IDG Contributor Network: Target CIO's request to do far fewer things is heresy — but really good heresy

One of the long-held truths about life as a C-level in a Fortune 500 company is that money — and the number of projects under your command — is power. And, the mantra continues, power is good. Power is respect. The goal, by the way, of having power is to achieve far more power. Target's CIO has a very different view.

In an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, CIO Mike McNamara said that his initial budget when he arrived last year from British chain Tesco (where he held the identical CIO title) was too large and that his group was working on far too many projects. Here is the quote: "We were just doing too many things. I mean we had over 800 projects. Even a company as big as Target doesn’t have 800 priorities,” and he ordered the list cut by 90%, down to 80 projects.

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