I had one of those fun situations today that I have to share.  I have a fairly good "advisor" status with a Divisional CIO at a Fortune 500 company that is one of my customers.  Today, one of the other high-level IT Managers (Global ... Manager) put me in a position of helping him do something against the Divisional CIO's wishes.  What this Manager was asking for is something that IS my job to provide, but he was asking for it in order to delay a deal that he is against.  The project is a small one and getting it in now is not vital to my bottom line.  I actually agree with some of the Manager's arguments.  The CIO is my sponsor and keeping him happy IS strategically important to me.  The Manager carries a lot of power and having him AGAIST me will cost me in the long run, so now I have a quandary; How do I take sides without taking sides?

In the end, I took the easy way out and did what the manager requested, but I also copied the CIO on the email.  This way I am walking the fine line between helping this Manager and helping the CIO.  What would you have done?