All is good and well until 5 years down the road you don't have experience implementing the newnosql.js stuff that is all the rage. You try to conform it to what you already know and end up with a myopic view of the solution. Since you are already respected people listen to you when defining architectures. Coders think you are a moron, impostor syndrome sets in. The doctors prescribe the new and improved treatment, but the new balm doesn't work as well as the goop for some cases.
You have to remember what made you a specialist in the first place was coding at challenging projects. Our market changes too fast for you to stop doing that. Studying and trying out new things using a private lab will only get you so far, the real challenges are the ones which push you to really master something.
We are talking about consultants, but CTOs should have this knowledge if they if they are the ones making system architecture decisions. I have been at positions in which I had to explain to hierarchical superiors why a decision was bad or why some architecture was preferable. I was also overruled in some of these occasions, and in these cases we hit obstacles I predicted and had to change on the fly, ended up with delayed deliverables and a sub-optimal solution.
It's not realistic to expect CTOs to know the intricacies of all the latest widgets and libraries. I'm talking about CTOs of mature companies, not "CTOs" of a 10-person startup.
You have to remember what made you a specialist in the first place was coding at challenging projects. Our market changes too fast for you to stop doing that. Studying and trying out new things using a private lab will only get you so far, the real challenges are the ones which push you to really master something.