CIO Insight: Myth-busting the CIO ArcheType

Let’s face it: When you officially oversee “the geek department,” there are many perceptions – and misperceptions – about the kind of senior manager and person you are. This level of stereotyping may extend to the kind of education you obtained; whether or not you can fix a frozen computer; and even how much money you make. With this in mind, we set out to debunk seven of the most deeply entrenched “myths” about the CIO personality. To help us, we turned to Carol Fawcett, CIO of Quest Software; and Wade Wright, chief technology officer of RemitDATA, who also offer real-world counterpoints to these common myths. As with any broad generalizations, it’s important to keep in mind that no two individual CIOs are the same, so your personal experiences may vary. But, most of us can probably agree that there are some commonly held beliefs about the executives who perform the role of CIO that are clearly not based upon reality. In real life, you likely find yourself to be much more well-rounded than many of these false characterizations would imply.

More of the CIO Insight slide show

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.