Staying the Course as a CIO
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons is the oldest independent publishing company in the United States. With offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, Wiley is globally committed to developing and marketing print and electronic products and services for our customers' professional and personal knowledge and understanding.
The Wiley CIO series provides information, tools, and insights to IT executives and managers. The products in this series cover a wide range of topics that supply strategic and implementation guidance on the latest technology trends, leadership, and emerging best practices.
Titles in the Wiley CIO series include:
The Agile Architecture Revolution: How Cloud Computing, REST-Based SOA, and Mobile Computing Are Changing Enterprise IT by Jason Bloomberg
Big Data, Big Analytics: Emerging Business Intelligence and Analytic Trends for Today's Businesses by Michael Minelli, Michele Chambers, and Ambiga Dhiraj
The Chief Information Officer's Body of Knowledge: People, Process, and Technology by Dean Lane
CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology (Second Edition) by Joe Stenzel, Randy Betancourt, Gary Cokins, Alyssa Farrell, Bill Flemming, Michael H. Hugos, Jonathan Hujsak, and Karl Schubert
The CIO Playbook: Strategies and Best Practices for IT Leaders to Deliver Value by Nicholas R. Colisto
Enterprise Performance Management Done Right: An Operating System for Your Organization by Ron Dimon
Executive's Guide to Virtual Worlds: How Avatars Are Transforming Your Business and Your Brand by Lonnie Benson
IT Leadership Manual: Roadmap to Becoming a Trusted Business Partner by Alan R. Guibord
Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologies by Robert F. Smallwood
On Top of the Cloud: How CIOs Leverage New Technologies to Drive Change and Build Value Across the Enterprise by Hunter Muller
Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-based World (Second Edition) by Gregory S. Smith
Strategic IT: Best Practices for Managers and Executives by Arthur M. Langer and Lyle Yorks
Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors, and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms by Frank Wander
Unleashing the Power of IT: Bringing People, Business, and Technology Together by Dan Roberts
The U.S. Technology Skills Gap: What Every Technology Executive Must Know to Save America's Future by Gary J. Beach
Architecting the Cloud: Design Decisions for Cloud Computing Service Models (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS) by Michael Kavis
Staying the Course as a CIO: How to overcome the trials and challenges of IT Leadership by Jonathan Mitchell
STAYING THE COURSE AS A CIO
HOW TO OVERCOME THE TRIALS AND CHALLENGES OF IT LEADERSHIP
Dr Jonathan M Mitchell
This edition first published 2015
© 2015 Jonathan Mitchell
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ,
United Kingdom
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please visit our website at www.wiley.com.
The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mitchell, Jonathan M., 1961–
Staying the course as a CIO: how to overcome the trials and challenges of IT leadership/
Dr. Jonathan M. Mitchell.
pages cm. – (The Wiley CIO series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-96887-1 (hardback)
1. Chief information officers. 2. Information technology – Management. I. Title.
HD30.2.M577 2015
658.4′038 – dc23
2014025612
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-118-96887-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-118-96884-0 (ebk)
ISBN 978-1-118-96886-4 (ebk)
Cover image: © Jonathan Mitchell
Cover design: Wiley
INTRODUCTION
Do you want to be a great IT leader? Why not? For those in corporate or public sector life, becoming a Chief Information Officer, a Senior Vice President or perhaps even a Chief Digital Officer in a large organisation is seen by many – quite rightly – to be the very pinnacle of achievement in the world of Information Technology. Today, an increasing number of IT leaders have become Board or Executive Team members in their companies. Almost all exert high levels of power and influence. However, the life expectancy of this corporate rainmaker is shockingly short. IT leaders often seem to enjoy a span no longer than a mayfly as they flutter away in the turbulent waters of the corporate pond. Few seem to stay the course for much longer than a couple of years and it is rare to find anyone making it to half of a decade or more. Some organisations even change their CIO every year. And most of the endings are not happy ones either. Very often something, or more commonly a whole bunch of somethings, goes horribly wrong and the reign of the noble IT leader comes to an abrupt and brutal end. In some cases the disaster takes the form of a slow-motion train wreck. With growing inevitability, it can be months before the inadvertent act of hara-kiri is finally completed and the inevitable mushroom cloud of dust and the smell of doom imperiously rise from