Comments on: F|R: The Top 5 Reasons Tech Execs Fail

By: Clipmarks Internal Clog » Top 5 Reasons Tech Execs fail

Clipmarks Internal Clog » Top 5 Reasons Tech Execs fail — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:27:27 +0000

[...] 5 Reasons Tech Execs fail August 3, 2008 – 11:31 pm by Mike Baumwoll Clipped from gigaom.com: Regardless of the title your company’s top technology executive uses — CTO, CIO, Chief Product [...]

By: Rodney Brim

Rodney Brim — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:04:18 +0000

Thanks for the blog. Lots of interest in this one. Actually three issues most commonly emerge in our experience working in this area:

The first is an addition to your list. It’s Emotional EQ. Perhaps its included in your failure to lead section, but frankly, not displaying savvy interpersonal skills and understanding and being able to navigate around the power of politics, is the one of the first things that get’s technology exec’s discounted in our book.
The ability to not use technology effectively to manage their own deparment’s tasks and projects is another primary face plant we see. It contributes to your point about managing operationally, but again we see it much more basic and directly impacting credibility for a technology exec.
The 3rd issue is the perception that IT is controlling the organization, e.g. not realizing that technology services is a service organization, not the controlling arm. That creates lots of ill will, and yet is very common.

Rodney Brim http://www.managepro.com/blog/index.php/category/strategic-manager

By: Readings. « CrankyNanny’s Ramblings

Readings. « CrankyNanny’s Ramblings — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:06:09 +0000

[...] this link for the actual [...]

By: Top five reasons IT leaders fail | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:48:30 +0000

[...] consultants Marty Abbott and Michael Fisher wrote an interesting guest column for GigaOm called The Top 5 Reasons Tech Execs Fail. It is primarily aimed at CTOs for startup and tech vendors, but the principles can apply to other [...]

By: Pavan K

Pavan K — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:05:03 +0000

Excellent article. Achieving this balance of leadership vs. management skills, and technical vs. business acumen will be a great challenge for a new generation of startups. We hope to deeply embed this, along with a lot of thinking from the Giga Om network, into a startup we are planning and prototyping right now. Thank you Marty & Michael, there is no way we could have afforded your fees, so absorbing this access to your insight, along with the comments from the community are at the top of our list.

By: How To Succeed As A Tech Exec In Five Easy Steps ~ IT Professionals

How To Succeed As A Tech Exec In Five Easy Steps ~ IT Professionals — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:00:54 +0000

[...] to point you to, aiming for the positive side of the coin. The article, which is entitled “The Top 5 Reasons Tech Execs Fail,” provides a set of bullet-pointed thoughts that can be read as a list of what tech execs [...]

By: Christian Sanz

Christian Sanz — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:40:40 +0000

Great article!

I believe CTO's need to adapt to the company whether it is a startup or a large well established institution. All companies are different and will require different types of commitments, skill set and or experience.

By: J Dagless

J Dagless — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:37:27 +0000

I'd also push the lack of understanding of how the organisation works at the sharp end. I remember taking my IT Director down to one of the local branches to sit with staff that actually dealt with customers (motor claims) all day to see how their IT worked for them.

As we left I said to him "now you see how those wonderful executive strategic Powerpoints you churn out mean absolutely jack down here!"

He had to agree.

This lack of understanding leads to dreadful assumptions being made.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:34:57 +0000

I would add anti-social personality disorders to the list. I’ve encountered more than a few tech execs whose ability to interact with other human beings was seriously deficient. One rule of thumb I find especially useful is self-advertised MENSA membership, almost surely an indicator of unpleasant personality traits.

By: Psycuity - Informed People Decisions » Blog Archive » Failure to build a world class team

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:32:57 +0000

[...] fear of failure is a powerful motivator, so I read with interest the GIGAOM article on The Top Five Reasons Tech Execs Fail. #5 is the failure to build a world class team – the best starting point is to first understand [...]

By: Phileosophos

Phileosophos — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:48:45 +0000

Interesting post, but I have to wonder about the number one reason, a lack of financial acumen. I can’t think of a single case I’ve seen where a CEO, CFO, COO, or any other C-level officer for that matter, has been identified as the point of failure for having too little technical acumen. I’ve heard plenty of jokes about how tech-stupid those folks are, but I’ve never heard it suggested that they need to be technically astute for a company to succeed. That’s why companies also hire a CIO/CTO, after all. So I wonder: why is it reasonable to expect the CIO/CTO to be a jack of all trades, but not the other officers?

By: Mark MacLeod

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:32:24 +0000

This is an interesting post, but too high level. You need to dig deeper to isolate the true causes of failure. My thoughts and reactions are here:

http://startupcfo.ca/2008/08/why-tech-execs-fail.html

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:10:28 +0000

Hi guys – this is a great post. Very interesting and well explained.

By: Nadine North

Nadine North — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:54:38 +0000

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT POST! I’m a headhunter in Silicon Valley, and deal with this daily. In my humble opinion, every executive, especially in a start-up, should have as many leadership skills as possible. The more leadership, team-building, financial, etc. skills the tech leaders possess, the less other execs will have to support the technology functions. Saying that, the stronger that the business execs are in technology, the easier it is for the tech execs to convey and implement their tech strtegies. Win, win, win all around.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:52:12 +0000

I think reason 5 and 4 are also created in the sense that executing earns the respect of the team. What is especially true at engineering startups is that engineers often wonder what the biz dev people do all day. To be able to truly drive products forward motivates engineers and lets them know that they are not just wasting their time and passion.

By: Vectorpedia

Vectorpedia — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:07:04 +0000

This is an excellent list of why executives fail but I would place the failure to pick a world class team a little higher on the list.