There are many reasons the CIO role is struggling. In fact it is much bigger than the CIO role, it is also the connection between what is viewed as the "rest of the business" and then there is IT. If we rely on the CIO to "fix" all the problems it is like thinking that if we elected the right president he would fix all of our social and economical messes. It takes more than the CIO or the relationship with the CEO. All of the dysfunctionality that has existed between technology and the rest of the business is beginning to become a critical situation that must be resolved. Those that figure it out will have less trouble succeeding in the near future, and those that don't will continue to resolve thier messes with "process" and new staff, but it will be painful and unsuccessful because the issue is a people problem, not a technology or process problem. Almost 75% of the CEO's view successful technology delivery as "critical" to the success of their organizations. Yet only 11% of the CEO's have confidence in their technology organizations. Take also into account that 68% of technology workers are considered to be disengaged at some level from their work. Most view their paychecks as a trade for their time. In an industry that is constantly changing and facing enormous challenges to being a legitimate strategic partner, do you want disengaged employees? I would think not. I have done a substantial amount of research on this and there is a lot of talk about the symptoms, but little talke about the manifold of root issues that are creating the symptoms.