Careers Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Webcast: In the Google Apps Cloud: How to Achieve Your Business Objectives

Dec 3rd, '09, 1 - 2 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council member Brent Hoag, Director, Global IT, at JohnsonDiversey, as he discusses the adoption of Google Apps which has helped meet four corporate goals; sustainability, simplification, increased employee productivity and global collaboration.

Webcast: Collaboration Initiatives: Benchmarks & Best Practices

Dec 15th, '09, 4 - 5 pm US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Council members Ruth Thorpe, VP & CIO at the U.S. Pharmaceutical Operations of Sanofi-Aventis, and Gary Kuyper, CIO at Bethany Christian Services, as they speak about their collaboration initiatives and experiences in how and why they chose the social networking and collaboration tools they are using and their business goals for collaboration, and facing culture change challenges.

Data Overview: Collaboration Initiatives Field Guide: Benchmarks & Best Practices

This appendix to the Council Field Guide provides an analysis which discusses benchmarks for collaboration IT implementation costs, adoption rates and payoffs. The overview identifies top IT and business goals and satisfaction rates for collaboration initiatives as well as best practices and lessons learned for implementing collaboration IT.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
 

How to Wow Your Board of Directors

You've got 15 minutes to make a presentation to the board. Here's how.

 

September 15, 2004CIO

In the 15 minutes a CIO is allotted to address his board of directors, a lot can go right and a lot can go wrong. Very wrong. Wrong enough to kill a valuable project. Wrong enough to cut short a promising career.

It's no surprise then that a board presentation "can send panic into the heart of a CIO," says Norbert Kubilus of Tatum CIO Partners, who's made numerous presentations to boards in his 30-year career as a CIO. And CIOs have good reason to fear. Suzanne Bates, president and CEO of Bates Communications, once worked with a vice president in line to take over as CEO. After one bad presentation, this vice president found himself cut out of the succession planning. He eventually had to accept a smaller role within the company.

Yes, the stakes are high. But keep in mind that your board "considers you a valuable member of the team," says Bates, author of the upcoming book Speak Like a CEO: How to Command Attention and Get Results, due out in spring 2005. "This is your opportunity to connect your role to the value of the overall organization."

With that in mind, here are some tips for making the most of your 15 minutes.

Hone Your Message
You should first ask yourself, What am I trying to say? Eric Brown, CEO of Communication Associates in Memphis, Tenn., calls it the "today statement": What do you want the board to hear today? The structure of the presentation should flow from that.

"CIOs always start out with way more than the board members would possibly want to hear," Brown says. "Is it a status report? Is it a request for funds? Is it a 'Here's the bad news, but it's going to be OK' statement? Once you figure that out, you can start to narrow down the tons of data."

If you're making a presentation intended to persuade the group to do something, the most important tool you have is evidence. "What convinces people of something is a preponderance of facts," Bates says.

Be Strategic
Boards are concerned with strategy, and they expect CIOs to work with them at that level. "CIOs tend to provide way too much technical information that doesn't relate to a business decision," says Bates. "Boards want to know the value of the technology." That means: When making a presentation, CIOs must speak the language of the business, not the vernacular of IT. "If return on equity is the major metric in your company, then when discussing a technology expenditure, you need to relate it to them in terms of ROE," Kubilus says. Too often, CIOs view their presentation as an opportunity to show off what they know about IT. That's a big mistake. "If you're the CIO, the board is going to assume you know technology. Otherwise, why were you hired?" says Naomi Deutscher, an executive and presentation consultant in Cambridge, Mass. David Luce, CIO and assistant vice president of The Rockefeller Group, recently made a presentation to the real estate company's board asking for a multimillion-dollar investment in new computers. "I was talking about the size of that investment and the benefits we would derive from itthat these computers would allow us to process transactions three times fasteras opposed to talking about it the way we normally would in IT, in terms of memory or disk capacity," says Luce, who is the incoming president of the Society for Information Management. The board approved the investment.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Exclusive Economist Intelligence Unit Research

Find out why - and how technology can help balance centralized control and individual autonomy.
 

How Data Mining Can Rock Your Career

Recently, U.S. News & World Report listed "data miner" as one of only a handful of careers core to today's digital enterprises. The University of Illinois at Chicago takes a look.
 

Exchange 2007 Risks and Mitigation Strategies

This whitepaper will review the strengths of Exchange 2007 and areas where CIOs should consider third party solutions.
 

Solving On-premise Email Challenges

This white paper presents ten on-premise challenges and their on-demand services solutions.
 

A Comparative Cost Analysis of Email Environments

This Forrester report will help you evaluate the full cost of your email environment and it will explore the benefits of cloud-based technologies.
 

An Infrastructure and Operations Analysis

This Forrester Report review three basic architectures to consider as you evaluate taking your email into the cloud.
 

WEBCASTS

An Open Framework for Business Intelligence

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change
 

Email and Web Threats Require a Layered Defense

Can you trust the cloud to secure your enterprise from email and Web threats? This Webcast discusses how web threat...
 

Smart techniques for application security: whitebox + blackbox security testing.

Whitebox & blackbox application security testing are two approaches for detecting vulnerabilities in Web-based and ...
 

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce through Automation

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce
 

Extending Client Refresh - 11 Steps to Maximize Savings

11 Steps to Maximize Savings
 

Consolidate Your Servers and Storage to Lower Costs with Oracle Database 11g

Live Webcast
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT

Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Real A...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

The Total Economic Impact of Network Security Intrusion Prevention

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Top 10 Lessons Learned for Corporate 3G Mobile Broadband Deployments

CRM Built for IT: The Executive Guide to Selecting CRM that Meets IT Needs

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Making Consumer Two-Factor Authentication Simple and Cost-Effective

Mining the Cloud to Ease the Enterprise Compliance Burden

Solve Five Key IT Security Challenges with Cloud-Based Authentication

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

World-class trading technology solutions from NYSE Technologies.

If You're Paying for Telecom, You're Paying Too Much. Contact Asentinel Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Removing Barriers To Better Server Virtualization Efficiency

4G Revisited. The Continued Evolution of Wireless Mobility.

What's Next for Enterprise Resource Planning?

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Authentication as a Service by Forrester Research

Cloud-Based Authentication for Next-Generation Extranets

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management