Something's gone very wrong with the structures, processes, and policies that govern how a business makes IT decisions and who within the organization makes them. Most companies have such frameworks—commonly referred to as IT governance—in place today. In the best cases these systems help IT and business managers work together to make smarter IT investments that deliver real value.
Despite these well-defined rules, IT and the business too often lack a common understanding of the company's basic objectives and have conflicting opinions about technology options and priorities. A good deal of research shows that this misalignment usually results in failed IT initiatives and high costs.1
The problem is that IT governance systems have become a substitute for real leadership. Companies are relying on tightly scripted meetings, analyses, and decision frameworks to unite CIOs and business executives around a common vision for IT. But committee meetings and processes are poor stand-ins for executives who can forge a clear agreement among their peers about IT investment choices and drive the senior-level conversations needed to make tough trade-offs.
For several reasons, leadership can achieve what governance systems by themselves cannot. First, IT leaders earn the trust of their business colleagues, often by...