Ebusiness despatches: René Carayol on e-leadership

One of the major features of the new economy will be a bolder and more courageous form of leadership. This will be distinct from the type of solid management that today is in oversupply. And the IT industry has a real opportunity to provide many of these next-generation, new world leaders - if only the individuals in question can shake off the legacy of years of subservience.

I am sure you have all heard the story of two famous and successful American institutions, one over forty years old, which has 27 layers of management. No prizes for guessing this is true blue IBM. A more famous American institution, which has been commercially successful for over one hundred years, benefits from only two layers. There are leaders and operational staff, everybody understands the vision, and everybody in the organisation knows exactly what they should be doing. Who am I talking about? The Mafia.

We all have an opportunity to partake in a new leadership model. However, many of us have come through ranks of IT management where value is put on being cautious, risk averse, subordinate, too keen to please and eager to say yes. Under these circumstances, signs of leadership are scarce.

We have groomed, nurtured and developed people in the IT industry to build systems which are safe and secure. Consequently, they have to be right first time with zero defects. This has bred a cadre of talented people critical to the growth of the organisation yet fearful of embracing the entrepreneurialism that enables growth.

They are now feeling the change and have the opportunity to become a major part of the ebusiness wave in the UK. However, in a world that demands flair, creativity and courage they are in danger of being left outside the ebusiness boardroom.

But change can happen with the right sort of leadership. In many organisations IT has been intellectually outsourced to the IT function. Some organisations still have IT reporting into finance and some organisations still don't have IT on the board. We are seeing IT functions being managed by budget and affordability - not by opportunity or market creation.

The IT function has its necessary plumbers who keep the core, central nervous systems of our organisations running in a safe and secure manner. Technologists have been excellent at building and developing these people but all organisations (not just IT) now need their fair share of leaders. These are the people with the ideas and vision, the cavaliers and loose cannons that dare to think differently. All organisations need them but managing this apprentice leadership demands confidence, not identifying non-conformance.

Identifying tomorrow's leaders involves looking for great communication skills, talent spotters, rule breakers, good influencers - not just planners, progress chasers, and great technologists. These people are still important, but leadership has become vital. Leadership is not as rare as some would have us believe, but the ability to spot it and nurture it is.

It is perhaps time to find the scary people in our organisations. They will probably look and act differently from the average member of staff. They will be demanding on the organisation. They are always noticed, if not always for the right reasons. Be brave, and let's start appointing some scary people.

It is also time all organisations - especially companies' IT organisations - start recruiting people and not skills. After all, how many times have you heard 'You hired me for my skills and fired me for my personality'?