That said, I recall that in the last related CEO survey — sponsored by The Economist — they identified that the reason that many CIOs are “displaced” was that over time they’re not able to move beyond the minimum requirements for the role, or find the time to contribute to forward-looking business-impact activity.

According to the CEOs interviewed, it was common that their CIOs invest 80 percent of their personal time in routine operations and management issues, and 20 percent on strategic business impact. The CEOs apparently wanted to flip that model.

Again, it just occurred to me that *perhaps* a different line of questioning might expose a different set of otherwise hidden reasons.

The conversations with CIOs and their leadership team were meant simply to understand if any of the current market pressures would lead them to recharacterize the focus of their original strategy. It was not a formal survey. They were ad hoc and quite informal.

Your ‘CEO Perspective’ is interesting because it is contrary to what was yielded in these conversations. Of the 15 companies I spoke with, 10 were directed by the CEO to make cost reduction the priority.

I guess one person’s busy-work is another’s business-impact-oriented activity…

If a CIO, and their leadership team, merely finds more typical “busy work” to keep them occupied then this is clearly not progress.

In contrast, those that are very decisive and invest in business impact-oriented activity will succeed. Perhaps asking the right questions will expose why “cost reduction is still king.”

CEO’s Perspective: if you ask your CIO for innovation, and even after the gift of time, all they come back with is “more of the same” then you need to raise the talent bar of expectations for that role.