Comments on: Can a CIO be Successful Without IT Experience? http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio Just another WordPress site Thu, 06 Nov 2014 02:53:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 By: Can a CIO be successful without IT experience? Define your terms! http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-434 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:44:10 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-434 […] Chris Curran, “Can a CIO be Successful Without IT Experience?”, […]

]]> By: Murray Wills http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-410 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:41:16 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-410 See my blog for more discussion on this topic also (link below)- Absolutely, once and for all, you DO need IT and business experience to be a CIO, just as you need business and finance experience to be a CFO.

http://www.maxsys.co.nz/?p=798

]]> By: Murray Wills http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-433 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:41:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-433 See my blog for more discussion on this topic also (link below)- Absolutely, once and for all, you DO need IT and business experience to be a CIO, just as you need business and finance experience to be a CFO.

http://www.maxsys.co.nz/?p=798

]]> By: Rom http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-409 Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:26:15 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-409 I agree with everyone here – the CIO absolutely needs IT experience. Too many times have I seen inept CIO’s, or even any level of IT management, who have little to no IT experience and essentially need their staff to present “envelopes” to them that they can just pick one without understanding all the issues at hand.

One thing in the article that I don’t agree with though is:

5. Management experience in a non-IT function

I don’t think a CIO needs to have done a sales, marketing, or other role to be qualified for CIO – and in fact doing so I feel means that he/she isn’t really committed to technology awareness (most technology people would find working in sales/marketing/etc mind numbing). Business awareness is crucial, but it really is an executive *team*. Does a CEO have to have been a CFO to be qualified? No, the CEO trusts his/her CFO to understand that part. Does a CFO have to have been a COO? No.

It makes me mad how the CIO position is seen by many executive teams to be the “unwanted” position, and business people who want to make C-level will accept the position just to further their careers no matter how bad they are at it. I wonder how many of these so-called CIO’s could formulate an educated decision about something as industry hyped as, say, the appropriate use of SaaS technologies.

]]> By: Rom http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-432 Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:26:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-432 I agree with everyone here – the CIO absolutely needs IT experience. Too many times have I seen inept CIO’s, or even any level of IT management, who have little to no IT experience and essentially need their staff to present “envelopes” to them that they can just pick one without understanding all the issues at hand.

One thing in the article that I don’t agree with though is:

5. Management experience in a non-IT function

I don’t think a CIO needs to have done a sales, marketing, or other role to be qualified for CIO – and in fact doing so I feel means that he/she isn’t really committed to technology awareness (most technology people would find working in sales/marketing/etc mind numbing). Business awareness is crucial, but it really is an executive *team*. Does a CEO have to have been a CFO to be qualified? No, the CEO trusts his/her CFO to understand that part. Does a CFO have to have been a COO? No.

It makes me mad how the CIO position is seen by many executive teams to be the “unwanted” position, and business people who want to make C-level will accept the position just to further their careers no matter how bad they are at it. I wonder how many of these so-called CIO’s could formulate an educated decision about something as industry hyped as, say, the appropriate use of SaaS technologies.

]]> By: cornercuttin http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-408 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:44:22 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-408 I have developed for a CIO who had a PhD in Computer Science, and he had no clue what he was doing. He was put there purely because of his degree, and had no business being in the position he was in. Many of his developers (including myself) had a lot more understanding of our business as a whole, but also market trends and project feasibility.

Personally, I could not follow a CIO that does not have IT experience. I cannot rally behind that, and most developers feel the same way. There will be an eventual disconnect from IT people to non-IT people, but I don’t think that disconnect should occur at the CIO level.

]]> By: cornercuttin http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-431 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:44:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-431 I have developed for a CIO who had a PhD in Computer Science, and he had no clue what he was doing. He was put there purely because of his degree, and had no business being in the position he was in. Many of his developers (including myself) had a lot more understanding of our business as a whole, but also market trends and project feasibility.

Personally, I could not follow a CIO that does not have IT experience. I cannot rally behind that, and most developers feel the same way. There will be an eventual disconnect from IT people to non-IT people, but I don’t think that disconnect should occur at the CIO level.

]]> By: Neville Fernandes http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-407 Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:44:08 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-407 Success means different things , we have Kings in Europe,Asia and Africa with little or no educational background and experience,illiterate and inexperienced leaders like Abraham Lincon that have ruled the US and have been successfull.
A CIO is a small fry compared to the these leaders . One can therefore conclude that a CIO doesn’t need IT experience ,but the ability to quickly learn on the job and deliver.

]]> By: Neville Fernandes http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-430 Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:44:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-430 Success means different things , we have Kings in Europe,Asia and Africa with little or no educational background and experience,illiterate and inexperienced leaders like Abraham Lincon that have ruled the US and have been successfull.
A CIO is a small fry compared to the these leaders . One can therefore conclude that a CIO doesn’t need IT experience ,but the ability to quickly learn on the job and deliver.

]]> By: Kathleen Velasquez http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/leadership-experience-whats-important-cio#comment-406 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:02:08 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=1264#comment-406 There have been many CIO’s who have the technical background, and are still unsuccessful. Chris lists the CIO skillset priorities and indicates as #1 Leadership Abilities. This is the downfall of many a CIO, whether they possess an extensive IT background or not. If an individual does not possess the capability to be an effective leader, they will not succeed. While it is rare, I believe it it possible for a person without an IT background to be successful as a CIO. I do think they need to be technically savvy, but not necessarily have a formal IT background. If the individual possesses the leadership capabilities required, they will be (or shoud be) intelligent enough to surround themselves with a highly skilled team that will provide the knowledge on the IT side to account for the gaps in their background, enabling them to be successful.

]]>