Know-How Dimension

Reading Ram Charan's "Know-How" I started thinking in terms of what is needed to lead an IT organization in twenty first century.

The economy is still stuck in the low gear (Cisco forecast send shudders down the wall street), but innovation in IT seems to be in overdrive. So how do CIOs respond to this new normal? Agility is expected (and is a threshold requirement for IT team), social network integration is imperative to reach the focus market. The vendor partners seem to be finding back doors into IT from the front door. "Cloud computing" has made its way into marketing vocabulary, so would CIO be the catalyst or be the hurdle to it.




The essentials of CIO thought leadership would be - range of altitude, cognitive bandwidth and ability to reposition quickly. The IT leader needs to have the ability to transcend from heights of strategy to depths of tactics. She should be self aware of gaps in her own skills and capabilities to surround herself with the leaders who complement her. With such pace that IT is going through the leader needs to register the clouds of change in the horizon.

What do you think are the essential know-hows for an IT leader? Share your thoughts.