CIOs: Want to get onto the Board? Just 'running' IT isn't enough

Still bitching about 'the business'? Then you've no business being on the board

Developers as Leaders?

Change favours some types of IT pro a lot more than others and it emerged that the execs saw developers as the IT leaders of tomorrow, whereas today a lot of people who reach the top of the pile in IT have a background in operations and support. As one exec put it, “... without change there is nothing for a developer to do ... they think in terms of change”.

That’s a basically different mindset to one where if the network works properly today, that’s the way they want to keep it.

Of course as DevOps becomes more of a thing, that distinction will blur, but first this has to get beyond automating tasks to make them cheaper and more reliable. Be clear - although these are good things, they just aren’t as sexy or even as visible.

Developers can knock up demos of what their proposal look and feel like, which does more to sell it than the best Visio data flow diagram will ever do. Because the demo is necessarily front end, be it web, mobile or whatever is sexy this month, it is basically easier to like, even if (as some shared) the demo was really quite basic. Part of this is the basic sales trick of “do you want this or that?”, rather than “do you want this?” Get the rest of the management team prodding it to suggest tweaks and they are already coming on board. Given that most of what you are offering is often leveraging systems already in place, this help build a compelling story.

So the message for an ops-based IT leader is that he needs to build or hire a tactical resource unit who can knock up the demos and proofs of concept.

Deniable Management

Although we had 14 top flight IT execs from a mix of household name businesses, law firms, government, and a couple of interesting startups, you’ll notice the lack of names here. That’s because what they say is covered under Chatham House rules, where we use but do not attribute what is said, even in the private Soho Hotel bar afterwards.

The execs also made it plain that being on the board is not a right, but you are there for a reason. You want recognition and money for your hard work, but those are your problems, not your fellow board members, so you need to make the business case for why they should bring you in. As the web makes IT outward facing, there is new competition in that ecosystem from marketing, who are a worthy foe because their business is sounding good.

So it may seem rational to the board to have the online sales of your firm run by marketing - yes, that will be disastrous but they’ll be able to blame IT for lack of delivery. So marketing is part of the job spec, even to the standard cynical ploy used by marketeers of changing the name. Anything such as "information services", which is a very cost centre type name, needs to go and projects need to be marketed just like products. “Digital” is a good word, but avoid words that make it look like you’re trying to invade someone else’s patch. Unless of course you are.

Marketing IT and thereby yourself means starting with outcomes, not technology. Yes, it is cool to merge Hadoop and VB to give Visual Badoop Cloud, but that won't sell the proposal at all. Indeed the senior execs all really hated the word “Cloud”, wanting it banned as meaningless to business and spitefully vague for technologists.

Leadership is a process, not an event

Projects and your place in the innermost loop don't start or even end with a really great presentation to the board. Leadership is a process not an event. The execs shared how you need to get one-to-one with influentials up and down the food chain, not only to get their support and to tune the proposals, but to find out what you should be proposing in the first place, as well as showing yourself to be a team player.

I felt awkward writing that last sentence, but the execs shared that IT is often not seen as part of the team, which doesn’t just hurt your career prospects, it makes it harder to deliver.

I chose the word "process" because you know process. In fact, you know other concepts that apply to a wider world than IT, so start using them.

Think disruptively, act technically, talk business

One IT exec said: “If you’re not prepared to change the nature of the business, then you shouldn’t be on the board." Which is a big claim, but you need to think of that as a test for whether you have what it takes. Measured by hours your work is mostly technical, but if you measure by the value to your career it is the disruption that gets you there.

Every business is being disrupted, but some are smart enough to see it coming. Rather fewer do it quickly enough to ride the wave or even survive.