CEO-Executives

The CTO must exhibit a clear understanding and dedication to improving the competitive position of the company. The acceptance of the CTO as a business strategist is an important step. It will determine whether the CTO is treated as an equal member of the executive team or is isolated as an outside source for technical advice and information. A CTO must have superior communication skills and business savvy. "You've got to be an extrovert. You've got to be willing to get out in front of CEOs and the investment community to evangelize," says Phil Schneidermeyer, who heads the IT practice at corporate recruiting company Korn/Ferry, in Stamford, Connecticut .The ability to see the big picture is also critical, according to Estrin. (49) Providing strategic advice to the CEO and the Executive Committee requires the trust and confidence of the CEO. In previous technical roles, the CTO may have earned the respect and confidence of peers and superiors through technical prowess and performance. But, this new position requires business prowess and financial performance. (57) A CTO must be willing to interact on a professional level with CEO and executive management contacts. Providing strategic advice to the CEO and the executive committee is not an easy task. The CTO must earn the trust and confidence of the CEO and other executives. This business sophistication has to be combined with management, operational skills, presentation, communication, and financial performance. (57) Interaction with executive management creates a bond with the decision makers, and creates an opportunity to be treated as other management and executive members of the company. Roberts has conducted a study of the strategic management of technology that indicates that most companies include the CTO on the Executive Committee along with the CEO, COO, CFO, and CIO. In North America 60 percent of the companies surveyed included the CTO on this committee. In Europe the number was 67 percent and in Japan it was 91 percent. (78) In some companies the CTO actually teaches senior management about the importance of technology in their industry. The goal is to ingrain technology as a significant consideration in all executive decision making. (43, 28)

CTOs are not the first officers to face the challenge of inclusion or exclusion from the strategic process. When the CIO position emerged, they too were branded as technologists who could not function as business strategists. (55) This image has diminished as CIOs have shown themselves to be just as effective at making business decisions as their management-schooled peers.

Executive Committee members should also recognize that the technological stereotype that was not accurate for the CIO might also prove to be inaccurate for the CTO. If the CTO is to provide business decisions and advice, there needs to be some measure of the quality of this advice. The CTO's performance should be measured against a plan worked out with the CEO. This plan may include achieving milestones, introducing new products, reducing costs, reducing uncertainty, and selecting the right research projects to fund. Some advocate maintaining and teaching technology within the organization, measuring the speed at which technology is brought into the organization, the rate at which the CTO turns technology into salable intellectual property, and the CTO's effectiveness as the custodian for research and development money.