Today's CIO: Teacher to the C-Suite

Guest blog by Gregory S. Smith, excerpted from his recently published book, Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-based World, second edition. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted with permission from John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

CIOs today are the primary educators of all things IT for the C‐suite. The technology trends that affect organizations today are being discussed in boardrooms, at watercoolers, and in offices throughout the organization, not just in the IT department. Because of cloud computing, social media, and the consumerization of IT, business professionals no longer are beholden to IT to turn up a new service, launch a new social media feed, or connect a personal device to the institution’s systems, most commonly e‐mail and messaging.

As a result, there are many different interpretations of the complexity and ease of implementation regarding many of the technology trends changing the landscape across the globe today. CIOs must be at the forefront and engage in meaningful conversations with the appropriate professionals, from business and office professionals to the C‐suite to the boardroom, so that decision makers have accurate information about the ease of turning up a new service as well as the risks, the integration requirements, the support costs, and the security implications.

CIOs today must be the teachers to the C‐suite. In addition to fulfilling our day jobs, we’ve evolved to become executive educators—and just in time, before half of our budgets are moved outside IT by 2020. We must become better influencers of technology strategy, spending, and support.

Educating the C‐Suite

Educating the C‐suite is an opportunity to build relationships, enhance trust, and educate at the same time. My research and my interactions with other CIOs across the globe lead me to believe that a winning combination of narrowing the CEO‐CIO gap and changing the direction of effort from operational to strategic is based on the following:

• Teaching the C‐suite and the CEO in particular is done through influence over time.
  
  
• Relationships between the CIO and other C‐level executives play a very important role in moving from operational and tactical to strategic IT. Spend time nurturing these relationships.
  
  
• Formal relationships are based on trust and respect.
  
  
• Respect is achieved through known external and internal perceptions of knowledge, leadership, and accomplishments. You must market yourself and your team’s accomplishments. You need to become an internal sales executive for ideas and accomplishments and an external adviser who shares their experiences, best practices, and lessons learned with others outside your organization.
  
  
• Education is a fine art, which is why many simply don’t do it well. A lecture is not educating. Educating is the fine art of influence and sharing of knowledge in a nonthreatening manner. CIOs need to remember that CEOs are some of the most egotistical professionals on the planet. Making bold recommendations and lecturing about the need to use technology A or B to solve a business problem could have a very negative effect and result in a non-trusting relationship. The best professors I’ve ever had taught me a lot. They showed me that caring about why one does something, teaches someone, or recommends a solution is more important than the lesson itself. Thus, teaching the C‐suite is a delicate proposition. Many CEOs might not take kindly, especially in front of others, to the fact that their subordinates are smarter than they are. It’s way too threatening. Balance and tone are the keys.
  
  
• If you influence the C‐suite, the C‐suite will influence the CEO. Spend less time trying to teach the CEO personally and more time politely educating the other executives about your ideas and how certain technologies can solve their business problems. These executives will do the heavy lifting by advising the CEO and supporting your position. Suggestions in numbers fare better than lone propositions.