I’ve taken a small break from The Wealth of Nations because I read a good article (may require an account) in The Economist about Management and IT. The article mentioned a book published by HBS Press titled The New CIO Leader. In a lot of ways I’m fascinated by the role of IT in both management and business in general. Because I’ve grown up with the internet and the technology we use today, I’ve always considered it an invaluable part of everything; life, work, business, travel – it’s everywhere, and I think it’s also made everything better.

As I’ve gotten older, I have begun to get more of a sense of the role of technology in a business setting, and specifically as a competitive advantage. One of the things I love about working at Wharton Computing is that technology plays such a huge role throughout the school. From the Dean on down, everyone is concerned with getting the most out of technology and making sure that Wharton is the most technologically innovative business school in the world. I think if Wharton was a for profit business, it would be the epitome of how to use technology effectively.

The book splits CIOs into two categories. One is the “chief technology mechanic” and the other is the “new CIO leader”. The new CIO leader is the CIO that uses technology as a competitive advantage and sees the big picture. The former is a CIO who sees technology as a machine that helps move the company along, but does nothing in terms of creative output or added value. The book makes the argument that the CIOs who focus more on using technology as a strategy, as opposed to a tool, will become a more integral part of the management team and give their companies a real advantage.

I am still quite naive when it comes to the big organizational picture but I have always believed that technology can be leveraged in such a way that it will make a company better, no matter what the industry. The firms that have managers who believe that technology is part of the big picture will absolutely succeed over those that simply implement technology as a productivity tool or in response to a competitor.

Hopefully the book will prove me right.