The CIO Career Path Paradox
Heller, Wednesday, January 28th, 2026
In this excerpt from her book The CIO Paradox, Martha Heller finds the career lessons of executives who moved beyond IT remain relevant today. Among them: be ready to step up. Diversify your experiences, accomplishments, and skills. And seize opportunities to lead other functions before reaching for the CEO ring.
Two years ago, a delightful group of Danish CIOs invited me to Copenhagen to discuss how my book The CIO Paradox (Routledge, 2012), had changed in the years since I wrote it. Rereading that book taught me two things: never reread your own work (you'll find typos), and everything old is new again. Yes, we now talk about AI instead of "big data," but the leadership principles that defined the CIO role then still define it.
I've selected the excerpt below on "the CIO career path paradox" because it captures the wisdom of CIOs who later became COOs or CEOs. Today, as more CIOs make that leap, their advice remains spot-on.