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Ones to Watch: Leadership Lessons - Master Class

By Allan Holmes

July 01, 2006 — CIO —

Innovator. Team builder. Business strategist. Project driver. Change agent.

Well-rounded leaders must be all these things—and more—to succeed in today’s fast-paced business environment. After all, leadership is not a static accomplishment. And neither are the skills required to do it well.

In fact, the capacity for agile leadership in the face of shifting business challenges is practically a job requirement for CIOs, who have been whipsawed by changes ranging from the rapid growth of the dotcom boom to the need to slash services and operate on less when the bubble burst and the economy contracted. "As a CIO, you need to manage what you have and manage that portfolio as effectively as you can given the resources you have," says Yahoo CIO Lars Rabbe, a judge for the Ones to Watch awards.

What’s true for the CIO also holds for those who aspire to the title. During their rise to the top, all of our Ones to Watch honorees have stepped into the part of the business strategist, change agent, innovator, project driver or team builder as the needs of the business dictated or circumstances demanded.

But even within this stellar group, there are individual winners who truly shine at playing one of these roles. In recognition of this fact, CIO is introducing the Ones to Watch Standout awards to highlight the men and women who best exemplify the critical leadership criteria that help to distinguish successful CIOs. Five of the 20 Ones to Watch winners were selected for this special honor by CIO, based on a careful review of their applications and judging scores.

When the winds of change blow, leaders must be able to evolve to fit the times. Think Winston Churchill in World War II or New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after 9/11. "Leaders need to adapt," says David Berke, a senior program associate at the Center for Creative Leadership. As situations change, "different kinds of leaders emerge because some people are better at certain things."

What are the demands of today that are giving rise to the leaders of tomorrow? Fast growth and global competition fuel the need for innovation, according to Barbara Kunkel, CIO at Nixon Peabody and a member of the judging panel. Kunkel says she seeks potential IT leaders who grasp how innovation can give the law firm an advantage in its highly competitive business sector. But innovation, she says, is not necessarily coming up with whiz-bang technology or systems. Sometimes it’s the ability to look at existing ideas or applications and see how they can be used in a fresh way in today’s systems or business processes. "It can be that simple," Kunkel says.

 

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