At the end of the day (or in the beginning, for that matter), the business of business is making money. And not just generating revenue, but generating enough revenue so that not only will EBITDA look good but also the owners of the business will be able to put some of that revenue in their pockets. It doesn't matter whether the organization is a public company, a privately held company, or employee owned. The ultimate success of that business is measured by the bottom line.

You can have all the altruistic or silly corporate goals, slogans, or mission statements you want, but success is measured in dollar signs (or euros or yen or whatever). Google smugly can tout its "Don't be evil" slogan, but if Google can't produce enough revenue from online and mobile advertising, it will go the way of all enterprises that value cleverness over intelligence. The business you work for is no different. You may have a public mission statement; however, the real mission statement is: "Make more money."

But guess what? Corporate information technology (CIT) is not a profit center–it doesn't generate any revenue. Business units generate money. CIT costs money.