If CIOs Only Stay 4 Years, Why Hire Them From Outside?
TechTarget, Monday, October 19th, 2026
With CIO tenures averaging about four years, the author argues for developing CIOs internally instead of defaulting to outside hires.
More than 70% of CIOs have been with their organization for fewer than five years, and nearly 40% for fewer than two.
Simon Ratcliffe notes that a new CIO spends roughly six months learning the organization and often the last six months preparing to leave, leaving about three effective years for someone hired to set long-term strategy.
Boards often assume fresh thinking requires an outsider, but Ratcliffe argues that the most valuable CIO knowledge is undocumented, such as how decisions really get made, which stakeholders matter and which risks are tolerated, and internal candidates already have it.
He urges organizations to build CIO succession pipelines.