| At
the top H.
James Dallas is VP for IT and CIO of Georgia Pacific He's
a strong proponent of a business focus for IT: "making sure our products
and initiatives let us gain and keep competitive advantages"  | | H.
James Dallas makes a motivational speech: "I look for people with fire..." |
Information,
product and money: "All three come together because technology is pervasive
among them," says H. James Dallas, VP of information technology and CIO for
Georgia Pacific Corp (Atlanta, GA). "It's
my job to see that the IT organization is aligned with the company's business
goals, then make sure we are moving forth and achieving those goals," he
says. Georgia
Pacific is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue,
pulp, paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals. It employs more
than 60,000 people at more than 400 facilities in North America and Europe. IT
is a business
To Dallas, IT is not a support function. It's another business
area, contributing to the success of the company as a whole. For
example, IT helps the company's sales and supply chain management strategies respond
to market changes. The
market for building products, Dallas notes, is becoming more consolidated as major
retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's capture the consumer market, and national
builders, like Centex Homes, move farther into the construction market. IT,
says Dallas, needs to anticipate such changes in time to take advantage of them
- without getting dangerously far out in front. Some
areas of the company, he postulates, might benefit from a change to the Linux
operating system because it can lower costs. That could be a significant advantage
for the areas that compete in commodity markets. But
it's irrelevant for parts of the company that compete based on product differentiation:
they need technologies that enhance differentiation. "Business needs someone
to come in and figure out what the strategies should be and go out and execute
them," Dallas says.  | | "...who
just need to have it directed..." |
Gaining
that focus
Dallas acquired that business focus during almost twenty years
with the company. He started in accounting, learning about the flow of money,
and moved on to the flow of product and the flow of information. "It provides
me with a good foundation to develop strategies and a feel for what it takes to
execute them," he says. Growing
up in Atlanta, Dallas and his four sisters and brothers learned from their mother's
example that hard work led to accomplishment. "She worked, and didn't let
the conditions dictate what the outcome would be," he says. As
he grew - to 6'7" - basketball looked like a lucrative career. He went to
the University of South Carolina on a basketball scholarship, majoring in accounting.
"I expected to go pro, and I wanted to keep track of my money," he says
with a chuckle. But
knee injuries ended that dream. Instead, he found himself a job as a janitor at
a Pepperidge Farms bakery, working third shift and weekends while he finished
college. Learning
from Ernie
Dallas learned his first lessons in business leadership from
Ernie, his bakery boss. Ernie
impressed the janitors with the importance of clean machinery to the bakery's
success. "I didn't think of myself as a janitor," Dallas says. "I
thought of myself as someone who contributed to the business." When
he received his BS in 1983, he joined C&S National Bank (Atlanta, GA) as a
branch auditor. The following year he moved to Georgia Pacific as a cost accountant
in the gypsum division. Transition
to PCs
The company was making the transition to PCs. But Dallas, fresh
from accounting, had trouble communicating with IT people who'd been there a while.
He began to take courses in programming at Georgia State University. "I had
a vision of being a financial systems guru," he says. "I wanted to know
both the financial and IT sides." He
was the first accountant ever hired as a programmer in IT. Not long afterward
he moved into data processing. One
of the areas he supported was transportation, whose mainframe technology and fragmented
organization made it the last choice of all the IT folks. The people in transportation
welcomed Dallas' positive attitude. "They taught me the business," he
says.  | | "...I
try to give them an opportunity." |
Into
transportation
Getting interested in transportation, he rode with company
truck drivers and traveled with train shipments to learn the ropes. When he started,
each business unit had its own transportation department. When a 1989 management
study recommended that the fragmented transportation services be consolidated
in one department, Dallas moved from IT into transportation operations. The
job gave him a great view of every business unit in the company. Georgia Pacific's
building products division alone shipped over 400,000 truckloads annually. Clearly,
savvy IT was essential to manage the area and communicate with carriers. Electronic
data interchange (EDI) technology was selected for strong connections to carriers
and links to order processing throughout the company. And as Dallas managed the
installation of new EDI links to each business unit, he learned even more about
how the entire corporation operated. Strategy
and planning
Dallas moved up to general manager for transportation operations
in 1992. He felt a bit out of his depth, but got help from his friends and mentors.
"That taught me to depend on others. There have always been people willing
to take me under their wing," he recalls with gratitude. He
also enrolled at Emory University (Atlanta, GA), and received his MBA in 1994. That
same year Carl Wilson came aboard as CIO, and asked Dallas to join the corporate
IT group as director of strategy and planning. "Right off the bat, I saw
in him that business focus for IT," says Dallas - and he took the job. It
was a lonely job at first. From heading an entire division, Dallas was now running
a one-man operation. He had to work through persuasion and high-level strategy
instead of just issuing instructions. "It drove me nuts the first six months,"
he says. "But it turned out to be the best experience in my career. I learned
not only to develop strategies at an enterprise level, but also how to use the
governance structures and processes to implement them." Two
years later he became group director of building products manufacturing. "That
role gave me visibility across all the functions and business units in that area,"
he says proudly - including gypsum, where he started. After
two years of participating in ideas and plans, he added the distribution division
to his IT responsibilities in 1998. VP
and above
Another year, another promotion. In 2000 Dallas became VP for
building products distribution, sales and logistics for the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast
regions. While he was there, the distribution function swelled from $1 billion
to $2.5 billion. "That gave me real hands-on experience in physical goods
operations," he says. He
wanted to add manufacturing flow to his expertise. "I thought I could add
some value there," he says. He became president of the lumber division in
2001. And
last year he stepped up to the corporate CIO position. Mentoring
Dallas
values the mentors he had along the way. Most were a level or two above him, and
were able to give him a different perspective. He's returning the favor in the
workplace by seeking out others who could benefit from a little guidance. "I
look for people with fire," he says, "who just need to have it directed.
I try to give them an opportunity." After
hours, Dallas has been a United Way Big Brother and is active in Habitat for Humanity
and Partnership against Domestic Violence. He serves on the board of Cool Girls. National
Eagle Leadership Institution, which recognizes African Americans and Hispanics
for their business and community contributions, honored him with its CareerFocus
Eagle Award in 2000. "That's an award I was very proud of," he reflects. Secrets
of success?
From his earliest career days, taking on jobs that lacked obvious
advantages let Dallas show his talent and advance. He
was never afraid to make mistakes. "I've made many, but I don't dwell on
them," he says. "You might say, I'm often wrong but seldom in doubt,"
he adds with a twinkle in his eye. And
he certainly never limited himself to doing things the way they had always been
done. "I wasn't confined by the title or what was expected," he says.
"I viewed myself as a businessman regardless of whether my card said IT or
transportation, and tried to take the time to learn the business from the frontline
perspective. "You
can't be great until you get comfortable with being different," says H. James
Dallas. "To me, everybody has greatness in them." Certainly
including Mr. Dallas. D/C -
Kate Colborn & Christine Willard | 
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