Career Watch

06.02.2006
Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader

David Rice

Title: Vice president and CIO

Company: Siemens Medical Solutions Inc., Malvern, Pa.

Rice is this month's guest Premier 100 IT Leader, answering readers' questions about management vs. leadership and software development skills. If you have a question you'd like to pose to one of our Premier 100 IT Leaders, send it to askaleader@computerworld.com and watch for this column each month.

A leader is usually a good manager. Are good managers necessarily good leaders? Good managers need leadership abilities, and good leaders need management abilities. Oftentimes, leadership and management skills are discussed as though they are mutually exclusive. Instead, they are complementary. Circumstances often dictate which skill is most needed at any given point in time.