I cannot tell you how many times I've heard CIOs say that they need to educate the executive committee about the value of IT. While I tend to nod and agree, the idea has always struck me as odd.First, most business executives are not babbling morons; they should not need to be spoon fed information on any topic critical to their business. Second, the ability to educate is a hard-won skill; CIOs may be able to communicate--to write and talk and get an idea across--but they are not educators, a challenging role practiced by degreed academic professionals.So I set out to understand why this notion of education persists and how a cross section of successful CIOs interprets the concept."Education is the wrong word," says Ellen Shepard, CIO of Teach for America. "Rather than worry about educating the business, CIOs should spend their time learning business strategy and how to enable that strategy through IT. The more you deliver, the less you need to educate."