindset of the CIO have made the journey transitioning from a service to driver positioning of technology. These cases, among other data sources, have provided the basis for the points made in previous chapters and the more detailed analysis that follows. Emphasis is placed on how the CIO has enabled or is enabling this ongoing transition. Drawn to provide variance in terms of industry and/or markets, the cases are BP, Covance, Cushman & Wakefield, Merck, Procter & Gamble, and Prudential, along with a summary framing the following chapter.

Chapter 5: Patterns of a Strategically Effective CIO

Chapter 5 provides evidence of why certain CIOs have attained success as a strategic driver of their businesses. This evidence is presented from the case studies and integrates our findings based on our theories of why certain CIOs are more successful than others. These theories have led us to understand the patterns that suggest why these CIOs have been successful in introducing an IT strategy and how they build credibility among C-level peers in their organizations.

Chapter 6: Lessons Learned and Best Practices

This chapter seeks to define best practices to implement and sustain strategic advocacy and success at the CIO level. The chapter sets forth a model that creates separate, yet linked best practices and maturity “arcs” that can be used to assess stages of the learning development of the chief IT executive, the CEO, and the middle management in an organization. We discuss the concept of “common threads,” where each best practice arc links through common objectives and outcomes that contribute to overall performance in the CIO suite.

Chapter 7: Implications for Personal Development

In Chapter 7, we provide a framework for the development of high-potential IT talent. The importance of both formal and informal experiential learning of working across a business is emphasized along with development of both strategic learning and influencing practices. Specific exercises are provided for fostering these practices. Effective mentoring practices are also presented, again based on experience.

Chapter 8: The Non-IT CIO of the Future

This chapter explores the future requirements for CIOs, particularly placing an importance on business knowledge and how technology provides competitive advantage and operational efficiencies. We see the role of the CIO becoming more of a chief of operations or chief being functionally responsible for contracts, equipment management, general automation, and outsourcing while having a central role in conversations strategically leveraging emerging new technologies.

Chapter 9: Conclusions

Chapter 9 summarizes the primary implications of the book for the IT field and the implications for other executives in terms of building strategically productive relationship with IT.