Opinion - How to be a CEO far the information age

Today's vast array of web applications for supply-chain integration, salesf orce automation, work group collaboration - and the sale of everything from equities to automobiles - makes it perfectly clear that information techno logy has evolved beyond the role of mere infrastructure in support of busin ess strategy In more and more industries today, IT is the business strategy . Unfortunately, many CEOs are ill-equipped to manage effectively in the Info rmation Age. The problem has less to do with IT literacy than with a range of behaviors and attitudes that cause such CEOs to shirk their IT responsib ilities By their actions, many CEOs send negative signals about the role of information technology to other leaders in their organization who then rep eat the behavior. Companies with such leaders frequently fail to reap busin ess advantage from information technology. The authors describe seven types of CEOs, their behaviors and attitudes tow ard IT, and explain why all but one are decidedly unfit to lead companies i n the information Age. Only the "believer CEO" is ready to play a construct ive role in his or her company's use of information technology. Believers u nderstand that IT enables strategic advantage, and they demonstrate such be liefs in their daily actions. Believers are involved in IT decision making and are preactive in addressing IT problems and opportunities. They seek ad vice from a variety of sources, study the IT strategies of competitors, and set examples for other managers in their company to follow. The authors provide many examples of believer CEOs - John Browne of British Petroleum, Ralph larsen of Johnson & Johnson, Jack Welch of General Electr ic, Toshifumi Suzuki of Seven-Eleven Japan, and lan Robertson of Land Rover , among others. They describe how each infused his organization with a posi tive altitude toward IT and contrast their actions and beliefs with those o f the six failing archetypes. They explain how these believer CEOs played a critical role in their corporate IT strategies, how they crafted IT-savvy organizational cultures, and how these actions benefited their businesses. Realizing that many CEOs will see their current attitudes reflected in thos e of the six failing archetypes, the authors prescribe a variety of methods for leaders to address their shortcomings and master the techniques of bel ievers.