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8 - 10 April 2002
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Florence, Italy
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The Leadership Scenario
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John Mahoney, Vice President and Research Director,
Gartner | | |
Tuesday 9 April 2002
Leadership, the art of taking people and organizations in new directions, will be critical for surviving today's economic and security turbulence and navigating the connected economy's uncharted territory. It is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, said John Mahoney, Vice President and Research Director. Speaking at Symposium ITxpo in Florence, Italy, he said that effective leadership will be the single most critical factor in IS organization success through 2007.
Mahoney predicts a shift in the focus of enterprise leaders towards partnerships, the business environment and intellectual capital. This must be matched, he says, by a shift in IS leadership focus towards relationships, business value and architecture, both technical and enterprise.
Right now, Mahoney advises leaders in IS and the business in general to motivate people to work in a cost-constrained environment while staying focused on leading sustainable enterprise value. He recommends that IS organizations try to keep 10 percent of resources for new work, despite budget cuts. Quoting from leadership expert Peter Drucker, he adds "In tough times, remember your employees are people too", and predicts that knowledge workers, including most IT professionals, will increasingly use their own assessment of enterprise culture and leadership in making employment choices.
"We can begin to see the emerging themes of connected economy leadership. They include the need to lead the whole value chain beyond the enterprise's boundaries and harnessing the power of virtual, remote teams" said Mahoney. "Success will go to enterprises whose leaders use persuasion, vision and clarity of purpose not traditional control and command structures."
On the role of the CIO, Mahoney sees great opportunities ahead. "The challenge for CIOs is to define and deliver the sustainable value proposition from the IT organization to the enterprise within an environment of increasing turbulence in technology, business and the economy. That value will centre more on leadership and less on creation of technology. That doesn't mean the end of the CIO as a distinct role but it does mean that major changes lie ahead."
By Andrew Spender, Gartner
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