How to win allies and influence boards

Many CIOs get little exposure to what their boards actually do. Their experience is often limited to a few presentations each year with little communication in between. But as boards consider major tech trends stemming from AI, the ability for CIOs to be translators and strategic advisors is a critical necessity.

“There’s a window for CIOs to play a pivotal role,” says Moses Zonana, a senior client partner at executive-search firm Korn Ferry. “The last time this much buzz around a technological possibility happened was when the Internet came on the scene. That moved slowly. This is moving so fast.” 

But there’s no doubt most CIOs have a lot of work to do when it comes to megatrends like AI, and perhaps more so on some table stakes to deal with their boards.

Karen Higgins-Carter, a former CIO at Gilbane and Webster Bank, among others, also sits on two boards and says a common mistake she sees is CIOs applying AI reactively, and as a means to independently shape company strategy. “But success in the age of AI will come from leading adaptive change across the organization,” she says. “The most effective CIOs are those who partner broadly and visibly, showing their boards that their strengths lie not just in technical expertise, but in orchestrating enterprise-wide transformations.”

Running a marathon

Steve Randich, CIO of FINRA, has been presenting to boards since he first became a CIO in 1996. A lot has changed since then, of course. “In particular, board members have become much more engaged, critical, and demanding,” Randich says. “And, from my perspective, more challenging.”

FINRA has long been lauded as a pioneer in public-cloud adoption, but the organization’s board needed a lot of convincing.

About six weeks into his tenure as CIO, faced with a dying system to handle the NGO’s market-surveillance platforms and data, Randich began recommending public cloud as the remedy, and just a few months later, it became clear that was the best option. But then came some big questions from the board about how will it work, can it actually work, and is it secure.

The entire journey took about two years, with Randich and his deputies continually informing the board on risks, ultimately concluding before industry analysts did that cloud was no less secure than on-prem systems.

According to Randich’s recent analysis, putting key elements into a data center would have cost 10 to15 times that of the public cloud. But for Randich and so many other CIOs leading major transformations, the work is always evolving.

Seizing the moment 

Some CIOs have the luxury of building more direct relationships with board members through dinners and meetings. But most IT leaders are relegated to presenting at routine meetings, so they need to make the most of those opportunities to demonstrate value, strategic acumen, and understanding of risks.

And there are certainly some best practices to maximize what might be a very small window with the board. First of all, talk with your CEO. Not only for how and when to engage with board members, which is an absolute must, but to prep for board presentations. Higgins-Carter has always found it helpful for CIOs to understand why they’re on the board agenda, what’s the board looking for, and what’s the governance objective here for why they’re presenting.

Following the actual presentation, she suggests asking the CEO how the message was received and if there’s any necessary follow-up. There’s also understanding the power of being succinct when presenting. Typically, board presentations are sent to directors ahead of meetings, so CIOs should assume that the directors have looked over those decks.

“The last thing you want to do is bore them, and sometimes the length of the content is the easiest way to do that,” Randich says. “Don’t go through the PowerPoint. Get through to the Q&A as fast as possible.” Why? Because that’s when directors ask questions and articulate any concerns with your approach. Then, you need to embrace feedback without being defensive.

Gaining perspective

While many board members may not have deep technical knowledge, they have battle scars and subsequent wisdom from handling crises, market turmoil, and large-scale disruption. CIOs need to understand the value of that experience, and doing so will lead to better relationships and dialogue with their boards.

“The way to influence somebody is by being willing to be influenced,” Higgins-Carter says. “If you go with that basic principle, you can learn a lot and level the playing field toward a strategy that makes sense for the business.”

But don’t be on guard or dismissive. “You can’t push off questions that may seem repetitive over time, given board turn-over,” Randich says. “You need to answer the questions clearly, and indicate that it’s a good question, and then explain it. And that’s where you get into the detail.”

Of course, CIOs need to know their audience. In tailoring presentations, they need to make the connection between technology approaches and the company’s overall strategic direction. “Good CIOs are the ones who can make that bridge and articulate it in a way that isn’t focused on just getting funding,” says Zonana.

But presenting to the board, however, is a skill that takes time to develop. “There’s not enough muscle memory,” Zonana adds. “You can’t necessarily train CIOs in one session — they make mistakes.”

Randich agrees. “It’s like teaching someone to drive,” he says. “You have to get the experience in order to understand it.”