Is it easy or hard? What behaviors or actions demonstrate that a CIO is a stinker?The Wall Street Journal has a great article—Keys to Spotting a Flawed CEO Before It’s Too Late (registration required)—that got me considering the same question for CIOs: How do you identify a bad CIO? What are the tell-tale signs? Is it possible for recruiters and hiring managers to read the writing on the wall before they hire the stinker CIO? Terry Leap, a management professor with Clemson University, notes in the December 1, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal that it’s easy to identify a bad CEO “once the damage is done”—profits drop, strategies fail, the company comes under the scrutiny of regulators. Leap provides an extensive list of red flags that search committees can use to smell trouble in CEO candidates. The list includes power-hungriness, shameless publicity seeking and a unilateral approach to management. The warning signs Leap offers easily apply to CIOs. I want to ask all IT professionals who work for CIOs—from user support specialists all the way up to the CIOs’ chiefs of staff—how you determine whether a new CIO is good or a bad. What behaviors or actions demonstrate to you that the new CIO is no good? I came up with a few ideas, but I want you to add to my list: High employee turnover. Rehashing the same ideas, projects and technologies that s/he’s implemented in all previous CIO positions.Firing existing employees and replacing them with people who’ve worked for him/her in the past. I’d also like executive recruiters and executives on search committees in charge of hiring CIOs to weigh in: When you’re screening candidates for a CIO job, how do you know when you’ve got a bad CIO on your hands?Update 2/22/08: I finished my feature story based on this blog entry about bad CIOs. You can find it here. I hope you find it entertaning *and* useful. Thanks to everyone who left comments on this blog entry. We sparked a heated, energetic debate, and I was glad to see two individuals who thought they had different views on the topic come to consensus. Let the discussion continue!Update 2/28/08: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO John Halamka offers his perspective on what makes a bad CIO on his blog, GeekDoctor. Related content feature We’re all becoming software CIOs — a role Red Hat CIO Jim Palermo knows well As products become more based in software, CIO roles will increasingly align with CIOs who’ve been selling software for decades, like Jim Palermo, CIO of open source solution provider Red Hat. By Martha Heller Nov 15, 2023 7 mins CIO Software Deployment Marketing feature New US CIO appointments, November 2023 Congratulations to these 'movers and shakers' recently hired or promoted into a new chief information officer role. By Martha Heller Nov 08, 2023 9 mins CIO Careers IT Leadership interview How Huber spurs innovation in a historically decentralized business With IT/OT convergence, digital technologies, and the growing importance of data, Huber CIO Dwain Wilcox leads the creation of a cross-functional, cross-business innovation engine. By Martha Heller Aug 23, 2023 6 mins CIO Enterprise Cloud Management interview CIO Ryan Snyder on the benefits of interpreting data as a layer cake Thermo Fisher Scientific CIO Ryan Snyder discusses a tiered model used to turn data into value at the $40 billion laboratory equipment and instrument maker. By Martha Heller Aug 02, 2023 8 mins CIO Data Architecture Data Governance Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe