Young also thinks that politics, and its part in a CIO's job, is often misinterpreted.

"One has to recognise that political things go on in any organisation, but there can be both negative and positive politics," he says. "There is a lot of very negative and destructive politics that goes through e-mail, for example, in the way people Â'copy in' managers and those types of things that undermine and play people off against one another. But you must also politick what the business needs. If politics is about maintaining good relationships and about understanding and then fighting the wars you want to win but leaving the others alone, then it's not necessarily negative if it's done in the right way with the right principles."

Nor does he agree that CIOs have to check their ethics at the door in order to survive. On the contrary, you're not going to survive if you do, he believes, as what goes around comes around. And the more you can deal transparently and honestly with people the better off you're going to be.

"I've been through some very tenuous discussions and tense times with major suppliers over the years. However, we have maintained relationships because in all instances we've been transparent and honest. This is a very small industry in this country and whether you're in supply land or customer land, I'm sure you'd very quickly get a reputation if you didn't behave ethically," he says.

Young does concede, though, that there are situations where you can bang your head against a wall and get to the point where you realise you cannot change others and you're not willing to change yourself. You should never compromise your integrity, he advises, because at the end of the day you have to live with yourself, and in such situations your only option may be to bite the bullet and take a hike.

Young is finding his views on business and IT are becoming more and more typical among his peers, but thinks there are still a number of frustrated CIOs who are not able to connect. In many cases, though, he says this comes back to the business, and in particular the chief executives and chief financial officers with whom CIOs have to be able to communicate. He's only had one such disconnect in his own career - at Lion Nathan.

"We didn't fit culturally," says Young. "I don't think Lion Nathan as an organisation was quite ready for me and I wasn't suited to it. We mutually agreed that it would be better if I weren't there and I think that's going to happen sometimes. You can be the best CIO in the world, but if you're in the wrong business you're going to be ineffective and you just have to recognise that and move on to a more progressive way of doing things."

Despite all the challenges of being a CIO, Young readily admits he loves the job, which is the principal reason he has stuck at it. His advice to others aspiring to such a role is that it's not as easy as it looks, but it's a lot more fun that it looks as well. "I wouldn't have traded the last 10 years for anything," he says. "I think it's a great industry to be in and I thank my lucky stars I had a mentor way back who brought me into IT.

"A lot of IT organisations have been seen as the poor cousins in companies. They have tended to feel as though they're on the bottom rung, but part of the joy for me has always been to take teams, open them up, get them working together and delivering into the business and having the business appreciate the IT organisation [for that].

"If you're the type of individual who really wants to be at the cutting edge of making critical decisions, and you're doing it not for personal glory but so that you can develop your team and service your business, then you'll succeed and the satisfaction will come from the results. But rest assured, you'll lose your spare time, the demands will be many and varied and all aspects of your communication skills will need to be first class before you get there. I have seen senior IT people move into a CIO role and fail because they can't communicate well enough to understand what everyone's looking for from them."

SIDEBAR:Things I Have Learned

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