Executive CIO
Posted by Felix Enescu on March 3rd, 2007
I always preach that IT is no different than any other business discipline: from project evaluation to people management the same good old ways applies. There is no “magic” in IT.
I am convinced that any good manager can run an IT organization.
I found today an intriguing article in Computer Weekly: The way to become a top CIO.
“Some organizations appoint the CIO from within, but not from within the IT department. These ‘executive CIOs’ are typically appointed when the chief executive has become so frustrated with IT that he gives it to a more experienced, proven executive.”
The CEO’s assumption is that IT will now be in safe, familiar hands, run by someone whose capability is known, and who is “one of us” so far as the business executives of the company are concerned.
This makes perfect sense to me.
But all too often the appointment proves temporary or a mistake - certainly for the CIO in question. On average, the executive CIO lasts two years in the CIO role, whereas the internal IT professional CIO lasts seven years, says Platts.
This comes as a big surprise to me. Unless Platts get his figures wrong this is very disturbing evidence.
Their problems stem from the fact that they will inevitably discover that they are between a rock and a hard place, says Platts. With neither competence in nor experience of IT, they will fail to engage the confidence of their own team.
Worse, if the CEO has placed them in charge of an IT function riddled with problems, they will swiftly realize that one of the key problems is the lack of trust in IT by senior business management and the poor relationship it has with IT in the first place.
Although it may be expected that the best relationships between IT and business should be where an executive CIO runs IT from general management, once they are CIO, the executive CIO’s relationship with their CEO can deteriorate very quickly.
“The CEO will say, ‘I have worked 20 years successfully with him and in six weeks in IT he has gone native’.” In general, no executive CIO should accept the job if offered - it is a no-win situation, says Platts.
Very disturbing. I’ll dig for some more facts.
March 4th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
The ideal is that a CIO is grounded in both the business and technology management. I don’t accept an either/or proposition. While I cam out of IT, I have a strict business focus in my strategy development and policy making. But in the oversight of IT operations, my IT knowledge is invaluable. I am constantly woking.
Having said that, some of the best CIOs I know (like Greg Smith at Wheaton Heath Care) have come from the business end.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Thanks for the comment. You are right. One actually need both: business acumen and technology knowledge.