Schwegman of Overstock.com is the person who is accountable for the decisions made that caused his company’s loss. Schwegman’s memo to suppliers in which he took a “buck-stops-here” approach set him up as a scapegoat by other department heads, jockeying for position on the corporate ladder and using his mea culpa as leverage (Donovan, 2007). Instead of appearing responsible, professional and capable of navigating the political atmosphere at Overstock.com Schwegman came across instead as naïve taking the full responsibility for IT architecture that was in place long before he started with the company. By taking all the responsibility Schwegman set himself up as an easy target for other senior management executives and of rival companies, such as Amazon.com. Additionally, according to Donovan, Schwegman destroyed his image amongst other department heads, portraying himself as an ineffective corporate communicator. It appears, to Donovan’s argument, that Schwegman did not align himself with political principles as set out by Strassman, 1995, in that like any politician it is necessary that Schwegman find the balance between their commitment to the success of their organization and self-preservation. As such, Donovan contends that future CIOs should seek to understand the hidden agendas of other executives and modify their communication to achieve this aim. Hence, Schwegman needs to know when to make them visible so that they can obtain an appropriate level of positive acknowledgment, whilst knowing when to keep a low profile so that they are not made the scapegoat when the need arises. However, an alternative viewpoint is that Schwegman made the right decision to admit to at least have a hand in the responsibility, as social expectations of 21 st -century corporate social responsibility (CSR), is that companies will publicly claim responsibility for decisions that negatively impacted the company’s image and the confidence of stakeholders. Transparency is part of the process of governance is being asked for more and more in an age of technology where the public can quickly access information. Such candor allows policymakers to better identify the responsibilities of Schwegman within a company, restores public faith in a company’s ability to live up to its vision of leadership and progress, and reinforces Overstock.com’s organizational culture which values accountability and problem-solving focus. Such a view does align with Strassman’s recommendations for political navigation with regard to information management. What is needed, suggests Strassman, are company cultures that embrace a “constitutional convention” separating the powers of Schwegman and other senior staff members to better identify departmental (state) rights (Goldsmith, 1995). Strassman strongly recommends that the role of Schwegman abide by a charter, such as delineated by the Department of Defense document called Directive 5144.1, issued on May 2 (Strassman, 2005). He emphasizes that observing the responsibilities given to Schwegman; such as whether they have the authority to set and implement information management policies; determines the importance of IT to the organization. In regard to Overstock.com, given that Schwegman has such authorities as set out b