The CEO of a leading consumer goods company was unhappy with his CIO. An important competitor was gaining market share at a disquieting pace by using social media and data analysis to target customers more effectively. When asked about these developments, the CIO outlined some potential responses, but he didn’t follow through on them. Instead, according to the CEO, the CIO remained preoccupied with “keep the lights on” IT projects and was therefore unable to gain traction with the business leaders and others within the company who would be critical in helping to address the new competitive challenge.

This type of disconnect—between what’s top of mind for CEOs and the attitudes and abilities of IT leaders—is all too common. The symptoms will be recognizable to many executives. IT leaders are often trapped in the status quo, their principal focus being to keep a company running in the face of sharply increasing demands and tight budgets. A lot have the desire but lack the capacity to deliver beyond basic IT needs.