Eagles' sky-high perspective and strong defences made them a popular choice
Soaring wings, thick skin, a pack mentality - we all like to imagine ourselves with the traits of our favourite animals.
That's why we asked some of the senior figures on this year's Top 100 IT Leaders list to choose the animal they thought represented them best - and there was certainly one most popular choice.
Visibility is all-important for an IT leader. After all, without having a solid overview of your operations, how can you expect to know what's going on?
CIOs would seem to agree, judging by the birds, elephants and giraffes they named on our list.
Dogs also made a strong showing, and hats off to James Packer of EF Education First who combined security and visibility with his choice - but you'll have to read on to find out what that was.
What this list shows most of all is that there is no one trait that defines an IT leader. Some think loyalty is important; others feel like perspective is the critical trait; and still others just want to swing around in the branches above the rest of us.
Tariq Khan, Chief Digital & Information Officer, London Borough of Camden
In this role I'm very much an eagle flying over a sea of complexity (we run 600 lines of business), taking in the bigger picture to deliver a strategic approach to implementation of tech and data.
