The life of a CIO is a whirlwind—balancing IT investments with business goals, innovating at a steady pace, dodging security threats, and maintaining a bird's-eye view of an org’s complex IT infrastructurewhere. It’s a lot to manage, and even the best need to plug into the right resources.
Subscribing and tuning into the right podcasts as you drive or workout is an invaluable resource for every CIO looking to balance efficiency and healthy innovation. That’s why, we’ve curated this list of CIO podcasts that deliver REAL value that offer hands-on strategies for pressing IT challenges of a modern IT leaders.
Don’t forget to subscribe each of these on your favorite podcasting platform. Let’s dive in.
Host: Peter High, president of Metis Strategy
If you’re looking for a behind-the-scenes look at how the top CIOs and CXOs steer their organizations toward success, Technovation is the place to be. Peter High takes you through candid, unscripted chats with industry leaders about their leadership playbooks, leading high-performance teams, and building better feedback loops between customers and IT teams.
The best part, however, is the podcast’s focus on the "how" in strategy. It shows you how to adopt AI without throwing out your legacy systems, how to innovate at scale while managing risk, or even how to get buy-ins for your initiatives. You basically get a battle-tested, customizable framework, which you can adapt and apply to lead change for your team.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Metis Strategy | Spotify
Host: Maryfran Johnson, executive director of CIO programs at IDG
Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall during boardroom sessions? In CIO leadership live, Johnson opens that door for you. She knows how to ask the tough questions that lead to real talk about what it means to guide IT during chaos and tough times (AI, they see you!).
Each guest, a seasoned IT exec, opens up about how they lead their teams, align business goals with IT investments, and improve IT productivity. The focus is mostly on getting past “resistance to change” and equipping CIOs with the leadership soft skills to keep their initiatives moving forward.
🎧Listen here: Apple | CIO.com | Spotify
Host: Analyst and former CIO of Pandora, Steve Ginsberg
Ginsberg's CIO Speaks is where the real IT leadership conversation happens behind closed doors. This podcast peels back the curtain on the challenges defining modern IT leadership—from the evolving dynamics between CIOs and their counterparts (CISO, CDO, CAIOs) to securing budgets during dwindling growth forecasts.
The show, however, blew up because it tackles the hardest part of IT leadership that nobody talks about—vendor management. While other podcasts float in strategy-land, it gets his hands dirty with conversations around navigating contract clauses that saved one company $2M, avoiding vendor lock-in, and bringing partner alignment, to eventually save IT from layoffs and budget cuts.
🎧Listen here: Gigaom
Hosts: Cassidy Williams, Netflify’s principal DX engineer at Netlify, and Ian Faison, CEO at Caspian Studios.
If you’re a CIO focused on building resilient, business-aligned IT teams, CIO Classified should be at the top of your playlist. With voices like Nutanix’s Wendy Pfeiffer and Qualcomm’s Cisco Sanchez, this podcast tackles the crucial but often overlooked areas of tech leadership–the IT employees and their experience, the strategies to keep your team both productive and engaged, and even nurture citizen developers from a distributed always-on team.
🎧Listen here: Apple | CIO Pod | Spotify
Host: Sanjog Aul, CEO of AVVAL
Launched by Sanjog Aul before podcasting hit the mainstream, CIO Talk Network delivers the insights CIOs actually need to navigate the chaos of modern IT leadership. From building a resilient data strategy to cloud migration, and creating AI agents, each episode delivers candid advice and actionable insights from guests with real-life “building” experience.
🎧Listen here: Apple | CIO Talk Network | Spotify
Hosts: Aaron Delp from Equinix and RedHat’s Brian Gracely
Delp and Gracely seem to have this uncanny ability to get cloud's biggest players to reveal how they really make things work. Every episode of The Cloudcast is packed with those "aha!" moments you'd normally only get from months of trial and error. From DevOps war rooms to SaaS 0-1 plans, they dig into the 'here’s how we actually solved it' moments with folks who’ve been through the trenches.
🎧Listen here: Apple | The Cloudcast | Spotify
Host: The Atomicwork team
If you’re tired of AI hype and want real answers about how companies are actually scaling IT and managing service operations, Atomic Conversations is THE podcast for you. Twice a month, the Atomicwork team brings in top IT leaders to break down what’s working in the real world, from smarter workflows to automating incident management and modernizing infrastructures to be AI-ready.
The team recognizes that tech challenges quickly escalate into business problems, which is why they put employee experience and productivity at the heart of every discussion. Veteran CIOs share how they navigate their career and help transform IT into a profit center leveraging AI and leading boardroom conversations.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Atomicwork | Spotify
Host: Cindi Howson, chief data strategy officer at ThoughtSpot
Data is of no value until CIOs begin to refine, structure, analyze, and take action to drive real business impact. That's where The Data Chief steps in. Hosted by data strategy luminary Cindi Howson, this podcast gets to the nuts and bolts of driving real-world results from your data initiatives.
Howson sits down with top data officers, analytics experts, and IT leaders to unpack their playbooks to secure executive buy-ins, build a data-fluent culture, or integrate analytics into executive decision-making.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Thoughtspot | Spotify
Host: Ran Levi
CIOs need more than just news updates when it comes to cybersecurity—they need technical depth. Malicious Life, hosted by cybersecurity pro Ran Levi and Cybereason provides a technical breakdown of major cyberattacks and gives listeners an inside look at the tools, tactics, and vulnerabilities at play.
One of their standout episodes, ‘The economics of cybersecurity,’ even brings infosec and finance leaders to the same table to tackle the financial side of cyber defense, and arm CIOs with the knowledge they need to make smart, strategic decisions about their security investments.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Malicious Life | Spotify
Host: Gartner Analysts
Powered by the unparalleled research and insights of Gartner's world-renowned analysts, The Gartner CIO podcast is a direct line to the bleeding edge of IT and enterprise strategy. Each episode delivers data-driven intelligence straight from forward-looking CIOs, covering everything from AI change management to future-ready infrastructure. If staying ahead of the curve and making smarter, sharper tech bets is your goal, Gartner is where it happens.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Simple cast | Spotify
Host: Dr. Jim Anderson
Not your usual tech podcast, The Accidental Successful CIO mixes in a lot of personal development and resilience-building that speaks to CIOs at the human level.
Dr. Anderson recognizes that being a CIO isn't just about mastering the technical minutiae; it's also about cultivating the resilience, self-awareness, and interpersonal savvy to thrive under constant pressure.
CIOs love this podcast because it’s a reminder to step back from the grind and reflect on leadership styles, mental toughness, navigating the relentless pressure of tech leadership.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Accidental Successful CIO | Spotify
Host: Harry Stebbings
Don't let the name fool you - The 20VC Podcast requires listening for any tech leader, CIO or not. Stebbings has an unparalleled talent for getting founders, investors, and C-suite execs to drop their guard, that too in 20 minutes, to reveal the hard-won lessons behind building industry-defining companies.
Whether it’s breaking down Sam Altman’s take on model advancements, dissecting Perplexity’s rise, or exploring the allure of “founder’s mode,” each episode interviews an industry pioneer around innovation, risk-taking, and long-term strategic thinking.
It's a refreshing departure from the usual IT infrastructure tips, challenging CIOs to adopt a more entrepreneurial, big-picture mindset when driving digital transformation within their enterprises.
🎧Listen here: Apple | 20VC | Spotify
Host: Guy Raz
How I Built This is a podcast for CIOs who think like builders. With a guest list that includes Matt Meeker of BARK to Brian Scudamore, Guy Raz digs deep into how they built their companies from the ground up and the moments that tested their resolve, from market crashes to company culture crises. Raz also hosts Q&A segments with 3-4 early-stage founders per episode to explore their toughest challenges, workshop their ideas, and set them on a path to exits that matter.
CIOs can’t get enough of the practical takeaways on building adaptive teams, weathering storms, and creating innovative solutions under pressure. It’s a wake-up call for anyone who thinks success happens in a straight line—it’s messy, and that’s where the best lessons are born.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Guy Raz | Spotify
Host: Michael Krigsman
For CIOs who want to stay on the pulse of leadership innovation, the CXO Talk podcast delivers sharp insights from today’s top executives. Hosted by Michael Krigsman, this podcast brings together C-suite leaders to discuss the strategic challenges, technological disruptions, and management tactics that shape the modern enterprise.
With a lineup of industry icons, every episode dives into what it really takes to lead at the highest level, showing how tech and strategy intersect in the boardroom.
🎧Listen here: Apple | CXO Talk | Spotify
Host: Dan Kelly
If you want a granular, data-driven look at the evolving role of the CIO, Dan Kelly’s State of the CIO podcast is your go-to. Dan takes a methodical, no-nonsense approach to exploring the most pressing issues facing CIOs today.
CIOs love this podcast because it explores how—how do you make informed decisions, how you pivot when needed, and how do you drive value with tech investments? Each episode taps into the most pressing issues, such as cloud strategies, cybersecurity, and IT leadership, featuring candid discussions with experienced CIOs who’ve lived the challenges.
🎧Listen here: Apple | Bridging business IT | Spotify
For CIOs in 2025, it’s not just about managing IT but about being at the helm of enterprise growth and breaking down silos that hold organizations back. These CIO podcasts are packed with fresh insights and leadership strategies to help you navigate challenges and future-proof your career.
Get inspired, stay ahead, and lead like never before.
