3 Essential Roles of the CIO
| April 13, 2009 |
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If you "google" the phrase "roles of CIO" you will received over 1000 hits, not exactly a popular subject such as "Obama" (282 million hits) yet still of interest to many. Some of these entries will give you a laundry list of essential tasks or best practices. Others will focus on certain role-of-the-month jobs such as Champion of Green IT or Enterprise Architect/Corporate Strategist. And you would end up wondering aloud whether you have all the necessary skills or capabilities to make it as the CIO. My take on the essential roles of the CIO is much simpler. In my opinion, the CIO is first and foremost a business person, a leader of man (used in a generic sense, not gender-related) and a manager of resources. The CIO is not an independent professional such as doctors, lawyers, teachers or even IT consultants. More often than not, the CIO works for an organization with a business purpose, be it profit-oriented or non-profit one. As the CIO, you need to associate yourself with the business that your organization is in. If your firm’s business is in Banking or Insurance, you need to think as a Banker or an Insurer. If yours is in Financial Well-Being, you need to think in broader terms then. When you start to think in terms of your firm’s business, you will see your mind opened to new perspectives, including those from the executive suite or the firm’s customers. One of the dangers facing an aspiring CIO is to think exclusively in terms of IT as the business. Many IT Leaders coming through the rank have a rather detached view of the business they are serving. They tend to focus exclusively on the operational excellence aspect. While there are merits in such approach, the CIO is no longer just an IT professional whose skills can serve almost any organizations or industries. Just as in the chicken-and-pig story, IT professionals are "involved" but the CIO must be "committed". If you don’t see yourself putting some skin in the game, stop asking for a C-level job. Given the need for IT support in all aspects of business and the dizzying advancements in technologies, the job of a CIO requires the instigation of a lot of needed changes in the face of risk and uncertainty. The situation calls for a persuasive agent of change, an accomplished negotiator, an effective integrator but above all, it calls for a Leader. In my view, the CIO is a prototypical Level-5 leader, a person who exhibits "a paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will", as described by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great [2001]. As a Level-5 leader, the CIO does not have a large ego, may appear to be less ambitious, yet has an interest in matters of long-lasting impact and is certainly not a pushover: a perfect counterpoint to a more charismatic (or dare we say more egomaniac, short-term oriented) CEO. If you are not comfortable with this role, your impact on the organization would not be as great as it could be. This is the most obvious role that all IT leaders can associated with. For years, IT has promoted the idea of managing data and information as a corporate resource. And the proliferation of IT infrastructure, networks, servers, desktops … has led to the practice of Asset Management beyond the realm of finance and procurement. However, my emphasis here is less on Resources and more on Management. The CIO as a compleat Manager should be proficient in the art of making decisions, building a team and delegating responsibilities. A CIO who doubles as a Chief Technologist or an Enterprise Architect or an IT Operations Manager runs the risk of alienating the talents and not having enough time to be a Leader and a Business person. Again, here is just my personal (and possibly simplistic) point of view which I will expand in upcoming posts. Agreed with them or not, I would like to hear from you. Related Posts:1. CIO as a business person
2. CIO as a leader of man
3. CIO as a manager of resources
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3 Steps to a Successful CIO | Rule of 3 |  |
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