Mark Giannini of Memphis says that technology is constantly changing and improving, usually at a rate that is hard for non-technical people to keep up with. It has a definite impact on companies and their customers, so it is incredibly important that it be part of any company's strategic plan.

Yet too often, he says, the heads of companies do not seem aware of that, and are at the mercy of their IT departments. "If IT is not helping you develop a competitive edge," he writes in The Tallest Pygmy, "you are heading for disaster. I have seen it far too many times."

Mark Giannini of Memphis knows what he is talking about. He is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Assurance/Outsource IT, which he built into the largest IT service provider in the Mid South. He says that too many CEOs are virtually clueless when it comes to their IT departments. "Lots of blinking lights. Lots of strange words," he writes.

And so he wrote The Tallest Pygmy: The New Paradigm for Transformative IT That Every C-Suite Executive Must Know and Understand, as a way of helping the nation's top executives come to terms with this important and costly component to their business.

Mark Giannini of Memphis says that he has dealt with countless IT departments over the years, largely as a consultant. "I have seen tens of thousands of [IT] departments and hundreds of thousands of [IT] employees," he says. Some of them are great, and are central to the successful operation of a company.

But many more do not serve their companies well; they are what Mark Giannini of Memphis calls "pygmies," who fails to put the needs and goals of the company above their own. Because of their sometimes arcane and specialized IT knowledge, they are able to get away with it; their role in the company may ultimately do more harm than it does good.

Mark Giannini of Memphis says that CEOs must learn to look hard at their IT departments and compare them to other IT departments that are known to be a fully functioning, contributing unit within their respective companies.

"Your IT department," he concludes, "is either going to sink or save you."