Ahead of board meetings, CIOs refine slides, rehearse talking points, anticipate questions, and align with the executive team. Then they walk in, deliver their presentation, answer a few questions, and breathe a sigh of relief when it’s over.
The problem, according to several experienced CIOs-turned-board-directors, is that many tech leaders treat the board meeting as a discrete event rather than part of a relationship.
“The board meeting is an ongoing dialogue, not an event,” says Ron Guerrier, CTO of Save the Children who’s sat on or advised several boards.
That mindset shift becomes increasingly important as boards dig deeper on issues like cyber risk, AI governance, and major enterprise initiatives. So while CIOs often focus on the presentation itself, experienced boardroom veterans say what happens after can be just as critical.
Keep the conversation going
One of the biggest mistakes CIOs make is viewing board engagement as a quarterly obligation. Once the meeting ends, they return to their day jobs and wait for the next board cycle to begin. For Guerrier, that misses the point.
The strongest CIO-board relationships are built over time through a series of conversations, not quarterly presentations. Questions raised during a board meeting shouldn’t disappear into the next reporting cycle. Instead, CIOs should view them as signals about what directors prioritize and where future conversations should focus.
That doesn’t mean bombarding directors with updates, though. It means remaining engaged, responsive, and thoughtful between meetings. The most effective CIOs understand that every board interaction contributes to a broader relationship built on trust and credibility.
Reflect before you react
The instinct after a board meeting is often to move immediately to follow-up actions, answer outstanding questions, and get back to the daily demands of running IT.
CIOs should resist that urge, says Sigal Zarmi, former CIO and current public-company board director. “The most important thing is to step back and think what resonated with the board,” she says. “What were the questions, what really piqued their interests, and what’s the board focusing on.”
Board questions often provide insight into the main things directors care about, whether it’s innovation, cyber risk, AI, operational resilience, or broader business transformation efforts. Understanding those priorities can help CIOs shape future conversations and align their messaging.
According to Zarmi, many technology leaders leave valuable insights on the table because they become overly focused on their content rather than on engaging the board.
“A lot of people presenting think the board needs to know all the details in the world,” she says. “They come with heavy decks and a lot of data the board can’t comprehend.”
Instead, she encourages CIOs to focus on narrative and business impact. “What’s most important is really to tell the story of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and the impact on the business.”
Follow-up isn’t housekeeping, it’s leadership
Wayne Shurts, former CTO of Sysco and current board member and advisor, believes many CIOs overlook one of the most valuable aspects of board engagement: access to experienced executives who can help them think differently.
“It really begins before the board meeting,” he says.
Long before a CIO walks into the boardroom, Shurts recommends building relationships with directors whose backgrounds align with the issues tech leaders are likely to discuss. Those conversations can provide valuable insight into board priorities, concerns, and expectations. “Try to get a feel for the audience before you walk in there and present, which is just basic, but not enough people do it,” he says.
The same philosophy applies after the meeting ends. If directors raise questions that can’t be fully addressed during the meeting, Shurts recommends following up rather than waiting for the next quarterly cycle. More importantly, he believes CIOs often underestimate how much value they can gain from the board itself.
“Sometimes boards are really helpful,” he says. “They might have given you some valuable information that can make things go better.”
Too many CIOs interpret tough questions as criticism, though. But experienced board members often see them as opportunities to challenge assumptions, improve decision-making, and strengthen outcomes. The same principle applies when discussing major initiatives since directors evaluate the leadership team’s alignment around business priorities, rather than the CIO in particular.
“There are very few, if any, IT projects that aren’t business projects,” says Shurts.
No matter what the topic, boards want to see evidence that technology investments are supported across the business and understood by the leaders accountable for delivering results.
Ask what happened after you left the room
One of the most overlooked opportunities comes after the presentation ends and the CIO leaves the discussion. Many IT leaders debrief with their CEO, general counsel, or executive team. Far fewer seek feedback from trusted directors. Shurts believes they should.
After significant board interactions, he recommends reaching out to directors with whom a relationship already exists and simply ask, “How’d that go? How did I do?”
Good directors can provide valuable perspective on how the discussion landed, what concerns surfaced during subsequent conversations, and whether there were issues that deserve additional attention. Those conversations can reveal concerns that never surfaced publicly during the meeting. They can also identify opportunities to improve future interactions, strengthen relationships, and better understand how directors think about technology issues.
For Zarmi, the final lesson is transparency. Any communication with directors after a meeting should remain aligned with the CEO and broader leadership team. CIOs may own the technology strategy, but they’re still operating within a larger enterprise context.
“Always follow up with the CEO,” she says. “’Here’s what I presented. What do you think and how can I be more effective?’”
That discipline becomes especially important when directors ask follow-up questions. While a CIO may be tempted to respond tactically, Zarmi argues that leaders must first consider how their answer fits into the broader business narrative since CIOs need to think about the role they play in the big picture, she adds.
As Shurts puts it, “Boards are over-presented to, and under-dialogued with.”