Chapter 10 - The Corporate Board Paradox
A common frustration among CIOs is that they are generally excluded from participating on corporate boards. She refers to a conversation with an industry colleague who ran a recruitment firm that specialized in staffing boards, and who indicates that in "more than thirty years of recruiting board members, never once has he been asked to recruit a CIO."
The author speaks to one CIO she is aware of who is a member of corporate boards (and is a member of several boards of corporations and nonprofit organizations) - but this person is an odd case: she had been a VP in business who accidentally transitioned to a CIO role because she didn't trust the existing CIO to manage a substantial technology project that replaced a critical business system. She had been in various leadership roles in business prior, so she wasn't a "pure" CIO, and it's implied that her business acumen in general, rather than CIO role specifically, is responsible for the board pulling out a chair for her.
That said, there is a decided bias against including technology executives on boards - which constitutes another paradox: the CIO is held responsible for technology that will drive the entire organization, but has no presence in the governing structures on that same level.
Biases Against CIOs on Boards
The author suggests that generational bias may be a factor: many people in the IT industry are much younger than those on the business side, technology itself being a very young field. Moreover, the greybeards on boards still consider IT to be a supporting role - remembering the days when IT was part of the facilities staff who installed telephones and repaired photocopiers, and still consider them to be a humdrum support function with no strategic significance.
It's also suggested that many boards have had bad experiences with technology executives, who tend to be precocious and imperious, and are overly focused on the tools rather than the mission to which they are used. In the best of cases, they are in the role of a servant to the organization, doing its bidding. In general, technology has done much to improve the business - but the few instances in which it was obstructive tend to be more persistent in their memory.
It's also notable that there are many species of C-whatever-O that are also excluded from boards, as there was a fashion at one time to create a "C" level title for the top leader in any department. There is a decided preference in business to listen to a few basic areas - operations, marketing, and finance - and to regard any other facet of the business as an unimportant supporting role. In that sense, the CIO is in the company of the Chief Accounting Officer and the Chief Training Officer - relegated to the peanut gallery of corporate stepchildren.
There is also the practice, more than a myth, that the ranks of corporate boards are an "old boy's network," a closed coterie of people with long-established social interconnections into which a person has to be sponsored or grandfathered. They recruit from within, pulling on people they know, and are not very open to newcomers - and the CIO generally does not belong to the club.
A level of discomfort with technology is another factor that keeps CIOs out of the boardroom. One executive suggest that businessmen recognize the value of technology, but find the topic to be "intimidating, frustrating, and incredibly boring." They are not able to specifically recognize the way in which technology supports and has the capability to drive their business, and technology leaders have been woefully inept in communicating to them in ways they can understand.
There is also the psychological effect that comes from a lack of expertise. Most of the leaders of a business are skilled at business, but interacting with a technology expert puts them a t a disadvantage. In effect, the top executives are used to being the smartest and most powerful people in any discussion, but technology makes them feel stupid and powerless, so they avoid it, preferring instead to emasculate the technology professionals to keep them under control.
Finally, the desire to streamline committees leads CEOs to strip them to the bare bones - even if they are enthusiastic about technology, they deem it to be less valuable than the power-trio of business (marketing, operations, and finance) and are likely to call on the CIO only when the discussion is specifically about technology, rather than giving them a regular seat.
The Case for CIO Board Appointments
Having explored a number of the reasons that firms choose to exclude CIOs from boards, the author wishes to next explore some of the reasons they ought to be included:
Primarily, boards benefit from diversity, and the common practice of having CEOs of other firms (ore recently retired CEOS) leads to a board with "too many chiefs around the table" who all tend to think alike. Functional leaders such as CIOs, heads of HR, and legal counsel have different perspectives that are often equally broad, and can be very valuable for a board.
Another argument is that the CIO is one of few positions who have a broad view of the entire organization, by virtue of being involved in the key projects of every other department. In that sense, they are not just bringing technology expertise, but insight into the operations of every business unit the serve, with an eye for conflicts and synergies.
The author also suggests that many crises in recent years begin in the IT department or require the assistance of IT to resolve. Operational fiascoes, public relations disasters, financial debacles, and serious problems that can impact an entire firm are directly or indirectly related to the information in the systems and the processes that technology puts in place. As such, having the CIO on the board enables him to identify potential problems that can help to mitigate or prevent crises.
The CIO also plays a major leadership role in changes that affect the entire business. A new ERP affects every other department, and should be discussed in forums such as executive boards, in which the CIO should be in attendance to provide a first-hand perspective and coordinate with the other heads of business units that will be impacted.
Get Yourself On to a Board
In this section, the author speaks directly to the CIO who wishes to break into the board of his own firm, proposing ways in which they can prepare themselves to do so.
A CIO will likely be summoned to address the board on an ad-hoc basis - and generally deliver a flat and boring presentation that is largely reactive to the information requested and reinforces the impression that the CEO is a mundane caretaker. Consider such a request to be an opportunity to sell yourself: the presentation should demonstrate an awareness and interest in company goals, focus on the way technology supports the business, demonstrate innovation and strategic thought. Making a positive impression here can lead to greater engagement, or at least less resistance.
You should also consider working through vendors, as many firms will appoint executives from their biggest "partner companies" to their boards or committees. In B2B firms, flagship customers may also be invited, which makes the voice of these companies highly influential. Although these players do not likely have the influence to secure an appointment for you, you can influence the direction of the firm by working through them.
Building diversity into your resume is also helpful. The author suggests that many CIOs who are successful in being heard by the board often have other positions on their resume, closer to the business: customer care, human resources, strategic planning, or other fields show a breadth of knowledge beyond the IT department. Alternately, being highly visible in workplace initiatives that do not relate directly to IT (such as getting involved with the workforce diversity or employee development task forces) likewise give the CIO some credentials outside the narrow realm of technology and present hi as more of a "big picture" thinker.
Another avenue to explore is membership on the boards of other companies. In addition to gaining experience serving on a board, this can also exposes the CIO to external perspectives, which can be invaluable to overcoming executive myopia. The author suggests leveraging your own HR leadership, who likely know executive recruiters and have some leverage with them, and can hbe helpful in getting you in the consideration pool for other boards.
Increasing your visibility in executive search networks is also recommended: when a CEO needs to recruit a new board member, he generally involves existing board members in identifying candidates, or asks external recruiting firms - which means that being known only within your organization is not sufficient.
Another odd bit of advice is to be content to wait until you retire to seek a position on the board. There is some suggestion that boards may feel that a sitting CIO will be motivated to serve the interests of his role rather than those of the organization at large, whereas a retired CIO no longer has that conflict of interests.
Another path may be to seek a position on the board of a nonprofit organization - while these are not paid positions, and many in the business world feel they are less important or serious than corporate boards, they do give participants some esteem and experience. It's also noted that nonprofit boards are great networking opportunities, because they are composed of business and community leaders. It's also suggested that technology executives are appealing to nonprofit organizations, which are small and run on tight budgets, and see technology as a method of reducing their overall cost.
Another bit of advice is to Google yourself to see what comes up - because others will do this as well. Aside of making sure that there's nothing aberrant or erroneous being said about you (or someone with the same name who is overshadowing you), it's important to be visible for your professional pursuits.
Last, and what should probably be first, is to pause to consider if you really want to be engaged with a board. There are very many brilliant and successful people who can run a technology operation successfully, but who aren't cut out for high-visibility leadership roles.