For decades CTOs were considered second class citizens in the C Suite/ELT (Executive Leadership Team) and often didn’t even get a seat at the table
Now, frankly due to every company becoming a technology company, CTOs have a clear seat in the CSuite/ELT but…
They revert back to being second class citizens because they lack business and political acumen.
The CSuite/ELT is a different environment, the game you are playing in as an engineer changes drastically but when the engineer in you doesn’t change (adapt), you lose credibility and often ultimately your job.
Don’t waste the opportunity to lead people and companies to a brighter future, learn business and political acumen, otherwise your amazing technology skills will also be wasted…
This is my word of warning to CTOs…
CTOs — I like you, that’s why I do this work, because I believe in you… but please adapt, just like Darwin’s survival of the fittest — “fittest” means “that who fits in, who adapts”!
Should the rest of the CSuite learn technology or should the CTO gain business and political acumen?