No one ever said being a CIO was easy. And over the past few years, it rarely has been. But at least it hasn't been dull.
In this series, “What It’s Like To…,” IT leaders share their stories from the front lines—CIO to CIO, in their own words, from the gut, without vendor spin or PR meddling, without fear or favor. We’ve identified situations—both common and sui generis—that other CIOs can relate to or experience vicariously.
And what we’ve found is that the CIO experience is nothing if not multidimensional. It is, at turns, rewarding and disappointing. Maddening and moving. Mundane and, occasionally, extraordinary.
In these sometimes painfully candid, first-person stories, CIOs talk about what it’s really like to lay off loyal employees, or get fired themselves. How it feels to bet the farm on a new technology and come out on top, or pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar project and take the heat. To be the winner in a merger, or the loser. To deliver more with less. To handle logistics in Iraq, survive a hurricane, or simply walk a mile in your customers’ shoes. You may already know what it’s like to work for a 24/7 boss. You may even know what it’s like to take a real vacation. But do you know how it feels to save a life, or risk your own?
(And for the stories we couldn’t get—the tales no one would tell—click here.)
So what is it really like to be a CIO in the 21st century?
You know your piece of the answer.
For the rest, turn the page.
What It’s Like To…
Achieve 100% Uptime
Send People into Danger
Survive Charley
Take Your Application Source Code Out of Escrow
Bear Witness to IT History
Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes
Move a Company to Open Source
Work for a 24/7 Entrepreneur
Be the Last Man Standing
Bond on Mt. Fuji
Be an Early Adopter
Lose Your Job
Save Four Lives
Pull the Plug on a Multimillion-Dollar Project
Brief the President
Testify Before Congress
Be the First CIO of the U.S. Senate
Walk into an IT Disaster
Get the Job
Not Get the Job
Build the World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer
Be the Fall Guy
Live in a Two-CIO Family
Move to a New Industry
Survive the Pentagon Attack
Take a Real Vacation
Be Treated Like a Rock Star
Be an American Abroad
Catch a Killer
Be Different
Work in Iraq
Be a Man in a Woman’s World
Be Hired by the FBI
Start Your Own Company
Save $55,000
Fire Half Your Staff
Downshift Your Life
Go from CIO to CEO
Stories We Couldn’t Get
There were some subjects that CIOs absolutely, positively would not (or could not) address.
