How CIOs Are Reaching New Heights

by Gabriele Piccoli, Editor, Cutter Benchmark Review

One of the most enduring results of research in information systems has been the degree of discomfort that business executives claim when it comes to making decisions about IS and IT. The great number of acronyms (increasing daily it seems), the pervasiveness of technical language, and the unique blend of skills that are required to understand computing can be very intimidating. While this result has been a constant over the last few decades, and despite the reliance of modern firms on their IS infrastructure, it appears that getting executives interested in technology (let alone excited about it) continues to be a daunting task -- I know, I teach the required Information Systems Management graduate course at a management school!

In partial response to this stable trend, we have increasingly seen the rise to prominence of "new school" CIOs -- individuals that possess an optimal blend of technical skills and business savvy. This breed treats the top IT position not as the end point of a career but as a stepping stone to the CEO or president post. The old joke "CIO stands for ''career is over'" no longer rings true. Examples of CIOs being promoted to the role of CEO or to other executive-level positions now abound -- there is even a Web site listing these movers and shakers.¹ I first considered this potential for upward and lateral mobility of CIOs and about the general permeability of the IT function six or seven years ago. I asked a good friend of mine, at the time serving as the CIO of one of the large cruise lines, what he thought he would do next since he had just been promoted to CIO and he was yet to turn 40. His reply: "Next, I'll be CEO." As I looked at him with a "Yeah, right" expression, he continued, "Information technology is everywhere; we touch almost every process in the firm. We must intimately understand operations to enable them; I have a complete view of the organization and its operations."

The more I reflected on that statement, the more it made sense to me. Who else has a better view of the company and its processes than the CIO? After a stint in operations and maybe finance to strengthen their background in those areas (and for "street cred" and some politics), there is no reason why CIOs can't move into the top spot.

This is now a well-established trend -- witness the many recent stories in the Wall Street Journal and Computerworld to name just a few. Two primary reasons are fueling this trend:

1. The increasing prevalence of IT and the consequent need to have some understanding of how to use this crucial resource by those who serve on the executive teams and the boards of directors

2. The fact that the prevalence of IT and IS throughout the organization gives CIOs a broad view of operations, business processes, interorganizational coordination challenges and opportunities, and a broad understanding of how the firm is positioned to execute its strategy

Of course, this is all wishful thinking if you can't establish your credibility as a sound CIO. How can you do the next job if you can't do your current one?!

I believe that the time is now to showcase the type of leader that CIOs can be, both within and beyond the IS function.

-- Gabriele Piccoli, Editor, Cutter Benchmark Review

Notes

¹See Kim S. Nash, "CIO to CEO: 56 Moving Up The Ladder." Baseline, 15 February 2007.