CEOs will get frustrated. They are human. But you don’t want your CEO frustrated with you. You are vulnerable.

I held a roundtable discussion with CIOs and CTOs and I asked them what about IT is most frustrating to their CEOs. The answers were illuminating, and the resolution is critical.

But first.

Though leaders are always learning, they still must lead in a moment from a base of knowledge and with conviction. One of the strengths of CEOs is that they know what they are talking about, they are easily informed in order to make quick decisions, and they draw from previous experiences to guide others in critical moments.

But since CEOs often lack IT knowledge, they are at a disadvantage. They are not able to make decisions or report decisions with the confidence typical of other business disciplines. Sometimes it feels to them that working with the CIO takes extra effort.

Understanding this will land you strides ahead in the insights that follow.

Six fields of frustration for CEOs

As a result of our roundtable discussion, six areas emerged that are common fields of frustration for a CEO regarding IT.

1. Cost: maintenance costs are necessary but they are not a good story to tell to stakeholders and others. In addition, IT often represents inconsistent costs, surprise bills and a difficulty in projection. A CEO often just doesn’t know “Are we spending too much?”
2. Comparison: Lack of IT knowledge makes it difficult for a CEO to compare issues against their own knowledge, experience and peer-counsel. Also, there are less metrics available to make a presentation of progress versus the business vision. They don’t know if the IT structure is maximizing or limiting their competitive stature. For some CEOs, technology solutions exist as something they “like or don’t like,” not understanding the necessity of a given solution (example: essential security practices that feel like a daily nuisance).
3. Data: Data is in a revolution, and it is a tornado of new options, solutions and ramifications. For the business, data-reliance is mission critical and can feel out of grasp for the CEO to implement for decision-mastery.
4. Time to implementation: Akin to the issue of comparison, lack of knowledge causes CEOs to be unable to anticipate timelines, to trust in the timelines given to them, and to lack ability to give counsel when timelines are threatened or delayed.
5. Technology jargon remains an alien language in conversations and in business meetings, and is not being translated to the business needs.
6. Security. The whole gamut. Systems, practices, compliance. By nature, a CEO is a guardian, and when it comes to IT security, they feel naked, ill-prepared and unarmed.

Because of the vast domain of IT, its relatively new status in business, and the importance of what the CIO brings to a CEO, the CEO can wonder “Who works for who here?” The whole barrel of monkeys seem to camp out in the CEO office. What can you do about that?

Six responses of CIOs to calm CEO frustration.

1. Expand their base of minimally required knowledge: That CEOs need to expand their IT knowledge is a monkey on your back. The CIO must educate to the level of a reasonable question a CEO may be asked. You are not tasked with getting the CEO to a degree level of IT; you do want to ensure that they can speak clearly to an IT issue before deferring to you or another for more in-depth responses.
2. Always take the monkey with you. A CEO may need to feed it but you can’t let them adopt it. CEOs need to step in with budget recommendations, political influence, visionary promotion and more. That’s their role. But the CIO must always communicate that they understand their ultimate responsibility and the next steps in front of them.
3. Update more, and then more again. CEOs can read, and quickly. Until they regulate your communication, assume that they welcome a “heads up” on anything that keeps them from being surprised or caught off-guard.
4. Which leads to: Never surprise the CEO in a meeting with others present. The last thing you want to hear from a CEO is “Why didn’t I know that?”
5. Hold the line on what you know is non-negotiable for the business, especially security. You cannot use “non-negotiable” too often, but when you play the card, it has meaning. Just back it up with information and evidence. By the way, non-negotiable is decided by “risk,” as in, too great of a risk.
6. Prop up their integrity. CEOs know that lack of integrity will be their noose. They do not look integrous when they cannot speak to an issue or make reasonable decisions based on expected knowledge. Do not leave them to hang out to dry. Based on what you know, anticipate what they will need, and make sure they have the information, report, etc. on time.

And remember: The one who alleviates frustration is the one kept close by.