Becoming a CIO is all about managing relationships

David Spark, reporting from CIO Boot Camp at Interop in Las Vegas.

Terry L. Conner, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, retired - Liberty Mutual Group gave a very popular presentation entitled "Managing Critical Relationships & Key People."

He began explaining one ugly realization about technology and business. Technologies come and technologies go, but management issues go on forever. They've been going on for more than 30 years. Some of the most serious management issues in IT are the same as they were in the 70s. You're still dealing with people and technologies.

A company has two expectations of their CIO. They want a business partner and an IT expert. Conner provided a series of great advice on how to achieve both.

How to be a business partner

As a business partner you're dealing with two very fast moving streams. The first is that technology is constantly changing. Quoting Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, Conner said, "Technology has the shelf life of a banana." The second stream is the need to know your company's business issues as well as other C-level executives.

Success, said Conner, is about maintaining relationships. He provided the following advice for relationship success:

• You need to earn a place at the table for all business discussions. If you don't prove your need to be there, you'll be seen just as a menu item for those at the table to choose.
• Bet your career on your business' success. Understand the yin and yang of capacities and skills.
• Don't assume every project is important. There's a simple test to determine if a project is high priority. Simply ask, "Who's assigned to the project?" If the team is comprised of B-level players, then the project isn't that high a priority.
• You want to be joined at the hip with your business coworkers. Have alignment up and down the line. Don't create winners and losers. Let rewards and punishments be equally shared.
• Maintain insider knowledge. That means always be on the ground with the business. You'll gather very valuable information.
• Communicate your business value. Let others be able to sell internally so your business partners can sell externally as well.

How to be an IT expert

Conner explained that for others to understand your value, you need to explain what you do in business terms. The business decision makers must understand that this isn't a simple wedding, but a full marriage. You don't want them to just be involved in IT, you want them to be committed to the decisions you're making.

If they don't understand this, Conner jokingly quoted Thornton May saying, "You have two choices: You need to change the people, or you need to change the people."

Having a plan requires also presenting alternatives, because that's how business people operate. Go in with your plan, but include alternatives as well. Make sure one of the alternatives is "do nothing." The business needs to know what the cost is of not acting. They'll want all of this information so that they can make an educated decision. They'll appreciate your understanding how they operate.

Becoming a strong leader

There is definitely a business and IT component to becoming a great CIO, but to be a strong leader requires some toughness. Conner outlined all the issues that make a powerful CIO.

Number one critical success factor is who you hire and who you promote. This is for everyone in your organization, not just the top tier people. Everyone in your group knows who the top performers and the slugs are. They know the slugs because the top performers are the ones dragging them along. If you keep those slugs around, then that's your fault and the whole organization knows it.

Look for signals of the people who have energy to perform at all levels. Conner told a story about seeing an energetic lawn mower. He was really impressed with his work ethic and his story so he promoted him within the organization and he moved up the ladder very quickly.

Some other issues included:

• Always tell the truth. Quoting Ross Perot, Conner said, "Bad news doesn't get better with age." If there's a problem, you as the CIO need to be the first one to call the CEO. You don't want him hearing bad news from someone else.
  
• Alignment is the "Holy Grail." Don't try to become a winner in the organization. Don't get into a winners vs. losers battle. Trying to win that battle ends up as death by politics.
• Carry your wounded. Every now and then there are going to be people within your group that are dealing with personal issues, or they aren't ready for the change happening within your organization. Don't dump these people. Carry them. But, play that line closely. You'll need to get rid of the stragglers if they just can't be helped. If you let a laggard go on and on within an organization, it's like a sore. You own that problem. You let it happen. You're complicit.
• Indecision can be detrimental. Make important calls quickly. Deal with ambiguous and incomplete data. Indecision poisons organizations.
• If you screw up, take the shots that you deserve.
• Reputation is currency. When you create a team that delivers, then you have currency and it allows you to deploy future projects. This is also what helps you get through the difficult times. If you have a history of success, then you can get a by through the rough spots.

Leading and managing is a full contact sport

You're going to have to do good and bad things. Understand that it's part of your job. Communication is critical. Converse early and often. Risks have to be taken, but they can be managed.

Remember, making others successful is a faster and longer lasting path than self promotion. As a CIO, you'll move ahead based on the success of others.

Conner understands that taking all that advice at once and trying to coordinate it is not easy. But if you can, said Conner, you'll do amazing things.

For more, check out all of Riverbed's Interop '09 Las Vegas coverage.