When recruitment company Harvey Nash gathered an influential group of CIOs together earlier this year to discuss leadership, success, development and challenges, the conversation ranged from the changing career path of the aspiring CIO to managing up and how best to groom a successor.

Fabian Di Falice, head of strategic business systems at British American Tobacco (BAT), said that the best leaders in IT were those who excelled in general management as well as having a strong record of technical success.

Lars Hjaltman, CIO at Group RCI, is concerned about the lack of leadership skills in the IT function. He added that the bias in people development still leans towards developing functional skills.

There was a consensus among forum attendees that aspiring CIOs require support throughout their careers to develop the diverse skills that are necessary to be a modern IT leader.

Jonathan Merry, business technology director of Pfizer, noted that the standard career path in IT has radically changed in recent years. It is no longer sufficient to learn functional skills ­ – being politically savvy and commercially astute is now high on the agenda. In addition, knowing how to influence and negotiate with demanding business owners around the deployment of resources in favour of new and emerging markets was deemed to be a critical ability.

Mayank Prakash, CIO at Sage, argued that the modern CIO needed to be a leader who could comfortably manage cross-functional businesses.

Gordon Lovell-Read, former CIO of Siemens, told the group that understanding the responsibilities and drivers of the board was crucial in knowing how to influence the board agenda – ­ finding the correct angle with the right people is key to success, he said.

Process to success

Success is only really achieved in those companies where a portfolio of values is based on credibility and trust, as well as consistency in processes and behaviours, said Nigel Underwood, CIO at DHL. Underwood believes talent management and getting the right team dynamic are two of the CIO’s biggest challenges, but they are also the strongest foundation for success.

John Sillitoe, director of ICT at services group Serco, recommended his company’s “head, heart, hands” approach that Serco has brought to skills development for senior managers, saying it has enabled them to drive change throughout the business.

David Boulter of Capgemini felt that it was as much the responsibility of the CIO as the marketing or sales director to ensure the business was targeted at the “premium market” and was differentiated from the commodity providers.

Peter Brickley, chief executive of the Aschcombe Partnership, agreed that developing the next generation of leaders is essential, but warned that as a CIO you can only really be successful when you track where the pulse of the firm is. Changing how business is done to satisfy a new generation is important for retention, but should only be adopted when it adds value to the business as a whole.

Myron Hrycyk, CIO of Severn Trent, asked t he forum members how good they could honestly say they were as mentors and coaches. While he accepted that everyone present was probably comfortable in a customer-centric role, it was also their responsibility to grow these skills throughout their business, particularly with their successors. It was clear to the group that succession planning was key to long-term success and that grooming an eventual replacement is essential as well as being clear on the skills the successor needs.

Opportunities and challenges

There are many economic and technical factors influencing the modern CIO. According to Di Falice, one of the most prominent faced by BAT is addressing the modern information agenda. As BAT continues to grow internationally, there is an ever-increasing pressure to help the company with the information it needs to run on a global basis.

Sillitoe admitted that Serco is grappling with getting the right balance between empowering employees to innovate, and to collaborate with the security issues such freedom brings. While Trevor Didcock, CIO of Homeserve, agreed with many of the points around providing flexible and creative working opportunities, he asked the forum members not to overlook the real-world responsibility of IT to reduce complexity and cost.

Lovell-Read concluded with a warning that while the green agenda is a great topic to bring up at board meetings, it lacks the credibility within most firms as a cost-saving tool or strategy differentiator.