How to move from CIO to COO

A trend is said to be underway in which CIOs are becoming COOs. The bigger paycheck and higher status are alluring, but the move remains challenging, making the trend rather small, writes Martha Heller in a post at CIO magazine.

Heller tells the story of former Allianz Life CIO Tom Bauer, who recently became COO of Security Life. Being involved in every aspect of a business puts the CIO is a good position to gather insight about the entire organization. In Bauer's case, the imperative of IT to deal with constant change provided good training for becoming COO.

"IT shops in general are more receptive to change than other parts of the company," he said. "IT leaders live with change day in and day out. That orientation toward change allows me to look with a fresh perspective at areas of operations where we can drive out costs and deliver better customer service."

As COO, Bauer said his biggest near-term challenge will be to keep all processes running while preparing his company for rapid growth. "Our plan is to grow our business by 50 percent in 18 months. Like every other company, we cannot just stop our sales process to fix everything in the back offices," he said. "My greatest challenge is keeping things running while realizing our vision for the future."

Bauer recommends that CIOs who want to become COOs consider moving to smaller organizations than the ones they currently work in. Although it might feel like "a step down," it is a way to gain more in terms of perspective, scope and responsibilities.

Fonte: FierceCIO