CIOs know how to manage their own careers—few reach such lofty heights without mapping out some kind of a campaign. But what about succession planning? How many CIOs think about how their own career plans affect the prospects of those around them and the future of their companies?

In a tough economy, toss out bull market strategies and take a new approach to business development. From 2005 to 2008, my approach to business development was simple. I would walk into my office, put my feet up on my desk, throw open the window and smile as bluebirds flew in with juicy search projects in their beaks. I was a bull market executive recruiter.

In a recent Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kanter reports on a two-year exploration of a dozen "progressive megacorporations". Her goal was to discover what makes giants like IBM, Procter & Gamble, Omron and Cemex innovative and agile while other companies their size seem like lumbering, dysfunctional behemoths.Moss Kanter, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and author of America the Principled (Crown, 2007), told us that what she discovered is simpler and more profound than you might imagine. Read this article from our sister publication SMB Advisor Middle East.

As operational excellence becomes the norm rather than the exception in business, companies need a new source of competitive differentiation. Increasingly, market leaders are creating strategic advantage through their ability to manage the performance network, rather than just transactional processes. This new imperative is called Management Excellence. To achieve it, companies need to become smart, agile and aligned.

You have no time. Here are 20 processes you can improve, benefits you can reap and changes you can make in just 20 minutes to effect a meaningful and even a long term positive effect on your IT organisation, your career, your technology knowledge, your management skills and your relationship with the business.