What to Look for in a CTO When You Need to Drive Change

In our exponentially-accelerating digital age, where 22% of organizations are using AI, companies can’t afford not to keep up. A critical part of closing the gap between the traditional and the disruptive is to invest in a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). What key attributes do you need to look for?

Responsible for a wide range of activities, a CTO will oversee and manage things such as technology strategy, internal systems, tech innovation and product development.

A successful CTO will need to be well-versed in a range of different departments. These are the individuals that will push the organization forward into a new era of innovation.

So, where do they come from? What does their resumé look like? That’s the interesting part - many bold companies from more traditional industries have been successful in attracting talent from more technologically advanced and digital-savvy fields, such as payments, e-commerce, technology, and analytics vendors and gaming companies.

One example of this comes from the Hanover team, who managed to take the technology leader of a Formula 1 racing team and appoint him into a visionary technology leadership role with an asset manager.

It might sound obvious, but a CTO needs a wealth of experience behind them in order to appreciate all aspects of the business from a C-suite perspective.

A critical area of expertise to look for is internal transformations, as this will allow you to identify whether they could do something similar for you, and what that could look like. The CTO will also need to work with the CEO on strategy, meaning they should have strong all-around business expertise. This is critical for company-wide credibility.

A broader business understanding coupled with technical acumen will make them a good fit for the board. Candidates will need to have a solid grasp of the wider business model, not just the technological aspects.

CTOs cannot be blinded by the latest new technology. They must understand how to harness technological innovations to deliver commercial objectives. You don’t want someone who just wants to play with the best tech and then struggles to make decisions on what’s best for your business.

The majority of technology leadership pivots around strong communication and influencing. CTOs must communicate technical goals to non-technical peers and team members, generating enthusiasm and buy-in.

CTOs are also required to hire and develop technical talent. They will be responsible for creating a culture in which people with technical roles can thrive in their careers. This also means creating a diverse team that will bring many different ideas to your organization. Don’t be scared to bring in someone from a different industry, as this can in turn brings diverse and innovative ways of thinking. Also, it’s important to remember that diversity doesn’t only mean gender and ethnicity, but diversity in how someone is thinking.

In short, a good CTO will know exactly what to do to get the best out of both their investments and their employees, no matter their backgrounds.

In the current climate, there is no time for a CTO to ‘settle in’ and adjust to the company culture; they must be a good fit from the get-go in order to hit the ground running and enact desirable change.