What is the best method for contacting a career counselor?
You have raised two of the most significant, ongoing IT career questions: How do you become a CIO without a technical IT background? And how do you go from an IT director’s role to CIO? First, as I have said in this column and in many presentations on this subject, I believe that a CIO who lacks a foundation in technology is always at a disadvantage. And second, any enterprise hiring a director-level executive from the outside to become CIO must acknowledge the message that this action sends to the existing IT staff, especially the CIO’s direct reports, regarding their abilities and readiness to take on the top job and perhaps also regarding the internal promotion policy. The best way to make the leap to CIO is, of course, from the inside. Large organizations usually have CIO-type positions with divisional, regional, line of business or strategic business unit responsibility. I highly recommend this career-path strategy, while also carefully entertaining any small-shop CIO opportunitie
