Articles
Susan Cramm is a recognized industry expert on IT leadership and coaching. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and writes the "Executive Coach" column for CIO Magazine.
Recent Articles
| Date | Article | Curriculum |
|---|---|---|
| 4/24/08 |
Prince to Pig: Are You Developing or Testing Leaders? This is the third installment in a series on how to prepare future CIOs to run the show. |
Organize |
| 3/19/08 |
So, You Think You're Ready to be a CIO? This is the second installment in a series on how to prepare future CIOs to run the show. |
Organize |
| 3/7/08 |
Ready or Not? The Challenge of Developing Future CIOs This article is the first in a series on how to prepare future CIOs to run the show. |
Organize |
| 10/26/07 |
Leading Change with Every Move You Make This article outlines how smart leaders leverage the attention focused on them by using teachable moments to convey their leadership agenda. |
Deliver |
| 9/21/07 |
Strategies That Stick How to develop strategies that get implemented by working a process that ensures broad participation. |
Strategize |
| 8/24/07 |
Decisions by Design Learn how to engineer good decision making and reduce the wasted effort and increased animosity that results from confusing decision rights and poorly managed decision processes. |
Enable |
| 6/21/07 |
How to Make Nice Tips for winning back estranged colleagues |
Enable |
| 5/30/07 |
How to Learn from Your Leadership Mistakes This article identifies the three key lessons necessary to help convert mistakes into opportunities to improve relationships, credibility, and organizational performance. |
Enable |
| 5/15/07 |
True Colors Character is essential to leading others and contributing productively over the long-term. In fact, research concludes that it's impossible to be an effective leader without strong character. |
Enable |
| 4/1/07 |
Coaching for Leadership When it comes to empowering employees, a little encouragement goes a long way. |
Organize |
| 3/2/07 |
Maturing Your Demand Management Practices The demand for IT resources appears to be immune from business and economic cycles as technology becomes embedded within every aspect of the business. |
Strategize |
| 2/1/07 |
Five Steps for Successfully Transitioning to a New Job Mapping out priorities when starting a new job can ease stress and help you hit the ground running. |
Aspire |
| 1/1/07 |
Leadership Under the Influence "Inexperience, old habits and fear can lead to unnecessary risk taking by the CIO. Avoid this trap by following these simple rules for safe and effective IT leadership." |
Aspire |
| 12/1/06 |
Tips on Better Decision Making for the CIO "Smart IT leaders know the key to better decision making is to take a hard look in the mirror and identify what they need to work on to build credibility with the business." |
Aspire |
| 11/1/06 |
Better Leadership Through Peer Reviews "CIOs can push their leadership skills to the next level by using a 360 review to understand what they do well—and to start doing it better." |
Aspire |
| 10/1/06 |
Have Plans In Place Before You're Ordered to Outsource "Why it pays CIOs to map their plays before a dictate to outsource comes down from on high." |
Aspire |
| 9/1/06 |
Value? Added. "How CIOs can engineer a 'tipping point' to speed up adoption of value management practices and prove—once and for all—that IT matters" |
Realize |
| 8/1/06 |
Soft Skills Will Help You and Your Team Get Deserved Credit "You know your team is delivering quality, but the organization is not seeing it. Why? Because you’re not delivering on your relationships." |
Enable |
| 7/1/06 |
Accepting Responsibility Versus Finger-Pointing "If individuals don’t accept personal responsibility when things go wrong, their organizations will become dysfunctional and stay dysfunctional." |
Organize |
| 6/1/06 |
Help Employees Cope With Tough Times "CIOs need to help their staffers understand that if they can hold on during the tough times, the payoff is just around the corner." |
Enable |
| 5/1/06 |
The Worst Job in IT "Change is unstoppable, and CIOs are climbing aboard. Nice for them. But they risk losing their staff unless they communicate better. " |
Organize |
| 3/1/06 |
Survivor - The Organization "Does it really help you to vote people off your IT island? Isn’t there a better way to build a staff of top performers? In fact, there is." |
Organize |
| 2/1/06 |
How to Successfully Market IT "When it comes to selling your organization on IT, it's the people and the product, not the print." |
Enable |
| 1/1/06 |
Better IT Through Cooperative Leadership "How to involve everyone in the leadership and management of IT." |
Organize |
| 12/1/05 |
How to Do More with the IT You've Got "IT's capacity for growth and change lies within its architecture." |
Enable |
| 11/1/05 |
Your To-Do List for Managing Demand "As your business clamors for more and more IT, you need a strategy for determining value." |
Enable |
| 10/1/05 |
The Business Of I.T. Is Business "Six keys to lasting alignment with your business partners." |
Enable |
| 9/1/05 |
How to Get IT Research You Can Use "Help the IT consultancies understand what kind of research you really need to align with business." |
Strategize |
| 8/1/05 |
How to Work with an Executive Coach "Six ground rules for successful coaching engagements." |
Aspire |
| 7/1/05 |
The Heart of Persuasion "It's not how much you know, it's what you know about your audience." |
Organize |
| 6/1/05 |
Your Work or Your Life "How to overcome the corporate conspiracy that keeps you chained to your job." |
Aspire |
| 5/1/05 |
A Team Starts With Two "The best way to develop employees is one-on-one coaching, yet too few executives seem interested in making the effort." |
Organize |
| 4/1/05 |
All Talk, No Action - Part 2 "Since answers are not going to come from above, it’s up to those in the unbalanced majority to help resolve work-life balance issues – for themselves and with those whom they lead." |
Aspire |
| 4/1/05 |
All Talk, No Action - Part 1 "...work-life balance isn’t about having more free time; it’s about devoting your life, and the hours within it, consistent with your values and passions." |
Aspire |
| 4/1/05 |
Show Them How "Even perfect execution won't lead to perfect IT. You must encourage business users to develop some IT smarts of their own." |
Enable |
| 3/1/05 |
Share Power To Gain Control "Why CIOs should cede the what of IT to business executives and focus instead on the how." |
Enable |
| 2/1/05 |
Improving Customer Facing Processes Key to Competitive Edge "Outsourcing and packaged solutions have hollowed out IT. Yet CIOs still have the opportunity to create competitive advantage—by differentiating customer-facing processes." |
Enable |
| 12/1/04 |
Be Better Than You Really Are "How to understand your personality type for leadership success." |
Aspire |
| 11/1/04 |
Balancing Scorecards with Reality "How to make Balanced Scorecards work for your organization." |
Enable |
| 10/1/04 |
It's Never Too Late for Time Management "You can't be a good manager until you learn to manage your own time." |
Organize |
| 9/1/04 |
Fear of Transparency "Five excuses CIOs make to avoid practicing what they preach." |
Aspire |
| 8/4/04 |
The Unnatural Selection Process for CIOs "Why most up-and-comers aren't ready for the next level." |
Organize |
| 7/1/04 |
Take Back Enterprise Technology From the Vendors "It's time for CIOs to stand up to rapacious vendors." |
Deliver |
| 6/1/04 |
Desperation Outsourcing "Did you just stand by and let it happen?" |
Organize |
| 4/1/04 |
Managing IT Demand 101 "Some IT professionals still haven't learned to work with the business to manage demand for IT services." |
Realize |
| 3/1/04 |
The Perils of the Office of the CIO "The right way to deploy an Office of the CIO structure." |
Organize |
| 2/1/04 |
Leadership Agenda for CIOs: Be Nice "Why being nice is your foremost task." |
Organize |
| 12/1/03 |
New Year's Resolutions for CIOs "Ten must-dos for 2004." |
Aspire |
| 11/1/03 |
Surviving Failed IT Projects "How to sidestep the organizational death march." |
Deliver |
| 10/1/03 |
Five Ways to Regain Your Leadership Focus at Work "Five ways to regain your focus—and retain your job." |
Aspire |
| 9/1/03 |
How to Win Allies and Influence Your Peers "Professional relationships can advance—or sink—your career." |
Enable |
| 8/1/03 |
A Cry for Full-Cycle Governance "It's the only way to ensure project success." |
Realize |
| 6/1/03 |
10 Worst Mistakes CIOs Can Make "How to get yourself thrown out of the game." |
Aspire |
| 5/1/03 |
Getting the Most Out of Full-Circle or 360 Degree Feedback "Full-circle or 360-degree feedback assessments must meet three conditions to be useful: tailored, internalized and followed up." |
Organize |
| 4/1/03 |
Successful Change Management Is Based on Employee Enthusiasm, Not Corporate Directives "The success of change initiatives depends on employee enthusiasm rather than leadership directives." |
Organize |
| 3/1/03 |
How to Uncover Your Career Destination "Is this job all there is?" |
Aspire |
| 12/1/02 |
Ease the Pain of Your Budget Presentation "The CIO's green mile..." |
Realize |
| 11/1/02 |
Don't Think That IT Knows Best "You can never be smarter than your customer." |
Enable |
| 10/1/02 |
A Letter to CXOs "You have the IT capability you deserve." |
Aspire |
| 9/1/02 |
It Pays to Show Your Reports That You Care "You have the IT capability you deserve." |
Organize |
| 8/1/02 |
Three Tips for Delivering Short Cycle Projects "The fundamental laws of projects." |
Deliver |
| 6/15/02 |
Why CIOs Should 'Parent' Their Enterprise's Various Business Partners "It's important to say yes—in the right way." |
Enable |
| 5/15/02 |
A Crash Course in Strategic Planning "We all feel better when we are strategically fit." |
Strategize |
| 4/15/02 |
IT Economics 101 "The fact is, you can work on the 'supply side' all you want and never balance the demand and supply for your resources until you work the 'demand side.'" |
Realize |
| 3/15/02 |
The New CIO Mantra: Shut Up and Listen "For the next three months, keep your mouth shut and don't do anything." |
Organize |
| 11/15/01 |
The Dark Side of Outsourcing "Farming out the best work will hollow out your organization." |
Organize |
| 10/15/01 |
Managing Software Development Efficiently "Break out of the software development cycle chaos." |
Deliver |
| 3/15/01 |
The CIO as Valet "Why you should follow the fiduciary model of IT management." |
Aspire |
| 2/15/01 |
IT Project Planning - Adult Supervision Required "What is it about technology that can cause smart people to make dumb decisions?" |
Deliver |
| 1/15/01 |
Focus on Your Focus "How to make your IT agenda the talk of the office elevators." |
Strategize |