InformationWeek

Secret CIO: Avoid Foot-In-Mouth Disease

Are you a techno-nerd? If so, you might want to keep it to yourself

By Herbert W. Lovelace
Issue column appeared: Sept. 2, 1996

A major part of a CIO's job is keeping little problems from becoming big ones. If you do it well, people think your job is easy and that you are overpaid. While this is unfortunate, it is far better to be perceived as underchallenged than incompetent.

One key to preventing little problems from growing into big ones--and from being perceived as incompetent--is to watch what you say, and to wh om. There are two major rules to observe in your speech patterns. One is to avoid being labeled a techno-nerd. The other is not to seem defensive and a naysayer.

It's easy to be branded a nerd. I fell into this trap at a recent Executive Committee meeting. I was there in case payroll-processing questions needed to be answered. But out of the blue, during a lull in the agenda, I landed in trouble. "Herb," Gornish, our CFO, said deftly, "I understand from an article I read that something called ISDN could solve the problems in our sales territories without all the money you tell us we'll have to spend."

Sucker Punch
I felt on safe ground, since I knew that ISDN stood for integrated services digital network and, even better, understood that it can run over the copper wires that our regular phones use. As in the boxing ring, however, one can never let one's guard down: More than one fight has been lost through overconfidence. I explained that ISDN would give us four times the throughput of the lines that we use to connect our small offices, but that we would still need high-speed communications such as T1 and T3 circuits to handle the volumes at our larger facilities.

Gornish smiled wickedly, pointed out that he really was not a technical person, and asked could I possibly explain what I meant. Of course, the more I said, the more the important people in our meeting looked confused--since we were there to discuss payroll, not sales offices. So, recognizing what I had done, I shut up, figuratively folded my tent and went away to come back and blunder again another day.

Being seen as a defensive naysayer is an even more grievous sin than being marked a nerd. Karen Lovell, our VP of planning, has mastered the art of avoiding this sin. When people make suggestions about how she should run her department or question the size of her staff, she responds openly and positively and listens to their ideas--even when everyone else in the room would support her in shooting them out of the water. When i t's her turn to question, she does so in a gracious manner that is never demeaning. Instead of disagreeing with someone who's asking a silly question or taking a shot at her, she will say something like, "There is a fundamental question here." Note that she does not say "fundamental problem." She talks about questions, opportunities, and approaches, not problems. I've learned a lot from her.

At lunch yesterday, I was sitting with Phil Whitestone, our president, when Gornish sat down and asked me where were the new computers his accountants were expecting. I answered that the fundamental question was whether the corporation is getting value for all the machines we are buying. Phil agreed, and, as I sat quietly eating my sandwich, he proceeded to query Gornish about what level of expense reduction would occur with the new equipment. You know, it feels really good to be a supportive team member.

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