The Upside of Multiple Roles

For Gibson, excitement ultimately outweighed apprehension. His second role of vice president of distribution put him in charge of a revenue stream. "The job of IT person gives you a lot of opportunity to wreck revenue, but this would give the chance to add to revenue," says Gibson. "Having more of a business portfolio was more attractive because it seemed more challenging. I'm establishing business relationships with partners, defining the business terms, as well as delivering the technology to bring more revenue."

The unknowns of an extra-IT role can be a thrill. "It's fun. It's interesting. It's different every hour of the day," says JDSU's Etterman. "I can go from a real estate negotiations meeting to an Oracle conversation about SOA and Web 2.0 to compensation discussions to a board meeting."

The potential benefits to the CIO — and the company — can't be denied. Dual-role CIOs stay around longer, says Forrester's Cameron. "There's a much more obvious connection from them to the business because they're more instrumental in driving improvements in the company."

Indeed, CIOs who have taken on additional business are better positioned to deliver improved processes and business results. "I am both the customer and provider of a solution. There are people on my team that are using technology to generate revenue, and there are people on my team who are delivering technology," says Gibson. "Conflict [between IT and the business] has not gone away, but it's isolated at my level."

Best Western is currently rolling out ITIL best practices, for example. There's a natural tendency within the business to want to introduce new technology features and functions fast and furiously, without much consideration of what that can do to the stability of the IT environment. But Gibson has been able to slow things down and introduce ITIL-inspired change-management processes that empower the technology team to delay production changes if they represent a significant risk to current capabilities. "Since, in some cases, I'm both the senior user and the leader of the technology team, direct reports from both sides are empowered to work together," says Gibson. "We're able to make a lot more headway in making those processes most effective."

At Sloan Valve, Coleman's triple-threat role as CIO, and, since 2004, chief process officer and leader of corporate strategic planning, has eliminated a lot of bureaucratic back-and-forth between departments. "I sit down once a month with functions to talk about priorities," says Coleman. "Most big projects are driven by the strategic plan. There's nearly complete alignment, although I don't care for that word. There's clarity."