Perfect Imbalance

The Key to Enabling Business-Centric IT

About the Author

Umesh Manathkar is CEO & Founder of Perfect Imbalance Advisory, a boutique IT management consulting firm. Prior to that he served as CIO of four public companies, including Fortune 500, over last 23 years.

Umesh is recognized as a transformational CIO and business-centric technology strategist with a proven track record of accelerating growth and turning around underperforming IT functions across semiconductor, high-tech, software, cloud, and manufacturing sectors. A four-time public company CIO and three-time “CIO of the Year” honoree, known for leading global teams of large size. Umesh published his leadership framework for balancing cost, value, and risk in enterprise IT in the book he authored “Perfect Imbalance”. Trusted by CEOs for delivering digital transformation, GenAI/ML adoption, cybersecurity, and smart manufacturing strategies that drive measurable business outcomes. Umesh is well-respected among peers as a transformative IT leader. He has also spoken extensively at industry conferences.

Manathkar holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a MS in industrial engineering and an MBA in technology. Both master’s degrees are from Arizona State University.

Unlock your potential

Today’s IT departments are no longer the back-office functions they once used to be. Now Information Technology is at the center of every company’s survival and growth. The CIOs leading the IT teams need to be business leaders first and technology leaders second. Most of the decisions they make are heavy on business context and light on the technology.

Adapting to this paradigm shift requires IT managers to learn how to enhance business value in every aspect of business while continuously lowering costs and not taking undue risks. That trifecta of perfect imbalance sets successful IT organizations apart from the average ones. Backed by author Umesh Manathkar’s decades-long experience in running business-centric IT, Perfect Imbalance provides a robust framework to manage these conflicting objectives in a systematic way.

In these pages, you will discover:

  • The real role of a CIO, not listed in job descriptions

  • The current state of IT

  • The objective, subjective, and internal vs. external values of IT

  • The essential factors for delivering IT value

  • The expectations of all IT stakeholders

  • What risk management means to a CIO

  • Key cost-optimization strategies for CIOs

  • The required CIO skills for delivering a “perfect imbalance”

IT is a key enabler today. Let Umesh Manathkar, three-time CIO of the Year, teach you how to use that leverage to your advantage and for the benefit of all those you work with.

What people are saying

  • “Umesh has a deep understanding of the semiconductor business, in addition to the technical skills you would expect of a large public company CIO. It’s a great combination, and why I’ve hired him twice into public company CIO roles. For aspiring CIOs, Umesh’s book is a ‘must read.’”


    — Steve Kelley
    President & CEO, Amkor Technology

  • “With technology becoming the focus of almost every company, CIOs must approach their roles as business leaders first, technologists second. In his highly readable, very pragmatic book, Umesh Manathkar lays out a framework for innovation, cost containment, and risk mitigation that allows all CIOs to deliver maximum value to their businesses.”


    — Martha Heller
    CEO of Heller Search Associates, and author of Be the Business: CIOs in the New Era of IT

  • “I have been working for Broadcom for the last twenty-five years in IT, which has evolved from HP to Agilent to Avago to Broadcom, so I can vouch that IT is more than technology. It’s all about taking risks and changing the culture to increase the business value while reducing the cost. Perfect Imbalance cleverly defines the dynamics among these factors. It’s a vital book for all IT professionals to deliver business outcomes that matter.”


    — Andy Nallappan
    VP and CIO, Broadcom Inc.

  • “I had the privilege of working side by side with Umesh for many years. Perfect Imbalance is a distillation of his experiences in business and IT. It is a great volume for CEOs and business people who manage IT functions or want to understand how to get maximum value from this function in today’s digital economy.”


    — Dan Artusi
    Semiconductor Executive and Board Member

  • "Moving from IT Manager to CIO is no small feat, and Umesh Manathkar has succeeded at this. His lessons learned and explained in Perfect Imbalance are unique and compelling and can only be told by someone who has experienced them. Change needs to be purpose-driven, and you can only define the real purpose when you become the Business Partner, not just the CEO and CFO, to the entire organization. Umesh's focus on being a Business Partner has helped him see into the organization to lead the change that adds value."


    — John Kurtzweil
    Finance Executive and Advisor

  • "Perfect Imbalance is an invaluable resource that provides powerful guidance for IT leaders unable to communicate the real business value they create. With smart and practical tools, you'll learn how to get unstuck discussing budgets, and instead, how to put your energy into the valuable contributions you make to the organization."


    —  Susan Friedmann
    CSP and International Bestselling Author of Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a small market