The CIO Interview with Art Langer, Academic Director, Technology Management at Columbia University, and contributing author Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal, by Martha Heller.

Dr. Arthur Langer is chairman and founder of Workforce Opportunity Services, Academic Director of the Executive Masters in Technology Management at Columbia University, and a contributing author for the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal.

Dr. Arthur LangerHow is the CIO role today different from 10 years ago?

The CIO has moved from a tactical role to one that is much more strategic, so much so that CIOs who grew up as tactical leaders are now struggling.  Tactical CIOs are used to the “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you” mentality and are having a difficult time existing as part of the executive management team.

What can “tactical CIOs” do to develop their strategic abilities?

These CIOs have to get out of their comfort zone and, in particular, develop capabilities around two areas.  First, they have to get out into the business. They need to spend time in the plants, with the customer service organizations, and the sales teams. They need to think beyond controls and standards and about how to drive business value.  They can only do this by being in the trenches of the business. 

Second, they need to change their perception of the word “relationships.”  I cannot tell you how many times I have asked CIOs whether they have relationships with their C suite partners, and they say that they do. But then when I ask members of the C-suite the same question, they say, “I know our CIO but don’t know how his organization works, and I am confused as to why his cost is so high and everything takes so long.”

As CIO, you may know your executive peers and even have a relationship with these people, but that relationship may not be as strong as you think. Are you spending time in the business units? Are you having lunches and dinners with your business partners?  Are you involved in what’s going on in their businesses?

CIOs need a proactive strategy about how they are going to make the connections necessary to educate the people around them.  Some CIOs are not even invited to their company’s most important meetings, because they have not learned how to be a part of those groups.

" Until we have a universally accepted standard for evaluating CIOs, the profession will suffer from confusion and illegitimacy."

Executives are human and like to be around people they enjoy talking to, but too many CIOs are not fun people. Executives don’t want to go to an offsite and talk about SOX problems; they don’t care. They want to talk about where technology is going and how it might affect what is happening in the business. 

How well do other members of the executive committee understand the CIO role?  

Without question, there is still a lack of understanding around the executive table about the CIO role.  The proper positioning of the CIO role starts with CEO.  Some CIOs say that it doesn’t matter whether or not they report to the CEO. I think that they are delusional.  If the CIO reports to the CEO, it is a statement that IT is important and strategic.  If the CIO doesn’t report to the CEO, then it is a statement that IT is tactical and a cost.

What should business executives be doing to partner with the CIO?

CEOs and their senior leadership teams need to be better educated about the CIO role.  When the CEO hires a new CFO, he can find guidance from the AICPA about a how a CEO should treat his CFO; but with the CIO position, there is nothing like that.  We need forums for CEOs where they can be educated about successful methods for evaluating their CIOs.   These methods and standards for evaluation cannot be provided by  an Oracle or a Google. We need to move the establishment of professional standards away from the vendors and into the academic world, which is less biased. Until we have a universally accepted standard for evaluating CIOs, the profession will suffer from confusion and illegitimacy.

What skills typically differentiate CIOs from the VPs/Directors on the IT senior leadership team?

This is a real problem area for CIOs.  I compare the gap between CIOs and their leadership teams to Niagara Falls.  It is not unusual to see a great CIO, but when you look down one level, you walk off a cliff.  Over the last 15 years, we have done so much outsourcing that we have not done a good job on succession planning.  As a result, we do not have the right people or skills in the IT pipeline to produce tomorrow’s leaders.  This is the fault of the exiting generation of CIO leadership. They have not developed the right business or relationship building skills in their top people. When I ask my students—who are in line to be tomorrow’s CIOs—to make a board level presentation, their average grade is a C+ because they have no experience.  There is a huge opportunity to develop leadership, business and communication skills in the CIO’s senior leadership team.  But they have to act on that opportunity.

What is some pragmatic advice for CIOs who want to improve their organization’s relationship with the rest of the company?

CIOs need to adopt the “Let my people go” frame of mind.  It is time CIOs release some of their resources and let their staff report directly to their business units.  While they are at it, they have to teach their business unit leaders how to manage those resources.

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This means moving out of a control model and into a leadership model. The infrastructure groups can stay with the CIOs, but the leaders of the “driver” technologies, that is, the strategic technologies, need to move over into the businesses. I am not suggesting that CIOs merely “lend” resources to the business on a project by project basis, but that they actually let that budget and headcount go.  With businesses hiring their own technologists, this move is inevitable anyway. Look at the finance organization; there are people all over the company who do budgeting, but they don’t report to the CFO.  The CFO sets standards and provides support and guidance but does not need to control all resources engaged in finance processes.  This is the future of IT as well.

About Art Langer

Dr. Arthur M. Langer is the Academic Director of the Executive Masters of Science in Technology Management at Columbia University, a leading program for training future IT leaders. He also serves on multiple faculties at Columbia University, including the Graduate School of Business, the Department of Organization and Leadership at the Graduate School of Education (Teachers College) and the School of Continuing Education.

Dr. Langer’s practice and research involves the study of Information Technology organizations in the workplace, reflective practices, mentoring, distance education, intellectual development, learning transformation theory, higher education and the design of technology-based curricula.

Dr. Langer is the author of Guide to Software Development: Designing & Managing the Life Cycle (2012), Information Technology and Organizational Learning (2011), Analysis and Design of Information Systems (2007), Applied Ecommerce (2002), and The Art of Analysis (1997) and has numerous published articles and papers relating to service learning for underserved populations, IT organizational integration, mentoring and staff development. He is also a columnist for the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal.

Dr. Langer consults with corporations and universities on information technology, staff development, management transformation, and curriculum development around the globe. He is also the Chairman and Founder of Workforce Opportunity Services, a nonprofit social venture that trains talented high school graduates and military veterans for careers in information technology and other functional areas. 

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