Corporate politics: schmoozing for dollars

Since its launch three years ago, Oxygen Media Inc.'s No. 1 goal has been to build its audience.

Allan Woods On teaching technology to get executives' attention: "Think of a way of getting in front of the chairman in a very brief, concise way," because you can leverage that attention in many ways.

Now that the company has 30 million subscribers to its cable TV network, Chief Technology Officer Curtis Brown wants to get a handle on the effectiveness of its online campaigns and the behavior of its Web site users with a set of new Web-tracking tools.
"It's not a big investment," says Brown. "It's about $200,000."

But before he presents it to the company's senior leadership, Brown is preparing himself for the possibility that he may not win. He has already met with several business groups within New York-based Oxygen, and while they recognize the value of the tools, they question their immediate need. In fact, Brown himself is trying to come to grips with whether they're worth pursuing.
"I'm right in the middle of that," he says. "What's so important about the way I'm going about this right now is that it's a dialogue. I'm not just writing this giant presentation and saying, 'Approve.'"
That dialogue, says Brown and other IT leaders, is the formula for success in winning the important battles. Selling projects has always been a delicate balancing act for IT executives. But it's more important than ever for IT leaders to take these turf wars seriously in light of the current state of the economy and the greater scrutiny given to corporate investments and their returns.
IT veterans from all industries have determined their own strategies for winning at the game of corporate politics, but most follow a few simple guidelines for moving their initiatives forward:

• Get your users on board.


• Demonstrate the business value and return.


• Build a personal network among the company leaders.


• Know when to let go.

"If there's ever a time to pick your proverbial battles," it's now, says Brown, warning that executives who can't prioritize initiatives will run into trouble. He says he ranks the value of his projects and tailors them to the prevailing business climate. Then he shares the results with peers and superiors. "And management responds in kind by saying, 'Curtis doesn't cry wolf,'" seeing him as someone who takes a hard line on costs, Brown says.
IT leaders cite two strategies that can go a long way toward cultivating a favorable political atmosphere for the CIO: building a rapport and