Q: How has the relationship between CEOs and CIOs changed in the past three years?

A: That relationship has improved. For one thing, CIOs haven't changed jobs as readily as they did in the late 1990s. Their tenure has been longer. We've seen some positive results from that: They've gotten the job done in these hard times, and that builds their credibility; they're seen more as team players; and they've taken on more operational duties that they may not have performed in the past.

Our survey data also shows that CIOs, themselves, feel better about where they are. We found, based on anecdotal evidence, that they believe their peers respect them more than in the '90s. When you have confidence in your work, you feel better about talking more about business and being a contributor and giving ideas outside your realm.

Q: But your survey results show that few CIOs are seen as business leaders. How can CIOs change their image from someone who's good at support and delivery to someone who's strategic? You talk about changing the tone of conversations from tactical and negative to strategic, but don't you have to eliminate the need to have those negative conversations first?

A: That's true. You won't find the CEO responsive if you're not taking care of IT. You have to have the IT-delivery part right before you can talk about things beyond your responsibility.

Q: Who's at fault for perpetuating this image?

A:I think it's historical. It goes with the job responsibility. But remember that CIOs' reputation has greatly improved over the last decade. Technology and its application are more common. When I worked with IBM, you used to have to explain to people what a megabyte was. But now all the lines of business view technology in other enterprises, and they can see the advantage of that application of technology in their own enterprise. Still, attitudes don't change overnight, and CIOs shouldn't expect them to. It's a journey because there are factors out of your control, such as missions and economy. The longer you stay at a company, the better relationship you have. If you're changing jobs every 18 months, you may have made your mark, but it was likely operational rather than relationship-based. You're a consultant rather than a member of the enterprise. One of the biggest hindrances in the past was the ability to communicate with other business leaders, including the CEO, and getting caught up in the technology vernacular in your day-to-day job and then carrying that over into your business conversations, instead of understanding what keeps the CEO up at night.

Q: Your graphics showed that CEOs had four things to worry about and CIOs had 10.

A: Those were actually from two different data sources. The list of CEO worries was from an IBM survey done by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The other list came from our survey. What we wanted to show was that they have different job responsibilities. We wouldn't have expected them to mirror each other, but we wanted CIOs to understand what their boss, or their boss' boss, is worried about.

Q: Your survey touches on style. How can CIOs change theirs?

A: They have to be aware of what their current style is and be brutally reflective about whether it needs to change. Here's what I'm good at, and here's what I'm not. Historically, it hasn't been CIOs' role to build relationships, except internally. They haven't had to meet external customers. They have to look at both the thorns and the roses—the things they do well and the things they need to improve. It may take a leap of faith to engage in discussions that you haven't had in the past. You have to be proactive and you can't be fearful.

Q: It's probably a good idea to do that within the IT department first.

A: They would be a good mirror for CIOs, as would as their peer group—the CFO, CMO, or COO. The easiest way is to do it inside your own department. It's riskier to do it with peers, because as you increase your influence and your ability to be viewed as a business leader, you don't want it to appear that it's at someone else's expense. You have to manage those reactions appropriately.

Q: The survey refers to the four stages of a CEO-CIO relationship. What's your advice for a CIO who wants to move to the next step?

A: You have to know where you are on the scale. We have four stages: at-risk, trusted ally, partner, transactional. At risk means the IT organization is delivering below the CEO's expectations, and trust and credibility are very low. Transactional means the CIO is delivering what the enterprise needs, but the CEO and the CIO engage mostly on functional issues. This is the most common relationship, by the way. At the partnering stage, the CIO has achieved credibility and engages both the CEO and his or her own peers on business issues. When a CIO becomes a trusted ally, he or she is viewed as a true business partner.

You have to figure out what stage you're in and build credibility at each step to get to the next one. Your job is to deliver, and you have to do that before you can talk about strategy. If you're good at strategy, then talk about how you can help change the business. Each level has different relationships you have to think about. Getting from the at-risk stage, you may need more people than just yourself to tell the same story about your successes and gain more influence. It's not a one-person show. Your team has to be in sync to get you out of that spot—it can't be one person running from the back of their end zone with no blockers. The players need a good leader who can show them what they need to do so that they're clear on their mission. You can't do it by yourself. And you can't skip steps.

For more on this topic, see Bridging The CEO-CIO Disconnect.