This comes in many forms, such as problem-solving creativity, special knowledge and skills, work experience, and willingness to risk investment capital for promising new enterprises.

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Some CIOs and CTOs are capable of leveraging their experience, knowledge and skills in technologies or systems into the creation and leadership of companies.

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The selection process puts socially defined characteristics, such as the outsized reputation of an executive like Mr Dimon, ahead of relevant practical skills and experience (Mr Dimon had little knowledge of retail banking or credit-card operations, two of Bank One's biggest and, in the second case, most problematic businesses).

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This consulting experience gives him a knowledge of several industries and strong skills for analyzing investment opportunities.

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Capturing that collective knowledge can seem like a huge task because of the wide range of facts, information and skills attained through experience.

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