I have always enjoyed being read to: bedtime stories, listen with Mother on Radio 4, Jackanory, a brilliant infant school teacher with a gonk and a guitar, long overseas missives from the family. It was natural then, to move into TED Talks and podcasts.
Our MD recently asked me to share my list of podcasts with him and as any 'podcast nut' will agree, we love to share our passion for the podcasts that engage us. So this 'Top Podcast List' is for Alex McCreath, our MD at Rocktime, to say thanks for fostering a work environment that lets us all grow and learn. Malcolm Gladwell would be pleased with my last 10 years; I must have done my 10,000 hours by now.
My Top Business Podcast List
Without a doubt, my favourite podcast at the moment is Ten Words by Jeremy Waite - Chief Strategy Officer IBM and evangelist for IBM Watson. Ten Words was a book first and then followed into a podcast. It is more than a podcast; it is storytelling at its best, broken down into philosophy, art, quotes, presentation processes, music, humour. Jeremy calls it "big ideas" in "small words and short sentences". The stories are about brave, famous people and their dedication to their singular art, their ten-word sentence and what they believe in; which makes them stand out from the crowd. #TenWords shows a side of them that other biographies haven't focused on specifically. These stories are told by a man who is honest, warm, talented, driven, sharing, and has one of the most gorgeous sing-song voices. Listen from the first episode to get his full measure, because every show is so well researched and presented with real passion. Each show tightens around "you have 10 words – how would you like people to remember you?" Jeremy even shares how he researches, writes in longhand in a sexy notebook with a nice pen, his plans for the show. "1-hour prep for every min presenting (30 min talk = 30 hrs to build / prep) Rehearse LOTS". Just brilliant! I hope you get as hooked as I am.
The next podcasts are all great and have taught me so much about leadership, entrepreneurship, product development, design thinking, user research, collaboration, voice interactions, AI and digital transformation: