What We’re Reading from the May 15, 2011 Issue of CIO Magazine

The Power of Convergence

By Faisal Hoque

Book Everyone’s trying to figure out how to get IT and the business working in harmony (See “IT Value Is Dead. Long Live Business Value.”), and Hoque, formerly a senior executive at GE and author of Sustained Innovation, charts out a path. He offers advice on leadership, innovation, enterprise architecture, agility and more, all illustrated with helpful diagrams. Amacom, $27.95

The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success 

By Wayne Breitbarth

Book Having a LinkedIn profile is practically a requirement nowadays, but are you getting what you want out of it? Do you even know what you want? Are you seeking job offers, consulting gigs, requests to speak? Breitbarth says lacking a goal is one of the biggest mistakes people make when signing up for the professional networking service. “If you don’t know why you’re there, how are you going to come up with a strategy?” he asks. Once you decide why you’re on LinkedIn, you can find details in the book on how to use the site’s many functions to get the most out of the service. Green Leaf Book Group Press, $16.95

Lessons in IT Transformation

By Larry Bonfante

Book The most valuable advice comes from someone who’s been where you are. Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, lays out practical tips for CIOs and relates anecdotes from his own career on why certain strategies work and why having one is so important. Bonfante, who writes in an open and personable tone, covers both large-scale issues, such as communicating IT’s worth to the business, and smaller-scale problems, like how to deal with an employee’s mistake without being demoralizing. (For more advice from Bonfante, see “How to Make Time for Your Professional Development.”) Wiley, $49.95

Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct

By Richard H. Girgenti and Timothy P. Hedley

Book It’s everyone’s responsibility to report fraud and other illegal activities, but it’s disproportionately IT’s responsibility to prevent them. IT runs the systems that track regulatory compliance and flag unusual transactions that could be a sign of theft, and is in charge of making sure information is available only to those who need it. This book gets into the nitty-gritty of several types of fraud and misconduct, lays out who should be responsible for what (it’s not always IT), and presents a model for preventing, detecting and responding to fraud. McGraw-Hill Professional, $50

Life as a Healthcare CIO

By Dr. John D. Halamka

Blog Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, posts almost daily on topics such as new healthcare regulations, the recent RSA security breach, the cost of storage solutions over time, and his picks for cool technology of the week. His blog may have fallen off your radar since we last covered it in 2009, but with hundreds of new posts since then, it’s worth another look. geekdoctor.blogspot.com