Greenpeace still hunting for truly green electronics

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CIO Executive Council

A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Social Responsibility's Strategic Benefits

December 15, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)

Join Ed Granger-Happ, CIO of Save the Children, for a discussion of how creating an organization that is socially responsible improves staffing, retention, leadership development and overall corporate health.

Working With and Communicating to Your Board of Directors

January 13, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM US/Eastern (GMT-5)

CIO panelists who will share tips and experiences working with their boards: Twila Day of SYSCO; Jeff O'Hare, West Corp.; Marc West, formerly with H&R Block.

IT's Role in Growing Mid-Market Companies

January 14, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET (GMT-5)

Mid-market Council members will share their companies' stories and challenges in driving or coping with growth. Panelists represent Veterinary Pet Insurance, Medicis Pharmaceutical, and Intrax Cultural Exchange.

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Feature

What My Mentor Taught Me

IT executives share the leadership lessons that shape their success.

1. Never stop asking questions.

"When I was working for the U.S. Navy an old chief petty officer told me one day that if normally rational people are behaving irrationally, that means you don't have all the information they do. I was complaining about something and he was quite clear with me that I was a young kid and I didn't understand. Ask a lot of questions."
-Lance Wilson, SVP and CIO, Assurant Health

How to Develop the Next Generation of IT Leaders

How to Be a Successful Mentor

What My Mentor Taught Me

What I Wish I Knew Before I Became CIO

Plan for Succession: Tips and Tricks

How to Become an IT Star

Self Assessment Tool

2. Be decisive.

"I had a wonderful mentor who told me the speed to make a decision is an important quality of an executive. When you move from being an analyst and developer—someone who expects to have all the data before making a decision—up to executive, you have to understand your gut feelings play more of a role. You reach a level where you're being paid to rely on your experience. If you wait for every single data point, every time, you may be seen as indecisive or weak."
-Robert Urwiler, SVP and CIO, Vail Resorts

3. Acknowledge what you don't know.

"I was in my late 20s working as a corporate IT manager under the CIO, at Melville, a retail conglomerate that used to own CVS, Thom McAn, Marshall's, KB Toys and other stores. I worked at the holding company headquarters and they'd send me off on these missions to the store divisions to try to get IT unified. I was a fish out of water, not knowing how to be a diplomat or how to influence change. I really didn't have the track record but they trusted my judgment. The CIO was this wonderful, wonderful man from Mississippi. A really warm, big-brother Southern guy who was constantly there to revisit how it'd gone and the pluses and minuses of what I'd done."
-Steve Morin, CIO, TAC Worldwide Cos.

4. Learn to listen.

"One of my first mentors gave me confidence because he listened to me. There was a huge project I was going to lead. I said, 'What if I fail?' He said, 'You have done projects. You do them really well. What is causing your hesitation?' He coached me through it."
-Catherine Boivie, SVP of IT, Pacific Blue Cross