Develop your communication skills. Understand the business. Step out of the technology pigeonhole. This is the type of advice most commonly repeated to CIOs and those aspiring to be: advice related to broadening your perspective beyond IT. Adding fuel to the fire is research by Edward P. Lazear of Stanford Graduate School of Business, who studied the job histories of Stanford GSB alumni to determine who tends to end up in C-level roles. According to his analysis, generalists are more likely to reach the top job than specialists.