Are you a truly strategic exec?

Being a strategic CIO means two things: thinking long-term (even when there are urgent IT "fires" to put out); and thinking big-picture -- not just about your internal operations, but about transforming your whole collection of businesses, even your whole industry. So how are you doing? It turns out that most CIOs aren't as strategic as their CEO, but they're more strategic than CFOs, according to research by Egon Zehnder International, reported in CIO magazine (1 November 2007).

The Egon Zehnder folks -- can we just call 'em EZI, for short? -- have come up with seven levels of strategic orientation (the highest being 7):

7 = Transforms business model
6 = Redesigns business practices
5 = Improves business practices
4 = Drives to exceed goals
3 = Driven by goals
2 = Would like to make things better
1 = Fulfills assigned tasks

(Notice that the lowest level is the equivalent of "order-taker." Hint, hint.)

Based on more than 25,000 executive assessments, EZI says execs tend to get these average scores:
CEO: 4.3
CIO: 4.0
CFO: 3.5

CIOs can take some comfort in the fact that they outranked CFOs on the 'strategic-ness' scale. CFOs are mostly goal-driven and that's why they're stuck between 3 and 4. But don't take too much comfort! CIOs who truly want to be strategic players should be exceeding the CEO level and be up there in the 5, 6, and 7 level. We know that technology can not only transform business practices but whole business models and industries. And the elite CIOs -- the real business leaders -- are doing it now.

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