Leadership Development Quiz

Developed any leaders lately? The need to groom more IT staffers into leaders—with a keen understanding of the business, an empathy for end users, and the ability to think, talk and act strategically—has been an acute CIO concern for years. Among the diverse peer-to-peer roundtables we offer at CIO conferences, the one focused on developing IT leaders is always oversubscribed.

With good reason. CIOs are apparently hapless at developing good leaders within the IT ranks. In a survey of 400 IT employees below the CIO level, a staggering 93 percent said their CIOs don’t spend enough time on this important responsibility. (To find out more of what staffs had to say about their bosses, see “What They’re Saying About You,” Page 60.)

In “How to Launch a Leader,” Page 70, we provide an overview of what CIOs can do to groom leaders. If you’re thinking about skipping the story—and we know you’ve got other things to do besides coddle your employees (IT staffers made that painfully clear in the survey)—then just take the quiz at right.

Leadership Development Quiz

1 Who in your IT organization has successfully led or co-led a committee or team made up of business and IT people?

2 Who gets invited to meetings to discuss business ventures that have little, if any, immediate connection to IT?

3 Who regularly proffers ideas to make the business more profitable, efficient or competitive?

4 In their reviews, who has stated at least one goal related to influencing and improving the enterprise and its business?

5 Who has successfully presented to the executive committee or board of directors?

6 Who would you not be concerned to have ride the elevator alone with the chairman of the board?

7 If you were to go on a month’s assignment to investigate a potential acquisition, who could run the ship while you’re out?

Scoring

¿ If you drew blanks, turn immediately to Page 70. Then, join our Best Practice Exchange for some peer counseling (exchange.cio.com).

¿ If you came up with a few names, you still need to get busy. But at least you can tap those intrepid go-getters to help you develop others like them.

¿ If you came up with the same person for each answer, watch out. He might grab the first CIO job that becomes available—maybe yours.