“A horse whisperer is a horse trainer who adopts a sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and desires of the horse, based on natural horsemanship and modern equine psychology,” – so says Wikipedia.

Thus, I could choose to define a board whisperer to be a CIO who personifies a sympathetic and proactive view of the motives, objectives and nuances of the board of directors, based on a clear understanding of the business, its markets and the psychology (politics) of the organisation.

All good so far but how could we accelerate the process to positively influence the outcome, to the ultimate benefit of all parties? Well, I think I may have found a unique angle on this in a story I picked up on the BBC the other day.

An Oklahoma-based skunk (name probably witheld to protect him from the ridicule of his peers) has been freed from an embarrassing and potentially dangerous peanut butter jar incident by a “skunk whisperer”.

Now, that has to be the coolest job title in the world and I am more than a little green with envy. Just imagine the business card and straplines. No, on second thoughts… Stop me, please.

Apparently, our little stripey chum got his head stuck in a peanut butter jar during a session of dumpster diving and was thereafter spotted in some distress by a passer by who called for assistance. Enter the Skunk Whisperer to a loud fanfare of trumpets!? Here it gets really interesting and its where I see real linkage to accelerating the solution to alignment issues in the modern business.

Our whisperer used chloroform – well, deployed would be more accurate in a very technical skunk whispering sense, you understand - to soothe the savage and potentially odiferous breast; much as Congreve would have us believe music will do.

You can almost imagine the conversation: “Pssssst, Flower, sidle over here and cop a waft of this old cloth .... no, no, no, keep looking at me … don’t turn round, for God’s sake.”?

Lets intensify the situation with a little role play. Imagine you’re presenting a business case to the board asking for a huge – let’s say Windows 7 huge – upgrade. You’re in full possession of all the facts, your ROI is incontrovertible and the business unit managing directors are clamouring to underwrite the case on your behalf (I didn’t say it was real, I said it was role play). But you can see the costs and the technical nature of some of the justification are causing the board's eyes to water and glaze over in turn. You sidle over to the aircon unit and surreptitiously introduce a small hit of chloroform to the room. Job done, motion carried, minute noted by semi-nerveless fingers.

Ok, so there a few flaws, like why I am I wearing a gas mask to a board presentation …. but that’s just detail.

I wonder if the chairman likes peanut butter?