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Why Don't More CIOs Become CEO?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the because-they-know-better dept.

jcatcw writes "Thornton May is mystified by the very small number of Fortune 500 companies that led by former CIOs. "Knowing what we know about CIOs — that is, that most are smart, hardworking, supremely aware of how the business works and increasingly savvy regarding the workings of external customers' minds — the failure of more CIOs to become CEO has to be one of the biggest mysteries of our age.""

5 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. It's no mystery by prgrmr · · Score: 3, Informative

    the failure of more CIOs to become CEO has to be one of the biggest mysteries of our age

    Not at all. CEOs are hired by boards of directors, the vast majority of whom are not comprised of current or former CIOs. It's the same reasoning that has lead to the grossly inflated paychecks and bonuses that we see CEOs getting today: many members of the board have apirations to becoming a CEO. It's a continuation of the "old boys' club" on an even more pervasive scale. Until shareholders start demanding different behavior by voting with their investment funds, the situation isn't likely to change.

  2. Wrong skill set? by OglinTatas · · Score: 3, Informative

    Perhaps being intelligent, hardworking, and having a thorough knowledge of the company and how it works are not the most important factor in being CEO?

    The similarity between CEOs and sociopaths has been pointed out before. From a Psychology Today article

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  3. Re:Who does the picking? by Cigarra · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Most board members are chosen by the CEO"

    I sorry, what? AFAEK, the Board hires a CEO to run the company. Members of the board themselves are elected by the general meeting of shareholders.

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  4. Re:Who does the picking by heck · · Score: 4, Informative
    Face it, engineers are good at engineering, but suck at everything else. That's why they aren't chosen.

    According to the September 16-17, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Edition, about 20% of the CEO's of the top US companies have engineering degrees.

    I've also seen articles that mention that companies that are led by engineers tend to report better earnings than companies led my non-engineers, but that was in the days of Jack Welch (former CEO of GE).

  5. Re:how about by ravrazor · · Score: 3, Informative

    lol...

    Actually, I'm putting off writing a Corporate Goverance paper for a boring third-year law school class, and thought I'd try and inject some fact into slashdot. Maybe a futile endeavour...

    Those are fairly well-known stats, check google scholar for "CEO tenure" or papers like:
    The Impact of Regulation on CEO Labor Markets, The Rand Journal of Economics, Darius Palia
    Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0741-6261(200021) 31%3A1%3C165%3ATIOROC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

    Just one of many...