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Headlines Tech for Execs It's a safe bet that information technology won't grow less important to busi- ness in the coming years, nor is it likely to become simpler. So how do executives prepare them- selves to cope with the con- stant onslaught of IT-re- lated questions and decisions that will have profound impli- cations for their businesses? Professors at the Business School with these very questions. All authors have donated their of the University of Colorado at Denver may have discovered the an- swer. Not long ago, David Laube and Raymond Zammuto had designed a class intended to prepare any MBA student for a business career that in- cluded significant IT interactions. They came up with 100 questions that an executive might need to ask and found dozens of the best-quali- fied experts to answer those ques- tions. Originally contacted as guest lecturers for the classroom, more than 60 of the speakers eventually became guest authors for a book that gathered together all the pertinent information presented in the class. The resulting book, Business- Driven Information Technology: An- swers to 100 Critical Questions, is being published by Stanford Univer- sity Press. Among the questions posed—and answered—by the book are: How does an organization de- velop an IT architecture plan? What does a firewall do? What e-business assumptions were proved wrong by the dot-com crash? What is the aver- age tenure of a CIO and why? How do you choose one technology proj- ect over another? How do you know when to kill a project? The authors and publisher expect the book to be useful not only to MBA students, but to executives in 10 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 the field struggling royalties to the CU-Denver Business School. More information can be found online at www.business- drivenit.org. Eventually, a nonprint- able text of the entire book also will be available online. Cox School Looks to Beat the Economy Is the rough economy making it tough for your MBA students to find summer internships—or jobs once they've graduated? In Dallas, Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business has found solutions to both these problems. Through its Summer Scholars the school's student-run Buyside Club hit the streets during their spring break to take a tour across Texas. At meetings with industry ex- ecutives at more than 35 companies, they passed out resumes and sold their collective skills. Some club members also participated in a pro- bono consulting project sponsored by Crestmont Holdings, a Dallas- based hedge fund. The Buyside Club is more for- mally known as the SMU Private Equity, Investment Management and Hedge Fund Club, and it seeks to raise the students' profiles in the financial industry. Among the club's regular activities are career educa- tion programs, a distinguished speakers series, a mock investment practicum, and an annual confer- ence. The club also has formed a group of managers in Dallas to serve on the advisory board and to partici- pate in distinguished speaker forums at the university. Drucker Chair Funded at Claremont program, the school is offering its MBA talent to companies that are unable to pay interns this year, while providing a measure of financial se- curity to its MBA students. The Summer Scholars program awards a summer stipend of $2,500 each to as many as 40 MBA students who ac- cept unpaid internships. After the school announced the program to its corporate supporters, 52 companies asked to participate, including Bank of America, EDS, Salvation Army, and Wells Fargo. Cox students are also using inno- vative means to overcome the down economy while looking for full-time jobs. Earlier this year, members of Claremont Graduate University in California will receive a $10 million challenge gift from Edward Jones, AIG SunAmerica Inc., and The Starr Foundation. The money will be paid over five years, the same period of time that the school has to match the gift by raising an additional $10 mil- lion. The gift honors the leadership of John W. Bach- mann, managing partner of St. Louis-based Ed- ward Jones since 1980, who will step down as managing partner at the end of this year. Peter Drucker COURTESY OF PETER DRUCKER