The Monkey Mama always does it herself because she can't trust others to do things as well as she can. She even takes on the monkeys given to her by her subordinates and ends up doing their jobs, too.

IT people often have a hard time delegating, probably because our business is so technical that we get comfortable taking care of all the details ourselves. But learning to delegate is part of your development as a manager and a leader. Unless you get used to it, you have no chance of getting onto the executive floor.

That's my list. I'm sure that every CIO has exhibited some of these behaviors at some point, but each has learned that you have to quash your extreme tendencies if you're going to be successful in the executive quest.

-- Paul M. Ingevaldson retired as CIO at Ace Hardware Corp. in 2004, after 40 years in the IT business. Contact him at ingepi@aol.com.