Over the past several months, Halcyon Knights interviewed a group of CIOs, CISOs, and senior technology executives to better understand what separates those who successfully transition into executive leadership from those who remain in technical or middle management roles. Despite different industries, backgrounds and leadership styles, several consistent themes emerged: The journey to the C-suite was rarely linear. Technical expertise was important, but rarely the deciding factor. Business acumen, communication, confidence, stakeholder management and commercial awareness consistently separated executive leaders from their peers. Below are the top 9 lessons from Australia's technology leaders for aspiring managers and leaders in Tech.