Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-Based World

Essential reading for IT professionals with aspirations toward the top IT spot, and for sitting CIOs looking to refine their mobile, social and cloud strategies and knowledge

The definitive work on how to achieve leadership success in IT, Straight to the Top, Second Edition reveals how the role of the CIO is changing due to major trends associated with consumer and enterprise products and technologies driving new mobile solutions in today's organizations; cloud computing and the move away from controlled / internally managed data centers to pay as you use and elastic cloud infrastructure and application services; and the impact social media is having on today's complex organizations.

Author Gregory S. Smith expertly coaches existing and aspiring CIOs on building the requisite skills through his observations and experience as a veteran CIO with more than twenty-five years of experience leading IT teams and delivering complex technical solutions in the information technology field.

• An invaluable guide to help information technology and business professionals recognize the qualities, skills, and expertise necessary to attain the role of a CIO or enhance the skills for sitting CIOs
• Equips IT managers, CIOs, and CTOs to strategically plan their career moves
• Packed with encouragement, advice, and essential skills for aspiring and sitting CIOs
• Features interviews with leading IT professionals, CIOs, and executive recruiting professionals

Providing an organized and comprehensive view of the CIO job and its important role in modern organizations, Straight to the Top, Second Edition equips sitting CIOs and CIO candidates with the strategies and knowledge necessary to be successful in the new business normal - a mobile, social and cloud-based world, and how to provide technology leadership as a world-class CIO.

GREGORY S. SMITH currently serves as a CIO for an organization in the Washington, DC, area. He previously served for nine years as the vice president and chief information officer (CIO) at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Washington, DC. Mr. Smith is the author of How to Protect Your Children on the Internet: A Road Map for Parents and Teachers and Straight to the Top: Becoming a World-Class CIO. He has published many articles over his career, including ＂Talking at the Top of the World＂ in CIO magazine, along with a variety of technology and business topics in Forbes, eWeek, and Computerworld. Mr. Smith received a BS in computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MS in business from The Johns Hopkins University, where he also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Carey Business School graduate programs. He can be contacted through his website: http: //www.gregoryssmith.com.