The CIO's Guide to Staff Needs, Growth and Productivity: What Your Employees Want to Know and Are Afraid to Ask

This book contains 34 of my almost 200 columns, specifically selected, based on the importance for senior IT executives to know these questions are being asked. These questions are then discussed from two perspectives, the importance to you, the CIO, and why it’s important to your employees. As a former senior IT executive, I gained the knowledge and experience to write for GateHouse Media and IT World, based on a my personal experience moving through the IT ranks, mentoring and growing my staff, and thinking about the great advice I was given by my managers and mentors. What I realized while writing these columns and answering reader questions, was how much I forgot about what it’s like for techies early in their careers, trying to move ahead professionally. As you will see in the Table of Contents, these columns are categorized into the eight questions/chapters listed below. • Where should I go from here? • How can I grow professionally? • How do I keep current and stay marketable? • How can I update my technical skills? • How can I effectively deal with change? • How do I keep my job? • How do I become a manager? • How do I get into IT? Understanding your employees’ perspective on these questions can help you, as their leader, maximize productivity, enhance innovation, reduce turnover, and as the book title alludes, create a productive and happy staff.