Are you "Global CIO" material? That’s something pretty difficult to evaluate objectively, but apart from vision and influence that goes beyond geographical boundaries, such a title would probably be conferred on CIOs who have broken away from the pack with their pioneering efforts and innovation, resetting the competitive landscape in their industry segments, and contributing significantly to their organization's high growth in the marketplace.

Recently, I was asked by InformationWeek in the US to nominate CIOs from India for possible inclusion in the first-ever Global CIO 50 list to be published later this year. At the top of the heap, a few names kind of selected themselves. I was keen to nominate as many CIOs as possible, to maximize the probability of a greater number of Indians making it to the final list. After the first couple of dozen or so, who I was certain were worthy of nomination, the tap began to run dry. I had a lot of names with me of course, but without first-hand knowledge of their suitability, I had to turn to the Web to separate the wheat from the chaff.

What I found–or rather, did not find–online was pretty shocking. Barring a few notable exceptions, the rest of the bunch were conspicuous by their absence on the Web, or at best, had an obscure reference here and a mention there, which in many cases didn't do their reputations any favors. And I'm not talking of just any Om, Deep and Hari here. These are the people who are supposedly directing the IT strategy at India’s top corporations countrywide!

I'm not implying that a presence on the Web is de rigueur to establish that you're qualified/ successful/ prominent in the field that’s your claim to fame. But if that field happens to be IT, there's a plausible correlation, don't you think?

Regardless, you can be sure that someone's checking you out online right now. That someone could be your current or potential employer, a potential employee or business associate, your boss, your subordinates, your peers in the industry, folks from the media, whoever. If you want to stay ahead, you need to make sure that it's easy for them to find on the Web everything that contributes positively to your brand and image, and not so easy to find anything that detracts from it.

Where do you stand today, in this regard? An interesting (and ingeniously simple) way to check it out is by using theOnline Identity Calculator. Enter a few parameters and you can quickly find out whether you're digitally 'disguised', 'dissed', 'disastrous', 'dabbling' or 'distinct'. The goal is to achieve a 'digitally distinct' status, wherein "a search of your name yields lots of results about you, and most, if not all, reinforce your unique personal brand." This is not about vanity; it's about (honestly) doing whatever it takes to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive world.

If you're really that expert on IT Governance you claim to be, where's your blog on the subject then? And if you're so clued in on Green IT and the environment, why aren’t there more magazine articles quoting you? Or better still, why not yourself write a bunch of articles on your pet topics. If actual writing seems like too much of a challenge, why then at least comment on what other people have written or answer questions in forums relating to your subjects of specialization. It's not enough to set up an account on LinkedIn and expand your network maniacally without any definite professional objective; you need to proactively use the features of LinkedIn that contribute to building your desired personal brand and cease wasting your time on those that don’t. And if you fancy yourself as a speaker, you'd better have some samples up on YouTube and Metacafe for starters.

There are enough resources on the Web with advice on how to build your reputation online, and I anyway don't intend to make this a how-to column. But I would still like to point you to a nifty site I came across recently. It’s called VisualCV.com, and it allows you to create an online resume with video, pictures and a portfolio of your best work samples, with a view to helping you stand out from the crowd. Don't know what all you could achieve as a result, but, if nothing else, it just might help you get that Global CIO 50 nomination next year!