I was on my way to Mills College, where I was to be a guest lecturer speaking about best practices of IT governance. After clearing security and getting lost twice on the beautiful but sprawling campus filled with beige stucco buildings from the 1920s, I finally found the right classroom. I parked and ran up the hill through the misty end of the rain showers. Then, looking out at my audience of bright and eager MBA students, I told them how they, as future business leaders, should engage IT to make their businesses more competitive.

After I'd offered what I thought were very practical suggestions, a young woman who was in sales sat up, looking disgusted. She remarked, "This all sounds fine and good, but I don't see it working at my company." Two of her company's senior managers didn't get along, she explained, and they were unable to agree on a business strategy. And it's true that without a clear business strategy, IT has nothing to align with. A dysfunctional company can't do great IT.

That brings us to some different topics:

1. How can IT function in a dysfunctional company? Early in my career, I was one of two survivors of an IT department of more than 40 people when the new CEO decided to replace IT systems. In the beginning, I was proud to be a survivor; in the end, it was so painful that I decided not to stay until the conversion was finished. But what if you work in a dysfunctional company and want to keep your job?

Your first challenge is to accept what you can't change. Too many IT middle managers burn out trying to fix other managers' problems. You should certainly try to influence a bad situation, at least once. But if you've done that and see no hope of success, then it's time to develop a different plan.