Let’s see how you react to this stance: I more and more tend to believe that, although it would definitely be best if engineering trained, CIOs (Chief Information Officers) need first to be business & management people, not geeks.

Further to that, CIOs should be promoted from the very inside of a company, and be familiar with its key processes and operations. Then, CIOs should obviously be keen on working in IT-intensive environments, though they don’t necessarily need to be IT people.

Facing the dilemma “who should I chose between an excellent functional manager of one of my business key processes, and an excellent technologist?”, I would definitely go for the process-knowledgeable candidate since this person will empirically know what it takes to optimize current operational routines, and foster a breakthrough from good to great value chain execution.

What about you? Please feel free to discuss my stance.