What is an Executive Mindset CTO?

Too many CTOs feel that their C Suite colleagues don't see them as an equal member of the C Suite team. They feel they are often asked to justify their decisions and are not included in business critical discussions.

In my experience working with CTOs this is a vicious circle created by:

1. The executive being used to the engineers being someone you give instructions to - even if they are "the top engineer" that you now called CTO
2. The CTO themselves also does not act as an executive. Therefore reinforcing point 1 in the minds of the CEO and the other CXOs.

How does one act as an executive and build that credibility with the CXOs and the board?

Stever Robbins said: ""Chiefs" are special. Their titles imply specialty—CFO is finance, CMO is marketing, COO is operations—but that just describes their expertise, not their scope. Their job is making decisions from the perspective of the entire business. They think about making the entire business succeed, not just their own domain. You know that grand vision statement the company wrote last month? It's the chiefs who link the leadership vision with the strategy and tactics that get carried out. The executive's job is hiring the right people, asking them the right questions, and engaging them the right way during decision making."

"Executives who rise too fast or didn't learn along the way often get stuck at one level. Some VPs think only at 50,000 feet. Their big picture thinking is great, but their strategy doesn't capitalize on the actual strengths of the organization. They don't know how to connect strategy with operations. Their strategies can range from completely unrealistic to merely a bad fit."

This is the problem faced by many CTOs these days. They get promoted from engineer to CTO too fast and they don't have time to learn along the way how to think strategically.

An Executive Mindset CTO thinks about "making the entire business succeed, not just their own domain." This is the key difference between a Individual Contributor Mindset CTO and an Executive Mindset CTO.

With this newsletter I want to help aspiring and ambitious engineering leaders to think like an Executive, not just like an engineer!

If you want to attend my webinar on "How to find a CTO rfole in tough job market" or if you want ￡100 off my course on how to become a successful CTO in 1 year, please sign up to my waiting list: https://the-geek-whisperer.ck.page/0dca2fa492

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