Outsiders On The Inside

For Tatum temporary CIO Lemerise, the inspiration is being an outsider working as an insider. "The beauty of it is that you can see the barriers in an organization and say what's wrong," he says. "If you're internal, sometimes that message doesn't count."

But being an outsider charged with changing an organization isn't easy. A temporary CIO needs to win over IT workers and line-of-business partners to be effective. That requires an open person who communicates easily across all levels of the workforce.

Glatfelter's Newcomer says that communication is an important part of Dwyer's success at his company. She's integrated herself into the culture and helps people understand why the direction she's leading them in is so important. That commentary from her temporary boss means a lot to Dwyer. "The biggest sign that things were going well here

was when someone told me they didn't feel like I was an outsider. That meant we were making progress, because you have to be a part of the team before you can fully do what you're there to do," Dwyer says.

Living in a hotel helped Lemerise become part of the team at Columbus Salame, because he can use personal time after work to build outside relationships with his people at the company. Every Thursday night, Lemerise has dinner with Columbus' CEO, Phil Gatto, who picks Lemerise's brain on both technology and business strategies for his company. "We have a wonderful relationship," Lemerise says. "He doesn't see a guy who did a job; he sees a partner with added value."

Part of that added value comes from Lemerise's ability to draw on the pool of intellectual capital of Tatum's CIOs. To facilitate communication among them, Tatum has a portal where its executives can post and answer questions on problems they encounter in their assignments. "Many times being a CIO can be a lonely job because people in your organization don't understand the ins and outs of what you're dealing with," Dwyer says. "This lets me tap into the experience base of the other partners, so I can get the feedback of the other CIOs."

Similarly, in Lemerise's previous CIO positions, he had only a small network of friends to turn to if he needed help with business or technology issues. Tatum's network opens up all sorts of opportunities. "You can't give me a problem that I can't find an answer to," he says. "Think about how confident that makes me feel walking into a client."

Illustration by John Ueland