As a CIO leading an IT department through change and reorganization, the author developed the Enterprise Compass--a four-point guide to reaching goals and focusing achievement. The Enterprise Compass directs staff to look forward to future accomplishment, back for performance assessments, across campus for better understanding of practical working points and long-term goals, and outside the organization for inspiration and innovation. The four bearing points--forward, back, across, and outside--encourage flexibility and communication among everyone from the CIO to managers, supervisors, and staff. New leaders challenged to turn around a troubled organization or lead a less-than-effective IT shop to performance excellence may benefit from the clarity and versatility of the Enterprise Compass methodology. (Contains 3 endnotes.)