I get asked this question regularly when taking role briefs:

“What should our next XXXX look like?”

I've chosen to focus on the CIO role here, because it's probably the role where I'm asked for the most input.

Having placed a lot of CIOs over the years, I can certainly offer a view on the backgrounds, experiences and capabilities I've seen work in different businesses and markets.

But I'm increasingly reluctant to answer that question without asking another one first:

➡️ “What does the business actually need this person to deliver?”

Because there isn't a universally right CIO profile.

The CIO who thrives in a business needing technology stabilisation may not be the CIO you need for enterprise transformation.

Someone successful with a highly technology-literate CEO and strong executive sponsorship may face a very different challenge in a business where technology has less organisational influence.

Same person. Same capabilities. Potentially very different outcome.
Which is why I think we sometimes get CIO briefs backwards.

We start specifying the person before we've properly specified the environment in which they need to succeed.

Then we compound the problem by adding everything the technology function needs onto the CIO job description.

Strategy. Cyber. Data. AI. Architecture. Transformation. Commercial capability. Operations. Digital. Innovation.

But the CIO doesn't personally need to be exceptional at everything their function needs to be exceptional at.

Some capabilities are fundamental to the CIO themselves. Others should exist in the leadership team they build around them.

So perhaps the sequence should be:

➡️ Define the mandate before designing the job description.

What must this CIO personally be capable of delivering, given the business context they're walking into?

What capabilities will be critical to doing that?

And what capability can they build around themselves?

Otherwise, we risk designing CIO specifications that look impressive on paper but bear very little relationship to what will actually make the person successful.

#CIO #TechnologyLeadership #ExecutiveSearch #ExecutiveHiring #Leadership