A good CTO to me, is someone whose head is in the clouds, hands on the keyboard and feet in the wire trenches.
Head in the clouds is to be a dreamer, a future shaper, a thinker tinkerer. I hate the vision word , everybody has visions, eat a mushroom and you have a vision .
Hands on the keyboard means to keep up with the art of programming. Computing is a hands on discipline, a full contact sport.
Feet in the wire trenches is being comfortable with workers,electricians the cabling, air conditioning etc. One has to be able to handle all the nitty gritty of the work, bit necessarily handle all of it.
Manage Not, Engage! 
Should be a techie/gadget man also…. follow the trends and estimate their acceptance/future in his/her line of work…