IT to Execs: Go Back to SchoolIT to Execs: Go Back to School

Steve Andriole, a professor of business at Villanova University and contributor to Datamation, ruffled executive feathers last month with Ten Things the IT Department Should Tell Management. Readers from the management ranks "argued that while being a smart ass was entertaining, it wouldnt sell on mahogany row."So Andriole came up with a format for schooling management. "Here are the topics Id cover if I had 5 hours with the non-technology senior management team  5 hours to communicate what technology is all about  5 hours to deliver a program of issues and opportunities  5 hours to get them thinking the right way about business technology."

It's a nice idea. If only there were a way to make it happen. I can see the management class now, in their "Jim Cramer Rocks" t-shirts, Blackberrys in hand, texting and emailing steadily during lectures, dashing in and out of the classroom to jump onto conference calls.

I think it would be tough to get executives to commit any significant amount of time to learn the basics of IT. There are just too many other demands pulling on them. What do you think?