The Rise of the Tech CEO
In the rise of the tech CEO, is the CTO the new CFO?
Twitter have just promoted their VTO, Parag Agrawal, to fill the shoes of Jack Dorsey as their new CEO.
The traditional CEO background
Traditionally, CEOs were often taken from finance roles. It was thought that understanding finance was the key skill required for steering the ship. In 2019, 52% of FTSE 100 CEOs were from a finance background. Just 14% had a background in tech, but that had increased from just 11% in 2017.
Finance professionals, by the very nature of what they do, and the fact that it is a highly regulated industry, are often highly risk-averse. They are skilled in balancing books and minimising risk. They are inclined to reduce expenditure wherever possible. And these are all vital skills...but are they the right skills for leading a business to success?
The rise of the tech CEO
The pace of the world has increased exponentially. Technology is allowing innovation to happen at an astonishingly fast pace. With the rise of DARQ tech, this is only going to get faster. Read more about what DARQ tech means for you in our article here.
In order to succeed, businesses must compete in this new environment. Change is no longer something we do when we want to advance, it is now a permanent state. Change is the status quo.
In order to lead, businesses must be able to work quickly, adopt new technology early, and adapt to the world around them. In order to do this, leaders have to be able to understand technology and see its potential, preferably before the rest of the world does.
Every CEO now needs to understand technology in order to compete. But a great CEO will not just understand tech, they will be driven by desire to learn more, a desire to discover what technology can do for their business, how it can make the lives of their employees better, and how it can make the experience of their customers better.
We are about to see the rise of the tech CEO. And it will usher in a whole new generation of corporate culture.
