CIO.com has posted a great opinion article by Mike Gualtieri offering nine ways to make sure you're not labeled as a "clueless" CIO. I must say, the list is excellent and one that should be taken to heart by executive managers in general, and information/technical execs in particular.

Among his observations of a good CIO: "He gets opinions from his experts but there is never any question about who will make the final decision. And, if you never watched Star Trek then you shouldn't even be a CIO."

But the list contains several important and valuable points, it's not just humor. Do you know what your reports have to say about you? Does your CIO make the grade? This quick article is highly recommended.

I can especially relate to the issues associated with "drinking vendor Kool-Aid" and the need to keep a distance. In fact, my experiences with massive numbers of vendors led me to take drastic action to stop cold calls and other sales tactics, to the point even of angering those vendors. Basically, if I didn't have an established preferred relationship with a vendor, calls were relegated to a special mailbox. It gave me my time back.

Also, it is important to watch the balance between being a good geek leader and being the "uber-geeky" supervisor. If you are a professional manager, you hire the best and the brightest and make sure they can do their jobs well. If you're hiring smart, those people are much better at the tactical aspects of your organizational responsibilities than you are, anyhow.