Leadership is critical to the success of all enterprises. Nowhere is that need more apparent than in the IT world. IT professionals have a tendency to view their industry -- and themselves -- as somehow different from the rest of the world of human endeavor, and there is a certain misleading truth in this perception. Each industry, each project, and each individual is indeed unique, but unique in its characteristics and context, not in the principles that underlie its descriptive models and paradigms.

Cutter Business Technology Council Fellow Ken Orr has discussed Five Big Questions that illustrate some of the qualities an agile manager must possess [4]. They are uncomfortable questions to ask, answer, and, most important, understand. The upbeat, optimistic manager answering Orr's Five Big Questions will likely respond very differently from his or her more pessimistic colleagues. The CIO listening to the answers then filters the message through his or her own emotional lens.

Leadership is a necessary -- and critical -- quality in the IT domain as well as in other business arenas. IT people, however, tend to enter the field primarily as technologists and often attain leadership positions without recognizing the qualities that are essential to be a successful leader. In this issue of CBR , Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants David Caruso and Kerry Gentry address the meaning of leadership and how to identify and cultivate those IT professionals who possess leadership qualities.

Contrary to popular opinion, the academic community has developed some usable theory and techniques for organizational politics, and we will offer that work to you here. Unfortunately, we need to begin by addressing the morality of politics, because most American workers (not just those in IT) disrespect politics.

Ask any IT professional what phrases spring to mind when you mention "organizational politics," and nine times out of 10 you will get responses such as: