editorial

When hiring staff, I always consider such qualifications as job history, professional skills, interpersonal skills (the airplane test–could you sit next to this person on a plane for the next 14 hours straight and not be tempted to jump?), and most important, a shared vision for what the finished product ultimately should be.

That “vision thing” also has been at the core of my most successful business relationships with subordinates and supervisors. It means all parties are heading harmoniously in the same direction.

So, when we ask who the best boss is for the CIO, the answer is a definitive: It depends (for more, see “The Suite Life,” p. 16).

While it's dangerous to make assumptions, let's try a couple of logical, if imperfect, generalizations. If CIOs report to the CEO, the focus likely will be more on strategic growth and innovation. If CIOs report to the CFO, the focus likely will be more on cost-cutting and tactical efficiencies.

Digging deeper, however, blurs these boundaries a bit. For example, to get inside a CEO's head, I wandered around the Web site of Chief Executive magazine. An article from 2006 observed: In prior years, “everyone believed innovation was best defined as the big new blowout that set an industry on its head.” But that view changed to “innovation is anything that creates value,” which applies to anything large or small in an organization.

Yet an April 2008 study by Forrester asserts “CIOs miss opportunities by failing to understand innovation.” According to the report, CIOs “miss lower-impact opportunities by looking only for earth-shattering change . . . fail to find ideas lying everywhere while looking for innovation from a few smart people . . . stymie innovation by managing it just like any other investment request.” So, even if the generalization about CEOs is true, there's apparently a disconnect on the side of the CIO.

Likewise, another disconnect can stem from a short-sighted view of the CFO as bean counter. A March Forrester report sums it up this way: “The reality is that any business at any time may need to shift its executive focus toward running lean. . . . The CIO must know how to maximize business value during these times. . . .The keys are to work in concert with the CFO as well as other executive team members.” In today's uncertain economic environment, this is good advice. The emphasis is not on mere cost-cutting; rather, it's maximizing business value–which warms the heart of CFOs and CEOs, as well, for two reasons: (1) value may be found in the aforementioned innovation, and (2) the mysteries of IT become understandable business decisions. Although such decisions can be painful sometimes, making them elevates the stature of a CIO from gadget supplier to business leader–and that's a CIO any boss can love.