A leadership expert and former hostage negotiator says that business leaders who show that they care about employees will create a safe haven that fosters productivity and creativity.

Once you've defined what innovation means to your organization, you need examples that reinforce your message and demonstrate what innovative behavior looks like. By recognizing innovators, you make them more visible to others on your IT team. And you not only motivate these individuals to do more, you turn them into role models who motivate others. Such recognition is a big part of establishing a new practice-the attention and direction motivate people to change their behavior.

This year I had the privilege of judging a number of CIO 100 applications. What I enjoyed most about the process was seeing the direct connections among technology, innovation and business value in the submitted projects. Perhaps most remarkable, however, is the importance of effective leadership to these highly successful and innovative technology initiatives.