diginomica digital careers report - 12 requirements to be a CIO

Every month, the diginomica digital careers report charts the new directions CIOs and CTOs are taking. Those digital leaders have secured roles because they have the skills an organization needs to adapt to changes in the market, to reduce its technology risks or costs, and to develop new products and services. Recently, a group from our community visited students at the Master's in Information Systems and Digital Innovation within the Department of Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to describe what it takes to have a digital leadership career.

Five digital leaders representing heavy industries, publishing, technology, advertising, and not-for-profit joined Associate Professor of Digital Innovation Will Venters, the author, and a class of students from across the world at the LSE to share 12 key attributes the students will need in order to become a digital leader.

1. Technology skills: Do CIOs need to be the most skilled technologists in the business? In many organizations, that is not the case, 75% of the membership to our network do not have a computer science degree, but as Interim CIO and former CIO for global advertising firm WPP, Nadine Thomson says, you need good knowledge and levels of curiosity about technology:

It is about being able to ask the good questions and be able to sense risk in operational gaps.You don’t need to know everything about coding or the architecture of the programme, but you do need to be able to make sure they cover all of the important things. Asking the right questions comes with practice and curiosity.

1. Constant change: The best and most challenging aspect of being a CIO is that you are part of an environment of constant change, which CTO Freddie Quek described as living in a situation where your job is never done.
2. Team leader: Being a CIO means leading a technology team and this is essentially the most important aspect of the role. Thomson says:

You have got to like people and see people grow.

Building on that, the CIOs said that assessing the culture of an organization before you join it, and developing the culture of your technology team, is crucial.

Although building a technology team is central to the CIO role, Community Integrated Care CIO Gerard McGovern adds:

You don’t always get to pick your team, so you then have to adapt your leadership, and it is your responsibility to adapt your style to get the best out of people.

4. Change management: CIOs not only lead the technology team, but, along with colleagues in finance, get to see across the entire business. That means CIOs have to be at the forefront of modernizing the organization, especially as technology is constantly changing and therefore leading to adaptation. McGovern adds:

You need to know what the organization is trying to achieve and then work out what technology, or not technology, to use.

Thomson reminded pupils:

The business will only move at the pace of the business, so change management is about people’s ability to adapt, and that really varies.

5. Business leader: First and foremost, a CIO is a business leader and is concerned with the needs of the business; they may have a passion for technology as well. They are responsible for how technology meets the mission of the business, as Alexis Ternoy, CIO of Endeavour Mining, says, his two largest demands are leading the business and people, and then technology. Thomson agreed and adds:

We are getting the people in our team to appreciate the wider context and giving them visibility of the business strategy.

6. Financial acumen: As a business leader responsible for technology, CIOs must have strong financial acumen. That means understanding the cash flow of the business, as CTO Quek says:

Finance is the language of business, and if you want to be a business leader, you have to understand finance.

7. Operational excellence: CIOs will only be considered business leaders if they have a track record of reliability. The entire organization needs to know the applications, networks, and devices work. As Conor Whelan says:

It is really easy to build a product or application. AI can build one for you in seconds, but try running it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You have to know who is using it, where they are, so the operational side of running an application or product is really hard, and it gets harder as usage grows.

8. Cybersecurity: Following the events of 2025, cybersecurity is high on the agenda for business leaders. Ternoy explained it was a dominant topic in his last board meeting, and he explained the dichotomy that CIOs face:

Cyber is an area where you invest and do not know if you didn’t suffer a major incident because of the investment, or am I lucky?

9. AI: AI is not their dominant focus, but alongside their leadership peers, they see huge opportunities and challenges. McGovern says positively:

Having everybody talking about AI is a good thing as it starts conversations, but AI has to fit into what your organization is trying to do.

10. Technology procurement: Alongside developing the technology team and culture, procuring the right technology is a major responsibility for CIOs. The panel described it as a team exercise and that subject matter experts, as well as legal teams, needed to be involved. 

Ternoy added that it is also important to consider the needs of the vendor selling the technology:

You have to know what drives your partners, as when you sign it is on you.

Quek agreed and said a procurement had to be a win for both parties.

11. Community: Connected to the procurement of technology is the need for CIOs to be involved in communities. These provide a peer-to-peer view of technologies and companies. One CIO says:

In this network, there’s a lot of conversations behind closed doors, and the vendors hate it.

12. Social conscience: Leading change management, meeting the needs of the business, and navigating the rapid pace of technology change must also be shaped by a responsibility to the society you live and work within as a business leader. As Quek says:

Be socially conscious of what we do with technology, as it is not just for us.

My take

A huge thank you to Will Venters and the LSE for this network debate, and for me, the biggest take away was number 12.

Be socially conscious of what we do with technology, as it is not just for us.