Is there a tougher job than that of a technology leader? Sure there is, but how many jobs require an individual to have such a wide variety of skills?
- Translate between technical and business groups at an expert level
- Technical knowledge in an area of specialty: networking, security, software design etc.
- Technical certifications and re-certifications
- Broad technical knowledge
- Excellent security awareness (at a minimum)
- Hire, develop, and retain technical staff, often with little or no budget
- Strategic planning and budgeting
- Project management
- Sales engineering
- Risk assessment
- Disaster recovery
- Excellent verbal and writing skills
- Good to great at building and nurturing relationships
- Product development
- Business analysis
- Excellent customer service
This is a wide range of skills that are not easy to acquire, and certainly do not come naturally to most people. People like to joke about the surly, anti-social tech guy, but how many MBAs are competent at anything technical? There are exceptions of course, but technical leaders are expected to be proficient at skills that are not part of their core competency.
My position is that is the way it should be. Technical leaders need to recognize that we need these other skills so that we can line up with the business we are supporting. To do that, we have to understand the business and the people running it, and they have to understand us. That is why we must be expert translators.
Do you want to be a director or VP? Then you have to learn to understand and be understood by your company’s business leadership. You have to be working toward the same goals that they are and you have to communicate to them how you are doing so. Therefore, not only are these business skills important, they are the key to your success.
You’re a technology leader, you can never stop learning so decide to learn all the skills you need to make yourself successful.
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