By silicon.com, 22 September 2006 15:25
"I always wanted to be a paratrooper when I was kid - now I guess I am," said one leading IT director, Luke Mellors from Expotel, this week.
He was referring to a series of special features on silicon.com this week which take an in-depth look at the development of the CIO role and the four very distinct types of IT leader that have emerged - paratrooper, executive, professional and consultant.
All IT executives will fall into one of those categories based on whether they have predominantly worked for one organisation for a long time or have experience in a variety of companies and sectors, and whether their management experience has been gained primarily in technology functions or in other business functions.
Our special report also featured real-life examples of each CIO personality: David Lister, CIO at Reuters who is a paratrooper - the James Bond of CIOs; Paul Burfitt, ex-CIO of AstraZenca who is the loyal and long-serving professional CIO; David Weymouth, ex-CIO of Barclays who is the non-tech executive CIO brought in to ride shotgun by the board; and Gordon Lovell-Read, CIO at Siemens, who is the commercially savvy and politically astute consultant CIO.
Why are these labels important? They demonstrate the continuing evolution and importance of the role of the CIO in today's corporate structure, and provide a framework for how to build an effective IT leadership team.
Each CIO type has its own strengths and weaknesses, so knowing what kind of CIO someone is allows them to play to their strengths and work on their weaknesses, if necessary, by bringing in people around them to compensate for those gaps.
But despite the differences between the four types of CIO there are still some vital, common traits that any IT professional seeking the executive career path should aspire to.
Ex-AstraZeneca CIO Burfitt, says these key strengths are solid general management experience, leadership and influencing skills, strategic thinking, the determination to deliver and the ability to balance priorities.
He said: "You have got to be able to get above the day to day, to think how IS makes a difference to the business and how it contributes to the delivery of company strategy. The bottom line for me is that IS leadership has to be very well integrated with the business and culture, and must focus its IS performance as directly as possible onto contributions to business performance and value."
Why not take the test and find out what kind of CIO you are here?
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