Being an IT professional in today’s world requires knowing how to connect technical skills with executive leadership. Kathie Topel, of Chicago-based Impact Insights technology service firm, spoke on this subject to a small group of students on Dec. 5, 2012 in a presentation entitled “Becoming an IT Leader: From the Back Room to the Board Room.”

“The thing I’m most interested in is developing high performance IT teams,” Topel said.

Madison Information Technology Association hosted the event in an effort to give aspiring and experienced IT professionals a chance to learn how to shine in their given positions.

Topel focused on how IT employees can help businesses achieve greater efficiency. The IT leader of the future must be able to fit into a variety of roles such as: entrepreneur, social connector, global talent scout, forward-thinking futurist, and master of business metrics. While executives tend to be strategy-focused, IT professionals are often research-focused. That difference in outlook can cause barriers between these two groups. Topel explained that these two outlooks must strike a balance in order for a business to succeed.

“Leadership is a two-way street,” she said. By bringing diverse skill sets of technology and business minds together, the value of services and products immensely increases.

She also covered the differences between the IT workforce of 20 years ago and the millennial generation. As technology becomes more integrated into peoples’ lives at a younger age, the separation between technology and other business operations disappears. Because they are growing up with technology integrated into all facets of life, future generations will face fewer barriers in fusing IT skills into other aspects of work.

“Just like fish don’t see water, children don’t see technology,” Topel said.

Web Analyst/Programmer major Ray Brown is an IT veteran, having worked in the field for 35 years. He remembered a time when technology professionals were isolated in their work and rarely interacted with business management.

“Now, they develop in conjunction with them instead of separated from them,” Brown said.

He agreed with Topel that IT professionals have seen their roles demand increasing adaptation and will continue to see this in the future.