IT leaders: created or born?

" There are many introverted people, crouched into a closed cover . but become successful leaders, " says Bart Bolton of SIM.

Bart Bolton, an IT management consultant for a long time and currently active in the Information Management Leadership (SIM) Forum, commented on some of the qualities and talents of leaders. IT.

An effective IT leader does not need absolute charisma or prestige. Many technology experts have their own personality but with some right qualities, they can succeed in leadership.

" I know many people who are introverted have become famous CIOs, " Bolton said in a conference last week's leadership model hosted by Fairfield in Conn., And Westchester in New York. SIM. Potential IT leaders " must develop self-awareness with questions that are always in the head: who are you, what are you doing and how do you increase your confidence? "

To become a leader, " you have to know what your own style is and who works for you. You have to find people who can grow and find their own style of leadership ."

Of course, an effective IT leader must meet some other standards. Like the ability to set up and communicate, the ability to identify a great vision for your organization, your company, the ability to find markets for IT staff, sales staff, Tom Pettibone, co-founder and manager partner of Transition Parters and former CIO of Philip Morris USA, New York Life Insurance insurer commented.

The quality of leadership "is something like human DNA". " You have to find more or less people who have that DNA and build and develop based on them ."

A good leader must be a conductor who knows how to inspire employees, prove his ability to succeed, show the path and ability to advance in his career for those who work for him.

Pettibone also warned that technical managers or experts should not be forced but do not want to become leaders. " Wanting them to become leaders is like encountering a dead-end river. Don't push it, but you need to gradually open up a new path if possible. Let them understand and voluntarily step forward to prove it. real power and ability ".

The SIM model, which Peter Schlay of The Advisory Council in Norwalk also caused controversy. Is it possible and if so, when will it help to categorize IT work for a CIO or bring suitable work to sales staff? It may be risky if you approach the late method, says CIO of Priceline.com, Ron Rose.

" For many companies, technology must be distributed and distributed quickly ." The rapid volatility of the market is the pressure that makes the balance for smaller technology-related errors and CIO leaders return to being entrepreneurs. They " will have a deeper understanding of technology " to keep the pace of their organization growing.

The challenge lies in the approach. An IT veteran who becomes a CIO will have to talk to business people in business terms. For those who are business executives, when moving to executive directors, for example, the organization or company will be in danger if they do not have enough knowledge about all technical issues.

" You need someone in the middle, " Bolton said.

Meanwhile, Pettibone believes that an ideal CIO candidate must be a leader in the IT field, not from any other field.

Another idea is that, without bothering to source the CIO, individuals " must be a better entrepreneur than those who also operate in other business fields. Because they have less time to imagine challenges in each business sector ".

Wanting to bring hope to a company or IT organization, CIOs need to meet some good qualities, such as the ability to build relationships and ability to listen. " People have two ears and one mouth, so why don't we hear more than we say? " That is the secret of success in communication, an indispensable element if you want to become a good leader.

As Rose's experience, ten years ago, when he was chief technology officer of Standard & Poor's Retail Markets, an operating system problem-solving research engineer made a discovery about workability. with the operating system named Linux. " And, you check this out, it's amazing ," Rose said. " At that time I thought, I definitely have to spend time with it ."

Listening to employees, S&P became one of the first financial services to apply an open operating system. " It shows that some of the best ideas can come from the places we don't expect the most ."