The Practical CIO: A Common Sense Guide for Successful IT Leadership

The Practical CIO: A Common Sense Guide for Successful IT Leadership

by Jose Carlos Eiras, Tony Scott
Released February 2010
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470531907

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Book description

The IT executive's ultimate handbook for survival in a rapidly changing economy

The Practical CIO: A Common Sense Guide for Successful IT Leadership provides needed advice for modern executives competing in a challenging global environment.

  • Proactively establish goals for IT

  • Hold all vendors accountable

  • Extract maximum value from existing IT investments

  • Manage and market the IT brand

  • Build relationships up, down and sideways across the enterprise and beyond its traditional boundaries

  • Act like a CEO

    • Brimming with interviews and case studies from leading global enterprises such as Microsoft, Prudential, Citigroup, Chiquita Brands, Smithfield Foods and West Marine. The Practical CIO is designed for clear-eyed IT and C-level executives with no patience for hype or overly optimistic visions of a "better tomorrow." Truly a commonsense guide for successful IT leadership, this book delivers exactly the kind of hard-nosed, actionable advice that executives urgently require.

    Table of contents

    1. Copyright
    2. FOREWORD
    3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    4. INTRODUCTION
      1. Rapidly Changing Markets Require Transformative Leadership
      2. Welcome to the "New Normal"
      3. Drive the Economic Engine
      4. Reality Check
      5. Additional Resources
    5. 1. Build a Great Team
      1. 1.1. My Role Model
      2. 1.2. Focus on Talent
      3. 1.3. Key IT Competencies
      4. 1.4. Send Sacred Cows to Pasture
      5. 1.5. Never Forget, You Are an Agent of Change
      6. 1.6. Start at the Top
      7. 1.7. Find a Friend in Human Resources
      8. 1.8. The High Performance Team
        1. 1.8.1. A Quick Start in Russia
        2. 1.8.2. Profiting from a Unique Opportunity in Brazil
      9. 1.9. Global Team for a Global Effort
      10. 1.10. Remember, Communication Holds the Team Together
    6. 2. Proactively Establish Goals for IT
      1. 2.1. You Call the Shots
      2. 2.2. Discretionary Spending
      3. 2.3. Non-Discretionary Spending
      4. 2.4. Service Contracts
      5. 2.5. It Pays to Be Proactive
      6. 2.6. Whenever Possible, Integrate
      7. 2.7. Why I Am Comfortable With Numbers
      8. 2.8. Back to Our Story
      9. 2.9. One Step at a Time
    7. 3. Design the IT Strategy
      1. 3.1. You Were Hired to Solve a Crisis, But...
      2. 3.2. Learn from the Masters
      3. 3.3. My Approach to IT Strategy
    8. 4. Hold All of Your Vendors Accountable
      1. 4.1. Focus on Win-Win Scenarios
      2. 4.2. Real versus Ideal
      3. 4.3. Insist on Continuous Improvement
      4. 4.4. Contract or No Contract, Get What You Need
      5. 4.5. Internal IT Suppliers
      6. 4.6. Escalate Problems Quickly and Decisively
      7. 4.7. Leaping Into the Fray
    9. 5. Before Negotiating, Do Your Homework
      1. 5.1. No Two Suppliers Are Alike
      2. 5.2. How Did You Know That?
      3. 5.3. Read That Contract Again Before You Renew It
      4. 5.4. Make Sure Your Suppliers Follow Your Checklist
      5. 5.5. Sometimes Regional Makes More Sense Than Global
    10. 6. Manage Contracts, Don't Just Sign Them
      1. 6.1. The Seed Crystal
      2. 6.2. A True Story
      3. 6.3. It is Never a One-Shot Deal
      4. 6.4. Managing Contracts Like a Pro
      5. 6.5. Do Not Focus Solely on Vendor Performance
      6. 6.6. The Price of Ignorance
      7. 6.7. Structure Contracts to Make Your Life Easier
      8. 6.8. Seek Outside Help when Necessary
      9. 6.9. Eyeball to Eyeball
      10. 6.10. What about In-Sourcing?
    11. 7. Work With the Business
      1. 7.1. IT's Unique Perspective: Worth More Than All the Software in the World . . .
      2. 7.2. Formalize a Process for Joining the Discussion
      3. 7.3. Processing Insight
      4. 7.4. It Takes Two to Tango
      5. 7.5. The New Model For Collaboration
      6. 7.6. Sometimes There Are No Common Solutions
    12. 8. Manage and Market the IT brand
      1. 8.1. Telling the IT Story
      2. 8.2. Branding Must Be Consistent With Reality
      3. 8.3. Three Steps in the Right Direction
      4. 8.4. Brand Identity
      5. 8.5. Marketing the IT Brand
      6. 8.6. Marketing the IT Portfolio
      7. 8.7. Turn Consistency into a Discipline
      8. 8.8. Brand Management is Not Rocket Science
      9. 8.9. The Medium is Still the Message
    13. 9. Building Relationships Across the Enterprise—And Beyond
      1. 9.1. Earning Credibility
      2. 9.2. Creating Relationships, One-on-One
      3. 9.3. Intangible, But Also Valuable
      4. 9.4. Role of the IT Board
      5. 9.5. Sharing Power and Responsibility
      6. 9.6. Learning the Business
      7. 9.7. Creating Relationships Upward
      8. 9.8. Managing and Delegating Across the Enterprise
      9. 9.9. Building Relationships with Vendors
      10. 9.10. Getting and Staying On Message
      11. 9.11. Make Sure That Everyone Knows That You Are Responsible and Accountable
    14. 10. Act Like a CEO
      1. 10.1. Climbing the Ziggurat
      2. 10.2. The Business Within the Business
      3. 10.3. Why You Need to Behave Like a CEO
      4. 10.4. Take a Step Back
      5. 10.5. Style Is Important
      6. 10.6. Do Not Forget Altruism
      7. 10.7. Outside versus Inside
      8. 10.8. Find the Middle Ground
    15. AFTERWORD
    16. ENDNOTES
      1. General Note
      2. Introduction
      3. Chapter 1: Build a Great Team
      4. Chapter 2: Proactively Establish Goals for IT
      5. Chapter 3: Design the IT Strategy
      6. Chapter 4: Hold All of Your Vendors Accountable
      7. Chapter 5: Before Negotiating, Do Your Homework
      8. Chapter 6: Manage Contracts, Don't Just Sign Them
      9. Chapter 7: Work With the Business
      10. Chapter 8: Manage and Market the IT Brand
      11. Chapter 9: Build Relationships Across the Enterprise—and Beyond
      12. Chapter 10: Act Like a CEO
    17. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Product information

    • Title: The Practical CIO: A Common Sense Guide for Successful IT Leadership
    • Author(s): Jose Carlos Eiras, Tony Scott
    • Release date: February 2010
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9780470531907