More CTOs can become CEOs - but only if they follow this exact strategy
- Technology chiefs were once overlooked for the role of CEO, but the digital revolution is raising their visibility internally and creating new opportunities for advancement.
- But chief technology officers also need to work on bolstering their external profiles if they want to rise up the ranks, Ekata CEO Rob Eleveld told the "Modern CTO" podcast.
- Working with customers can illuminate new problems or prompt new ways of thinking, and those relationships are key to becoming CEO, Eleveld said.
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Technology chiefs are often overlooked for the CEO spot.
For many years, the IT department was siloed from the rest of the organization and viewed as a cost-center, as opposed to one that could drive savings and new revenue for the company. But the digital revolution is changing all of that.
Now, chief technology officers are leading massive, enterprise-wide efforts to use stored data to power new artificial-intelligence-backed applications that can, among other things, help companies better target their customers and free employees up from more mundane tasks, like restocking store shelves.
That's giving the role greater visibility with the CEO and the board of directors, creating a new pathway for CTOs to earn the top spot. But to make the jump, the leaders need to extend that visibility outward as well, according to Rob Eleveld, CEO of identity verification firm Ekata.
"The more the CTO begins to get comfortable with the barriers they can't control outside the four walls of the company, the better they'll be as a CEO," he told the "Modern CTO" podcast.
A former submarine officer in the US Navy, Eleveld has served as CEO of several companies, including Whitepages, which provides verification information like bankruptcy and criminal records. Ekata - which previously raised $45 million in a Series A funding round, according to Crunchbase - spun out from Whitepages earlier this year.
Clients like Under Armour and Alaska Airlines rely on the company to verify the identity of individuals that are using third-party payment transaction services like Venmo or Paypal.
'The more they can get outside the company the better'
Eleveld doesn't come from a traditional tech background, given he spent most of his career on the sales side.
But it's that interaction with clients that helped propel him to the top spot. Chief technology officers looking to make the jump to CEO should replicate that and look to build "enduring customer relationships," argued Eleveld.
"The more they can get outside the company the better," he said. The vice president of engineering at Ekata, for example, spends part of his time with clients and speaking at customers as a way to build that external visibility.
Managing those dual-efforts can be tricky, particularly as the job of tech chiefs become more complicated with the rise of technology like blockchain and AI. But the interactions can help to bolster their knowledge of the business, a key step that other leaders recommend CTOs take to rise to CEO.
The visibility can also help CTOs earn spots on other corporate boards and expand their networks, two additional steps previously suggested by Puppet CEO Yvonne Wassenaar - who went from CIO of software analytics company New Relic, Inc., to leading the IT automation firm.
While it is still rare for a tech leader to make the jump to CEO, top executives think it will happen more frequently and Eleveld's advice is just one way CTOs can start to brandish their credentials.