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Heading Up
In 2000 the average CIO tenure was estimated to be a whirlwind 18 months, according to Meta Group. CIOs, it seemed, were being shown the door before they had time to give their elevator pitch.
Last year, Forrester Research Inc. released a new CIO tenure estimate of 3.6 years. And Gartner Inc. (which has since acquired Meta Group) was even more optimistic, saying that based on a survey of 1,400 respondents, average CIO stints were stretching longer than four years.
Our survey shows a similar pattern. More than 70% of all respondents have been in their current job longer than two years, with 34% on the job for two to five years (see data below). More than one-third of respondents have survived their current
stint longer than five years. (Differences among titles weren't significant.)
For Shamrock Foods Vice President and CIO Rob Baxter, a CIO shelf life of fewer than three years just doesn't add up. Baxter says that the first year should be dedicated to understanding business processes and the big picture. Then year two is about setting strategy, and year three is about execution. "The challenge is crossing the chasm between business and technology," says Baxter, who has been at the $1.6-billion Phoenix-based food distributor for about six months. "CIOs need to stay three years. Anything less, and you haven't accomplished a heck of a lot."
At 53, CIO Neal Guernsey arrived at Feld Entertainment a little more than a year ago. "I decided I didn't want to work for another high-tech company," Guernsey says. "I'd rather take everything I had learned and apply it to a midmarket company."
Like many CIOs, Guernsey was brought in to create change quickly, and he has replaced nearly half of a 30-member IT staff over the past 12 months. "I can see myself in this job for at least five years," Guernsey says. "My title is VP and CIO. So they are counting on me to provide guidance and to understand their business goals. There is no way that I am going to get everything done in this job that I want to do in 18 months."
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