CIO: Beyond Direct Energy, how do you see your role as CIO as having changed and where do you see it going in the future?

Kalia: I believe it's a trajectory. Keeping the company secure, safe and operationally stable was the role of the CIO not too long ago, but now there's an expectation of more. You need to do more than just keep things running. CIOs have had to acquire a lot of the skills of a traditional general manager. We're now thinking more about value than cost. We're very versed in M&A activity, supply chain management, and sophisticated marketing techniques, which we use to build coalitions and get consensus.

CIO: Deryk, does Kumud's vision of the CIO role fit in with your view of the CIO role? Is that what you think a CIO should be spending time on?

King: Yeah. The CIO is a very powerful position. Kumud has this [additional] customer operations title but none of the people in customer operations report to him. It's an influencing role. It operates on a mixture of fear and greed. In other words, if you have the CIO on your side, you know he can deliver great things for your business unit. If not, you know he can stop you in your tracks. I expect operational folks and business units to operate in a collective fashion, but I need someone who can stand back and take a strategic view of that and manage that process.

CIO: Do you think today's CIOs are ready to move into CEO positions? Why or why not?

King: I came to this even thinking most CIOs had risen vertically in the IT function. My research at dinner last night showed that assumption to be wrong. If CIOs have risen vertically in the IT function, it's going to be very difficult for them to become CEOs because they haven't had hands-on experience with the rest of the business. I worked for a company that required employees to work in two different geographies, two different functions and two different businesses in order to become a general manager. The CEO role is a very diverse job. So it's absolutely critical to get outside the function perhaps a number of times as early as you can and then go back in [to IT]. If you've done that, I see no reason why you can't make the transition.

Kalia: Most of us [CIOs] are already running the equivalent of an IT services company or a software development house, so for us to do that at an outside company isn't much of a stretch. Boards are looking for the most fully rounded candidate, and there are often better candidates than the sitting CIO. But smaller companies looking for executives who've done outsourcing, cost-cutting, M&As might do well to hire someone who was CIO of a bigger company. For CIOs, whether or not you're an aspiring CEO, find an accomplished CEO and stick close to him or her and learn as much as you can.