They gotta be smart. They gotta be honest - their job is to stimulate your thinking in new perspectives. They gotta be objective - they can't use this platform of trust to try to sell you something. No conflicts of interest. CIOs do this too often and find themselves not bumping into digital Samaritans, but rather falling into the hands of unscrupulous vendors.
Vendors tend to be blind to the realities of human networks.
They're seduced by the visibility of organizational hierarchies. At the top of the hierarchy sits the budget brass ring. Things actually get done through mechanisms not seen on the organizational chart - in human networks that extend outside the organization. Seeking to reinject rationality into the decision-making process, the CIO flew in one of his network members, the CIO at a major computer retailer, to debunk the vendor's claims and document just how tough things could get. Similar to managing a physical telecommunications network, the first step on the road to effective human network management is to create a map.