As Newton notes, organizational scale may be a trigger for CIO loneliness. Gus Jansen is CIO of the Australasian Performing Right Association, a 220-person business with a fairly small IT team that he describes as "an agile bunch, which spends a lot of time interacting". As to loneliness, he says: "I don't suffer from that particular angst." As well as a close team, Jansen says he is part of regular management team meetings, and his organization goes to some pains to ensure everyone understands what is going on.

"I don't suffer loneliness. Perhaps that means I'm in the wrong job; I'll have to go and think about that," he quips. Jansen, however, believes that isolation is "very much a function of the size of the organization". The bigger the pyramid under the CIO the lonelier it is at the apex, perhaps.

Talk to Your peers

On the wall in Con Colovos's office is a management inspiration print trumpeting "Tough times never last, but tough people do". As executive director of the CIO Executive Council, Colovos believes the organization can provide a framework for other CIOs to see them through those tough times. Loneliness is one of the issues he says CIOs have to tackle. "When I was a CIO I didn't have anyone to talk to. I was battling the structure, the project, the culture, and I did not have a group to talk to."

With the Executive Council he is attempting to address this issue of isolation by creating a forum where CIOs can talk with other CIOs without any vendor influence. Members who want to talk through issues can call up their Executive Council program manager, who will arrange an opportunity to talk with other CIOs on the particular issue. "This is an opportunity for CIOs to interact and swap experiences," Colovos says.

PwC's Andrews is not so sure. "I think it's always counter-productive to take a sounding off someone else. If the other CIO hasn't thought of it, then they will say, no don't do it. And if they have, then they'll say, yes do it. Either way it's the wrong idea. I'd never countenance doing that." He does seek feedback, though.

"It's important that once you make your call you are receptive to other people saying it won't work." That said, Andrews warns "the subject matter experts will tell you not to do it. Or a vendor will tell you to buy something that no one's used before. You do need to consult deeply and widely, but at the end of the day you are on your own. Anyone at the top is lonely. I wish it wasn't that way but it's the only emotion."

Andrews believes a little loneliness goes with the territory and is not a bad thing. "If you are thinking about doing something that no one else has done, or are stopping doing something everyone else is doing, then the only emotions you can feel are loneliness, terror, trepidation and fear," he says. "It can be bloody lonely. That's true with any leadership position because you are breaking boundaries and are automatically on your own. A pioneer in any leadership position is lonely.

"The typical CIO has no one to go to and ask permission. You've just got to take the decision and live with it. You gain confidence as you make the calls, but it's not necessarily less terrifying. You become more comfortable that you are likely to be right. But it's almost like theatrical stage fright - even actors who have played Macbeth hundreds of times feel it. Maybe it's important they do."

So after 13 years at the top of the IT tree, how does the mantle of loneliness feel? "Comfortable might be an exaggeration," Andrews says, but acceptable works."

Keith Roscarel is deputy executive director of the CIO Executive Council, and until late last year CIO of the Channel 9 television network. He, like Andrews, acknowledges the sense of aloneness that comes with the job.

"Along with every other C-level manager you are at the top of the tree. There are times when it can be difficult to talk to your peers because they have their own pressures that aren't yours. You may work together on an initiative or project that binds you together", but apart from those occasions Roscarel believes other CXOs have only limited interest in the issues the CIO faces.

Although during his time at Channel 9 Roscarel knew his opposite numbers at rival networks Channel 7 and Channel 10, his best sounding boards were the other CIO-level people within the Packer PBL/CPH stables. All up there were about 15 such executives. "We could have good fireside chats while remaining within the four walls," Roscarel says. However, he realized he was missing out on conversations that identified "parallel opportunities", which he might have learned about if he had the opportunity for discussions with CIOs from other industry sectors.