The CIO Succession Gap Nobody Admits
CIO, Friday, May 8th, 2026
CIOs often lack credible internal successors because they promote technical architects rather than leaders.
CIOs frequently discover they have a weak succession bench only when they try to leave their position, as their highest-ranking deputies are typically brilliant architects without boardroom leadership experience.
The article identifies an 'architect trap' where CIOs promote based on technical depth rather than leadership capability, resulting in deputies who cannot run the organization or defend budgets to executives.
The author recommends three approaches: giving successors real decision-making authority over specific domains, deliberately exposing them to high-stakes conflicts with peer executives, and making top deputies visible to the board before succession becomes necessary.
This succession gap carries significant costs, including delayed career moves for CIOs, expensive external hires, stalled transformations, and damaged careers for passed-over deputies.