To be a strategic CIO, leaders have to look both inside and outside the IT department, suggests Peter High, the president of business and IT advisory firm Metis Strategy.
In a contributed Wall Street Journal report, Mr. High offers the following three steps to become a strategic CIO.
1. Identify a mission. The mission should look forward at least five years down the road.
2. Engage the entire organization. Instead of working in a silo, strategic CIOs collaborate with leaders in other units and develop a framework to bring each department's objectives to life.
3. Develop an IT-focused strategy. CIOs can better determine the IT strategy when they know what they need to do for the other units. The needs of the other units more or less dictate what IT's needs are. For example, if one unit requires a certain piece of hardware, IT's plan should be to invest in that item, according to Mr. High.
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