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By Lisa Yoon
"It's not about the technology," says Sheldon Laube with the directness and emphasis of a man who knows what he is talking about. Indeed, Laube says a lot of things in a way that gives you the feeling you should be writing it down. It's a rare quality for a veteran information and technology executive-Laube was the first CIO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, a role in which he served for a decade, from 1986 to 1995. In May, he returned to PwC as Chief Innovation Officer, a newly created position with the mission of accelerating innovation across the professional-services firm by encouraging new ideas and facilitating their implementation.
The evolution of Laube's career beyond the technology realm is logical given his understanding of the information chief's responsibility to create business value. His new is also instructive in many ways to current CIOs.
Before explaining what Laube means by his aforementioned comment, let's look at two findings from the 2008 CIO Leadership Survey by IBM's Center for CIO Leadership. It seems that, despite the title, many CIOs have yet to embrace their opportunities as C-level executives fully: only 67 percent of over 300 CIOs surveyed are active participants in developing business strategy. Another survey result reports that while CIOs are emerging as leaders of innovative ideas, only 63 percent are successful at securing resources for innovation "by identifying technology-enabled business opportunities."
Which brings us back to why it's not about technology. It's about the value technology brings to the business, says Laube, "and many CIOs aren't good at articulating this." It's hard for many information executives to not to talk in depth about sophisticated technologies, but according to Laube, the less talk about technology, the better. To a CEO, "if someone's giving you a bunch of technological mumbo-jumbo, [it means] they don't know the business value of the technology," which is what CEOs and CFOs want to know. If they don't hear it, they may tune out.
This explains the 37 percent of CIOs in IBM's survey who are unable to bridge innovation with implementation, as pointed out in publications including the newly released Adventures of an IT Leader (Harvard Business Press). "Effectively communicating IT-related business issues to business managers requires SYSTEMATIC EFFORT, just like everything else you try to accomplish in business; spend sufficient time on it," notes the book. "IT people need to be able to speak the language of business," note the authors of Financial Intelligence for IT Managers (Harvard Business Press).
This ability need not be a natural gift. "Presentation is a learned skill," Laube points out, adding that many CIOs don't see the need to learn.
Once a CIO understands and can articulate a clear and compelling business case for a technology initative, the next step toward making it happen is to validate the technology's value with managers who work directly on the business end of the organization. Forming partnerships with non-technology executives is critical in helping CIOs become recognized more as a key influencer of business strategy.
Simply put, CIOs must get out more. Spend time in other departments. Learn how to speak the CEO's language. As Laube puts it, "If you do nothing [about innovation], nothing will happen." A clear message in any language.
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