“Out of ten critical skills for I.T. leaders, technical skills were at the bottom of the spectrum for importance, with communication being number one, and leading by example number two.”
Let that sink in for a second. The skill you were HIRED for — your technical expertise — is the least important thing about your job as an I.T. leader.
If that surprises you, this book is exactly what you need. If it doesn’t surprise you, then you already know the painful truth that most people in tech refuse to accept — that leadership is not about what you know, it’s about how you influence, communicate, and connect.
Changing the IT Leader’s Mindset by Robina Chatham and Brian Sutton is a short, direct playbook for I.T. professionals who want to stop being the stereotypical tech person in the corner and start being the one who actually drives the business forward.
The Core Argument
Chatham and Sutton lay out a simple but powerful thesis — I.T. leaders need a revolution, not an evolution. The old model of the CIO as the person who keeps the servers running and the networks secure is dead. The new model? The CTO — and by that they mean Chief Transformation Officer, not Chief Technology Officer.
The difference is everything. One keeps the lights on. The other changes the game.
The book argues that I.T. leaders must shift 75% of their focus toward three core activities: communication, innovation, and networking. Not coding. Not infrastructure. Not debugging. Talking to people, thinking creatively, and building relationships across the organization.
That ratio — 75% soft skills, 25% technical — is a wake-up call for anyone who climbed the ladder because they were the smartest person in the server room.
Communication Is the Whole Game
The biggest section of the book — and the one that hit me the hardest — is about communication. Chatham brings her background in neuroscience into the conversation, and it makes the advice feel grounded in something deeper than just “be a better speaker.”
She explains WHY technical people struggle to communicate with business stakeholders. It’s not that they’re bad communicators — it’s that they’re communicating in the wrong language. They default to precision, detail, and logic when the boardroom wants narrative, impact, and vision.
There’s a section on email writing for introverts versus extroverts that was surprisingly practical. As someone who has worked with plenty of brilliant technical people who couldn’t write a persuasive email to save their lives, I found this genuinely useful. Small stuff, but the kind of small stuff that actually moves the needle.
Innovation Beyond the I.T. Department
The second pillar — innovation — gets an interesting treatment here. Chatham and Sutton aren’t talking about adopting the latest tech stack or implementing some trendy framework. They’re talking about positioning I.T. as the ENGINE of business innovation rather than just the department that supports it.
This requires a fundamental shift in how you see your role. You’re not there to answer tickets and maintain systems. You’re there to look at the entire business, identify where technology can create competitive advantage, and then CHAMPION those ideas at the executive level.
Easier said than done? Absolutely. But the book provides practical questioning methods and frameworks to start making that shift. It’s not just theory — there are tables, charts, and step-by-step pointers that translate the concepts into action.
Networking — The Skill Nobody Teaches in Tech School
The third pillar is networking, and I don’t mean the TCP/IP kind. Internal networking. Building alliances. Understanding the political landscape of your organization and learning how to navigate it without losing your soul.
This is where a lot of technical professionals check out. They see office politics as beneath them. They think the quality of their work should speak for itself. Noble sentiment, but also naive. Chatham knows this — she spent 14 years in I.T., culminating as CIO of a merchant bank. She understands both the technical mind AND the political reality of large organizations.
Her advice here is practical and surprisingly empathetic. She’s not telling you to become a corporate politician. She’s telling you to understand human psychology well enough to get your ideas heard, funded, and executed.
The Neuroscience Angle
What sets this book apart from the usual “leadership for techies” material is the neuroscience underpinning. Chatham doesn’t just tell you what to do — she explains the evolutionary psychology behind WHY people behave the way they do in organizations.
Why does the board resist your proposals? Why do stakeholders tune out during technical presentations? Why do brilliant I.T. strategies die in committee? It’s not always about the strategy. It’s about how human brains process information, respond to uncertainty, and make decisions under pressure.
Once you see the boardroom through a neuroscience lens, you stop blaming people for “not getting it” and start crafting your message so their brains can actually receive it.
The Minor Gripes
The book is short — 169 pages — and the introduction promises brevity. For the most part, it delivers. But there are a couple of sections where concepts get drawn out longer than necessary. When a book promises to be concise, every page needs to earn its place.
Also, the I.T. specialization in the title might scare off people who aren’t in technology. That’s a shame, because the core message — that leaders need soft skills more than hard skills — is UNIVERSAL. Anyone managing a team of specialists would benefit from this.
Final Thoughts
Despite the I.T.-specific framing, this is really a book about the gap between technical excellence and leadership effectiveness. It’s about recognizing that the skills that got you promoted are NOT the skills that will make you successful in your new role. Communication, innovation, and networking — those are the real tools of leadership.
Various tables and charts throughout the book do a solid job of summarizing theoretical concepts into practical methods you can actually apply. It’s a quick read, it’s actionable, and it challenged my assumptions about what leadership really means in a technical environment.
4/5 — a VERY good book on leadership that just happens to wear an I.T. label. Recommended for anyone who manages technical people or IS a technical person stepping into leadership.
Thanks for reading.
— Leonidas
