Richard - Mark McDonald's answer to your question is spot on. I would put additional emphasis lon his third bullet concerning a "Broader and more operational understanding of technology". Not only is the SMB CIO required to be more directly engaged in the technical and operational aspects of IT, but frequently functions as Chief Strategist, Chief Architect, Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Systems Designer, Chief Data Analyst ... you get the idea. In a smaller-scale department with limited resources - most critically with limited human resources - the SMB CIO serves as the proverbial chief cook and bottle washer.

Richard its a great question and thanks for asking. IT Leadership in smaller or medium sized businesses requires a different and in many ways higher bar than those at the Fortune 500. Why?

Well because everything that Citi does, so does the local town bank. So while a large company is complex, multiple leaders and coordination is a challenge most large companies are relatively resource rich compared to their SMB counterparts. This leaves the SMB IT leader a fill set or responsibilities with a different set of resources.

In my experience here are few things that are different.

- Influence building, getting people to do things without the authority or ability to directly command them. This is particularly important when working with vendors and service providers as you are not their 'strategic' client.

- Business understanding as the SMB IT leader is much closer to the business than their Large Company Counterpart. Closeness driven by the small size of the leadership team, not the business's innate knowledge of technology.

- Broader and more operational understanding of technology as you are first, second and third line support.

- Greater agility, as time becomes the critical currency in an SMB. Not only do you have to change faster in response to bigger competitors, but business leaders change their minds more often without the burden of corporate governance. Finally, with fewer financial resources, people's time and attention becomes all the more important.

- Patience as SMB technology can move slower and you are not the center of the business nor is IT often big enough to provide a career on its own.

Those are some quick thoughts, appreciate your thoughts and those of others.

This was an extremely thought-provoking session. Excellent assembly of guests, any one of which would have been wonderful by himself.

Although the focus seemed to be on the "top-tier" CIOs (those at Fortune 500 companies), the relevance is applicable to all IT leaders within any organization.

An interesting question is: How is IT leadership different at a small or medium sized business?