by Elizabeth M. Ferrarini

Dr. B. Joseph White has studied and practiced leadership for more than 30 years. Since January 2005, he has been president of the University of Illinois, an academic institution with 28,000 faculty members and staff, 70,000 students, 21 Nobel laureates, and an operating budget of $4 billion per year. Dr. White has also gotten to know notable leaders, including Steve Jobs, Madeleine Albright, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In his new book, The Nature of  Leadership: Reptiles, Mammals, and the Challenge of Becoming a Great  Leader, Dr. White shares what he has learned about the blend of capabilities it takes to lead successfully -- and the secret to truly great leadership.

The Nature of Leadership reveals the dichotomy at the core of every effective leader: being part reptile -- analytical, rational, and tough as nails -- and part mammal -- nurturing, participative, and warm as toast. The book also has a leadership pyramid that shows the traits of a great leadership at the summit, and the traits of the reptile and mammal next to each other.

Enterpriseleadership.org recently talked with Dr. White about his book and his views about how CIOs, especially, can become great leaders.

EL: How would you rate the leadership abilities of most CEOs of the  Fortune 1000 companies?

BJW: Today, executives are under a lot of pressure to achieve high performance; to deliver top-line growth and bottom-line growth; to provide strong returns on investment, and most importantly, to grow the share value of their companies. Such performance includes a combination of good leadership and good luck.

Unfortunately, CEOs often don't have a lot of time to turn weak performance around or to improve on good performance. Their abilities to do so are extremely varied. The average tenure of CEOs has gone down to less than six years. Many boards and owners figure that if the CEO hasn't achieved strong performance after a couple of years, he or she isn't going to do it. Some CEOs have 18 to 24 months to prove themselves. To this end, CEOs need to have great leadership abilities and the wind at their back, too.

EL: Most of the executives profiled on Enterpriseleadership.org represent technology leaders in large organizations. These people are usually chief information officers (CIOs). What would you recommend they focus on if they want to become CEO of a company?

BJW: Information executives who want to become CEOs should focus on three areas: make sure their financial ability is first rate, make sure their people skills are excellent, and make sure they know how to develop a track record of making substantial consequential change.

The ability to change sits at the top my great leadership pyramid. A leader's success today depends on his or her ability to make consequential change, such as turning around an under-performing company. For CIOs, this type of change usually means leading the migration from one major system to another without missing a beat. For CEOs, it means doing things to foster internal growth, containing costs, and making smart acquisitions. All of these things will help to grow the market value of the company.

Most CIOs have strong change-making leadership skills. They've acquired years of experience taking their organization through generation after generation of new technology.

On the other hand, CIOs need to develop their financial skills. Often, CIOs function as budget managers, lacking first-hand experience dealing with the corporate profit-and-loss, and cash flow. And, some CIOs who are very good technically might also need to hone their people skills.

EL: In your book, you define five qualities you define for great leaders, and you mention having a "helicopter view" of the past, future, and current events. How can executives, especially CIOs, develop this helicopter view so they don't get a cloudy picture?

BJW: They need to learn all of the business's dimensions. CIOs who want to become CEOs need to be able to go from being professional heads of an organization to being general managers. GMs have a broad perspective, or, the helicopter view, which is knowledge of the business's past, its present, its future, and its functions, and how they fit. This view is also called strategic thinking. This is what boards look for.

EL: How do you feel about rotating CIOs through the business so they  can develop a helicopter view?

BJW: I first saw that being done 30 years ago with big Japanese companies. Executives in Japanese companies often rotate through operational areas such as finance, manufacturing. This is how you learn about the business and all of its dimensions. CIOs would get a lot from the experience. For example, going into the corporate planning function would help a CIO become more of a strategic planner.

CIOs, as well as CEOs, should never stop learning by reading good business  books. Tom Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, has become very  popular with executives because the book helps them to develop a helicopter view  of things.

EL: Some companies have programs to encourage innovation. How should  these programs be structured?

BJW: Because leaders are responsible for making change successfully, they need to have a great interest in new ideas. This applies to everyone from CEOs down to managers of small workgroups. Innovation begins with the process of turning these ideas into reality.

In my book, I share some of my experiences leading innovation efforts. I developed a concept called "the presumption of yes." lf someone comes forward with a new idea, there is the presumption of yes that we will carry it out.

Leaders need to have creative ways to encourage employees to come forward with good ideas about doing things better. Often, employees hear everything from "it's too expensive," to "we've tried that before and it didn't work." "The presumption of yes" helps a leader promote the value of innovation in an organization.

EL: Your "great leadership pyramid" ranks risk-taking at the top. What happens when a leader takes a risk that doesn't benefit the organization?

BJW: Every leader needs to understand that risk-taking involves a batting average. No one always bats 1000 -- not in baseball, and not in leadership. If you're batting 1000, you're probably not taking enough risk. If you're batting 250, you're probably taking too much risk, or you're not managing your risks very well. If what you try fails, there's nothing inherently wrong with that; you need to look at your batting average over time. A good leader should be batting about 650. In other words, one out of the three things you back, or attempt to back, ought to end up being successful.

EL: Some great leaders, like Steve Jobs of Apple and Larry Ellison of Oracle, are known to be tough on their employees. Should you admire a great leader, but avoid working for one?

BJW: You have to distinguish between great leaders and people whom you would personally select to work for. Keep in mind, there are a lot of paths to success in businesses. Some executives advocate that, you either  perform, or you're out of here. Some of us might not want to work in that kind of culture. It doesn't mean the organization won't be successful. Executives like Ellison and Jobs rate high at the top of the pyramid skills. They're very innovative, like to take risks, have the helicopter view, and sizzle with a lot of sparkle. They also attract the most talented people. They're also very good on the reptile side of the pyramid. However, they aren't very good on the mammal side of the pyramid, which explains why you might not want to work for them. Because I've spent some time consulting with Steve Jobs, I saw up close how he gets great people to work for him, even though he is rough on them: He makes them rich. It's the same with Ellison. A lot of us would opt to work for more nurturing leaders, but that's not the only way to be successful.

EL: Where does governance belong in a company?

BJW: The number one task of a board of directors -- the chief governance committee -- is to select a person to lead the organization. This person is either a great leader, or is someone who has the ability to become a great leader in a short period of time. If a governance committee does just that, things will go just fine. If they don't, they can do everything else, and the organization will not perform very well.

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Elizabeth M. Ferrarini is a freelance technology writer  based outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Reach her at elizabethferrarini@yahoo.com.