Podcasts about the Workplace
Here’s the simple math about our lives. We spend about a third of our lives at work, whether we want to or not. And when we’re not at work, we are thinking about it, dreading the Monday morning status meeting where the boss is hung over, or remembering that customer who tried to use an expired coupon with the explanation that they had locked in syndrome for the last month.
That part of our life at work has attracted an ample supply of podcasts to help us with everything from career advice to how to handle a boss whose people skills are on par with your son’s middle school bully.
It’s tempting to believe that work podcasts cater only to higher-income workers who can afford a life coach and prohibitively expensive Beurben, but, in truth, many of these podcasts offer useful information for everyone from the stocking associate at Target to the VP of Marketing at a Fortune 500 corporation.
So let’s look at a few workplace podcasts and define them based on their target audience.
For the thoughtful executive
The Harvard Business Review (HBR) has been a general business magazine since1922. HBR‘s articles cover a wide range of topics that are relevant to various industries, management functions, and geographic locations. These focus on areas including leadership, organizational change, negotiation, strategy, operations, marketing, finance, and managing people.
HBR IdeaCast just recorded its 700th episode so clearly it’s been around since the beginning of podcasting. Hosted by Senior Editors Alison Beard and Curt Nickish, the show is a no-nonsense show that is not afraid to tackle controversial topics. For example, episode # 697 dealt with How African-Americans Advance at Work — And What Organizations Can Do to Help. In the episode, Laura Morgan Roberts, professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, talked candidly about how organizations are still falling short on promoting racial diversity, particularly in their most senior ranks. While many large companies have “inclusion” initiatives, most leaders still shy away from frank discussions about how the experiences of their black employees and executives — including their feelings of authenticity and potential for advancement — differ from those of their white peers.
The episodes are models of brevity with 20 to 25 minutes being the length of almost all episodes. Typically, the hosts take turns interviewing experts in the topics they are discussing.
In the last two years, the podcast has focused several episodes on women in the workplace with episode # 676 – Why U.S. Working Moms Are So Stressed – And What To Do About It
where Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis, conducted interviews with mothers in four countries — the U.S., Italy, Germany, and Sweden — who have jobs outside the home to better understand the pressures they felt. She found that American moms were by far the most stressed, primarily because of the lack of parental benefits offered by their employers and the government.
In episode # 673, HBR IdeaCast took a slightly different but effective tack with Why Are We Still Promoting Incompetent Men? whereTomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychologist and chief talent scientist at ManpowerGroup, discussed how companies are not picking leaders in the right way. While they should be promoting people based on their competence and potential, it’s often the incompetent, overconfident candidates — most of them men — who get ahead. According to several studies, women are actually better equipped to become strong, successful managers.
Advice to deal with any workplace
Whether you are an administrative assistant or a construction worker, the Safe At Work by podcast publisher Wondery could be for you. Wondery, best known for its Dirty John podcast turned Bravo TV show, has a deep slate of podcasts and has launched a Wondery + paywall platform.
Safe For Work – in its second season – typically has a main topic discussed with an expert such as a recent September episode when UK-based business writer Alicia Clegg discussed her Financial Times article Too much loyalty does neither the company nor the employee much good.
The show’s second segment is a call-in from a listener who has written in with a work issue, such as Amber who works in the tax department of her company and wonders if it’s all right to quit during the company’s busiest time of the year because she can’t handle her boss yelling at her in front of co-workers and customers.
In another episode, caller Natalie asks for help with a passive-aggressive co-worker who emails her about everything despite the fact she sits right next to her.
Some of the episodes include a segment called “Lingo Bingo” where the hosts discuss work jargon and its sometimes humorous implications.
Speaking of the hosts, Liz Dolan is the former head of marketing at Nike, The Oprah Winfrey Network and National Geographic and host of the podcast Satellite Sisters. She’s a pro at hosting with a clear, confident voice and a facile ability to impart her vast work experience to listeners and callers. The other host, Rico Gagliano, is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, former host of podcast Dinner Party Download, reporter on the public radio show Marketplace, and co-author of BRUNCH IS HELL. The podcast savvy veteran Gagliano is smooth and comfortable on the podcast and bonds well with Dolan.
Finally, the episodes average about 35 minutes, perfect for a commute and the tone is upbeat and incisive. An easy listen.
For the hustler in the gig economy
The Side Hustle School podcast is for listeners who want to find entrepreneurial work as a second job, or side hustle. See what they did there. The podcast, part of an entire business model with a book, tours and a school, is brief – about 10 to 15 minutes – and succinctly relates success stories of people who have side gigs.
Their website positions the podcast this way – When you have more than one source of income, you’re no longer dependent on a single employer. You’ll have much greater opportunity. You’ll learn new skills. Oh, and you’ll also have … more money.
The host Chris Guilebeau is appropriately enthusiastic and positive and is excellent at motivating people. Some recent episodes of note include a woman who began a graphic design business on the side and found a niche working with the health and wellness industry. Another episode related the success story of an Atlanta lawyer who came up with an Atlanta Food Tour business that began in 2015 and has taken off since then.
Your work life examined
Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist, a popular TED speaker and the New York Times bestselling author of three books – including Originals – that have sold over a million copies. Grant has helped organizations as wildly different as Google, the NBA, and the U.S. Army improve life at work.
In 2018, TED Talks sponsored his podcast – Worklife with Adam Grant – and success was evident in the ratings. Worklife is similar to the HBR IdeaCast in that it swims in ideas and concepts about the structure, processes and politics of work without the heavily academic overtones.
Because of Grant’s notoriety and the reputational capital of TED, Worklife has been able to attract an impressive guest list from Daily Show host Trevor Noah; Celtics coach Brad Stevens; bestselling authors Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain and Michael Lewis; actor John Lithgow; media mogul Arianna Huffington; Virgin founder Richard Branson; Oscar-nominated directors M. Night Shyamalan and Brad Bird; NYC marathon champ Shalane Flanagan; grit guru Angela Lee Duckworth; and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
Grant spices his academic bona fides with a “regular Joe” approach to serious work topics. Witness an April 2019 episode called “The A**hole-Free Office” about how to deal with jerks at work. In “The Creative Power of Misfits” Grant uses Pixar as a totem to demonstrate how employees who don’t fit in a work culture can sometimes make substantial contributions if just given the opportunity.
Starting your own business
If you want to start your own business and make that leap from being bossed around to being the boss, the Being The Boss podcast can offer aspiring entrepreneurs plenty of helpful advice, mountains of motivation and carefully crafted business tips.
Hosted by Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson, these self-proclaimed “business besties” know what it takes to launch your own business, do the work, and be boss in work and life. Both successful independent business owners, Emily and Kathleen started the podcast in January of 2015 to talk shop and share their combined expertise with other creative entrepreneurs.
The close relationship between the two hosts is evident on the podcast and their give and take and back and forth liven up the business podcast.
Some of their most memorable recent episodes include one on good old-fashioned word of mouth marketing and an episode on the changing landscape of blogging and whether blogs can still be monetized and be used to support your business’ overall content marketing strategy.
Episodes run close to an hour and are sprinkled with conversational detours, bouts of humor and helpful insights for beginning entrepreneurs.
Podcasts that workflow
Clearly, there is a strong roster of podcasts about our lives at work, whether you want to start your own business, get a side gig going, navigate stormy office political seas or understand the essence of work and its essential processes.
In addition to the podcasts mentioned here, listeners have an array of other options. If you’re into serious work productivity, try The To-Do List with Erik Fisher or the Tim Ferriss Show.
Accidental Creative podcast merges productivity with creativity with interviews with experts while there are other podcasts that while not strictly work podcasts investigate issues that affect people at the workplace.
Podcasts such as Freakonomics, 99% Invisible, Invisibilia, and TED Radio Hour are not, by definition, podcasts about our lives at work, however, their topics often overlap our work lives. For example, Freakonomics episode # 389 released September 18 was titled How to make meetings less terrible – a conundrum that has haunted millions of workers since the beginning of the division of labor thousands of years ago.
Whether you sit in front of a keyboard or use a hammer to nail particle board, there is a workplace podcast for you. If your job is mega-stressful, you can even try a slightly different strategy and listen to a podcast on mindfulness or a Dan Harris or Gretchen Rubin happiness podcast.
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