As a former CIO, Deputy CIO, Cyber-security Division Director and Deputy CISO, here is my input:
A good CIO has to be able to decipher where the business is, where it is going, what resources it has to get there and the best way to make it happen. Each CIO is like a different type of cake. Some times you have different flavors, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, etc, sometimes you have different types, fruit cake, wedding cake, layered cake, etc and you have different costs associated with each type and complexity of cake. Each cake shares a basic recipe. A good CIO should have the basics as well:
1) A good foundation of understanding of IT.
2) A good foundation of knowledge of networking.
3) A good way to deal with people, usually including supervisory/managerial/leadership experience.
4) A knowledge of business principles.
5) Ability to judge/gauge a persons' or groups' understanding of IT and be able to speak at their level of comprehension.
In addition to those it is nice to have some understanding of the following areas:
A) Knowledge of how political games can affect strategic initiatives.
B) Experience with public speaking
C) Ability to influence or persuade others to a point of view
D) Ability to defend a budget or expenditures.
So these are just some suggestions, but like any cake recipe you will need to come up with your own ingredients. You can look at other job postings from places such as Dice.com or indeed.com to get more ideas of what requirements other people are looking for.
