There are hundreds of business podcasts out there across social media platforms, so we’ve done the work for you in researching which ones are worth listening to and really have some value-add.
What you want to listen to will partly be determined by what your values are as a CEO. We meet many CEOs who have shareholder demands and growth at the front of their minds and leadership and being inspiring can tend to take a back seat. To remedy a focused mind on the numbers, leadership podcasts are a great help to save you some thinking time, actually.
HBR Ideacast by Harvard Business Review
As a CEO, well-researched information from a reliable and well-established source is important. HBR Ideacast is continuously ranked highly amongst the very best business podcasts, sharing research from the HBR journal as well as additional insights from industry experts and authors.
The podcast airs weekly and some of the latest topics include: Understanding Digital Strategy , Managing Someone Who Is Too Collaborative (& Why Opening Up at Work Is Harder For Minorities. HBR Ideacast has over 600 episodes and focuses on specific topics or research, meaning they are shorter in length and ideal for a CEO with a busy schedule.
Harvard Business Review Ideacast is available to listen and subscribe to on their website, iTunes, and SoundCloud.
The CEO Show by Robert Reiss
Robert Reiss uses a 19 minute interview format podcast to interview CEOs. The podcast unveils top tips and practices that the interviewed CEOs have used to become a success, ensuring that listening to the podcast is a great way for CEOs to build on their knowledge and get the chance to apply the lessons they learn to their own business.
Reiss’ podcast reached #1 in the 2016 ’10 Top podcasts every CEO should listen to’, and also has 600,000 people tune in for listen per week. Reiss has interviewed over 500 CEOs in numerous industries since 2007 such as Anne Mulcahy of Xerox and David Stern the former commissioner of the NBA.
Robert Reiss has been labelled by Harvard Business Review as ‘an expert in executive communications’. This podcast can be found on RSS, TuneIn as well as the CEO Show Podcast website.
The Gary Vee Audio Experience
This podcast is not for the faint hearted… Gary Vaynerchuk has a podcast of over 900 episodes in which he uploads content on a daily basis. Gary can speak about topics ranging from 5 minutes to over an hour, speaking passionately about the mindset and core values you need to not only succeed in life and business, but also to be happy.
Vaynerchuk often speaks about the importance of gratitude, perspective, self-awareness, amongst other core values. Gary uploads his keynotes to his podcasts as well as business conversations with those hustling in the business world. Gary has some very controversial content due to his straight-to-the-point, honest, and sometimes offensive advice, but he tells his truth.
Gary also uploads a lot of his Q+A’s from his #AskGaryVee Show on YouTube where he answers a lot of people’s questions regarding entrepreneurship. Gary is the CEO of VaynerMedia and began to make a name for himself through his YouTube Wine show – Wine Library TV, before launching VaynerMedia.
Gary’s podcast can be found on Stitcher, SoundCloud, TuneIn as well as other places that you can find on Gary Vaynerchuk’s website.
Office Hours – Daniel Pink
This podcast may suit a CEO who likes to spend a lot of time listening to in-depth conversations from some of the best thinkers around. Daniel Pink was rated in the top 15 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers-50 and is well known for writing Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
Pink’s podcast – Office Hours – is described as ‘car talk… for the human engine’, and has featured high profile guests such as Malcolm Gladwell, Jim Collins, and Adam Grant. The podcast usually uploads an episode once a month, but each episode is packed with an hour’s worth of content that focuses on work, life, and business.
The podcast also takes questions from listeners whilst featuring some of the world’s expert business leaders and innovators. Office Hours is available on iTunes and RSS. The Office Hours podcast also allows MP3 downloads from its website.
Bringing It All Together
The best podcasts for CEOs and leadership we’ve found here give you variety in length and content and range from more evidence-based research findings to honest and controversial opinions. The podcasts vary between 5 minutes to over an hour, so there’s something for you even if you can only squeeze in a few minutes on your commute.