By focusing on top-line value to readily implement new solutions while reducing costs and the infrastructure footprint at the same time, a new IT leader can set a course for double-barreled value creation that earns him or her status as a true peer to the rest of the c-suite of executives.

FORBES: Two Steps to Build Innovative IT DNA at Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Peer networks, by contrast, consist of individuals of roughly equal status achieving goals by sharing, criticizing and revising information and ideas.

WSJ: Book Review: Future Perfect

"I mentioned to both that I was very sad they were on hunger strike for 'special status' because I knew, from being a backbench peer, that the government were determined not to grant this, " he said.

BBC: Maze Prison

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Falkner of Margravine called for the appointment of "an individual to report on the status of women's rights in Afghanistan until the transition is complete".

BBC: 'Slight improvement' in Afghan women's rights