You're a smart, ambitious IT manager with an eye on the executive suite. Or maybe you're a CIO who'd like to be more effective in communicating with senior management and more closely aligning the IT function with business strategy. In either case, technical expertise alone will not get you where you want to go. Success in today's people-centric business world means mastering the "soft" skills that generally don't come easily to analytical types. It means transcending your technical bias and adopting a totally new style rooted in personal engagement and collaboration. And it means finding ways to inspire trust, to motivate, and to foster communication both within your department and throughout the company. In other words, it means becoming a leader.
Written by Alan Guibord-the man who, more than anyone, helped define the role of the modern IT leader-this book provides you with a roadmap for making your personal journey to leadership. And at each turn in the road, IT visionary Guibord is there, offering sage advice and guidance on how to develop a compelling leadership style, arming you with strategies and tools for developing the skills you'll need to become a vital part of any management team, and inspiring you with the confidence to become a formidable competitor in your own right.
While leadership may not be something you can master by reading a book, IT Leadership Manual will help you take the first giant step on your journey by showing you how to:
- Understand what really makes you tick using powerful self-evaluations
- Leverage your self-knowledge to create an effective, personal leadership style
- Create a solid plan for achieving your career goals
- Establish personal relationships and trust-the glue that binds teams
- Build strong relationships throughout your company
- Embrace diversity and work effectively with people of many cultures and backgrounds, both in the home office and globally
- Develop an intimate understanding of your company, its vision, culture, and goals
- Sell your "personal brand" to the key decision-makers and powerbrokers
- Align your team or department with overall corporate goals
- Make a strong business case for your projects and the IT function as a whole
- Redefine your role as IT manager to one of trusted advisor and business partner
IT Leadership Manual teaches you what leadership really means and what it really means to be a leader. Just as importantly, it outfits you with the skills you'll need to cement your position as a crucial business partner and, ultimately, plant your flag at the top of the corporate heap.