EPILOGUE (ONE YEAR LATER)

It is Friday. In the CEO’s office, Bob Dunston is pleased following a hectic, yet exhilarating week. He had just come from a board meeting, and he was pleased with their reaffirmation of his strategy and direction for the firm. The good news is that the quarterly results reflected these decisions. Earnings were up 12 percent over the same quarter last year, and revenue grew an astounding 15 percent despite the difficult economy and the integration of an acquisition Dunston’s firm made earlier in the year.

“Nobody thought we could do it,” he chuckled to himself. “Wait until next quarter.”

With that, he punched up Bill Sedgewick on the speakerphone while he unwrapped a Snickers mini and opened a bottled water.

After one ring, Sedgewick’s voice boomed over the speakerphone. “Hi, Bob. What’s up?” Dunston could hear Sedgewick tapping away on his computer keyboard, his chair squeaking as he leaned into the speakerphone to talk.

“Bill, do you have a couple of minutes? I wanted to recap a few things from the week and prep for next week’s staff meeting.”

“Sure, Bob, be right there.” The phone line goes dead, and Dunston clicks over to voicemail while he waits for Sedgewick to walk across the building. As he scans his messages, he recalls the year the firm has had. First, there was the acquisition of the number-three competitor in their industry, which had worried many investors and analysts because of the timing and the industry downturn. Then there was the series of business initiatives that Sedgewick’s team supported with Web services. Between the inventory management portal, the customer and supplier self-service initiatives, and the M&A integration project, the IT organization had not only responded to a huge project load, but had excelled in engaging the business leaders and users in the dialog. What’s more, these projects were completed more or less on time, which was not the norm for this firm in the pre-Sedgewick days.

“The guy is worth his weight in gold,” Dunston thinks to himself. “Hmmm, I’ll have to do something special, a nice bonus or something.” Then he caught himself, amazed at the changes that IT had been able to achieve in this company in such a short time. It hadn’t been that long since the previous VP of IT was vilified by the business leadership for his failure to deliver on any of the promises IT made to the business. In those notsodistant days, IT was the scourge of the firm, and the standard jokes of IT ineptitude were the theme of many a conversation in the company cafeteria. Those days were long gone, however, and the new IT organization had established an early track record of success with the business leaders and user community unmatched in the firm’s history.

A knock on Dunston’s door brings him out of his reverie, and Sedgewick saunters into Bob’s office and slides into a chair at the conference room table. His sinewy arm snaked across the table toward the candy jar, plucking a Baby Ruth from the mix and unwrapping it with considerable skill.

“So, Bob, when did you switch from Snickers to Baby Ruths?” Sedgewick’s inquiry is delivered with a wry grin and a chuckle. “These are good. Keep up the good work.” They both laugh at this, while Dunston sat down at the smaller, round conference table in the corner of his office.

Their relationship had warmed considerably over the last two years, and especially so during the year in which so much of the company’s success had been attributed to their close partnership in making business and technology decisions together, and enlisting the complete and unwavering support of the entire corporation in their pursuit of the new company strategy.

Dunston put on a serious face. “Bill, we’ve had quite a year here haven’t we? I keep thinking back to our conversation about Web services over a year ago, and to me that signaled a change for our company in how we were going to drive our business. I don’t know if you’ve recognized it, but I certainly have, as have the other members of the management team, and especially the board.”

Sedgewick’s assault on the candy jar stops now, and he settles into a thoughtful expression as he intently listens to his boss and good friend.

“Just taking care of business, Boss,” Sedgewick allowed, looking down briefly before re-engaging eye contact with Dunston. Sedgewick is too experienced to let one good year of success paint a career for him. However, he does feel his team has had a great year in delivering the business initiatives and results that were expected of him. He is indeed pleased.

Dunston continues. “I think you underestimate the impact you and your team have had on the company, and I want you to know that it is recognized by everyone. The quarterly results, as well as the business performance for the whole year, have a lot to do with the business activities your team has supported with the IT organization.

“The work your team did in educating the executive staff on Web services was great. That got the team thinking about our business in new ways, and in ways that leveraged IT to drive our business performance to new levels. The strategy for M&A that you devised was instrumental to absorbing the acquisition of TransTech, and Web services was key to driving that integration strategy. There’s no way we could have done that without your leadership and vision. Web services are a great example of that because we were clearly early adopters. I had no idea that an emerging technology, applied in a business sense, could drive such tremendous business impact for any organization, much less ours.”

Sedgewick, clearly uncomfortable with such high praise, shifts in his chair.

“Bob, first of all, it was clearly a team effort, not only the IT team but the combined forces of business and IT. That is the most important critical success factor here, the melding of the business and IT leadership into a cohesive organization seeking new ways to drive business results. Web services have been an enabler, not a magic potion. But as I have always maintained, the right technology, when applied to a business scenario and measured by business value, will lead to positive business results, period. That lesson has yet to be learned by many executives, but we’ve got a leg up on our competition and certainly on many other corporations in any industry.”

Dunston nodded his head, agreeing with everything Sedgewick said. “But Bill, I want you to take more credit than you have been. You helped make it happen by providing the vision and leadership we needed. There’s no way we would have listened to this strategy had it come from the previous VP of IT. You engaged the business, and delivered the business results with the leadership and support of IT. We all know it.”

“Jeez, Bob, does this mean I get a bonus this year?” Sedgewick laughed as he said this.

Bob stood up, assuming a sober business-like expression. “Bill, I think you already know the answer to that question. Congratulations on a great year, and I’m looking forward to many more with you at the helm of the IT and business team. By the way, have you ever considered being a CEO someday?”

The color drained from Sedgewick’s face as he absorbed this question. “You’re not serious, are you?” he stammerd, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Dunston replies, laughingly clapping Sedgewick on the shoulder. “Yes, I am, but not just yet. I’m just getting started here, but I think you should think about that possibility and let’s slot some time to discuss getting you groomed for an operations role soon.”

With that, Sedgewick stood and reached for the candy jar once more as he walked out the door.

Dunston shook his head, chuckling to himself. “Yes, he will make a great CEO one day, and he certainly helped make me one. Yes, a nice bonus and a promotion are in store for Bill.”