Most CIOs will tell you there are three or four people in their organizations who deliver enormous value to IT and are worth every dollar they get. They’re the superstars of databases, data management, security, applications, infrastructure, and systems. They can troubleshoot and resolve any issue, come up with any new module you might need for integrating software, organize and manage data, and perform delicate background systems functions and tunings that produce enormous impact for IT projects.
But there is often a flip side to managing these elite IT pros. These individuals know their value and take pride in their expertise, which can result in king-size egos. It’s little wonder then that some CIOs refer to these tech giants both as “gems” and “prima donnas” — sometimes in the same sentence.
In IT, prima donnas — an Italian term for those who find it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team — can often be those very same tech gurus CIOs need most to do the heavy tech lifting for major projects. Other staff members are also attuned to the guru–prima donna syndrome, and they look to their CIOs and project managers to solve the personal issues that can arise when a personality of this type is part of the team. But this isn’t always easy.
