Consider the standard CIO skill checklist: Lead technology? Of course; check. Take the helm of process transformation? Yes, check. Drive the business forward? Now, that’s where some of us CIOs may hesitate.

Nothing “drives” an organization forward more than new revenue. And it takes a dogged and unyielding determination — best exemplified by entrepreneurs who find, control and manage new money — to lead this type of drive. As a former CIO [at Forbes and W.P. Carey], I believe that CIOs can, and must, drive business change and be entrepreneurial.

Every business that survived the global financial crisis of 2009 wants to grow, recover lost revenue, and retake market share from weaker or failed competition. With CEOs increasingly focused on top-line growth, CIOs can leverage IT as a corporate advantage and help drive strategic change. The IT portfolio now includes not only your organization’s back-end systems and front-end service tools, but those of your customers, and systems and devices employed by their customers.

No one else in the organization is thinking broadly about how to take commercial advantage of the overly complex technology soup in which all industries now operate. Millions of dollars are lost each quarter because of inefficiencies or missed opportunities to help our company’s customers succeed in new and innovative ways. And worst of all, unless we focus on this goal, a competitor will eventually seize the initiative. There are vast opportunities to differentiate oneself not only as a CIO, but as a key business executive. However, to achieve this requires a different mindset than usually employed as CIO: that of the single-minded entrepreneur.

There is a saying that few good ideas survive contact with reality. The successful entrepreneurs I know, however, excel at maneuvering through and around obstacles to ensure that their fledgling idea is realized. They do this by embodying three key behaviors:

1. Great entrepreneurs are also great leaders. They sell a vision and clear purpose for all those around them. They are great listeners, but are decisive; they are knowledgeable without being assuming and bullish without being irrational. As I build my business, Wealth-X, I am increasingly aware of these subtle, yet critical differences.

2. The best entrepreneurs are skilled strategists. They quickly dissect an organization’s assets, competitive landscape, customers and products, and look for ways to make something from nothing. Often, the best ideas are not new at all, but are a repackaging, expansion or bundling of existing offerings to a new or an existing class of customers. Contrary to popular perception, the best entrepreneurs develop this strategic assessment capability by thoughtful study — though I’ve found that some intuition is helpful, too.

3. Only adaptable entrepreneurs survive. They know that no idea is perfect Day One, and that flexible execution is the key to success. Many of the best products, services and companies were nothing like their current form when first launched. Entrepreneurs go to great lengths to seek feedback, and they focus on the shortest path to exploit an opportunity in whatever form it is found.

Being an entrepreneur and creating new revenue from scratch is undoubtedly an uphill battle. But with a bit of gusto, and by embodying entrepreneurial behavior, CIOs can contribute to top-line growth within our current organizations.

Let me know your thoughts ... Mykolas Rambus