| Since leaving the jungle, humans have divided themselves into categories — a set of we’s. We 8.2 billion humans would be materially healthier, wealthier, happier, and safer if we could constructively and empathetically reconcile the hopes, dreams, and fears of the many we’s that make up our species. Anthropologists and philosophers who study collective behavior embrace the premise that “we” has three foundational components: the individual (who am I?), the social (how do I want others to see me?), and the collective (who are we?). (George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton’s Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being is one such source.) Before CIOs can understand IT in the collective (the “who are we?”), they must have a strong handle on their own personal identity. I have long argued that a critical piece of CIO success is autobiographical. CIOs need to be much more transparent. Your IT organization must know who you are — your values, what you care about, how much you care about it, and even your personality quirks. Moreover, the CIO’s identity has to be an authentic and managed narrative. This is not an exercise in self-advertising, or in positioning yourself as an all-knowing technology messiah. Core elements of successful CIO identity involve being perceived as hard working, smart, humble, humorous, and genuinely interested in the success of others. CIOs also need to know how others see them — the social component of collective behavior. Just as important, they need to know how others see IT. In the business context, that’s all about value creation. Understanding IT’s ‘inner we’ As we all know, the inside-the-ropes “we” of IT is not homogeneous. IT’s “inner we” is a coalition of interest groups, an agglomeration of different communities. |
