“Take it, and turn to facts my fantasies.” Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac is a play about a brilliant poet and swordsman, Cyrano, who is deeply in love with Roxane. However, he believes his large nose makes him unworthy of her love. Instead, he helps the handsome but inarticulate Christian romance Roxane by writing eloquent love letters on his behalf. Roxane falls for Christian, believing him to be the poet. Tragically, Christian dies in battle, and years later, Cyrano, mortally wounded, reveals the truth. Roxane realizes too late that Cyrano was the one she truly loved as he dies in her arms.

That could have ended better.

Stories of the go-between. 

I’ve had my share. In grade school, asking a girl to ask another girl if she likes me (kind of dangerous when you think of it). College admissions boards. Hiring firms. Brokers. We encounter them more than we think until we think about it. 

You encounter it as a CIO when you report to someone other than the CEO. It gets tricky. Could be dangerous. Might not end well.

How do you get the buy-in you need from the CEO when someone else (such as a CFO or COO) is representing you? Or to borrow from Cyrano, how do you get the love when someone else is romancing?

There Are Only Two Ways This Can Go

I asked you this week why it is hard to get buy-in when you don’t directly report to the CEO, and the majority of you said because priorities get filtered. In the comments, two CIOs provided wise counsel, both of which represent two paths. 

Jeff Cann, CIO of Encore Electric, wrote, “Consider the filter as a customer, and focus on customer service.”

I know Jeff. He is an exceptional leader. And spot on with wisdom like this.

This is the first way: Go through the filter.

The filter is a customer, which means we know their needs, meet them with a solution, and follow up on their satisfaction, being responsive and responsible.

The customer is not the enemy (though they can be adversarial). The customer is the opportunity.

When customers are well-served, they become repeat customers, refer new customers, and advocate for you.

Therein is the goal with your filter. How do you turn them into advocates? Advocates don’t put barriers in front of you, they come alongside you to remove them.

There are any number of considerations, but certainly alignment with their own business objectives, alleviation of concerns through thorough research, clarity of the use case, and proven track record in serving them come into play. 

But above all these and more is Jeff’s advice: See the filter differently, as opportunity not obstacle, as open to persuasion not obstinate, as on your side but with their own side that they are trying to protect.

Everyone has something at stake. How is your need not a threat to them, and even better, a mutual benefit? 

Mark Shell wrote, “I leveraged a cybersecurity governance committee as well as an IT steering committee to bridge all of the business units, executives, and board of directors. These committees reported to the BOD - making it easier to have influence and support from all business operations as they were part of the process. 

Mark’s comments indicate another path: Go around the filter. To be clear, I’m not speaking of doing so in an adversarial manner (neither is Mark). I’m speaking more of building alliances you can leverage.

A mentor once told me, “Have as many fingerprints as possible on the smoking gun.”

Committees and other such groups are a brilliant way of building momentum for an idea. And there is the key - give your idea momentum. Filters can more easily kill a single thought than a thought-movement.

A filter can pour out a cup of water; they can’t stop a flood.

Formal groups are one way to create momentum; informal alliances are another. What peers line up behind your thinking and will serve as an echo of your message? What grassroot momentum can be created? 

You fall into a trap when you only think of top-dog influence.

Popular thinking is popular for a reason. Make your needs popular.

There is a book to be written here. Good golly and everything else our grandparents used to say. 

But two insights beg to be applied:

Turn the filter into an advocate..

Turn your idea into a thought-movement.

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