I always envisioned a CTO should be something like a Chief Pilot in the airline world. In an airline, Chief Pilot is the highest-ranking member of management th

I always envisioned a CTO should be something like a Chief Pilot in the airline world. In an airline, Chief Pilot is the highest-ranking member of management that can (and does) still fly passengers around. This gives them unique insight into flight operations. So a CTO should be someone that can still (and from time to time does) write code. Doesn't mean they do it every day, but still enough to give them insight into the development process. I'm not sure if this is feasible in really large companies, but I think definitely should be the case in small and medium ones.