Chief Chief Officer

Every major technology innovation marks the dawn of a new era and with it the promise that business and technology will never be the same again.  And it seems to follow that we need a new 'chief' to lead us into this promised land.

The latest earth-shattering wave of innovation is, of course, AI.  So, as with BI, Cloud and others before them, we are now seeing cries for a Chief AI Officer.  Ours is the only discipline which can't decide on what the top spot should be called.  Of course, it took decades before technology rose to the C-level at all, but when we did, we immediately confused everyone by using CIO and CTO almost interchangeably. 

The CEO, CFO and COO titles are by far the most consistent. CMO and CRO are later entrants to the c-suite but clearly represent the leader of the marketing and sales organizations, respectively. HR recently got into it by adopting CPO (Chief People Officer) presumably so they too could have a three-letter acronym. 

There have been many other novel chief somethings invented along the way such as Chief Experience Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Diversity Officer and others.  However, these Chiefs are focused on an outcome and not on the use of a specific toolset. 

There is only one head of technology in any organization, just as there is only one CEO. This has been referred to in some circles as the President of Technology having overall responsibility for the use of technology throughout the business. This is a C-level position, and the CIO (or CTO) should be focused on the business first and, being the person on the senior management team most knowledgeable about technology, how to best leverage technology to execute the mission of the company. 

Part of that role involves building the right team with all the necessary skills and experience to efficiently and effectively design, build and operate the technology that supports the business. This team must include or have access to expertise in relevant technologies. AI is critically important, and the emergence of generative AI is clearly a watershed moment in technology, but it is still only a tool to be used wisely and not an outcome in and of itself. 

There is an exception to my CIO rule. The CISO role does rise to the C level on its own for two reasons. First, security should not report to the CIO. There are conflicting priorities, and it is unfair to hold the CISO accountable when the "boss" can override decisions. Second, like sustainability or diversity, security is an outcome and not merely a set of tools and techniques. 

A company with a Chief AI Officer, Chief BI Officer, Chief Cloud Officer or other C whatever Officers, will probably need a Chief Chief officer, one Chief to bind them all. 

Captain Joe 

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