205. Gautam Hazari: CTO Communication Mastery

Gautam Hazari is a mobile identity guru, technology enthusiast, AI expert and futurist & is the CTO of Sekura.id, the global leader in mobile identity services. He is a thought leader for digital identity, advocating solving the identity crisis in the digital world and speaking on making the digital world a safer place. Gautam is also a TEDx speaker. Who is a CTO? A Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is someone who humanizes technology by linking technology with various aspects of a business and people’s lives. A CTO needs to make technology invisible but show its benefits to the board of directors, customers, society, investors.   When a CTO has to communicate The situations in which a CTO has to communicate can be summarized as the 4Ts: Technology (explain technology to every type of audience), Teams (give direction to diverse teams with their own language, own agenda), Translation (depending on the context, emphasize the tone of your voice), Trust (communicate beyond words). CTO communication mastery Every CTO should master three communication skills: * Adaptability. Know your audience and based on that, adapt your stories, your metaphors. * Believe what you say. Gautam once heard after a talk from a non-technical person “I don’t know what you were talking about but I saw your passion, so this has to be something very important, something I should know” * Consciousness. You must answer to the questions What? So what? Why now? that every audience has in their mind. There must be a call to action. Difference between CEOs vs CTOs communication skills The CEO and CTO are partners but they have a different focus in communication. This is illustrated with the Five Ws: Why, What, How, When, Who. The focus is different on each executive. “Why, What” is more for the CEO “How, When, Who” is more for the CTO Related: How Techies Can Succeed in Any Media Interview  Favorite quotation “Technology should either be beautiful, or it should be invisible.” — Steve Jobs Recommended books Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences   by Nancy Duarte. Steve Jobs