Top Soft Skills for CIOs, and How to Get Them
TechTarget, Monday, September 28th, 2026
Storytelling, stakeholder management and emotional intelligence top the soft skills that decide whether CIOs succeed.
Simon Ratcliffe of Freeman Clarke writes in TechTarget that technology may get someone appointed CIO but rarely determines their success, since modern CIOs operate where technology, finance, operations, risk and politics meet, making soft skills neither optional nor easy.
Key skills include storytelling that ties technical arguments to business outcomes, stakeholder management that understands what each group values and fears, and emotional intelligence to handle the personal impact of change.
Ratcliffe stresses these are learned mainly by practice, often by doing uncomfortable things in front of others.