The Adventures of an It Leader, Updated Edition with a New Preface by the Authors

What does it take to lead and manage your company’s tech?

Becoming an effective IT leader and manager presents a host of challenges—from anticipating emerging technologies, to managing relationships with senior executives, vendors, and employees, to communicating with the board. A good IT leader must also be a strong business leader.

This book—now thoroughly updated with a new preface by the authors and current tech details and terminology—invites you to accompany new CIO Jim Barton as he steps up to leadership at his company. You’ll get a deeper understanding of the role of IT in your own organization as you see Jim struggle through a tough first year, handling (and fumbling) all kinds of management challenges. Although fictional, the scenarios are based on the authors’ long experience working with real-life companies across industries and sectors.

The Adventures of an IT Leader is both an insightful story and an instructive guidebook. You can read it from beginning to end or treat it as a series of cases, skipping around to different chapters that address your most pressing needs. (For example, if you need to learn about crisis management and security, read chapters 10–12.) You can also test yourself and think about how to use the book’s lessons in your own company by reading the authors’ “Reflection” questions at the end of each chapter.

This book is your indispensable manual for IT management and leadership, no matter what business you’re in.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of innovation and information technology at Ivey Business School.

Richard L. Nolan is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School and emeritus professor at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Shannon O’Donnell (now Shannon Hessel) is an assistant professor of art, leadership, and entrepreneurship and director of The Studio at Copenhagen Business School.