Rob Austin and Richard Nolan, Authors of The Adventures of an IT Leader

Episode Overview

Among other topics, Dick and Rob discuss the following topics with Metis Strategy

• How a functioning narrative can engage the generation of digital natives to absorb important challenges that a new CIO must prepare for
• The evolution of IT into a more strategic and critical role than in the past
• How the CIO truly holds a business management position
• The importance of a CEO treating IT as a participative, rather than as a spectator sport
• How the book has found resonance with many CIO leaders as an accurate and telling depiction of their everyday life

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About the book

Together with Shannon O’Donnell, Dick and Rob have written “The Adventures of an IT Leader,” published in April of 2009 by Harvard Business School Press. The book is a novel about the new CIO of IVK Corporation, Jim Barton. Based on actual cases with which the authors have become familiar over the years, Barton’s adventures represent a true depiction of what it is like to be the new CIO of a major company. Barton struggles to keep IT’s costs under control, to demonstrate the value of IT, to manage projects effectively, and to tame the runaway project.

The Adventures of an IT Leader can be read from cover to cover or the chapters can be treated like a series of cast studies. However it is read and used, it is an invaluable book for new CIOs or for people who aspire to take on the challenges of the top IT position.

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