5 questions every aspiring CIO should be prepared to answer

Another approach to answer this question is to focus on a common problem facing IT departments and then demonstrate your solution.

For example, many organizations’ AI ambitions are held back by siloed applications and outdated data management practices. Manish Sood, CEO, founder, and chairman of Reltio, suggests answering, “To unlock AI’s full value, we need unified, trusted, real-time data in motion across every system, every interaction, and every touchpoint. We need to transition toward data-centric computing, where data — rather than applications — is treated as the enterprise’s most critical, long-term strategic asset.”

These questions come in many variants, and there’s always the oddball question that might come up. The best practice in handling executives’ questions is to avoid letting the mouth outpace the mind. Instead, pause, think, and then respond. Give your mind a chance to understand the question’s context and recall the executive’s background and interest. When you respond, focus on the business opportunity and value, not the technical details.