ABSTRACT
This paradox has one obvious explanation: the CEO is dissatisfied with IT and the CIO’s would-be successors are guilty by association. As Kevin Hart, CTO and CIO of Cox Communications, puts it, “When the CEO or the board perceives that something with technology has gone horribly wrong, the technology organization-rightly or wrongly-suers a negative halo eect. If the current leader couldn’t get it right, the CEO may think, ‘We need to change this up, search externally, and start over.’ ”
But there are other, almost structural, challenges at play in the succession-planning paradox. One is the stovepipe dilemma, where IT leaders tend to come up through either infrastructure or applications. The CIO role requires experience with both, and CEOs are not willing to take a chance on a first-timer. Another is the exposure dilemma, where the executive committee has had too little interaction with the internal candidate to accept him as a C-level executive. Interestingly, many CIOs also report a desire dilemma, where not every direct report wants the anguish and accountability of the CIO position.
