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Five Tips for Being a Successful CIO

What becomes a leader most? Take a lesson (or five) from those who possess the skills and qualities a successful CIO must have.

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.

As the economy continues to grow and competition heats up, so do the business demands on IT. Technology departments must deliver solutions with real value, and they must deliver them quickly. That means working closely with major internal and external stakeholders to develop relationships and trust in IT, as well as with the technology staff to keep workers energized and focused on where the business is going. So team-building is high on the list of what a future CIO needs in order to get ahead. "I look for high energy and how the team catches that energy," says Sue Unger, CIO at DaimlerChrysler and a Ones to Watch judge. "This doesn't come across on a resume."

Technology departments today must be masters of handling transition as companies struggle to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace by aligning the business with IT. To lead others in a new direction or to influence the way people do their jobs requires acting as an agent of change. And that's never easy. "You need to deal in facts and not get caught up in emotion," says Tom Murphy, CIO of AmerisourceBergen and nominator of one of our Standout winners.

Future IT leaders still rise or fall in an organization based on their success in managing projects and delivering results. Project management is a hot topic among CIOs, who named backlogs as their biggest hurdle to effectiveness in CIO's 2006 "State of the CIO" research. DaimlerChrysler's Unger brings along her rising stars by starting them on small IT projects. "Very rarely do you have a diamond in the rough," she says. "You have to give them small but challenging assignments that will stretch them and direct them where we want the talent and growth. Then you move on to larger and larger projects."

Knowledge of business processes, strategic thinking and the ability to communicate technology initiatives to the top brass is critical to success in today's executive suite. Indeed, says Unger, any would-be CIO needs "to talk in business terms and understand business problems and how IT can help or hurt that problem."

A CIO lucky enough to possess an IT manager with an aptitude for one of these roles needs to do two things: help the manager expand her repertoire in order to round out leadership abilities, and harness such talent to help IT deliver the greatest value to the business.

"The important thing is that these characteristics are aligned with the business strategy," says Berke. "Have regular conversations with executives that convey what you are looking for [in a leader]. That way, you make sure you are developing the high-potential [individuals] who can succeed."

For a snapshot of what a high-potential business strategist, innovator, change agent, project driver and team builder looks like, read on.

The Business Strategist
Before Rick Broughton tells you about the ERP solution he heads up or the development of the business intelligence platform he oversees, he tells you what is really important about what he does. "It's not difficult to step back and remember what we're all about: coffee, donuts and ice cream," says Broughton, director of IT strategy for Dunkin' Brands, and winner of the Standout: Business Strategist award. "That's it."

Strategizing about how IT can deliver value to the business in the form of higher sales or product improvements is how Broughton spends his days at Dunkin' Brands. "The business strategist role within the IT function is making sure IT is aligned with the business strategy and not doing what is best just in the IT universe," says Dunkin' Brands CFO Kate Lavelle. "Rick does a very good job of that."

His talents are about to be tested again. Dunkin' Brands (franchiser of Dunkin' Donuts and owner of Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream and sandwich chain Togo's) is preparing to launch a major expansion into the Western United States. The move is part of a strategy developed by new owners Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital Partners and the Carlyle Group, which purchased the company for $2.4 billion in March. The expansion means Broughton and the IT department will be called upon to provide the best business intelligence for the new franchisees. Broughton will also have to ensure that the next phase of the new ERP system will tightly tie together the burgeoning enterprise, creating efficiencies.

Broughton is up to the task. He knows IT but thinks strategically and talks like a businessperson--skills he acquired during stints in business development, operations, and sales and marketing. Broughton has brought that mind-set to IT. For example, he created the business intelligence steering committee, which considers all new products for the company. The committee comprises business unit leaders, the CFO, legal counsel and executives with field experience. Only two technology staffers--the IT project manager and a functional expert--sit in when the committee is considering a new product and how IT can provide support. In the past, IT would have dominated the discussion based on data compiled from the business intelligence systems. "This way IT is not driving the decisions," says Broughton.

 

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