For chief information officers

You own the decision, and there is nobody inside the building who can tell you it is wrong.

The CIO seat is structurally lonely. Your peers report to you, your executive colleagues do not share your constraints, and your board wants certainty you cannot honestly give. The people who have made your decision before do not work at your company.

01Decisions

What CIOs bring to a table

Three that come up repeatedly. Yours does not have to be on this list — it has to be undecided.

  • Consolidating systems after an acquisition, when the business case keeps failing on payback
  • Deciding which AI work to fund, gate or stop, before the board asks for a number
  • Rebuilding a platform team after the three people who knew the system left

Read what a table produced

02The room

Who you sit with

Format

Founders' Table

Sitting CIOs at organisations of comparable scale, plus a former-CIO host who keeps time.

Cap

Eight seats

Never nine. No direct competitors, and never two people from the same company.

Rule

Chatham House

Never recorded. See the house rules and the trust centre.

All four table formats

Bring the decision you are carrying.

One paragraph. A person reads it within two business days.