The Accidental CIO

9How We Lead

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

—Albert Einstein

A leader's job is not to fix disengaged people.

A leader's job is to fix the environment that results in disengaged people.

—David Marquet

Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.

—Simon Sinek

In the era of the knowledge worker, people are your number one asset. However, good people are scarce. Attracting and retaining people is an essential ingredient in the IT leader's operating model. Key to a motivated workforce is the ability for leaders to create an environment where people can achieve their full potential. Leaders need to ensure people have clarity about the desired business outcomes, have the support to become masters of their craft, and are empowered to determine the best course of action to deliver impactful business outcomes. As covered in Chapter 5, “How We Are Organized,” to design an organizational model that delivers, leaders need to invest time in understanding the social and business networks at play in the organization as well as the technology boundaries—namely the sociotechnical architecture. To keep structures working, leaders need to constantly support the people within them, ensuring that impediments are removed and collaboration is unhindered. You don't get this by barking orders at people. Instead of trying to use command-and-control techniques, IT leaders need to change their behavior toward ...