The article highlights a significant issue in CIO succession planning, revealing that many CIOs become unable to leave their roles because their top technical deputies lack the leadership skills and boardroom experience required to succeed them. This “architect trap” results in a weak leadership bench that appears deep technically but fails to gain board approval, which can delay CIO career moves and stall organizational transformations. The author recommends deliberate succession planning early on by assigning deputies real decision-making authority, exposing them to challenging executive interactions, and introducing them to the board to build credible future CIO candidates.
https://www.cio.com/article/4168461/the-cio-succession-gap-nobody-admits.html