While there may not be too many shortcuts to the top, two large-enterprise CIOs -- each with long IT track records -- offered a few tips to aspiring CIOs: First, find a mentor, and second, don't underestimate the challenges posed by change management.

Dan Sheehan, Senior VP and CIO at Dunkin Brands Inc., and Anthony Sirabella, CIO at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo, addressed these topics at a panel today at the MIT CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Mass. On the topic of mentoring, both execs said they benefitted by the wisdom and networking help of others in their company or industry. Sirabella said his mentor at Kidder Peabody told him to learn the business as well as he learned technology; it's advice he tells others in the financial services industry today, too, he says.

Sheehan told attendees that managing people is usually the hardest part of making change -- something he learned while at Georgia Pacific and still keeps in mind when he deals with Dunkin Brand's 6,500 stores around the country.

Panel moderator, Shawn Banerji, managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates, a CIO executive search firm, said that he looks for three key attributes in CIO talent: business acumen; how much of an influencer they are, and the ability to lead in the face of change.

How do you measure up?