From IT Fixer to Business Leader: How I Changed the Game

Have You Ever Walked Out of a Leadership Meeting Feeling Invisible?

I did.

Each Monday, we had a company management meeting. My peers—heads of sales, operations, finance—were invited for the full session. They discussed strategy, growth, and the future of the company. Me? I was invited for exactly 30 minutes, if at all. My role? To explain or defend IT, usually after something had gone wrong.

One Monday, after a system outage disrupted operations, I was called in. I walked through the root cause, the fix, and our plan to prevent it from happening again. The CFO barely looked up from his phone. The CEO nodded impatiently and said, “Thanks for fixing it, Ali. Now, we need to move on to business matters.”

That was my cue to leave.

As I walked out and the door shut behind me, a familiar emptiness settled in my chest. Why did I feel so bad? It wasn’t the first time. It had always been like this. Yet, today, the weight felt different—heavier.

Then the thought hit me: They don’t see you as one of them.

Fifteen years in the company. CIO. A seat at the table—but only when something broke. They still saw me as a fixer, not a leader.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. By the next morning, I felt drained—physically and mentally. By midweek, I was sick. Not the kind of sick that medicine could fix, but the kind that years of frustration and unspoken truths bring. I called in sick for the rest of the week.

Lying in bed, I knew something had to change. The following Monday, I booked a session with my executive partner and mentor. I laid it all out—my frustration, the meetings, the exclusion. He listened, then said something that hit me hard:

"Ali, they didn’t shut you out because they don’t respect you. They shut you out because they don’t see how IT fits into their business conversations. And that’s on you to fix."

That realization stung, but it also woke me up. I had spent years proving my technical expertise, yet I had failed to position IT as a strategic driver.I had spent years proving my technical expertise but failed to position IT as a strategic driver. So, I changed my approach.

Instead of selling an IT project, I embedded IT into business outcomes.

For years, I pushed for replacing Lotus Notes with Microsoft Office 365. Every time, it was rejected. The CEO and CFO saw it as just another expensive IT project.

This time, I didn’t pitch it as an IT upgrade. I listened to my peers, engaged in backchannel conversations, and reframed the narrative:

• To finance, I demonstrated how automation tools would streamline reporting and budgeting, reducing manual work.
• To operations, I showed how better collaboration tools would speed up decision-making and reduce misalignment between teams.
• To HR, I positioned it as an enabler for hybrid work and employee engagement.

By the time I proposed the initiative again, I wasn’t pitching IT—I was driving business transformation.

The CFO, once dismissive, leaned in and asked, “How much cost savings are we talking about?”

That’s when I knew—I wasn’t just the fixer anymore.

Lessons for IT Managers: How to Move from Fixer to Leader

?? 1. Stop Talking Tech—Start Talking Business Impact CFOs don’t care about system upgrades; they care about cost efficiencies. COOs focus on operational speed, not software features. Speak their language, not IT jargon.

?? 2. Build Relationships Beyond the Boardroom Leadership is personal. Understand your peers' priorities, working styles, and even their hobbies. The more you connect on a human level, the more they’ll see you as a leader, not just a service provider.

?? 3. Influence Before You Pitch Don’t walk into a meeting cold. Have the real conversations before the decision is made. Engage stakeholders, align IT with their needs, and make them part of the solution before you ever ask for approval.

Final Thought

Don’t wait for a seat at the table—be the one who brings the table together. That’s how IT leaders make the leap from fixer to strategist.

What strategies have helped you position IT as a business driver? Let’s discuss in the comments. ??