A fresh look at what it really means to lead technology in today's fast-changing world. Hosted by seasoned CTO and thinker David Crawford, and co-host, experienced product leader Sophie Valentine, The CTO Lens blends candid conversations with industry leaders, covers the latest tech news, and includes a whole host of personal insights and practical leadership lessons for the modern technology executive. From navigating roles, to understanding team culture, AI, tech strategy, and real-world challenges, each episode offers both depth and everyday relevance. Whether you're a current senior leader or aspiring to this role, The CTO Lens gives you perspectives that cut through noise - with clarity, humour, and a human touch.
Episodes
From Technologist to Trusted Advisor - The Five Stages of the Modern CTO
Sophie and David are back for Episode 52. For the guest slot this week, they’re joined by Adelina Chalmers, “the Geek Whisperer,” who works with CTOs at PE-backed companies to maximise value ahead of an exit. Adelina lays out her framework for the five stages of CTO evolution, from the purely technical “boffin in the lab,” through the translator and the commercial partner, to the value creator and
Why AI Pilots Fail: The Leadership Mistakes Holding Back Transformation
David and Sophie are back, this week tackling what it really takes to turn AI experimentation into business transformation.They’re joined by Azita Esmaili, Chief AI and Innovation Officer at Atos, who shares insights from her upcoming book on leading successful AI transformation. Azita explains why so many AI pilots fail to scale, why organisations need to rethink how people and AI work together,
Communicating Through a Cyber Crisis: Building Trust Before, During and After the Breach
David and Sophie celebrate their 50th episode with a jam-packed week in tech. They’re joined by Ant Davis, a cybersecurity awareness professional and content creator, who makes the case that the real skill gap in cybersecurity isn’t technical - it’s communication. Ant talks through his journey from an internal security awareness role at Ocado to building a following of over 90,000 on Instagram, wh
“I’m Not Technical” Is No Longer an Excuse: How to Manage Non-Technical Execs
In this week's episode of The CTO Lens, David is back from holiday and Sophie is fresh from the London Tech Leaders Summit, as they tackle a familiar challenge for technology leaders: dealing with non-technical executives and boards.With technology shaping almost every business decision, is it still acceptable for senior leaders to say they don't understand it? Or is the bigger risk an executive w
Modernising a People-Heavy Business with Agentic AI & Rethinking How Boards Prioritise Change
Sophie continues season three live from the London Tech Leaders Leadership Summit, bringing five more back-to-back conversations with tech leaders on stories and lessons from across their careers - from rethinking the technologist skill set to accessibility as a business imperative to how boards should prioritise change. This is part two.How AI Is Changing the Technologist Skill SetAislinn McBride
Leading Agentic Development for 3,500 Developers & Translating Tech Risk for the Board
Sophie closes out season three live from the London Tech Leaders Summit 2026. Part one features four back-to-back conversations with tech leaders on stories and lessons from across their careers. Part two follows on Thursday.From leading agentic development for 3,500 developers in a large corporation to building hands-on again at a startupNathan Luxford, Chief Agentic Officer at Jam 7, on trading
Season 3: Episode 19 - The Squiggly Career: Why the Best Leaders Never Take a Straight Path
Sophie and David are back for episode 19, and once again there's no guest this week - which means it's straight into the news, followed by two of their own segments.David and Sophie spend time on two segments of their own for this episode given no guest this week. First, they dig into the idea of the "accidental CIO" - the notion that many of today's technology leaders got there through years of v
Season 3: Episode 18 - Five Leadership Myths Put to the Test
Sophie and David are back for episode 18. This week, they've set themselves a challenge: run through the week's news without mentioning AI once (it does not entirely go to plan) and dispel five leadership myths.The five leadership myths cover whether digital transformation really belongs to IT, whether titles actually command influence, whether lines of code equal productivity, whether remote team
Season 3: Episode 17 - Strava for Engineers & the Top 10 Leadership Traits
Sophie and David are back for episode 17.This week's guest is Craig Smiley, CPTO at Plandek, a platform he describes as "Strava for engineers" - pulling together signals from across an engineering organisation to show teams how they're really doing. Craig explains why 94% of companies can't connect their engineering output to business outcomes, why the answer isn't a single productivity number but
Season 3: Episode 16 - Ambition, Perfectionism, Burnout: The Hidden Cost of Great Leadership
Sophie and David are back for episode 16.This week's guest is Dr. Claire Ann Banga, CEO of eMoodie, who speaks with Sophie and David on the human side of leadership. Claire explains how her background in child psychology led her to build both a mental health screening platform and, now, multimodal AI models that read vocal biomarkers to flag when someone is struggling, why early intervention deliv
Season 3: Episode 15 - Keeping a Plane in the Air: What Aerospace Teaches Us About Governing AI
Sophie and David are back for episode 15.This week's guest is Sergei Irisov, Head of IT and Digital Transformation at ZeroAvia, the company building the first new type of aircraft powertrain in 50 years - a hydrogen-electric system that has to survive a punishing web of certification requirements before it's allowed anywhere near the sky. Sergei explains how his team went from drowning in test dat
Season 3: Episode 14 - Rip Currents & Ruby Risk: A CTO and a CPO on AI's Realest Use Cases Yet!
A special CTO Lens episode this week featuring two special guests with some fascinating insights.First, Ben Rudolph, co-founder of Peregrine Technologies, on what happened when he spent two weeks coding alongside his own engineering team again, why AI is brilliant at solving problems locally but much worse at reasoning about a system globally, and the real-world use cases that show what AI can act
Season 3: Episode 13 - CTO Confessions: How to Survive a Million Line Codebase Build at 20x Velocity
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 13 of Season 3. Sophie is recovering from a Tough Mudder this week - 15 kilometres, 23 obstacles and yes, electrocution. And David is in need of another holiday, just 8 weeks after his last one...Our main segment this week sees our hosts take part in a terrific discussion with Greg Detre, CTO of Mindstone, for one of the most honest conversations about AI-
Season 3: Episode 12 - PureGym's Engineering Director on AI, Scale & Why Every Engineer Is a Manager
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 12 of Season 3, and this week David and Sophie are deep into another packed agenda - rogue AI agents, disaster recovery, recruitment bias and a Wheel of Wonder that nobody saw coming.For our main segment in this episode, Sophie and David sit down with Gordon Lucas, Group Software Engineering Director at PureGym - the UK's largest gym chain with over 600 si
Season 3: Episode 11 - Outdated Advice Every Tech Leader Should Leave Behind
The CTO Lens Podcast is back for Season 3, Episode 11. This week David and Sophie are joined by Richard Tworek, CTO at Riverbed Technology, for a wide-ranging conversation on observability, tool consolidation, and why enterprise AI still needs a human in the loop. Plus the Flip Side makes its return, decided for the first time by the toss of a Nicaraguan coin.This episode covers the fallout from p
Season 3: Episode 10 - Is the CTO a Business Role? And is AI Rewriting the Rules of Tech Leadership?
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 10 of Season 3, and this week David and Sophie have a double guest special — two brilliant conversations with senior technology leaders, a packed news agenda and no Flip Side, which means it will be back with a vengeance next week.This episode covers the UK's new AI minister Kanishka Narayan — and why everybody in the know seems to think he's exactly the r
Season 3: Episode 9 - The Leadership Characteristics Every Senior Technologist Should Steal
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 9 of Season 3, and this week David is fresh from his daughter's wedding, throwing caution to the wind and thinking about a curry. Normal service has resumed.This episode covers Andy Burnham's first day as Prime Minister and the rumoured scrapping of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology - and whether that's actually as bad as the headline s
Season 3: Episode 8 - Life After Being a CTO
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 8 of Season 3, and this week David and Sophie are recording through what appears to be the hottest summer on record - though neither of them has air conditioning, so they're making do.This episode covers Satya Nadella's five point plan for enterprise companies to stop giving away their most valuable asset every time they use an AI model - and David asks wh
Season 3: Episode 7 - Which C-Suite Role Is AI Coming for First?
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 7 of Season 3, and David and Sophie are recording in what appears to be the hottest summer on record - and as it turns out, that's actually relevant to the news agenda.This episode covers the impact of extreme heat on critical technology infrastructure - from the Eiffel Tower closing early due to a transformer blowout to NHS trusts declaring critical incid
Season 3: Episode 6 - Human in the Lead - Rethinking AI, Teams and the Consulting Model
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 6 of Season 3, and David and Sophie are both back in the hot seat - tanned, reunited and ready to dig into a packed agenda.This episode covers Trump's threat to impose a 100% tariff on any European country that introduces a digital services tax on American tech giants - and asks whether it's time for tech leaders to start buying homegrown. RAM prices are r
Season 3: Episode 5 - How to Build Sustainability in IT: Embracing Opportunities and Driving Value
The CTO Lens Podcast is back, and this week Sophie is taking a well-earned break. David is joined by the returning Mal Minhas for a packed episode of news, a fascinating guest conversation and a debut Flip Side argument that ends - as these things often do - somewhere in the middle.This episode covers the G7 summit where the world's most powerful AI bosses told world leaders in no uncertain terms
Season 3: Episode 4 - Women in AI: The Biggest Myths, a Deportation & Why the Human Has to Come Back
The CTO Lens Podcast does something a little different this week. David is away, and Sophie has taken the opportunity to bring together three brilliant women working at the sharp end of AI for a conversation that is honest, practical and long overdue.Joining Sophie are Hema Purohit, founder of Lotus Advisory and Consulting and a veteran of Microsoft and Google with three decades in tech; Stephanie
Season 3: Episode 3 - Is the Job Market for Senior Technology Leaders Broken?
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 3 of Season 3, and this week David and Sophie have a packed agenda - news, a brilliant guest and a Flip Side debate that gets a little complicated when Sophie switches sides mid-argument.This episode covers Meta's customer support chatbot being exploited to steal Instagram accounts - and what every tech leader should take from it about deploying agents wit
Season 3: Episode 2 - "The Best Engineering Leaders of the Next Decade Won't Come from Engineering"
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with another packed episode. David's fresh from a stag weekend involving combat archery, a giant inflatable and some questionable social media evidence, while Sophie's been spotting baby moorhens. Normal service has resumed.This episode covers NVIDIA's new AI chip for personal computers - and what that means for every CTO's laptop refresh plan. King's College London be
Season 3: Episode 1 - The Product Manager Ratio That's Dividing Tech + The Pope Denounces AI
The CTO Lens Podcast is back - and Season 3 is here. David and Sophie return refreshed, ready to dig into a packed news agenda, a brand new segment and some big questions about where tech leadership is headed next.This episode covers the Pope weighing in on AI and the culture of power driving Silicon Valley, Elon Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI in under two hours and still claiming victory,
Season 2: Episode 20 - What Nobody Is Telling Fractional Workers About AI (Season Finale)
The CTO Lens Podcast wraps up Season 2 with Episode 20 - and David and Sophie are going out with a bang. Twenty episodes in, they reflect on what they've covered, what's coming in Season 3, and why the world of tech leadership has never been more interesting - or more complicated.This episode covers Anthropic's Mythos model making headlines again - this time for falling into the hands of a Discord
Season 2: Episode 19 - Liz Kendall, Falling Robots and Data Teams Are More Important Than You Think!
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 19, and this week David and Sophie are firing on all cylinders with a packed news agenda and a guest who really knows his way around a data pipeline.This episode covers Roblox's controversial facial analysis age checks - and whether that's really the best we can do for child safety online. The UK's AI minister Liz Kendall gets the David and Sophie treatmen
Season 2: Episode 18 - Claude Mythos, Molotov Cocktails and the Future of UX
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 18, and this one's got plenty to dig into. David and Sophie are back in their respective remote setups - but that doesn't mean things are any less lively.This episode covers a cyberattack that forced Northern Irish school kids back into classrooms during Easter - and raises a bigger question about the risk of centralising all your tech on a single supplier
Season 2: Episode 17 - "Nobody Told Us It Was Going to Cost This Much"
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 17, and this week's edition is packed! Oh, and yes - this week's episode was filmed in person. David and Sophie are confirmed humans.This episode features China's obsession with an open-source AI tool nicknamed "the Lobster" (aka Claude), Anthropic's token costs spiralling out of control - and an accidental leak of 500,000 lines of source code, plus a two-
Season 2: Episode 16 - The CTO's Dilemma: Prove ROI from AI & Prove You Still Have a Future Job
The CTO Lens Podcast is back with Episode 16, and this week's edition is packed!Meta vs. Google in court. AI reshaping video production. A Lloyd's Bank data breach update. David and Sophie cut through the noise on the week's biggest tech stories.Then things get really interesting. We're bringing you an exclusive fireside recording straight from our London Tech Leaders event - a razor-sharp convers
Season 2: Episode 15 - How Do Technology Leaders Drive Change for the Future Workforce
In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David and Sophie begin by discussing the week's latest news, including budgets for AI and Quantum Computing, books being written using AI, Pokemon Go and Amazon’s new smart phone!Both then (as part of the leadership segment) discuss the future of the technology workforce, including the responsibilities that senior leaders have, how education may need
Season 2: Episode 14 - How Is AI Reshaping The Software Development Lifecycle?
In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David and Sophie begin by discussing the week's latest news, including delayed Royal Navy deployments, airport face scans, bank apps showing other users' transactions and much more!Both are then joined by Andrew Murphy (Head of Engineering and Product at Wickes) to discuss how AI is reshaping the software development lifecycle. Andrew offers some fant
Season 2: Episode 13 - Is The CTO Role Now More Strategic Than Technical?
In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David is back and joins Sophie to discuss the latest in tech innovations and news.Both share insights on leadership, strategy, and the evolving role of technology leaders in organisations. From understanding the importance of strategic thinking to the future skills needed for CTOs, this episode offers valuable guidance for tech leaders aiming to make
Season 2: Episode 12 - Building The Fastest AI Machines on Earth
In this week’s episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie Valentine is joined by guest host Samantha Burrows, in an International Women’ Day week special.They explore the significance of culture in leadership, especially for women+ in tech, and continue with news on the ethical implications of AI in defence, the future of AI and its potential economic consequences, innovative AI projects in the civil
Season 2: Episode 11 - Practical Cases of AI Working
In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David Crawford and Sophie Valentine discuss various topics including social media court cases, recent AI trials and tribulations, and the emergence of Seedance, an app that can be used to generate Hollywood style videos.They are also joined by Otto Hilska (CEO of Swarmia) who shares insights on engineering effectiveness and the integration of AI tools
Season 2: Episode 10 - How to Get a CTO Role in 2026
In this week’ episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, David Crawford and Sophie Valentine discuss various topics including their Valentine's weekend experiences, the viral success of their podcast clip on digital sovereignty, updates on the UK Online Safety Bill and the implications of AI in online safety, and discuss recent AI advancements in large corporations. They are also joined by Jon Sheehan (Co-F
Season 2: Episode 9 - Falling Back in Love with My CTO Role
In this week's episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David discuss various topics including France getting rid of Zoom, AI robots and the recent AI Gold Rush. They also are joined by Lee Provoost (CTO of fintech company Flagstone) who discusses his journey of falling out of love and falling back in love with the CTO role.The episode concludes with the mid-episode game (titled ‘Touchdown Tech
Season 2: Episode 8 - Incident Response
In this week's episode of the CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David discuss various topics including AI training initiatives, Apple's sales trends, digital sovereignty, and the future of driverless cars. They also delve into the importance of incident management and organisational culture with guests Joe and Hamid from Uptime Labs, also sharing personal experiences of IT outages. The conversation emp
Season 2: Episode 7 - Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff vs the Devil’s in the Detail
In this week’s episode of The CTO Lens Podcast, Sophie and David cover a wide range of topics. They dive into the challenges facing the gaming industry, youth social media regulations, and discuss the balance between big-picture thinking and attention to detail in leadership during our leadership focused segment. The episode concludes with the mid-episode game (titled ‘Tech to the Top’) and a disa
Season 2: Episode 6 - Women in Technology Leadership: Have We Seen Any Progress?
In this week’s episode of the CTO Lens podcast, hosts Sophie Valentine and David Crawford delve into various topics, starting with the internet outage in Iran, AI generated singers and a discussion about Elon Musk's relationships and the implications of AI in our daily lives.Sophie and David then welcome guest Hema Purohit, who brings her extensive experience in technology and leadership developme
Season 2: Episode 5 - The Art of Communicating + AOREN Framework
In this episode, Sophie and David discuss the latest developments in technology, including Nvidia's new AI platform for self-driving cars, the implications of ChatGPT in healthcare, and Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI. Furthermore, the hosts discuss essential communication skills for modern leaders, emphasising the importance of active listening, empathy, and understanding different communication st
Season 2: Episode 4 - Project Tech Rescue
In this engaging conversation, Sophie Valentine and David Crawford reflect on their Christmas and New Year experiences, discussing the transition back to work and the challenges of disconnecting during the holidays. They delve into tech trends from 2025 and predictions for 2026, particularly focusing on the evolving landscape of AI and consumer technology. David and Sophie also discuss the evoluti
Season 2: Episode 3 - Sitting Down with Your Younger Self
In this episode, David and Sophie discuss their Christmas preparations, share technology news highlights, and delve into the importance of giving advice to one's younger self. They also take part in the weekly 'Mid Episode Game' titled 'Guess The Year' and conclude with the 'Disaster Diaries' segment, which sparks conversation on the significance of team culture and the common struggles faced by n
Season 2: Episode 2 - Climbing the Tech Ladder
In this episode of CTO Lens, hosts David Crawford and Sophie Valentine discuss personal updates, technology news, and the transition from CTO to CEO with guest Hywel Carver. They explore the challenges of maintaining a strong security culture during rapid growth, the importance of empathy in leadership, and the balance between innovation and security. The episode also features insights from a list
Season 2: Episode 1 - 'Before You Say Yes'
In this episode of CTO Lens, David Crawford and new co-host Sophie Valentine discuss the evolution of the podcast, play a fun game of 'Two Truths and a Lie', and dive into the recent tech budget and its implications for startups. They also explore key questions to ask CEOs during interviews for CTO roles, emphasizing the importance of understanding company challenges, team dynamics, and the role o
Episode 9 - Sarah Greasley: From CTO to NED
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 8: Matt Watson - Bridging Product, People & Technology
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 7: Stuart Coleman - From Lecturer to CTO
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 6: Eleni Kelly - Inside the Modern CIO Role
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 5: Nick Drouet - Preparing the Next Generation of CTO's
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 4: Meri Williams - From Satellites to CTO
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 3: Mal Minhas - "Becoming the manager of managers"
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 2: Steve Newson - From Start-Up to Starling
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
Episode 1: Renee Hunt - "I'm not a CTO, I'm THE CTO"
The CTO Lens with David Crawford is a podcast from London Tech Leaders that offers an inside look at the realities of modern technology leadership. Hosted by David Crawford — an experienced CTO and NED for some of the world’s leading enterprise organisations, the show explores the realities of driving transformation, building high-performing teams, and delivering real business impact through techn
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