What tomorrow’s tech leaders can learn from today’s

While it’s always good to learn from your mistakes, it is often much better and more fruitful to learn from the catalog of mistakes made by others.

That’s especially true for tomorrow’s tech leaders, who now have a few decades of CEO and founder experiences to study. This knowledge should help focus their minds on what skills, qualifications, and outlooks are needed to succeed in an often turbulent industry. It also offers an opportunity to identify operational methods that no longer work or the sort of workforce expertise that’s no longer relevant.

A survey of 200 CEOs and company founders by data streaming firm Confluent showed soft skills are becoming critical for success. In particular, those with under five years of experience are far more likely to be natural introverts, with nearly a third (30%) self-identifying as having the trait. This figure falls to 17% among those with more than five years’ of experience.

Tom Whicher, founder of UK-based Patient Engagement Platform DrDoctor, believes soft skills are increasingly important for future leaders and he explains this might include kindness, effective communication, and emotional intelligence.

“One of our values is compassion,” he says. “I believe you can only create great companies if you allow people to be themselves in a supportive environment in which to succeed. Successful leaders will focus on the more human skills needed to make digital transformation possible.”

Whicher also suggests tomorrow’s cohort of leaders must learn quickly about strategic decision-making, an element that proved crucial to today’s leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“World events – often unwelcome ones – and the pace of tech innovation means the best leaders have a firm grasp on [both] the problem right in front of them and their overall business goals,” he adds.

“Successful leaders are always anticipating their next move, assessing what’s on the horizon and what impact that could have on their business plans.”

Speed and failure

Confluent’s research also highlights that 82% of new CEOs and founders believe the speed of completing day-to-day tasks has increased compared with the pace faced by similar leaders in the past. To tackle this, Bev White, CEO of technology recruitment firm Nash Squared, suggests that tomorrow’s leaders must not be caught out “standing still”.

“Technology is often seen as a project; something with an end point,” she says. “But the reality is that tech and business innovation move at such a pace. Even when a project is perfectly implemented, what was perfect on launch becomes imperfect later.”

Accepting those imperfections has become much easier thanks to startup-inspired methodologies of failing fast and failing often. These approaches have created a new kind of honesty among today’s leaders, with many now talking more openly about their past mistakes.

Christof Roduner, CIO and co-founder at Scandit, a Swiss technology company providing smart data capture software, is one of those willing to be reflective. “We should have defined our market focus more quickly in the early days and learned to consistently say ‘no’,” he says.

“Taking a more systematic approach instead of trying to be too many things to too many people would have definitely saved time and given us a focus point quicker. That clear focus and prioritization can give an edge against competitors.”

Roduner believes effective tech leaders are those who “remain focused on a long-term vision” and “learn to delegate and trust the end result”.

This is particularly important, he advises, for future leaders who plan to enter new regions and markets.

Embedding and embracing diversity

The technology industry has long had diversit issues; the phrase “male, pale, and stale” was a phrase that often accompanied ‘expert’ panels made up entirely of middle-aged white men.

This is why Yiannis Maos MBE, founder of TechWM – the voice of the West Midlands tech sector in the UK – believes today’s leaders must be “intentional” about creating the change for tomorrow’s leaders to drive greater DE&I.

“Tech has a unique opportunity – and more than that, I believe a responsibility – to foster inclusion,” he says.

“However, it will require current visionaries, entrepreneurs, policymakers, funders, and ecosystem leaders to take positive and affirmative action to achieve this.

“There must be strategic investment in education, training, and funding programs that give marginalized communities the chance to be a part of something truly significant.”

Diversity of thought is another area to be considered, according to Caroline Carruthers, former chief data officer at Network Rail. She is now CEO at Carruthers and Jackson, a global data consultancy working with leading charities and public sector organizations such as the Bank of England.

Carruthers says tomorrow’s leaders in tech must be clued up on “data literacy” because “corporate culture is shifting”.

“Data is now considered to be an asset on par with technology, finances or human resources,” she advises.

“The Chief Data Officer (CDO) role only became mainstream in 2002 but is now a staple of any C-suite.”

But she warns: “Being able to understand data and confidently express its value in a business context is increasingly vital as organizations continue to adopt emerging technologies such as AI.”

Commitment and combined skills

Ron Gidron, CEO of xtype, has spent nearly three decades working with tech companies. He suggests “resilience is the cornerstone of leadership” because every challenge is “an opportunity for growth”.

“Tomorrow’s leaders must blend technological proficiency – especially in emerging fields like AI and Quantum Computing – with strategic thinking, data literacy, and cross-functional expertise,” he adds.

“Understanding and leveraging complex technologies while maintaining a clear, strategic vision will be crucial for navigating the fast-evolving digital landscape.”

However, Dr Clare Walsh, director of education at the Institute of Analytics, argues that a leader’s attitude to change is just as effective an indicator of success as the skills they possess.

“A company that wants to shake up the way things are done needs a leader who is completely dedicated to bringing new products to the market. They need to adopt the approaches taken in the startup community where failure rates are very high. They will need a range of projects on the go at any one time, testing each idea at every stage and rejecting ones that don’t look likely to go the distance quickly.”

Leadership in this context, Dr Walsh highlights, requires creativity and an ability to carry the whole workforce in their creative endeavors.

However, in an environment where the refinement of a business’ fundamentals is prioritized, such as the constant updating of established profit models, a leader who can “introduce incremental improvement” in an already successful product or service will be pivotal.

“This kind of process needs a more measured and cautious leader, one who is able to align data solutions to company strategies and someone particularly gifted in managing projects to avoid overspends,” Dr Walsh adds.

But for anyone wanting to step onto the leadership ladder in the future, the importance of taking inspiration from others can never be understated. Matt Calkins founded Appian in 1999 and grew the American cloud computing and enterprise software company from a startup in his basement to a business now valued at more than $2.04bn.

As well as needing to be “committed to a cause” and being “original”, Calkins cites how all leaders will face tests and adversity.

“You must have a strong foundation of belief that what you are doing is both possible and meaningful,” he explains.

“Resist the temptation to believe only what you want to believe or to assume that others will always tell you the truth.”

Calkins argues that there is no need to “match someone else’s leadership model or style”, adding: “If you are going to be a leader, make sure you lead with authenticity and stay true to who you are.”