LFCE Event Showcases Value of Business-Savvy Tech Experts
Left to right: Paul Glen, Cathy Brune, Paul
Brenner,
and David Lum.
Joining the continuing business leadership seminar series, nearly 200 people attended LFCE’s May 5th presentation of “Developing Your IT Talent into Business Leaders.”
Cosponsored by the Illinois IT Association, the lively event was moderated by Michael Krauss, “Tech Matters” columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Together with LFCE’s recently published white paper, the seminar offered the latest insights into the benefits and challenges of developing IT professionals into business leaders.
Paul Glen, Computerworld columnist and award-winning author of Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology, was the featured speaker. Glen was joined by panelists Paul Brenner, Management Consultant and LFGSM faculty member, who spoke on key competencies for IT professionals; Cathy Brune, SVP and CIO of Allstate, who spoke on effective mentoring and leadership’s responsibility; and Motorola’s David Lum, Director, Asia/Pacific Product & Support and LFGSM faculty, who spoke on leveraging the MBA degree for maximum effectiveness.
In his keynote presentation, Glen delighted a crowd heavily populated by IT professionals by diving headfirst into traditional “geek” stereotypes. With nods of approval, he offered insightful observations into how managing IT professionals requires different skills than managing other types of knowledge workers.
He put his recommendations into focus with examples of the interplay between IT work, management, and power in the workplace. According to Glen, succeeding in managing IT professionals requires a unique blend of traditional and nontraditional management techniques. In discussing this, Glen compared the best practices of “traditional leadership” to his best practices for leading IT professionals.
LFGSM faculty member Brenner emphasized the dual importance of IT professionals understanding high-level business and financial goals, and business professionals understanding the role and value of technology in achieving business success. Challenging participants to an analysis of the Illinois Tollway’s I-Pass electronic toll payment system, Brenner offered a familiar example of a business successfully leveraging technology to meet revenue goals.
Allstate’s Brune cited the importance of not leaving succession planning to chance. She advised corporate leaders to mentor three or four people, listen well, and provide meaningful feedback to help employees better understand themselves. She also recommended that IT professionals and business professionals make the effort to share information and understand each other’s work to best benefit the organization.
Motorola’s Lum elevated IT professionals as a creative force driving our economy with the development of innumerable consumer products we rely upon every day, but he also stressed the need for IT professionals to build interpersonal business skills. Leadership development programs need a strong experiential component and a clear path to practical application. Through such programs, Lum noted, IT professionals can better understand themselves and the business implications of their work to become even stronger contributors.
In closing, Brenner noted that organizations need a clear and elevated goal that everyone works toward; Brune emphasized continuing to invest in employees, even when funds are tight; Lum stressed “learning by doing;” and Glen advised seeking out new ways of thinking, challenging educators, growing minds, and “starting conversations.”
