The cynics are going to have to rethink their position.
CIO no longer stands for "career is over".
There has been a steady trickle of chief information officers
who have made it to chief executive or chief operating officer.
Think of Richard Hoffman at Hyundai Information Systems, Ian Cramb at
Citigroup and David Yu at
Betfair – a
significant few, but nothing compared to the numbers from, say,
finance or marketing who make it to the top jobs. The
FTSE 100 is not
yet inundated with CEOs from an IT background.
The responsibilities and pressures on any CIO’s shoulders to
achieve business transformation are such that they potentially have
a better grasp of key business issues than any other person in the
organisation.
And there are now more opportunities than ever for CIOs to
become CEOs, due to the need for constant business transformation
and evolution to keep up with an increasingly competitive global
marketplace.
So what is holding CIOs back? The answer is a mixture of
misconceptions, prejudices and, frankly, CIOs not always helping
themselves. Let’s look at the evidence.
The first reason is history, or lack of it. It is easy to forget
that IT is a very young industry; it has only existed as a career
path since the 1970s, and it was only defined as a career option
relatively recently. The pioneering spirit of the early days may be
over, but its legacy remains as the industry matures.
One problem allied to the industry’s youth is perhaps a lack of
consistency in the expectations of the role, or even formal
accreditation for the CIO. Phil Smith, former global CIO of
Royal & SunAlliance and current chairman of
Xantus Consulting, says that whereas a finance
director will have widely recognised letters after their name,
there is no straightforward equivalent for the CIO, and perhaps
this may reduce the business credibility and perceived
qualification of CIOs.
Marketing and finance directors are often seen as a more
acceptable choice for promotion than IT directors. This is because,
as part of the traditional senior executive team, they are regarded
as "a safe pair of hands". They are a known quantity with known
skills, and you can't argue with the power of sales and
revenue.
Another factor is that IT has traditionally been perceived as a
support role rather than a strategic role. This is despite the fact
that IT provides the backbone of almost all businesses, permeating
every aspect and maintaining every connection between staff,
customers, suppliers and partners.
Moving on from the misconceptions and prejudices that keep CIOs
in their place, let’s consider instead how CIOs might be holding
themselves back.
If you work in sales, marketing or finance, the chances are that
from the very first days of your career, you will need to liaise
with customers. People in these roles quickly learn the importance
of communicating their ideas and generating networks.
It has often been the case that people who work in IT have been
able to pursue their line of work without needing to network in the
same way. This can be a disadvantage when it comes to being
promoted to the top job.
Another communication issue is the temptation to talk in "IT
speak" rather than in business terms. This works against CIOs in
two ways. Firstly, it means that not everyone will understand the
messages they are trying to get across. Secondly, it means that
situations are expressed from an IT point of view, rather than from
a business point of view.
In addition, it may be stereotypical to say that CIOs are
reactive rather than proactive, and that they see problems where
CEOs see opportunities. However, these stereotypes are based on a
grain of truth.
The management expertise of the CIO community is as good as any
other group. If CIOs grasp the challenge to defeat some of these
common prejudices and to aim high, they are in a better position
than ever to achieve their goal. CIO to CEO? Carpe diem!
Neil Pullen is managing director of interim management and
executive search firm Freestone.
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