IT Leadership Manual: Roadmap to Becoming a Trusted Business Partner

CHAPTER 10

Are You Ready to Make the Change?

Changing jobs has become a way of life. Unlike previous generations of employees who worked for the same company for their entire careers, today the time we spend with companies is becoming increasingly shorter. Someone taking a leadership role in a corporation today spends an average of three to five years in that role. This is a dramatic change. The relationship we have with our employers today is strictly based on the value the job provides to our careers. I'm not saying I fully agree with this phenomenon; however, it is the way the world is. When people ask what my career is, I tell them I'm a corporate services provider. I enter a relationship with a corporation that lasts as long as I provide the services they require and they fairly compensate me for my work.

Professional sports epitomize this new culture. When I was a child, a baseball or basketball player often spent his entire career with one team. Just as in the corporate world, there is no longer a mutual sense of loyalty between the athlete and the team. It is the same in business—as long as the athlete continues to excel, he or she is retained by the team. As soon as that performance degrades in any way, the team looks to trade that person. Athletes are motivated by financial compensation; should another team present a better offer, the athlete could join in a heartbeat. This is a part of our society today whether we like it or not.

Chapter 7 discussed how the Internet ...