My story

I did not set out to build a talk show. I set out to answer a question that had followed me for most of my career: why do so many technology projects fail? That question shaped everything, from the tools I built early on to the nearly 1,000 executive interviews I have recorded since.

I am, at heart, an analyst. I am fascinated by the gap between what leaders intend and what their organizations actually do, and by the small number of habits that separate the companies that change from the ones that stall. CXOTalk is where I get to explore that question in public, with the people living it.

Before CXOTalk

I spent my early career building the machinery of enterprise software. I helped develop rapid implementation tools for SAP and worked with IBM and Lotus on the methods large organizations use to run complex programs. Then I founded Asuret, a Boston area consultancy that used specialized tools to detect risk inside big projects before they went off the rails.

Along the way I became known for writing candidly about failure. My column for ZDNet ran to more than 1,000 articles on the management and leadership reasons that technology initiatives break down. The lesson repeated itself again and again: the technology is rarely the real problem. The names change, from ERP to cloud to AI, but the underlying causes barely move.

Starting CXOTalk

CXOTalk began in 2013 as a labor of love. At the time I was advising enterprise software companies such as SAP and Microsoft on positioning and messaging. I wanted to try something no one else in the enterprise was doing: a live, unscripted conversation with a C-level leader that took questions from the audience in real time. The first guest was Guy Kawasaki. I eventually left consulting to run CXOTalk full time.

The CXOTalk approach

Three things make CXOTalk different. It is live, so there is nowhere to hide and no editing to smooth over a real answer. It takes questions directly from a sophisticated audience, which raises the quality of the conversation. And I do not sell or pitch anything, which is why guests trust the room enough to say what they actually think. To my knowledge, it is the only discussion show with C-level executives that works this way.

The body of work

Today CXOTalk is a library of nearly 900 episodes and more than 560 guests, built up over more than a decade. The guests are CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, and CISOs from the largest organizations in the world, alongside leading academics and technologists, across technology, healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. Taken together, the archive is one of the most complete records anywhere of how senior leaders have thought about technology and change through a period of enormous upheaval.

The show is the work. Recent guests include Aaron Levie, co-founder and chief executive of Box; Alexander Sukharevsky, who leads QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI practice; Will Grannis, chief technology officer of Google Cloud; Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup; and Sangeet Paul Choudary, who advises Fortune 500 chief executives on strategy.

Alongside them: the chief executive of GitLab, the chief financial officer of HPE, the chief AI officer of U.S. Bank, the chief technology officer of Deloitte, the chief technology officer of Mozilla, and a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first episode, in 2013, was with Guy Kawasaki.

I write up the conversations that stay with me. You can read those on the articles page, each one quoting the guest directly and linking back to the full episode and transcript.

Who is Michael Krigsman?

Michael Krigsman is an industry analyst, strategic advisor, and commentator based in Boston. He is the founder, host, and publisher of CXOTalk, a live interview series with C level executives on enterprise AI, digital transformation, and leadership. Before CXOTalk he was widely known as an authority on the causes and prevention of IT project failure.

What is CXOTalk?

CXOTalk is a live, unscripted interview program Michael founded in 2013. The first episode featured Guy Kawasaki. It has since run to roughly 900 episodes with more than 560 guests, drawn from the CIO, CEO, CFO, and CISO ranks of the world’s largest organizations. It takes questions from a live audience, and it does not sell or pitch.

What does Michael Krigsman write and speak about?

Enterprise artificial intelligence, digital transformation, leadership, customer experience, and why large technology projects fail. He wrote more than 1,000 columns for ZDNet, has had photography published in The Wall Street Journal, and has been referenced in the media over 1,000 times and cited in more than 50 books and journal articles.

What did he do before CXOTalk?

He was the founder and CEO of Asuret, a consultancy that measured and diagnosed the causes of failure in enterprise projects. Earlier he built implementation tooling and methodology for SAP, IBM, and Lotus, starting with SAP’s rapid implementation tools in the mid 1990s.

How do I reach Michael Krigsman?

Through the Connect page on this site, or by email at mkrigsman@cxotalk.com. He speaks and moderates at industry events and welcomes conversations with executives, researchers, and technology leaders.