The leaders you admire and seek to be like practice one consistent trait and do it better than most.

Coaching is a proven difference maker. Yet, CIOs are behind in having this key to professional advancement and IT effectiveness. Not all coaches are created equal - and CIOs need those who stand above the rest.

Fractional CIOs may be all you need. But getting the most out of the relationship is another matter. These four dynamics will help you hire the right fit and maximize the benefit.

The CIO search isn’t just about the resume or cultural fit. There are types of CIOs not typical CIOs. Knowing the difference, and who you should look for, is the difference between a CIO who will be effective and long term or a short term placeholder.

It’s not enough to tell CEOs what to think. They best manage their expectations of IT through processing three critical areas.

There are certain things in business that don’t get close attention until something triggers action. For CEOs, IT can be that place where familiarity has become enough. There are ten triggers that will move a CEO to take a closer look, and ten turning points CEOs can lead out in before triggers are ever needed.

CEOs often look to be succeeded by someone like them. But the great CEOs have led their company to a place that requires different skills for a better future. And that will be found in the technologist.

The war of retention will be lost if you focus on efforts around promoting well-being and benefits. The number one reason employees leave can only be addressed by making five fundamental maneuvers.

Retention is a real issue being met with weak solutions. You and your employees need an advocate, one who comes alongside another and promotes their success in areas of personal growth, relational health and work-effectiveness.

Autonomy is essential for the C-Suite and leaders of your organization. But autonomy has been misunderstood, and as a result, led to horrific consequences. Two simple answers will eradicate the monster of autonomy gone wrong.

Hiring a Chief Information Officer (CIO) is more critical than ever. The cost is too great to fail. 4 mistakes in particular add up to a costly hire. 6 often overlooked traits are exactly what you are looking for in your next CIO.

The CEO and CIO want things from each other. Four areas are critical needs that often are overlooked: what each wants as it regards risk, networks, business exchange and team mastery.

The CEO needs a CIO who knows how to read context. It improves their effectiveness as a team leader, as a decision-maker, and as a communicator. To help them do so, make sure that they have a coach, a learning community and more context-conversations than content-conversations.

The CIO is here to stay. They are the bridge for customer experience, business priority and technology solution. Most of all, they teach everyone how to think differently, not just to know more.

In today’s changing environment, we not only must work differently, we must think differently. Design Thinking ensures that we are focused on the right problem and producing the right solution by thinking in the fields of Them, Us, and It.

Talent magnets look for candidates who bring potential and invest in their own development while attracting those candidates with a compelling brand, future value and an enriched experience.

Leaders understand that the most critical component of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic is the leader. Tough circumstances call for tough conditions but tough conditions do not diminish tougher character and commitment.

Collaboration takes shape as IT possesses a comprehensive understanding of business vision and can act as an internal consultant, driving business and IT as a learning community with mutual understanding and mutual expectations.

Adoption of technology is now in the fabric of how you operate. Best practices of leveraging technology require a shift: strategic initiative, high-impact outcomes, implementation wisdom, financial justification and training completeness.

The effective CEO and CIO realize that digital transformation isn’t about business processes but about customer experience. The best technology enhances the values, communication and emotions of the business-customer relationship.

This is why you have risen to the top of the pack. In particular, the CEO, CIO and C-Suite are hyper-sensitive to being distracted from what matters most. Especially, the CEO and CIO have moved into a working relationship different than before and more essential than ever.

Peer learning, leading practices and supportive community is irreplaceable in today’s currency of gaining advantage and staying ahead. Without the insight of others, waste of time, energy, ability and money accumulates. No leader today will survive under the burden of expectations weighed down by less than best execution.

Digital Transformation is more of a leadership challenge than a technology challenge. The demands of today have outpaced yesterday’s training. IT members need to exhibit a whole new skillset than what drew them into technology in the first place.

Companies get so buried in daily responsibilities they overlook what really matters. Digital Transformation matters, and the effort it takes to rally, craft and drive that initiative matters. In Part 1, we talked about rallying change through how you motivate, relate and connect.

Anyone can make decisions. C-Suite Executives must make effective decisions. Effective decisions implement goals and plans, influence direction and people, and identify key issues and insights. To make these decisions, C-Suite Executives need to stay informed on trends and market realities within their business and filter decisions through customer-centric focus.

The moment you assume the mantle of a leader, you redefined success in terms of how you bring out the best in others, and how you multiply your skills to the point that others surpass them. Leaders are not threatened by any one individual’s success, because the leader is measured differently than those they lead.

Yes, Geeks love money and time-off and other physical perks, but that is not what drives them and keeps them. Instead, most Geek-work is driven by creative problem solving. The C-Suite Executive who keeps their Geeks geeking out are the ones who offer multiple motivations built around this single core.

Most companies just don’t have the capacity to address all of the issues a CIO faces, nor do they have the employees with the capability to handle all of them. At a fraction of the cost of a CIO, companies can be confident they have address common and urgent concerns.

It’s difficult to know the answer in the changing landscape of digital transformation and the roles of C-Suite Executives. The CIO is now being seen more as the right hand to the CEO. But does that mean everything the CIO contends for is worth the investment?