The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You'll Need to Get Promoted to the Next Level by John Beeson (October 2010, Wiley)

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.

By now it's well known that innovation is a crucial if not the factor that separates successful companies from the laggards. CIOs, while not solely responsible for it, are seen as the stewards of innovation within their organizations. Indeed, "CIOs are the DNA of how companies win," notes Rick Kash, founder of The Cambridge Group, a growth-strategy consulting firm.

We all know IT is more than a cost center. When IT budgets get cut, it's easy to despair that others in the executive suite don't agree. If that's true, however, the CIO might ask himself, "How effectively am I doing my job?"