Cultivating Effective Leadership in the IT World

by David R. Caruso and Kerry F. Gentry

Leadership is critically important to corporate success, yet it is poorly understood and even more poorly managed as a commodity within most enterprises. Nowhere is this more evident than within the IT community. And while IT professionals tend to view their industry as somehow different from others, our research and experience support the fact that universal principles, behaviors, and capabilities underlie effective leadership. The goal of the accompanying Executive Report is to define the nature of leadership, to propose a simple, universal model of leadership, and to suggest a methodical approach to the selection and training of effective leaders in IT.