About four months ago, I attended a Gartner dinner and received a copy of The Wolf in CIO’s Clothing from author Tina Nunno. I took the quiz right away (I won’t tell you my scoring, but let’s just say I am not a lamb), but it’s taken me a while to finally read the book.

If you’re a CIO or aspire to be one, I suggest you download a copy. It’s a quick read packed with key insights on managing relationships, negotiating, championing IT, prioritizing, leveraging information, and, when necessary engaging in warfare.

I won’t give away the details, but I will share some of my favorite one-line takeaways. You’ll need to read the book to fully understand them.

• • “Happy” is not a business goal. Leaders pursue growth, competitive advantage, mission enhancement, and cost management.

• • Don’t bring data to a knife fight.

• • Avoid giving your power to others who will not use it wisely.

• • Sometimes your goal is to successfully choose between bad and worse.

• • Take nothing for granted, and do your research.

• • Treat information as a weapon, and don’t load the gun aimed at you.

• • Give them what they really want rather than what they asked for.
  • Apply precision strikes to prevent smaller problems from becoming larger ones.

• • Wolf CIOs choose to fight the wars no one thought to fight.

• • Spend too much time on the light side and risk becoming lunch.

Another good read for CIOs and IT leaders is The CIO Paradox.