In informal settings you can get to know each other personally. Don't just talk about work. The more your fellow CXOs see you as a person, the more credibility and influence you will have - and the easier future access will be. At dinner, the CEO and I found we both enjoyed biking. "Where have you biked recently?" became a frequent opening to our future meetings.

• Get a reputation as a can-do CIO. Seek out others in your company who have the ear of the key executives. Tap into their knowledge of the company and work your own agenda by communicating an innovative vision for IT. The more strategic and innovative your vision, the more likely you will have sufficient facetime with the key executives. Once you win credibility at any level, you have a group of supporters who can tout your value to others.

When you have the opportunity to interact with any of your peers, carefully choose the way you communicate. Try to tailor the communication to the audience. Use different approaches, both formal and informal. Show pictures or graphs. Provide text or summaries of what you're talking about. Broadcast videos or slides. Or just have a conversation. Many times a combination of these are effective.

• Above all: Be brief! I had a mentor who told me always to communicate to CXOs in one half hour. Keeping it short ensures better assimilation of the message and, just as important, ensures you will be invited back.

Use Access to Manage Expectations

The late US Senator Sam Ervin, head of the Senate Watergate committee, said during that investigation: "My hopes are high but my expectations are low." This quote resonates with me because it acknowledges that hopes and expectations are different.

The CXO's hopes are based on desired outcomes that are usually unsupported by reality. Expectations must be based on facts and commitments. Managing hopes isn't possible, but managing expectations - though challenging - is. The expectations must be clearly communicated and the commitment from all parties must be solid. Even then, we can still get into trouble when the business environment changes. The business can begin to drift beyond the boundaries of expectations and into hopes based on assumptions about the new environment. For example, the necessary resources for a project may not be available, but we fail to communicate how that changes expectations. Working side by side with other CXOs, you will be able to see when expectations begin to drift toward hopes. Alerted early, you will be able to realign expectations and commitments.

Just when you have everything perfectly aligned, the organization will change. Count on it! On the bright side, you have another opportunity to build your network of friends. However, be prepared to have expectations reset by the new executive. Just because the job is the same does not mean the new executive will have the same goals, objectives or even hopes - let alone expectations!

Building those friendly relationships with the CXOs - making them allies and supporters - will go a long way to helping you manage the changing environment of today's corporation and ensure that you have even fewer of those difficult, seemingly friendless, days.

Before retiring in 1999, Patricia Wallington was corporate vice president and CIO at Xerox. She is now president of Florida-based CIO Associates