His description of how CIOs responded to his talk:

I’m still musing over an eye-opening experience a few months ago when I spoke at CIO Magazine’s annual conference. You might have expected, as I had, that most Chief Information Officers wanted to know about the latest trends in technology so they could keep ahead of the curve. Nothing of the sort. CIOs, it turns out, are mostly business people who have been given the thankless job of keeping the lights on, IT wise. And the best way to ensure that they stay on is to change as little as possible.

Most CIOs behave this way because that’s what’s expected of them.