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The Extreme CIO

The Extreme CIO

Are you working 70 to 80 hours a week? More? And who are those strangers living in your home? Oh, your family. Right. Globalization, technology and corporate expectations are turning the CIO job into an extreme sport

What Makes CIOs Extreme

CIOs are at the nexus of three forces driving business today: a global economy, the technologically enabled ability to be in touch 24/7 and the increasing reliance of business on IT. These factors, coupled with six-figure salaries (local CIOs earned an average salary of $174,886, according to our State of the CIO 2007 research), create an environment that helps to foster an extreme work style.

"Work has become extremely interesting these days, filled with talented people, new experiences and new frontiers. CIOs are right in the middle of that," says Luce.

The CWLP study found 66 percent of extreme jobholders love what they do and thrive on the pressure. So do many CIOs. But this brave new world of extreme work is not without costs. Long hours can negatively impact family and personal life: 50 percent of study respondents, for instance, indicated their jobs made it "impossible" to have a satisfying sex life. Personal health also suffers. More than 69 percent of respondents said they would be healthier if they worked less extremely. Other studies find personal productivity can fall off due to greater mental and physical fatigue associated with overwork.

Finally, hard-charging CIOs and other executives run the risk that watching the boss work 60 or more hours a week may turn off the next generation of leaders. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Technology was going to liberate us from the tyranny of work. Instead, the legions of laptops, mobile phones, BlackBerrys and other wireless devices that allow executives to increase their productivity also keep them tied to the office via e-mail, instant messaging, voice mail and text messages. The line between work and home is blurring. Taking care of business these days often means working anytime, anywhere.

CIOs are reluctant to discuss the downsides of "being on" nearly all the time. That's not surprising given the nature of the role, say work-life experts. "A CIO is not going to have anything close to balance," says Cali Yost, author of Work + Life: Finding the Fit That's Right for You. "That job is never going to be nine-to-five." What CIOs can do, she says, "is find a fit that works for them in a job that may require a 24/7 scope." The high-performing CIOs we spoke with combat the challenges of their jobs with strategies designed to help them stay productive and to maximize control over their schedules and lives. But the question remains: Are these strategies enough?

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