Be the Business: CIOs in the New Era of IT

Remember the '70s? Way back then, IT was a mainframe that sat in some room and only a few people had a key. Flash forward a decade, and IT was a limited set of systems irrelevant to the vast majority of employees and customers. But today, all of the sudden, technology belongs to everyone. Because of the suddenness of this revolution in technology adoption, most IT organizations have not had enough time to evolve into a "comfortable integration" with the rest of the company. This lack of comfortable integration has led to confusion over who is truly accountable for the return on technology investments, how much influence IT leaders should have over a company's business strategy, and whether CEOs need to hire Chief Digital Officers onto their senior leadership teams. Through interviews with dozens of CIOs, Heller has created a snapshot of what CIOs are doing to lead IT in a climate where technology belongs to everyone. She addresses how CIOs are changing their operating models, their approaches to talent development, and their assessment of the new IT provider marketplace. Most importantly, Heller defines the top ten skills and behaviors that CIOs will need to develop if they are going to be successful in an ever changing landscape. As a master storyteller, Heller incorporates philosophy, humor, and pragmatic advice into a book that both informs and entertains.

About the Author

Martha Heller is president of Heller Search Associates, an executive search firm that specializes in IT leadership positions nationwide across all industries. Her first book, The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership (2012) has become a must-read for IT executives at all levels, and established Heller as one of the most respected voices in the technology industry. Martha has been a contributing writer on CIO.com since 1999, and in 2004 she founded the CIO Executive Council, CIO magazine's professional organization for CIOs. As a highly sought after public speaker, Martha has appeared at the National Retail Federation, the Technology Business Management Council, Harvard University, ServiceNow, and Cisco. She is on the selection committee for the CIO 100 awards and the TBM awards. Martha received a B.A. in English from Hamilton College and an M.A. in English from SUNY Stony Brook.