Great communicators focus on the perspectives, priorities and frames of reference of the people they seek to communicate with. At Genentech, that means science. Todd Pierce, SVP and CIO at Genentech, views effective communication as the “circulatory system" of business. Everything he does takes that into account.

Being in the drug discovery/drug development business, Genentech runs on quickly gathering large volumes of information and analyzing it effectively. With 30-40 clinical trials going on at any given time, that's a lot of information.

Effective CIOs all have their own style and approach to leadership. One thing they have in common is the ability to communicate well at all levels of their organizations. They understand that communication is a collaborative process, as much about asking questions as answering them; as much about listening as talking. It's a conversation.

Storytelling is a powerful tool when you want to drive organizational change, sell an idea, or just make a point.

There's nothing new about storytelling. As a species, it's in our DNA. Long before we had books and newspapers, telephones and telegraphs, the Internet and Kindles, our ancestor's sat around the fire and told stories. More than storytellers, we're story consumers. Even people who think they're no good at telling stories generally love to hear them. We just respond better to information when it's delivered with a memorable anecdote or example (i.e., story).

Communicating effectively with business colleagues has ranked as one of CIOs' top three critical success factors for as long as I've been tracking these things -- and I've been tracking them for a long time. I've wondered over the years why this issue hasn't gone away. Why is it so damn hard for IT leaders to get their message across?

First of all, this is not just a CIO problem. People in general are terrible at conveying a concept or message intact from their brain to that of their "listener" (a misused term if ever there was one). As Celtics coach Red Auerbach used to say, "it's not what you say, it's what they hear." Influencing what people hear involves a lot more than just forming the right words.