Two recent works from leading analyst firms throw down the gauntlet to CIOs: Once IT leaders fully embrace the power they hold in the enterprise, they can stop taking orders and start giving advice.

Gartner's contribution is an e-book from analyst Tina Nunno, The Wolf in CIO's Clothing: A Machiavellian Strategy for Successful IT Leadership, summarized in this Gartner release.

Forrester's contribution is a report from research director Khalid Kark and researcher Andrew Smith, The Disruptive CIO: CIOs Must Master Business Agility, An Offensive Posture And Customer Obsession.

These analysts have a common thread to their advice: Years of striving for IT/business alignment have resulted in a service provider mentality within IT, one that casts the business as the customer who's always right. These pundits say this strategy is destined to fail, and exhort CIOs to grasp the reins of leadership instead.

The question is how? Niccolò Machiavelli, the 15th century politician and writer, endorsed manipulation and political intrigue to gain advantage -- tactics deemed counter-productive by the CIOs interviewed for this story. Nevertheless, those same IT leaders embrace the idea of grasping power and wielding it -- and even of being disruptive when the situation calls for it. Consider this the CIO's guide to the new rules of power.