With John Hughes, president of IT management consultancy GrowthWave. His IT career has spanned 26 years, encompassing many roles, positions and industries. He has worked for and helped lead companies ranging in size from $2 million to $17 billion, including Bank One, Worthington Industries and Cendant.

Question: You say there are three stages of IT/business alignment — tactical, strategic and innovative — and that they build upon each other. So is it not possible to attain innovative alignment without first achieving tactical and strategic alignment?