Chapter 2
Transforming Your IT Team
It's relatively easy—when you're on the outside looking in—to see when an industry or profession is in the midst of a revolutionary transformation. Journalists, for example, are currently facing identity crises as people flock to blogs for news and insights. The entertainment industry continues to evolve, as younger audiences spend more time with reality TV programs and amateur videos on the Web than with situation comedies on TV.
It's more difficult to have this perspective when it's your own profession that's undergoing radical change. But that's exactly what's happening in IT. In my nearly 30 years in corporate America—including 18 years in internal IT (five as a CIO) and four as an external consultant—I've seen the demands placed on IT leaders change from keeping the mainframes humming to leading high-performance organizations that partner with the business to consistently deliver successful solutions.
Many IT professionals are still evolving toward that role. But the fact is, IT leaders have no choice but to transform themselves and the organizations they lead. Today, business leaders require CIOs and other IT leaders not only to exercise exceptional leadership behaviors, but also to lead their teams in sustaining strong client partnerships, demonstrating business and financial acuity, executing successful projects, and delivering exceptional results.
And this transformation is hard work—it's threatening, humbling, and draining. It involves ...
