The CIO/CTO Journey in 2025 & Beyond

About 15 years ago, we at CXO Connected started to advocate for a new role for the Head of IT. Long before others, we saw this role as being pivotal to an organisation’s survival and growth.  

While some Heads of IT were already starting to push through that glass ceiling, most were bogged down in the day-to-day responsibilities of ‘keeping the lights on’. I well remember talking with a Head of IT in a major building company who had just come out of a senior management meeting, angry, frustrated and revengeful, and said “I want to show them how important IT is. I want to pull the ****** plug!’ Needless to say, I moved straight into executive coaching mode, demonstrating empathy and helped him define a plan. That’s what we do! 

This is not simple and particularly it’s not quick. It does work. Here is a game plan for anyone who is in this situation. These are my 5 steps to success.  

• Develop presence – be the ‘go to guy’ (non-gender) for guidance on the next best thing for the business.  

• Build your business persona – understand the business across the breadth better than any individual head of business. Your skill and opportunity is to be able to link it all up.  

• Focus – on business outcomes and how technology can generate more revenue and reduce costs.  

• Engage in conversations - about the business whether technology plays a part or not.  

• Know and exploit - both the formal and informal organisation structure in your organisation.  

Click here to get your personal self-assessment of where you are now and the next steps forward for you. Even if you are on the journey, this will provide a great review.  

Barb Dossetter is the Executive Coach to C-Suite Executives across the globe with more than 300 coaching relationships over the years. Her motivation is to ensure that all executives reach their goals for themselves and their organisations.