Telecom & Technology Consulting
The path from being an IT worker to a C-level executive might seem fairly straightforward: Once you’ve led some digital transformation initiatives, improved customer outcomes, enhanced employee experiences, and developed your organization’s AI strategies, you’re ready to move up.
But those experiences don’t necessarily make you qualified for a CIO or other C-level technology role. While leading transformation initiatives is essential, a C-level role involves much more responsibility. For one, you are now fully accountable for results for every single project. And perhaps most critically, you have to create a prudent technology strategy that meets the expectations of the CEO, CFO, and often the board.
Distilled to its essence, you’re shifting from managing projects to taking complete ownership of those projects. That includes being accountable for everything – enterprise technology, systems architecture, IT strategy, and deployment. In order for the C-suite to have confidence in your ability to do so, you’ll need to develop expertise in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI platforms, data governance, and other pillars of running the technology department. You also need be a great communicator, with the ability to easily translate technical strategy into its corresponding business value.
Potential CIOs also need to understand the limits of what types of expertise they can bring to the table. While some aim to gain deep knowledge across all programs, others try to master how to best steer priorities and mitigate risks. But either route is an impossible task. You simply don’t have enough hours in the day to be familiar with the granular details of every strategic initiative.
Indeed, moving your office into the C-suite is not really about having all the answers for every technical scenario. Instead, your primary responsibility is learning the essentials and leading your team through often ambiguous and nearly always complex situations. In fact, your most valuable contributions will come from assignments beyond your comfort zone, the solving of key business challenges, and making a positive impact across all business units.
Another key leadership skill is the ability to listen and be open to change assumptions based on outside forces. As a C-level executive you need to sell your vision, but at the same time you must assess how market, customer, investor, and stakeholder demands could alter the successful implementation of that vision.
To be more specific, new technologies, changing business priorities, and unforeseen world events (like COVID-19) can squash your plans seemingly in an instant. This is why the most successful tech leaders don’t simply react to the unexpected – they build contingencies into their vision and prepare teams accordingly.
No discussion of technology leadership is complete without mentioning AI. While AI is here to stay, with its influence surely to keep growing, there is still much hype and many unknowns. Your colleagues in the C-suite, as well as members of the board, will expect you to filter all the AI “news” and predictions into a viable strategy. To do so, don’t rely on blogs and industry articles, and instead network with your peers by joining communities and attending conferences.
To that end, it’s critical for leaders to continually remain curious and delve into the rationale for specific AI tactics. Always ask “why”. Ask colleagues to spell out their thinking behind specific decisions, and why they chose this course of action over that course of action. If you don’t perform this type of inquiry, you will surely be stuck and be less likely to truly innovate. Which in turn, means being unable to improve customer satisfaction, generate new revenue opportunities, or slash costs.
With all this said, keep in mind that a C-level role might in fact not fit with your place in life and your career. Even if you’re extremely qualified, being a CIO can be stressful – on a scale of 1-10, over 40% of CIOs claimed they experienced an 8. Fair warning. But if you have the gumption and resilience required for the job, go for it. You’ll be rewarded with the satisfaction of being a key cog in your organization – both for today and well into the future.
