As seen in Forbes
I’ve spent 30 years helping engineers, CTOs, and founders of tech companies step into their confident communicator selves—transformations that changed their careers.
It started at EDN, where I edited technical articles written by engineers for engineers. That’s where I learned something that’s guided everything since: brilliance nobody understands is brilliance that doesn’t count. From there, I worked at tech PR firms in New York and Boston, helping CTOs differentiate in competitive markets and launching more breakthrough technologies than I can count.
Motorola specifically requested their agency hire me to translate microprocessor breakthroughs for audiences ranging from engineers to Wall Street Journal readers. At IBM Research, I positioned Nobel Prize winners doing work in quantum computing and nanotechnology. At JPMorgan, I ran communications for CTOs operating under regulatory scrutiny where one misstatement could trigger shareholder lawsuits. At LabMorgan, JPMorgan’s fintech incubator, I positioned technical founders transitioning to funded spinoff CEOs.
What I’ve seen over and over: The technical leaders who advanced to CEO roles, secured major funding, or earned the recognition they deserved didn’t have better technical skills. They had better communication systems.
THE BOX YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE IN
Most companies position CTOs as service providers to marketing and sales instead of strategic partners. You’re getting blindsided by product launches, and marketing is making technical claims you can’t deliver while sales is promising features that don’t exist. When you raise concerns, you’re the one who looks difficult.
And here’s what nobody tells you: Once a board decides you’re “great at tech but can’t scale beyond technical execution,” you’re not changing their minds. That label sticks. Meanwhile, people with half your technical ability but better communication instincts are getting the roles you should have.
Strong communicators build their skills like a pyramid, by starting at the bottom. I’ve watched people try to jump to the top and it doesn’t work.
1. Internal infrastructure comes first
Before external authority matters, you need trust inside your own company. The CTOs who get promoted aren’t the ones who say “that’s technically impossible.” They’re the ones who translate technical constraints into language executives respond to.
At JPMorgan, the CTOs who thrived didn’t just object—they reframed. Instead of “we’re not ready for these new requirements and functionality,” they’d say “this positioning creates compliance exposure.” The technical reality was identical. The response from leadership was completely different.
One thing that works: Schedule informal monthly conversations with your CMO and vice president of sales before you need anything from them. Share what your team is building. Ask what they’re planning to launch. Find the misalignments before launch pressure makes everyone defensive. When a crisis hits, you’re calling someone who gets your constraints—not a stranger who thinks you’re the obstacle.
2. Build organizational capability
This is where most technical leaders plateau. You’re the single point of failure for all technical communications. Every media request, customer escalation, and investor pitch runs through you.
Your board notices this. They’re wondering what happens if you leave.
Boards promote leaders who can scale beyond their own involvement. If you’re the only technical voice, you’ve built a dependency, not a leadership capability.
When we took Q2 Holdings public on the NYSE, we didn’t just prep their CTO as the sole spokesperson. We developed their chief security officer and several backup voices. Investors saw organizational strength—not a company that would collapse if one person walked.
I hear CTOs worry that developing other spokespeople dilutes their position. It’s the opposite. For example, when your security lead owns security narratives, you’ve proven you can build organizational depth. The strength of your clear narratives empowers the organization. That’s what boards look for before they’ll consider you for anything bigger.
3. Market authority is the multiplier
When the Wall Street Journal quotes you on industry trends, your board hears you differently. You stop being “our tech person” and become someone they need at the leadership table.
At LabMorgan, the technical leaders who attracted funding had analyst relationships before they needed funding. When VCs called around, analysts already knew them. That validation closed rounds.
The ones who struggled tried to be the lone genius. They couldn’t delegate, couldn’t scale, and VCs passed.
WHAT BOB DENNARD TAUGHT ME ABOUT AUTHENTICITY
Bob Dennard invented DRAM—the memory technology in every computer and smartphone you’ve ever touched. When I brought him to the Inventor Hall of Fame, he’d never publicly told the real story of how he created it.
So I asked him: What was happening the day you came up with DRAM?
He’d left a meeting frustrated because his colleagues’ solutions to the memory density problem felt impractical. He left irritated, and once home, he started mowing the lawn. Somewhere between the front yard and the back, he figured out the single-transistor memory cell that became DRAM. He stopped the mower and called his boss.
That story—the frustration, the lawn mower, the breakthrough mid-chore—lands in ways no polished corporate narrative ever could.
The technical stories that resonate are the ones with rough edges. Those like the engineer who admits they tried 47 approaches before one worked or the leader who talks about the messy middle instead of just the win.
THE 18–MONTH WINDOW
If you want a CEO or president role, know this: Boards identify “CEO material” by recognizing patterns. If they consistently see you as the technical person, you stay in that box.
The LabMorgan leaders who made successful transitions started building communication infrastructure 18–24 months before the transition happened. They spoke at business conferences, got quoted on market strategy, built relationships with board members—all while still CTOs.
By the time the opportunity opened, they weren’t making a case for themselves. They were fielding offers.
THE REAL QUESTION
You architect complex systems for a living. Communication infrastructure isn’t different—it’s foundation, then scale, then integration.
The question is whether you’ll spend 90-180 days building it with the same rigor you’d give a technical problem.
The CTOs who do are the ones who stop being overlooked.
