Are CIOs better agents of change than the US President?

To say that change is coming to the enterprise is like saying the Sun will set in the west today. It was far imminent and is clearly evident now. The forces behind that change are plenty, but what's pertinent is the role played by the CIO, whose job responsibilities have evolved over the years.

While being adaptable to the changing business environs and aligning new learnings with the corporate strategies, the CIO has emerged a powerful change leader. With rising expectations, the CIO is the new leader with unique insights. Certainly, the CIO leads the organisation in the right direction with appropriate plans of action. His ideas may not be appreciated always, but they are considered relevant to a large extent and his projects are fairly acknowledged.

Being in a position of authority, s/he can influence positive change in both formal and informal ways. Well, s/he can make a difference, if not directly, subtly by encouraging others. But has anyone wondered how powerful the CIO is as an agent of change?

To answer that we need to draw a comparison. So, how about this one? Who is the best agent of change: the CIO or the President of America?

Imagine all CIOs think the same, act the same and compete to make their own mark in their circles, there would be a threat of homogeneity that would annul the purpose of the CIO. In that perspective, there is a need for an element of uniqueness in decisions.

When under pressure to accelerate innovation, the CIO latches on to every opportunity and designs new modules, derives value from information and plans new moves to deal with the rapid pace of change. As an agent of change, he is cent per cent in charge.

That may not be true with the American President, who has to go by the rule book. As rightly said by Freakonomics author Steve Dubner on a radio show: "If you think about it, there aren't that many things that the President can do unilaterally, OK? Most of the power is very constrained and that's not (by) accident. The Constitution was written in a way to limit that power..."

A sea of ideas make little sense if they aren't meant for timely implementation. Luckily, the CIO isn't obligated to restrict his performance to a written Constitution. What's most essential for the CIO is his introspection into principles, ideals and strategies.

In a debate on if the US President is the most powerful person in the world, Dubner quoted Bernadette Meyler, professor at Cornell Law School: "We think of the President as having great power to fix the economy, for example, or fix international conflicts. And to some extent, the President has persuasive authority to do things like that. But the President really can't just turn around and fix the economy within two years, for example."

How true.