Tell me about the secondary transition point, where styles change again.

Brousseau: This starts at the director or vice president level, where you need to be very creative to generate a lot of ideas. But as you continue to move up, you need to start thinking more critically and be more focused and put more emphasis on sorting through options and making the right choices, not generating options.

Hourihan: You don't want the CEO saying to the board, "There are several ways we can do this." You want him to say, "We've looked at the alternatives and this is the way we want to go."

What are the implications of your findings for IT managers?

Brousseau: Often, the CIO is more in the creative, "let's look at a lot of options" realm and not as heavy on the action as other senior execs. The CIO needs to realize that the chief executive wants to know what we will do about XYZ, and he needs to articulate that. Otherwise, the CEO thinks the CIO doesn't know what to do.