Learning To Learn From Failure ... as an Experienced CTO
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm” - Winston Churchill
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CTO Academy Blog
Explore recent news, awards, and stories from the heart of technology leadership education.
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Latest insights — page 3
Negotiation : The Importance of Character and Consistency
Every time you ask someone for something, or someone asks something from you, you enter a negotiation field and you become a Player yourself.
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What Has 2020 Taught Us About Building Resilience In Teams?
2020: I don’t think anyone will say that was quite the year they expected during December 2019. I live in New Zealand so I specifically remember sitting outside on my lawn with the family, in the sun, talking about all we’d achieve over the course of a year.
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Positive Psychology VS Toxic Positivity
People have always been wondering what happiness is. Is it fulfilling your dreams and goals? Is it being free to decide for yourself?
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11 Steps To Make 1-2-1's More Effective
We asked our coaching network for some deeper insight on what makes an effective 1:1 session for tech leaders
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Movember, Men's Health & Man Management
As another Movember draws to a close, what steps are you taking to ensure your team have the mental health support they need?
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10 Black Friday (& Cyber Monday) Tips For The CTO
Discover essential Black Friday and Cyber Monday tips tailored for CTOs. Maximize your tech strategy and drive success during the holiday shopping season!
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Meet The Team : Dave Jones
Dave Jones is a CTO Academy coach with vast enterprise experience. Here he is in his own words with CTO Academy Meet The Team ...
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Webinar: The Future of Work & Tech Leadership
This Weds (11th November 2020) we launch the first of what we hope will be a series of live webinar interviews looking at Next Generation Enterprise and more specifically, what will the future of work look like for technology leaders around the world. Next Generation Enterprise As tech leaders and managers we are…
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Think Twice, Before Re-Inventing The Tech Wheel
With readily available applications, a developer should think twice before trying to re-invent the tech wheel.
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Diary of an Accidental CTO: Leadership Mistakes
"An Accidental CTO": someone who arrived in the CTO role ahead of schedule and has been grappling with challenges and steep learning curve.
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Nurture Your Future Leaders, Ahead Of Schedule
Identifying and nurturing the future leaders in your organisation should be close to the top of your strategic “to do” list as a successful technology leader.
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How to build trust with an inherited team
Moving into a new company or new role with an established team can be a challenge. Amplify that challenge if you're taking over from a popular predecessor.
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Confidence in Leadership : What is it good for?
Confidence is a complex leadership issue. How do you build it in yourself and your team? How do you spot the competent from the BS?
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How we manage the CEO: CTO Dynamic
The CEO and The CTO are often very different characters so how well can they work together? We asked CTO Academy founders to explain their relationship.
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9 Reasons Why Great Engineers, Can Become Terrible CTOs
These are some of the reasons why some very talented developers, don't always make good CTOs and the skill set they need to acquire to bridge the gap
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Guide To Communicating With Non-Technical Customers
Communicating to non-technical customers might just be a techie's greatest nightmare, but it doesn't have to be, here's why.
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Diary of an Accidental CTO, Part 2
Mostafa Khattab is a CTO based in Dubai. This is the 2nd part of his blog about being an 'Accidental CTO'
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Diary of an Accidental CTO: A Definition
What's it like being a Start Up CTO? What's it like being an Accidental CTO?
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Leadership Lesson 1 : Find Your Purpose
To become a truly effective leader there is a crucial 1st step you need to take. You need to first understand yourself.
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Early Adopters - Wonderful but Dangerous
With constant pressure around innovation and product development, you're grateful to the innovators and early adopters who will tolerate more the minimum feature set. But be cautious about what they're telling you.
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Lockdown Learnings From Global Tech Leaders
In April 2020, in the midst of this global lockdown of ours, we decided to reach out to our network of global tech leaders and to conduct a series of interviews
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The Art Of Giving Feedback
Giving constructive feedback to the people you manage is often one of the more uncomfortable tasks you face as a tech leader and yet it’s one of the most important leadership skills to get right.
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You Call It Mentoring, I Call It Coaching
What is the difference between Mentoring and Coaching? Does it make any difference?
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WFH, LFH and the E-learning Revolution
Alongside the established heavyweight acronyms of LOL, GWS and GSOH arrives the definitive acronym of our time - WFH.
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Professional Growth : Why It Pays To Be Intentional
What is Professional Growth? The definition of professional growth will be different things for different people but it certainly means more than certificates on the wall. Performance Expert Bill Eckstrom “it’s the development or better use of talents and skills that lead to improved outcomes. This development can…
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The Hard Skill about mastering The Soft Skills
The most important thing is not coding or technical ability but the soft skills. Read what hard and soft skills are and their importance for tech leaders.
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Crisis Leadership : Keep Calm, But Don't Carry On As Normal
Now more than every we need strong leaders, here we look at some great crisis leadership and how we can help you get through it!
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Operational Planning vs Strategic Planning: Who does what?
Are tech leaders responsible for taking care of operational planning or is it their job to get involved in strategic planning? How do you define a tech leader’s roles and responsibilities?
Read articleScrum Masters & Tech Leadership
If a Scrum Master has retained technical proficiency, moving into a role like QA director or development manager can be a fulfilling, logical step
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Meet the Team : Sanjay Mistry
Meet Sanjay Mistry, an experienced CTO and leadership coach based in the UK but working with tech leaders around the world.
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5 Management Challenges For New Tech Leaders & Where Mentoring Helps
Different management challenges can prove troublesome for most new tech leaders, this is where mentoring comes in!
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Meet the Team : Zoe Fragou
Zoe hails from Greece and is an Organizational Psychologist and Executive Level Leadership Coach. She works with companies to transform their organisational culture and help them build thriving teams that increase wellbeing as well as productivity. She also works with senior level decision makers from around the…
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Meet The Team : Richard Weaver
Richard is a recruitment professional with 20+ years industry expertise having delivered large technology and business transformation teams.
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Meet The Team : Jason Noble
Meet our CTO, Jason Noble, an experienced tech leader and a driving force of a our technology strategy and stack
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Why Leadership Coaching Matters To Me
I launched CTO Academy to provide the quality leadership CTO coaching and support I wish I'd had during my tech career. This article explains more.
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Meet The Team: Andrew Weaver, CEO and Co-Founder
Andrew, our CEO has 20+ years of executive level commercial experience in SME and early stage companies across multiple sectors
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The various types of funding for startups
What are the different rounds of funding for startups? Getting the right advice about fundraising is critical to the success of your tech company.
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Good Diet, Great Leadership
Good diet is crucial for great leadership. It boosts energy, improves effectiveness and leads others by example. So, what's in your snack box?
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What is a VP of Engineering?
VPs of Engineering are responsible for ensuring that design requirements are met, overseeing the consistency of user experiences, and managing a team of engineers and developers.
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Non Traditional Route to CTO
As most companies are now technical companies roles like the CMO can sometimes have a bigger tech budget than the CTO and it’s more possible than before to achieve senior tech roles via non traditional routes, though it's highly unusual.
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How to avoid burnout in your tech team (and in you)
Understanding burnout, its causes, and how to prevent it is essential in order to maintain a positive environment and team.
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What a CTO needs from their scrum master ...
This article looks at how a CTO can most effectively communicate with their scrum masters and how it works in practice.
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From Senior Developer to Senior Tech Leader
Many of us have travelled the journey from junior developer to senior developer to tech leader. We know and understand where you’re coming from and where you want to go. It’s why we launched CTO Academy
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The Established CTO
You might think the established CTO wouldn't need any support but the truth is that operating at a very senior level making key and business critical decisions on a regular basis can be extremely challenging and isolating.
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Managing the career transition from techie to team lead
Going from team member to tech leader may seem like a great career transition for the outside world, but only the leader truly understands its pain points
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The CTO CIO Difference: An in-depth look
The CTO and CIO play different roles within a company. This article explores the differences between a CTO and CIO. Which role suits you?
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DevOps and Road To Tech Leadership
Whilst DevOps is a relatively new role it’s one that allows visibility across the whole operation, making it an excellent route towards achieving senior tech positions.
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The Simple Guide To Saying No
Saying no isn't easy. Get the Simple Guide To Saying No with quickfire scripts and learn how to say no, kindly and compassionately.
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The Chief Information Officer - What's the difference?
The modern and effective CIO needs to build a broad range of management and softer skills that go way beyond traditional expectations of the role.
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Toxic Jobs, Time To Say Go
Toxic cultures are tough to change. Focus your energy instead on what really matters to you, then plan your escape.
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Leadership Skills Training for Tech Leaders
A firm foundation of technical leadership training will help you direct your team effectively towards success.
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Diversity = Profitability = Sorting Your Recruitment Strategy
Diversity is not only good for the culture of your team, but it's also shown to be good for the bottom line, so it should be fixed at the recruitment stage.
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CTO Academy Close Seed Funding Round
CTO Academy has closed a seed funding round that will drive the growth of their management skills training and mentoring platform for ambitious and aspiring CTOs.
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What is the Average CTO Salary in the UK?
In this post, we are revealing the latest financial data while examining different factors that influence CTO salary in UK and London specifically
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From Business Analyst to Tech Leader
Business analysts are responsible for bridging the gap between IT and the business using analytical reports to executives and stakeholders.
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8 Reasons Why Refresher Training Is A Good Idea
Knowledge fades over time. Our brains are very efficient at dumping information we don’t need, and the best way we have of showing our brain that the information is still useful is by using it. "Use it or lose it"
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What is an Accidental CTO?
An Accidental CTO is someone typically working within an early stage, fast growth company and who has arrived in the senior tech role way ahead of schedule. They face a unique set of leadership challenges.
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Project Manager & The Route To Leadership
the project manager is communicating with engineers, designers, programmers, stakeholders, executive leaders, and decision makers. The whole gamut of people inside a high- tech company.
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What Does a CTO Do and How Does CTO's Day Look Like?
Dive with us into a typical day in the life of a CTO to find out what does a CTO do in a company from a real-life practical perspective.
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Are you an Accidental CTO?
Are you an Accidental CTO? The story of an Accidental CTO typically what new challenges faced when growing a company at speed.
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The Hiring Conundrum : Promote vs. Recruit
Managing and building a team is perhaps the greatest of all challenges for senior managers. Read the article to Hire or Promoting from the CTO Prospective.
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Managing a Team (and their external pressures)
Managing a team is about managing people and understanding that some reactions in work, are influenced by circumstances from home. CTO management skills must include empathy.
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Salary vs. Equity vs. Time aka 'The Start Up Conundrum'
Read the CTO academy blog that How to decide between salary and equity and which is right for you in tech company.
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What is the CTO Salary in the USA in 2023?
Find out what is the highest and lowest CTO salary in the USA, which companies are paying the best, and learn what compensation packages include.
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How to become a CTO?
What is a typical career path to the best CTO jobs? Should I go corporate or startup? What skills are required to become a CTO?
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Importance of Management Skills to CTO Training
What management skills do you require to become a high value CTO and Where to Focus on Management or softer skills? Discuss the detail issue in CTO training course.
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8 Steps to be effective in Board Meetings
How can you as a CTO be most effective in board meetings? These tips will help you get the results you want from this important c-suite arena.
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Jump Off That Cliff, Then Start Assembling The Plane
If you’re new to the start up world or indeed, the wider world of entrepreneurship, then you can do worse than listen to the podcast ‘Master of Scale’. Hosted by Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman, it’s a slickly produced insiders view of what it takes to make it big, from someone who knows and who continues to invest in…
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Everyone is a bit broken ... so learn how to manage with compassion
The challenge within teams and in management roles, is that not many people are prepared to acknowledge that everyone is a little broken.
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CEO and CTO : United By A Different Language
The relationship between CEO and CTO could be described as 'two executives united by a different language'
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How did CTO Academy take shape?
They say the best business ideas come from personal experience of something not working well or an unmet need. CTO Academy emerged from the direct experience of founder Jason Noble struggling through his career as a CTO to find the tech leadership support he wanted and needed. Always lots of training for the…
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Welcome to CTO Academy
One thing we know for sure with a new venture (having been around the block a few times), is you can have the idea, sketch out a model, design a website and prepare for launch … but you never truly know anything about your product until it starts to interact with the market. And so, we are on the verge of lift off…
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