‘IT Leadership Manual – Roadmap to becoming a Trusted Business Partner’ - book review

‘IT Leadership Manual – Roadmap to becoming a Trusted Business Partner’ by Alan R Guibord

This book is one of three that I am reviewing to help in the development of supporting material for our new training programme on Business Partnering for managers in IT, which we recently piloted for British American Tobacco.  The above title suggested that this book would be directly relevant to this programme but, as I have found during many of my reviews, books do not always contain what is says on the cover.

The sad truth about this book is that reads more like a generic text on leadership, rather than a tailored manual for IT people.  It is not in any sense a manual; it makes limited references to IT and offers very little on business partnering.  It can therefore only be described as a disappointment for those who have the expectations built up by the title.

The coverage of leadership is quite readable and practical but the overall tone and level are pitched very much at those who are just starting on a management career.  The first half of the book is mainly focussed on the individual and self-awareness; it is not until chapter 5 that there is mention of the skills of relating to others and this topic is covered at a fairly obvious and basic level, for example:

·       -  ‘Be passionate’

·        - ‘Be honest’

·         -‘Be a good communicator’

·         -‘Build your own team’

There is coverage of the need to build relationships and to network but limited mention of specific skills and how to develop them; no guidance on empathy, questioning or challenging and only a cursory reference to influencing.  There is a helpful section on the need for an IT person to adopt a selling approach and to achieve consensus but no advice on how these skills can be developed and improved.

My main criticism of this book however is the absence of the two key elements promised by the title - references to IT and to business.  For someone whose biography mentions work with Oracle and Microsoft and claims to have held CIO positions, there are surprisingly few references to what happens in IT departments or major companies.  Where there are practical anecdotes, these are at a personal level, mainly from when the author ran Computerworld magazine.  And there are very few examples of interactions with colleagues in other functions, which is what a book on business partnering should be about.

The common failure to quote what happens in respected major companies is a regular theme of my book reviews.  It is of course much easier to sit at your desk and churn out generalisations.  I know from my recent book on Finance Business Partnering how difficult and messy it is to get companies to agree to be quoted; it took us over six months to get BAT, Invensys, Rolls Royce, Shell and Unilever to agree to the chapters that featured them; but it was worth it in the end because it is the practices of companies like these that readers want to know about, not simplistic platitudes.

After finishing the book I looked at the index, just to check that my overall impression was backed up by the references there.  My views were confirmed.  No references to big companies, few references to IT, hardly any mentions of business partnering.  This book could only be of benefit to someone just starting their career as a very general and basic ‘101’ on leadership.

Buy the book here