The more things change for CIOs ...

During the several years I spent as a journalist and research analyst in the IT space, the call for chief information officers to become more business savvy and less "techie" was so loud it bordered on being a tiresome cliche (To some, it probably was). Well, several years later, guess what? That call hasn't gone silent, or least muted. The perceived "gap" between the CIO and the rest of he executive suite apparently remains, if you believe a recent piece by former CIO Alan Guibord in InformationWeek (Small disclosure: Alan was my CEO for about a year at Computerworld).

Amid the rise of the personal computer and the Internet over the last two decades, mid-level and large corporations have placed their information organizations in the hands of top-level officers who could help them understand the business advantages of technology. The problem is: Most of them have cut their career teeth on the wonders of technology and not on the factors that help a business grow and stay alive. Theoretically, the "chasm" Guibord addresses should have narrowed over the last decade while CIOs became more versed in the ways of business and told their CEOs, for example, if and how a new technology could improve the security of confidential customer data.

Has there been improvement? If so, is this "techies don't know business" perception merely a stigma that won't be erased, at least for the foreseeable future? Unlike other C-level execs, CIOs have to live in two worlds: knowing the direction of technology and knowing the way of business. That's not easy. Can you think of an athlete who became an all-star in two professional sports? If you can, I doubt you can name more than one (I'm even hard pressed).

What businesses need to recognize is that it's hard to find CIOs who can thrive in both spaces. If a company hires a CIO who is expert on the business side, for example, that CIO should be allowed to bring in someone who can speak technology as a top-level assistant. That way, they can work together to bring IT closer to the business while striving to excel on both ends.

And if you're a CIO or CIO wannabe, make sure you take note of accomplishments that impress the senior executives and make you more business savvy. That, after all, is what they want to see more of today. So, take some time to think of what you accomplished and put them into a working resume. As Guibord notes, you should keep your resume updated, not just in case you lose your job and need a new one, but as a way of documenting the good stuff in a career "journal."