The Technology Doesn't Matter

CHAPTER 2The Solution

When I first met Mark, he was a caricature of a network administrator, even though he held the title of IT director. He was the head of a pitifully small IT department for a group of automotive retail dealerships in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area. His office was hidden way back in a corner room of one of the dealerships that might have previously been a large broom closet. It was filled with old computer parts and peripherals, as well as a collection of quirky geek toys. Worst of all, everyone called him “Sparky.”

Mark did not have the respect of his management team. He was left out of leadership meetings, and instructions were passed down to him through his boss, the CFO. He did not have the respect of his internal customers. A couple of people in various departments with strong personalities and “just enough technical knowledge to be dangerous” had become the de facto IT support for their site. Shadow IT was everywhere. Policies were ignored, where they existed at all.

Mark's dealership group was acquired by the Pohlad Companies in 2008 and later renamed to Carousel Motor Group. But things remained pretty much the same for him and the technology function for several years, until my CIO role was created at the parent company and some leadership changes happened at Carousel Motor Group. The new company president, Tom, asked me to get directly involved with the technology department. Tom was a brash young business leader with goals as ambitious as ...