What the CIO Wants You to Know (Part I)

I'm reminded of the old commercial from American television where an actor gazes sincerely into a camera and says, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." Well, I'm not a CIO, but I report to one and therefore make it my business to listen carefully to what he says. Before I became a direct report I used to vaguely wonder what the CIO really thought...whether he cared about the particular project I was working on or even consciously realized that I, as a developer among many, existed. Now that I have a front-row seat I welcome you to listen in. In 2001 Ram Charan wrote What the CEO Wants You to Know—a book described as "taking the mystery out of business, [showing] the secrets of success used by business legends." In this mini-series of articles, I hope to vicariously offer some similar secrets relevant to technology workers. What you read here might surprise you...and how well you apply what you read could make the difference in your career... First let me add a quick disclaimer: I realize there are those among us who aren’t the least bit interested in what the CIO wants them to know. They regard the CIO alternately as hatchet-man, village idiot, sell-out and corporate puppet. In my career I have known or have worked for just about all of these...CIOs who were hired from the outside expressly to make impassionate decisions concerning mergers, relocations, and layoffs without regard to the families it would devastate. Then there were CIOs who seemed more interested in social climbing than software. While I'm not saying my current CIO never exasperates me, I can say that he holds the enviable reputation for being thought capable enough to fill the shoes of any of those reporting up to him, from the network administrator to the programmer. While our IT organization may or may not be globally representative, I will make an effort to select excerpts most widely applicable. Still, readers should consider the culture of their own organizations when judging the relevance of this commentary. "Face facts with dignity." If memory serves correctly, this blurb was on a slip of paper in a fortune cookie, but our CIO read it and practically cackled with delight at the chord it struck with him. He mentioned it even recently when his direct reports were discussing a book that we're reading as a group: Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. "It frustrates me," he said (and I paraphrase), "when individuals fail to take responsibility for their projects and fail to live up to their potential, and yet seem bewildered when they are passed up for a promotion." [Disclaimer: This is not meant to imply that all failed projects are the fault of the employee assigned to them.] "Perhaps," I said, "we as employees are like anorexic girls looking in mirrors and seeing distorted reflections. Maybe we are incapable or unwilling to confront the reality of our own incompetencies. If all you know how to do is program, maybe it's just too painful to recognize that you might not be a very good programmer." The group acknowledged this may be so as we fell momentarily into a brown study of human psychology. "That's why it's so important to be 'ethically honest' with staff in performance reviews," the CIO reminded us (as managers), "so that they're aware of where they stand and they don't go ten years thinking they're doing just fine." We talked more about the difficulty of communicating relatively poor performance with staff because of individuality...one employee may read between the lines of everything you say, interpreting the slightest voice inflection as significant, while another may remain oblivious. But facing facts with dignity is not just about recognizing poor performance or weaknesses. The CIO reminded us that it's also about making a mistake and learning so significantly from it that you not only don't repeat it, you are better because of it. It's about not making excuses or blaming others or circumstances. It's about not throwing up your hands in frustration when given too many simultaneous assignments...and then missing the deadlines on all of them...it's about having the courage to say to your manager, "I can't do them all in this timeframe...which one is my priority?" It's about making conscious choices and managing expectations with clients, coworkers, and management proactively. Sometimes, as Mr. Nilges has reminded developer dot stars, "facing facts with dignity" may dictate finding another place of employment more suited to your style, ethics, or constitution, or as Mr. Read has suggested, recognizing that a certain programming language is not for you. "Facing facts with dignity" may mean confronting your demons, but it also involves recognizing your strengths and leveraging them to your advantage. There's hope in those words. While you may not be a hot-shot coder, you may be a great communicator, and there's room for both in IT.