Regardless of industry, most major companies are becoming technology companies. The successful management of information has become so critical to a company’s goals, that in many ways, now is the age of the CIO. Yet IT executives are besieged by a host of contradictions: bad technology can bring a company to its knees, but corporate boards rarely employ CIOs; CIOs must keep costs down at the very same time that they drive innovation. CIOs are focused on the future, while they are tethered by technology decisions made in the past. These contradictions form what Martha Heller calls The CIO Paradox, a set of conflicting forces that are deeply embedded in governance, staffing, executive expectations, and even corporate culture. Heller, who has spent more than 12 years working with the CIO community, offers guidance to CIOs on how to attack, reverse, or neutralize the paradoxical elements of the CIO role. Through interviews with a wide array of successful CIOs, The CIO Paradox helps readers level the playing field for IT success and get one step closer to bringing maximum value to their companies.
Introduction What Is the CIO Paradox? xix
Part I Your Role: You're Damned if You Do and You're Damned if You Don't
1 The Cost versus Innovation Paradox 3
2 The Operations versus Strategy Paradox 23
3 The Global Paradox 41
Part II Your Stakeholders: Will the Business Ever Love It?
4 The Futurist versus Archivist Paradox 55
5 The "IT and the Business" Paradox 73
6 The Accountability versus Ownership Paradox 99
Part III Your Staff: They Just Don't Make Them Like That
7 The Recruiting Paradox 115
8 The Enterprise Architecture Paradox 127
9 The Successor Paradox 141
Part IV Your Future: What's Next for the Cio?
10 The Corporate Board Paradox 161
11 The CIO Career Path Paradox 179
12 The Future of the CIO Role 195
Conclusion Breaking the Paradox 205
Endnotes 221
Index 223
About the Author 233
Overview
Regardless of industry, most major companies are becoming technology companies. The successful management of information has become so critical to a company’s goals, that in many ways, now is the age of the CIO. Yet IT executives are besieged by a host of contradictions: bad technology can bring a company to its knees, but corporate boards rarely employ CIOs; CIOs must keep costs down at the very same time that they drive innovation. CIOs are focused on the future, while they are tethered by technology decisions ...