CIO as Leader or Manager?

by Eric D. Brown on January 7, 2010 · View Comments

in Information Technology, Leadership, Management, The New CIO

Managing by Henry Mintzberg - Book ReviewI just finished reading “Managing” by Henry Mintzberg.

Great book.

What’s so great about it?  It provides a good reminder that being a good manager is just as important as being a good leader.

Mintzberg does an excellent job of bringing the importance of managing well to the forefront.

Like I said…good book.  Buy it today at amazon (affiliate link).

CIO as Manager or Leader?

I ran a quick unscientific test on google and searched for “CIO as Leader” and “CIO as Manager”. The results weren’t surprising:

Not surprising to me since most articles I’ve read (and a few that I’ve written” talk about CIO’s and Leadership.  But there aren’t as many discussions about CIO’s and Management.

Mintzberg’s “Managing” book might help bring the art of managing back to the world of IT and the CIO’s office.

So which is it?

The role of IT is changing and the CIO must lead that change while also ensuring that the IT group is performing for the organization.

The CIO must be a both a Leader and a Manager to bridge the gap between strategy and tactics. Lead the strategic initiatives while managing the tactical operations for the organization.

Both sets of skills are necessary for The New CIO.

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Related posts:

  1. From Project Manager to IT Leader
  2. Are you a leader or just loud?
  3. Manager Mindsets
  4. Innovation and The New CIO
  5. Leading by saying No – The New CIO Series

PG

Written By Eric D. Brown

Eric is a Consultant, Entrepreneur and Doctoral Student focused on helping organizations cross the chasm that exists between Business & IT. Eric writes extensively about technology, strategy, people and projects at http://ericbrown.com. In addition to this blog and his consulting work, Eric is an avid & passionate photographer and writes about photography, shares photographs and reviews products at Photography Minute.
  • True. I believe management is underrated, and leadership is just a fashionable term for one of the responsibilities of a manager.

    That's why the working title of my upcoming book is Management 3.0, and not Leadership 3.0 :)
  • Agreed...management is underrated. Looking forward to seeing Management 3.0!
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