Like auto mechanics, CIOs have to spend considerable time trying to explain complicated and expensive problems to people who do not understand them. Those people often include CEOs, who trust you about as much as they trust mechanics, writes Robert McGarvey at CIOUpdate. McGarvey spells out five reasons CIOs are mistrusted, and he suggests one way they can overcome this handicap.

In some cases, CEOs view IT as external to the business, like a utility company or other supplier. In other cases, CEOs don't hear CIOs speaking their language, particularly when the latter leave ROI out of the discussion.

Some CEOs have had bad experiences with IT along the way, perhaps going back to an unhelpful help desk incident. Negative experiences compound the sense of alienation a CEO might have regarding IT. And, perhaps worst of all, IT tends to let CEOs down fairly regularly. Nearly 40 percent of IT projects fail to deliver benefits as expected, according to The Hackett Group.

It may take some time, but there are ways to get the CEO to trust you, and a good place to begin is by cultivating a trusting relationship with the CFO. 

"CFOs are paid to be skeptical. Often the CEO will check in, 'Hey, Greg, what do you think about this idea?'" says Greg Baker, CFO at the IT consulting firm Logicalis. "Get the CFO backing your ideas and you are on the fast track to winning over the CEO."

For more:
- see Robert McGarvey's article at CIOUpdate

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