An officer in the Italian Army at 18. CIO and CTO of a city that didn't exist yet at 40. Alessio Garofalo's road to the top had no map, and that's exactly why it's worth hearing.

Alessio Garofalo: former CIO and CTO of NEOM, Amazon leadership across the UK and Japan, now leading transformation at NATO in Portugal.

In this episode:

■ Why he never once hired above his team, and what it cost him

■ The rule he gives every future CTO: get your hands dirty first

■ What people want from a leader, and why it's the same on every continent

■ Why waiting to be offered an opportunity fails 90% of the time

Chapters:

00:00 From the Italian Army to NEOM and NATO

03:30 What people want from a leader, on every continent

04:36 Public sector vs private: the same decisions, different drivers 07:12 Robotics, security and the trends worth watching

10:17 The real job of a CTO is not technical

13:25 Three rules for future CTOs (and a bonus one)

16:01 The book: "City by Mistake"

17:27 Alessio's superpower

Follow Alessio

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiogarofalo1985/

Alessio's book "CTO by Mistake":

https://www.amazon.com/CTO-Mistake-Survival-Alessio-Garofalo/dp/B0C4MVSHHY

Road to CTO. New episode every Wednesday.

Hosted by Kuba Lang.

Kuba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kubalang/

All platforms: https://roadtocto.com

Want to share your road? hello@roadtocto.com