In the CA Technologies survey, Jacob Lamm, the company’s executive vice-president for strategy and corporate development, says that “modern CIOs are not just technologists”. For many non-IT executives, the CA report says, “The idea still lingers that the CIO is an enabler rather than a driver, someone who gets things done for others rather than shaping the ethos of the company and steering it forward.”
This technology orientation is intrinsically linked to the often-used description of IT as a “service provider”. This, despite its positive connotation, puts IT at the edge of the organisation. The person who delivers milk to your door is a service provider; while he or she might help you decide how much milk you need, he or she doesn’t live in the house and help you with your mortgage.
“When you can combine the CEO-like raw vision and passion with CIO-like detailed planning around implementation, scale and design, it’s a much more powerful initial vision and one that’s even more likely to succeed”
Ironically, again, for a report that espouses the ‘not-just-a-technologist’ view of the modern CIO, the CA Technologies report puts a great deal of emphasis on Cloud computing as the key to the executive suite. CA Technologies being heavily involved in Cloud computing may be relevant, but it may be a bit strong to suggest, as it does, “The catalyst for change is Cloud computing. … Most CIOs are finding that because of the Cloud, they’re now being called upon to develop and exercise a range of core business skills they wouldn’t have needed a decade ago — they’re already effectively CEO training on the job.”
Of course, outsourcing has been around for a while, and CIOs’ need to manage the relationship is nothing new. The Cloud is an important element in modern business technology development, but to suggest that it is the prime key to opening the door might be considered a tad overenthusiastic (and partisan) and in fact continues to retain the image of CIO as a techie.
“Gentlemen and ladies, the Cloud is here to stay and it’s going to save the company,” says the CIO in his or her presentation at the next board meeting. “In the most basic infrastructure-as- a-service (IaaS) Cloud service model, Cloud providers offer computers (as physical or more often as virtual machines), raw (block) storage, firewalls, load balancers and networks. IaaS providers supply these resources on demand from their large pools installed in data centres. Local area networks (LANs) including IP addresses are part of the offer. For the wide area connectivity, the internet can be used or — in carrier Clouds — dedicated virtual private networks can be configured.”
“Thank you very much,” says the largely IT-illiterate board. “You can go back to your cave now, and we’d love to hear more about the Cloud/virtualisation/IaaS when you can tell us what it means.”
The best way to move up and make yourself and your potential contributions understood and appreciated is to stop being the provider and start being a player.
What can I do about it?
The following key actions have been suggested if you want to climb to the top job:
- li>Build internal influence
- Embrace uncertainty
- Visualise your company’s success
- Go global
- Step outside of your current responsibilities
- Break the chains with broader experience outside of your current position
- Develop your network
- Pick your battles
- Build your team
- Delegate.
All well and good, except that this list was intended for CFOs who want to be CEOs (published in CIO’s sister online publication, CFO World). If CFOs are being offered the same sort of advice as CIOs, then the race is truly on.
But is there any advice that can be specifically targeted at IT managers as opposed to those in charge of finance, and presumably also marketing, operations, etc?
A report by recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International, CIO to CEO by Mark Polansky and Simon Wiggins, says there are “surprising differences in the ways CIOs and other C-suite executives approach crucial leadership issues”. The report says, “These differences form the core of a very real challenge facing technology executives moving into general management and ultimately aiming for the topmost corporate ranks.”
But this is not insurmountable.
According to the report, “Fortunately for CIOs, new behaviours can be learned and adopted. Armed with the proper knowledge and support, CIOs can effectively groom themselves for promotion.” The most important bit of advice is to ‘think big.’
This means that long-lived mantra of “aligning with the business”. Conferences 20 years ago had “aligning with the business” as their theme, including conferences for CFOs. But “aligning” doesn’t mean being the business; it means running alongside it. It means organising your activities so they are not a mismatch with the requirements of the organisation. It means providing services (and future services) that are relevant for and desirable by the organisation. If you can do this, it does mean you understand what the business is and what it requires. It doesn’t mean you are the business. You are a service provider.
Services give your organisation solutions and hopefully advantages, but you have to pay for them. Wherever something costs money, you have to do a budget to see if you can afford the services. And as has been stated, budgets are the bane of CIOs, as they “prevent them from doing what they might want to do” and what they feel they see is necessary. As the Korn/Ferry report says, quoting Dennis Jones, one time CIO at Federal Express and later COO and CEO in financial services firms: “When making the move to CEO, the hardest thing for a CIO to learn is to think in terms of profits and loss, rather than costs.
“When you have a cost centre mindset, you are viewed by others as functioning in a supporting role rather than a strategic one. But a CEO needs to be proactive and to expect results. A CEO needs to figure out how to grow a business and understand its key drivers.”
The report goes on to suggest that C-suite executives “share most of the behavioural qualities that are generally held as critical for success in business. Technology executives diverge from the pack in small but significant respects”. The most obvious differences between CIOs and other top executives, the report says, are the speed at which they arrive at decisions when placed under pressure, and the manner in which they communicate their decisions to the people around them.
If CIOs talk about Cloud computing in terms that the board doesn’t understand, then the opportunity to position yourself as understanding the business is lost. If you can’t talk the talk and walk the walk, then forget it.
Many CIOs really don’t want to be the CEO; they’re comfortable and happy doing what they do. But whether they continue to be CIO, or seen to be the right person for that job, in those circumstances is up to others to decide.
For those who do want to make the move, the CA Technologies report says, “CEOs with an in-depth knowledge of technology backed by sound commercial acumen have the ability to transform the next generation of business. But having the ability isn’t the same as getting the chance, and in order to influence the boards, it’s critical to be visible. CIOs need a strategy where they can adopt a position that the business and C-level colleagues need to listen to.”
It goes on to quote Cathy Holley, a partner with UK executive search company Boyden: “Finance directors and sales and marketing directors are known to be confident and articulate, and generally have more opportunity to network with the CEO. When it comes to the CEO identifying his or her successor, his mind will be drawn to this and the ‘unsophisticated’ CIO will likely be disregarded.”
In other words, look beyond the CIO position, think about moving sideways before moving up, take hold of your opportunities, learn the language, and make yourself known. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to learn how to play golf.
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