Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days.  There are two things about those bad days.  First, bad days make good days seem even better!  Second, they are trials that prepare you for things that happen in life – they make you better.  As you look backwards on bad days, these lessons always seem clear.  Wouldn’t be great if we could look forward to them or at least learn these lessons in real time?  It would make you almost embrace these so-called bad days. 

I was in Boston this week, attending the NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) Forum.  I was having a leadership conversation with Tereda.  I’m not sure if she realized it, but we were having a discussion about one of the executive core competencies of the Federal Government Senior Executive Service: Resilience.  Resilience deals effectively with pressure; remains optimistic and persistent, even under adversity and recovers quickly from setbacks.  We discussed those setbacks and moments of adversity that make you a stronger and more effective leader. 

I remember a day of adversity as a teenager – December 26, 1975 – I had what remains to be the worst day of my life. Now, realize, this is by teenage girl standards, but even as I have increased in age and experience, relatively speaking … this was pretty much still the worst day of my life.  Picture this: the Washington Redskins are playing the Philadelphia Eagles.  Teenaged Linda and trumpet player turned French Horn player gets a lead from recently dumped boyfriend on an opportunity to play trumpet at the half time game. Teenaged Linda gives the only answer that an up-and-coming Redskins fan could give.  Yes.  It snows; lips stick to mouthpiece; Redskins lose; cute under-dressed teenager needs to huddle under blanket with former boyfriend for survival.  I look in his eyes as he looks into mine, and I hope file this memory away for the rest of my life as the worst day of my life – my worst day ever.  Happily, this day continues to be a benchmark that helps to motivate some of my executive resilience.  I only wish that I could recognize those days sooner.  If I could, perhaps look forward to those bad days, and then they wouldn’t seem so bad. 

As I checked the flight status of my return trip from Boston Logan to BWI.  It was foggy and stormy in Baltimore and Boston.  Our flight was delayed.  I have a pretty bad cold and feel bad.  Hum…I think I am getting ready to look forward to one of those bad days.   So, I was jazzed up … nothing but “better” stuff could happen after a “bad” day.  When I finally got home in my own bed at nearly 2:00 am, I reflected that this turned out to be an amazing day with the most wonderful experiences.  Let me share a few.

Beautiful Sunset.  I met Dean.  He works on the NASA/Goddard’s James Webb Telescope project.  He introduced himself and offered me a flat chocolate pancake.  He said to me that he met me before, but I probably don’t remember him.  I told him it didn’t matter because we were about to have a fun evening together and I wouldn’t forget him.  He was leaving on a flight the next morning at 5:40 am heading to Orlando to catch a cruise.  I was so happy for his great day because he would make his cruise and even with no sleep, he had a good 10 hours of slack in his schedule to make his launch.

Spectacular Sunrise. Then my Deputy Dennis was talking to someone who seemed to be a delightful NASA veteran.  He had been with NASA since 1961.  Dennis was happy that they had a lively conversation.  I think that by the time we took off, their conversation may have been up to the 1980s.  I never knew the man’s name.  But he had a hair full of gray hair.  He lives in Ocean Pines, MD.  I pretty long drive from BWI Airport.  He’s getting ready to have one of those bad days.  Then, he talks to himself and makes a decision.  He will stay at Kent Island and wake up to watch a beautiful sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay, then drive the rest of the way home.  He was getting ready to have a great day.

The Moon and the Stars. Finally, our plane arrived.  A plane load of full of people broke into spontaneous applause.  Yes, this was indeed a great day.  We boarded and I had the prophetic insight to upgrade to business class, so I looked forward to a very comfortable pleasant flight. 

I sat next to this old man with a familiar spirit.  He reminded me of my grandfather.  He ordered a Tanqueray and ginger ale.  I ordered a chardonnay.  I made sure that my bag didn’t take up his leg room and gave him some advice about his tray table.  Later, I put on my headset and turned up the volume on my iPod and looked out the window.  There was heavy cloud cover and the reflected moonlight was beautiful; the starry night was enchanting.  I always loved the moon and the stars. What a stunning night.

As we landed and prepared to leave the plane, I smiled at the familiar grandfatherly spirit that kept me company.  He took down his roll-aboard and I spied his name tag – Kumar.  Wow!  Could it be my old Astronomy Professor? I seized the moment and excused myself and asked him if he was a physics professor.  He said, he used to be one but he is retired.  I asked him if he taught at Howard University.  He smiled and said yes.  And I told him that he was my Astronomy Professor at Howard University.  He left the plane and he waited for me.  As I managed myself off the plane, I remembered another close call for the “worst day of my life”.  He was in it.

When I caught up with him, I told him I had to tell him a story.  In his Astronomy class, he asked the class if we understood the movement of the tides and the relevance of the position of the moon, sun, and Earth.  Everyone nodded with feigned understanding.   Then, to my terror, he gave me the chalk and said, “Young lady, explain it to the class.” I said ok, and then shocked him with an explanation that was almost as good as his.  My classmates came up to me and said, “Girl, you did good! Glad it was you and not me!” I didn’t expect him to remember, I just wanted him to know I did.  Well, he said he remembered. This was 33 years ago. 

Then he said to me, somewhat apologetically, but not really, that they were intentionally hard on the science and math students at Howard University because the pressure and the trials would make them better in their life and their careers.  I survived that bad day and came away from his class loving the moon, stars, sun, tides, and our Earth.  But, I never knew how great that day was until last night. 

I finally got home at almost 2:00 am.  Congested, feverish, and tired, I lay in bed and said my CIO prayers.  I think this bad day may have been one of the best days of my life.  I look forward to my next bad day.  I had sweet dreams that night.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Just before I started working as the Deputy CIO at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), I had to get a security clearance.  The special agent doing my background investigation called me up and asked for the phone number of my hairdresser, Peggy Marshall.  I paused … and told him … that’s a low blow dude.  He said you’d be surprised what you can learn from a person’s hairdresser.  You’d be surprised indeed – even leadership lessons. 

She is a hardworking business woman who learned her work ethic from a farm in what used to be rural Clinton, Maryland.  As the farms disappeared and the Washington, DC suburbs began to expand, she started her own business and hair salon, Peggy’s Beauty World.  After many successful years, she sold her business and maintains a very small loyal clientele in her semi-retirement. 

Two weeks ago, she asked me about how things were going at work and what’s the job of a CIO is like.  As she stood over my head, she said, she probably wouldn’t understand because after all, she’s “just a hairdresser”.  Startled, I turned around and looked at her and began to tell her what she already understood.

Here are some of the lessons.

Customer Service

After retirement, she established a small licensed set up in her home.  It was her goal to keep a small subset of her faithful clients and offer them flexible personalized service.  I have been in to see her 10:00 pm on Sunday night; or 5:00 am Monday morning before work; a few hours before I leave town; or even in 911-hair emergencies.  If you don’t like your hair, she will do it again.  She’s even been known to make house calls on her clients that are not mobile.  I’ve often asked her how things are going during these difficult financial times.  So far, things are going well for her.

Mark Cummuta, in a CIO.COM blog “How to Avoid a Layoff” advises CIOs that to get through these difficult financial times, one should focus on customer service to avoid layoffs.  By doing so, your customers will become your strongest advocates during times of trouble.  He goes on to say:

Let me explain. No matter what job or position you have, you always have customers – whether they be internal managers, peers, business units, branch offices, downstream partners, QA teams, PMOs, sales teams, etc. – that rely on what you produce. They may not even know it, but in today’s economic turmoil, it's to your benefit to know who they are and to make sure they know what you can and do, in fact, do for them!

Leading and Managing People

As a beauty shop owner, she has hired, trained, and mentored many young women.  She has employed a diverse set of people, from urban divas to seasoned professionals.  She has hired, fired, dealt with tears, fears, and jeers.  Yet, through all of this, she maintained a high quality business that was known for ethical, family-oriented, and high-quality services.

The CIO has a challenging problem of motivating her employees.  The organization spends a lot of time managing projects, justifying IT budgets, and delivering service.  Many times, in service delivery, it is difficult to be noticed unless something goes wrong.   The Maytag repairman has the challenge of being forgotten because of the high quality of his product. 

Career Passion

Peggy is passionate about hair.  She absolutely loves doing her job.  In her youth, as she tried to figure out what she would do for a living, her mother admonished her asking her why does she need to figure this out? She already loved doing hair, just do that.  Before she sold her business, I can recall days where she was extremely busy and had to be on her feet for nearly 10 hours.  Still smiling at the end of the day, she said, you never get tired when you are doing something that you love.  It gives you energy. 

Passion and hard work are keys to success.  Martha Beck, in Finding Your Own North Star, describes The Hero’s Saga where ordinary people, take pragmatic steps to create the magic of turning their longing and intention into reality.  I absolutely love the TV show Heroes.  My idea of a dream vacation will be to catch up on whole seasons of this show.  The show is about the lives of ordinary people who discover that they have extraordinary talents and gifts.  Gifts + passion = magic

Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy, you have nothing. Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion
     - Donald Trump -

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.
     - Anatole France -

I couldn’t believe that Peggy told me that she was just a hairdresser.   Approximately every two weeks she doesn’t just turn this bird’s nest on top of my head into pretty curls, but she gives me a little extra bit of inspiration that helps me create the magic of being a CIO. 

I love my hairdresser.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

I had the good fortune of being asked to speak on a panel for Women in Technology.  The panel was called Government Leaders at the Helm.  Like with any other discussion focused for women in leadership, we are asked typically to answer these questions:

·         How do you break through the glass ceiling?

·         How do you get work-life balance?

·         What’s it like being a woman in a male dominated field?

This was the third year that I did this panel.  As each year passes, there has been an increase in the number of men who attend.  I’m not surprised.  Perhaps posed in a slightly different manner, these are questions that any leader should ask himself or herself as they manage their lives and their careers.

Glass ceiling. It’s difficult talking about this.  Acknowledgement may not cast your organization in the most positive light; yet ignoring it may be reacting like putting your proverbial head in the sand.  Rebecca Shambaugh, in her book “It’s Not a Glass Ceiling It’s a Sticky Floor”, acknowledges the existence of the glass ceiling, but challenges her readers to focus on those things that make your feet stick to the floor.  Some of the things we learned as girls in Kindergarten may be some of the traits that hold us back in our leadership careers.  She goes on to say:

The strengths and traits that got you to where you are, such as getting results, being detail oriented, being process focused, or a team player, are more of a recipe for being a good middle manager than an executive-suite executive.  In contrast, executive-level leaders need to think strategically, have a vision for their organization and people, lead complex change, and build strategic and collaborative relationships inside and outside the organization.

Focusing instead on these executive skills, is the key to getting “unstuck” on the floor.  Focusing on the wrong thing causes you to overlook your strengths.

Focus … there must be a golf story coming.  I was playing golf in Hilton Head, SC. I finally got to the point where I could drive the ball and not go into the water by NOT focusing on the water.  But, at Hilton Head, there were alligators at every hole – plus, I’m hitting from the forward tees which are closer to the alligator.  I did not lose my focus on the alligators and every single drive with an alligator went straight for the alligator.  Focus.  It works.

Work-life balance.  This question always drives me nuts.  It’s not like I am 33 1/3% wife, 33 1/3% friend, and 33 1/3% CIO! How can you not be 100% wife? Or 100% friend?  Focus and priorities make this a non-linear problem.  Einstein says it best:

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master.  For this reason, mastery demands all of a person.

There are times when folks will ask my husband, how does it feel to have your wife blog? He says, almost always, that it’s ok except when I blog on “his time”.  So then I thought what part of MY time is not HIS time? Then, I came up with it: while he’s sleep, working outside, shopping, or fixing something.  So, if I focus and write faster … and chose the appropriate time, then everybody’s happy.

What’s it like?  I like to answer this question like this … how does it feel? Well, today, I’m at a conference with a bunch Java developers.  A whole bunch of men.  A WHOLE BUNCH!  Imagine, you are late (ok, ok, no wisecracks), you are wearing a flashy silver and white metallic jacket in a sea of blue jeans, and you haven’t seen a woman yet. Then everyone turns and looks at you when you get a shout-out from the stage.  It feels like that.

Many of the executive traits that Shambaugh described are associated with Right-brained thinking.  And some studies have shown that right-brained thinking is often associated with women.  Some of those attributes are: big-picture thinking, seeing both present and future, appreciating, presents possibilities, and taking risks. 

Dan Pink, in his blog, Too Many Left-Brained Thinkers Spoil the Pot, suggests that left-brained thinking prevented some companies from seeing financial disaster coming.  He goes on to blog:

I have a theory that people who find themselves running major-league companies are real organization-management types who focus on what they are doing this quarter or this annual budget. They are somewhat impatient, and focused on the present. Seeing these things requires more people with a historical perspective who are more thoughtful and more right-brained — but we end up with an army of left-brained immediate doers.

So, I guess the conclusion is whether you are a male or female executive; or a CIO or regular person, you should focus on your strengths, be prepared to stand out in a crowd, and watch out for alligators.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

I’ve often said that this NASA CIO gig is pretty tough. But, there are many times … like now … where I am proud to be the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. We launched Spacebook this week. Woo-hoo!

We took a leap of faith and rocketed into social networking this week with the launch of Spacebook, an employee intranet that features user profiles, group collaboration spaces and social bookmarking. This is similar to Facebook, except that it is restricted to NASA’s secure internal network. It’s open to every employee of NASA.

I need to tell you that this whole Web 2.0 thing gives people the willies. We delayed the launch one week to make sure we addressed the very valid concerns raised by our stakeholders. Our legal folks wanted to make sure that we met our policy and regulatory obligations; our IT security folks wanted to make sure that we didn’t expose NASA data or NASA networks to any additional risks; and finally our Office of Human Capital people wanted to make sure that we were all well-behaved and personally accountable.

There are a lot of phobias associated with social networking. I addressed some of them in Time to Face Your Facebook Phobia. I’m sure that many of these concerns were raised about the social impact of the invention of the telephone. Somehow … someway … we worked through those issues. I’m sure that some of those serious issues may appear silly now. I expect that we will look back on the serious issues raised by Web 2.0 technologies in wonder and amazement.

As CIOs we are required to provide lead efforts to improve the competitive advantage our organizations need through implementation of collaborative technologies. Technologies like Facebook and Myspace gives us those capabilities. There are, however, some very valid barriers to entry. Launching capabilities like this on internal networks reduces those barriers of entry. IBM has done this with their internal social networking site, Beehive and MITRE has done this with their internal Twitter capability.

One of the most amazing things about these Web 2.0 technologies and the greatest value to NASA is the ability to help us create a culture of engagement and collaboration that makes each individual employee much more effective. Engaging the public, harnessing the power of crowds, and open and transparent government … as my friend Efrain and fav acquisition professional would say … it’s ALL good Poopsie.

What’s next for Spacebook? There are currently pilots at Ames Research Center and Kennedy Space Center on SharePoint so integrating these capabilities may be desirable. The ability to leverage use of widgets and have use mashable apps is something that we want. We would like to include blogs and a more seamless interface to NASA web capabilities including those potentially offered in the web services sourced by one of NASA’s I3P contracts.

NASA has a strong external presence on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. Not too many people will “get” this … but back in my heyday, we use to say “IBM sells MVS but they use VM”. Well, now, we at NASA get a chance to actually use more securely and internally the capabilities that we use to communicate to the public. Perhaps these Web 2.0 technologies will make us the bionic agency … will be faster, stronger, better than before. Regardless of the hyperbole, I’m proud this week to be the CIO of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

One year today, I made my first blog post.  Today, I want to pause and discuss my experience, my learning, and my path forward.  This will not be a sterile reflection of the efficacy of this Web 2.0 technology, but rather, this will be an expression of what this experience meant to me as a CIO, a leader, and as an individual.

Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

A friend (I will just call him K) convinced me to start blogging in October 2007.  He was passionate about it.  He told me I would absolutely love it. I said ok, but he said, “No, you have to promise!”  I said, “OK!”  I decided that I would make it my New Year’s Resolution.  It was on the list right before “stop procrastinating”.  Thus, I didn’t get to until May. 

I’ve had earlier posts discussing Why I Blog. Loved ones expressed concern that caused me to be just plain afraid of doing this in the discussion Is Web 2.0 Worth the Risk? One year later, my conclusions are yes, it is worth the risk.  You can’t get innovation or any significant return without any risk; you can’t have risk without uncertainty or doubt; and you can’t have courage without fear.

One of my favorite leadership books is The Leadership Moment, by Michael Useem.  Life is made up of an infinite amount of moments.  Some of those moments in a leader’s lifetime are significant and some of them are learning moments.  May 30, 2008 started what is to date a series of at least 50 monotonically increasing learning moments which converge on the lesson that the only way to truly embrace Transparency and Naked Leadership to be armed with the confidence of faith,  the audacity of courage, and the competence of experience.  Then, and only then, can you face with humility the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that transparent and authentic leadership truly requires.

Oh, The Pain … The Pain!

One of my favorite TV shows used to be Lost in Space.  One often-used quote from one of the characters Dr. Smith was, “oh the pain…the pain”.  There is pain associated with this. 

I am reminded of an incident that happened when I was in the 8^th grade.  There was a girl down the street who I did NOT know – she told my sister that she couldn’t stand me.  It made me cry because I didn’t know her at all.  How could I have that effect on someone I don’t even know? My little pubescent feelings were hurt.

One commenter called what I thought was a cool post nonsensical dribble.  Another time, I got an anonymous letter from an employee informing me that I was the worse leader on the planet, an embarrassment to my directorate, and laughing stock among my fellow NASA CIOs. Boy, how quickly I reverted back to the 8^th grade.

Pain is not necessarily a bad thing.  Pain helps us protect our fingers from a hot stove; it protects our soul, spirit, and character when we do the wrong things; and new life springs forward through the pain of childbirth.  The pain reminded me to be careful; it reminded me to be humble; it reminded me to learn; and it reminded me of my purpose in the nation’s space program, in this profession, and in this life.

The Final Conundrum

One of my blog readers, RT, likes to challenge me intellectually. One of his favorite quips is … “Oh, the questions we ask … the answers we seek”.  In life, sometimes we delude ourselves into thinking we find solutions in great answers when in fact, we find solutions in life’s great questions.

I gave a leadership talk to the Society of Information Management Regional Leadership Forum. I talked about Power, Passion, and Purpose.  One student asked me if I found my purpose.  I told him I wasn’t sure. He told me he thought he knew his purpose, until a traumatic divorce.  Then he realized he found his purpose only through continuously searching for purpose. He wrote this comment card, which I kept:

Purpose --- you have it --- keep on searching for it. Thank you … Tony

So, in my original purpose for this blog … I wanted to be relevant, to reflect my true self, to communicate, and to learn.  And in searching to satisfy this purpose I learned of puzzles to life’s great questions – to inspire is to BE inspired; communicating your ideas means listening; the teacher learns from her own instruction; you find your purpose by searching for it.

I once made a remark to my statistics teacher at Johns Hopkins.  Though I intellectually understood the concept of “random” and it’s foundation to statistics, I didn’t really believe in it.  He looked at me in a knowing way and said, “Of course you don’t.”  I will leave the rest of his comment unstated. But, he was right.

I find it no coincidence nor a random event that learning what I have from these past 12 months happened at this time of my life, at this agency, and in this manner. Perhaps Web 2.0 was created just to be critical in the implementation of this Administration’s technology agenda; perhaps it was created just to enable collaboration at NASA within the science and engineering community; perhaps it was created just for me. 

The last time I saw my friend K was November 2008.  We had the opportunity to speak a few weeks after that.  I was passionately recounting my 6 month’s worth of blogging experience.  He told me he noticed that I changed. I was more extroverted.  Well, he was sort of right.  But, I’m still the same shy little girl that doesn’t want to come out and play … but now, I’m outside in a world of discovery and learning that amazes me every day.

And that’s what I learned from 12 months of blogging.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Linda Cureton, CIO NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center turned 50 this year and so did I.  One of Goddard’s commemorative activities was a town hall meeting moderated by Center Director Rob Strain with former Center Directors Tom Young, Noel Hinners, Joe Rothenberg, John Townsend, and Al Diaz.  We often learn so much about our future by looking at our past.

It’s appropriate as we enter Mother’s Day weekend for me to reflect that I don’t have to look back too far in the past to learn from my mother.  I’ve blogged about this topic before and the calendar warrants further reflections on some more of those learning moments.

As the oldest of four children and as one who probably remembers most what it might have been like for Harriette as a young divorced mother, I marvel at her abilities in the area of teamwork, leadership, business acumen, and project management.  This may sound like CIO competencies but they are clearly also maternal competencies.

As I replay the tapes in my mind, I see how some of her clichés and sayings have relevance today in my role as a CIO.

The best way to make a friend is be a friend

My mother raised three introverted children plus a rather sociable baby sister.  When we invited kids to our party, we could barely muster 5 guests – and 4 of them were our cousins.  Baby Sister Lisa was so sociable, she was coached by my now experienced mother to invite her entire class of 21 girls to a slumber party so that a decent number would attend --  22 showed up. 

But the bottom line, is that friendship and customer fulfillment are built on pillars of servanthood, partnership, service, teamwork, leadership, and commitment.  Delivering mission value to your customers is the foundation of a credible relationship.

Make your bed and lie in it

Sometimes growing up, it’s very difficult to grapple with the concept of accountability.  Often excuses like “the dog ate my homework” or “but I forgot” substitute for adolescent responsibility. 

As CIOs, not only do we have to articulate an IT strategy, but we have to implement it and achieve our organizations goals.  And we need to hold ourselves accountable for delivering those results.

This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you

Any true native Washington, DC resident will recall the graceful branches of the plentiful Weeping Willow trees.  Sadly, as some of us “old school” folks will remember, they make formidable switches for poorly behaving kids.  I can’t say that I actually remember getting a spanking from a branch of that scary tree, but the thought of the possibility hurts just the same.

A friend of mine recently challenged me about whether or not I actually liked being a CIO.  The TRUTH is that this gig, like most leadership gigs, is not very easy.  Sometimes, it hurts and often every day is like getting a whipping for something that went wrong or for something you did wrong.  Regardless, we must press forward, leading and managing a credible and capable IT organization to achieve what our organizations have asked of us.

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

Alex Haley makes a good point here.  As we live in the PRESENT and strengthen the links to the PAST, our FUTURE offers us infinite channels to success.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

I’ve written a few times about the Relevant and the Irrelevant CIO.  It’s rather trite now to refer to the atomic power of Web 2.0 and similar technologies, but what’s not readily apparent is the impact it has on the role of CIOs and other information technology leaders. 

When I was a happy dreamy mathematics student in undergraduate school, I had the dubious pleasure of tutoring some engineering students who really didn’t believe that mathematics was a legitimate discipline.  They believed that it was merely a tool to solve engineering problems.  I trying to explain the foundational theory to one knuckle-head and he said impatiently, “look, just give me the formula”. 

Well, today, as consumers know more and more about IT and as Web 2.0 puts the power of technology into the hands of the end users, the legitimacy of the Discipline of IT may be lost on most and at the very least, the need or relevance of the role of the CIO is dubious at best.  This week, my mother announced to me that she NOW knows what Twitter is and doesn’t need her CIO (and she’s thinking – whatever the heck a C.I.O is) daughter to explain it to her.  And oh, by the way, she heard about it on Oprah.

The following is one of my most favorite CIO quotes:

"Agency executives know that CIOs provide a vital resource to organizations—they just don't know what it is," – Dan Matthews, former CIO Department of Transportation and current Lockheed Martin executive

Today, the CIO’s customers only want her to:

·         Make their blackberry work

·         Make sure that email gets delivered

·         Order a laptop or a desktop

·         Just go away

Today, with the advent of solutions like iPhones/iTunes,  gmail/yahoo mail,  and managed laptop services from suppliers like Dell or HP, there’s only one thing left for CIO’s to do: JUST GO AWAY!

So then what exactly is the discipline of IT and what should a relevant CIO be doing?

First, she must understand her organization’s mission needs and goals from a non-IT perspective. If all you think about is email delivery, then you’re doomed. We need to think about delivering our agency’s services.  Oh, but delivering basic IT services is a hygiene issue – if you don’t do it, you stink … but if that’s all you do, you’re ineffective.

Second, she must understand what IT can do. The blocking and tackling must be done. And you’ve got to stay on top of your game -- understanding the rules and suited up with the right equipment.

Finally, she must ensure that what the mission needs and what IT can do are aligned and in sync.  This means having informed decision-making processes to do just that.  It also means that the organization has a strategy or architectural roadmap to solve the organizations problems with IT. In IT jargon, this would be the discipline of IT Governance and Enterprise Architecture.

I end with apologies to Tina Turner:

What's IT got to do, got to do with it
What's IT but a second hand tool … for sweet old-fashioned fools
What's IT got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a IT when a IT can be broken

(Repeat and fade)

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center