Are C-Suites Technologically-Literate Enough to Handle It?
With no clear end in sight to the Covid-19 global pandemic, CEOs around the world have expedited their companies’ integration of new technological practices and protocols. Every company nowadays has a long-term plan for its strategic digital transformation that will enable it to remain relevant and modern by continually assessing its tech needs, the available tech, and market best practices. But with more and more people working from home and executives having to jockey to accommodate the new norm, it has become imperative to speed up those often gradual transformation processes in order to maintain a standard of productivity.
Given the new corporate reliance on tech for nearly all aspects of business today, CEOs must be technologically and digitally literate: skills previously considered to be merely a bonus for C-level hires. Now, if you conduct an entire Zoom meeting with your dog’s name – Skittles – indicating your Hollywood Square, expect employees to giggle about it around the virtual water cooler (ie. their team chat rooms). Not a great look for a C-level executive.
In fact, the Harvard Business Review analysis of search specifications for C-suite positions in Fortune 1000 companies shows that tech-competency is increasingly becoming a required skill. Not surprisingly, this was the case long before the pandemic; but what is surprising is that the requirement remains unevenly spread across C-suite roles. For example, in job postings for Chief of Human Resources, the companies analyzed mention the words “tech” and “digital” 70% fewer times than in job posts searching for a Chief Information Officer.
This discrepancy in tech and digital literacy between C-suite roles will have to be remedied if these big companies are going to be successful in their current, speedier digital transformations– and if C-suite execs wish to retain employees’ trust in their leadership capabilities.
So, leaders: let us help you fill the skills gap, shift your talent strategy, and search for your next Chief Financial Officer – another position that yields surprisingly low mentions of “tech” and “digital” in its job postings. Our team prioritizes technological and digital competency in every the candidate we put forward so your company will be better situated to flex nimbly with rapidly changing tech practices.