One of the biggest mistakes I see new CTOs make is thinking their team is still the tech team. It’s not. Once you step into an executive role, your primary team becomes the C-suite.
Of course, you still lead engineering. You are still responsible for the systems, the architecture, the platforms. But if you are sitting at the leadership table and only thinking like a technologist, you’re missing the bigger picture.
At the executive level, your job is not just to build. It’s to connect. You need to work side by side with the CFO, CMO, COO, and CEO. You need to understand the company’s financials, market strategy, customer lifecycle, and operational priorities. Then you need to align the technology to support and accelerate those goals.
Technology is not the end. It’s a tool. The value comes from how it enables growth, reduces friction, unlocks new opportunities, and supports long-term business resilience.
The CTOs who thrive in this role are the ones who move from being deep specialists to broad collaborators. They help non-technical executives understand the possibilities, and they help technical teams stay grounded in the business context. They translate between worlds.
If you’re a CTO, ask yourself whether you’re still thinking like the head of engineering, or whether you’re operating as a true executive. And if you’re a CEO, ask whether your CTO is plugged into your business strategy, not just your infrastructure.
Because real progress happens when the business and technology sides of the table are working as one team.
You need to get out of the daily work of the tech team and start navigating and steering.
