What am I listening to (spring 2025 edition)?

Many years back my (excellent) line manager at the time asked our team to share what work-related journals, blogs and other resources we were using/reading. The intention was to share these so we could learn from each other for good current awareness, personal development, etc. – part of the reason, at the time, for doing this was that these sources had (relatively recently) become less visible with the move from physical to electronic materials.

A recent Mindtools podcast reminded me of this with a ‘Bring Your Paper to Work’ episode – a great idea for team’s to share interesting things they are reading and to help ensure evidence-based practice. My own current team has an “external current awareness” channel in Teams for sharing anything interesting we see.

With all this in mind, I thought I would put together some of my current podcast listening (list below) as I have just subbed to a few new podcasts due to recommendations from sources, including LPI’s Hive. Hive going live also reminded me that I once posted about podcasts to the Learning and Skills Group’s old Ning site. Just looking back at that post (it is still there from October 30, 2014) my thought (at the time) that there “Certainly seems to be a space for some kind of Learning/Learning Technology news show”, due to a lack of L&D podcasts, does not hold up in 2025 with the huge explosion in listening options. For more background thoughts, see also the related blog post from the same time in 2014.

1. Learning or Learning & Development (L&D) related
   • Mindtools – as mentioned above, I’ve enjoyed this podcast since its previous “Good Practice” branding. Listening is always a little awkward as it reminds me of one of my more dumb conference/exhibition moments, when I was talking to one of the podcast’s hosts only for me to, several minutes in, realize it was one of the presenters from this pod.
   • The Learning and Development Podcast – I often skip this one depending on the topic as I find it can be repetitive, which is more that there’s only so many L&D topics (focus on performance, etc.) for such a show to cover. A good recent one was more about management (what is the work to be done, what is best way to do tasks, outputs not activity) with less of an L&D specific focus. The host’s tendency to refer back to their previous experience at Disney does make me wonder : do I do that too much about previous roles when seeking solutions, justifying arguments, etc.? This all said, few podcast episodes have made me think as much as the recent Revisiting Aviva’s Ambitious Digital Reskilling – this episode initially doesn’t seem to cover much, being focused on one organization putting a robust programme in place (combining an external supplier with inhouse requirements). However, on reflection, it really leads to a lot of questions about employer-employee contracts, how we have got to a position where many organizations hire rather than upskill, how we can develop skills in vaguer areas (Aviva have upskilled people without necessarily having related jobs). Overall it leads to the questions of “why is it news-worthy for an L&D team to even talk about this?” – i.e. is so much L&D time/effort piecemeal in comparison? Or perhaps, is workforce planning so difficult/poor that robust L&D is impossible? etc. etc.
   • Capital H Podcast – not just L&D (it takes a broader HR focus which often contradicts with some of the mainstream L&D-specific thought leadership) but this often does look at learning related topics.
   • Change It – more specifically Change Management but, given the importance of learning for CM, I will include this here. I joined off the back of my PROSCI certification and it is a really good one for thinking about change in organizations.
   • PROSCI also have their own Change Success show. Something I’ve subbed to – even if the Spanish language means I haven’t listened to the few episodes that are available 🙂
   • Get Good at Presenting – quite good on this specific skill topic.
   • Great Minds on Learning – I am a big fan of Donald Clark’s blog and this podcast has some great episodes (along with sister show The Learning Hack).
   • L&D Disrupt – a bit hit-and-miss on episodes being of interest to me but overall worth a sub.
   • L&D Spotlight – I think this one has ceased too.
   • Learning and Development Stories – ditto on new episodes drying up.
   • Learning for Good – good L&D pod, with the focus on non-profits.
   • Learning Leader Spotlight – I think I tend to skip this one (I probably need to unsub from some of these!) but just noticed its on YouTube too (when compiling this list).
   • Marketing for Learning – I met the founder/host Ashley many years back (2014?) and it’s great to see this show (and her related company) go from strength to strength.
   • Mind the Skills Gap – I’m a big fan of Stellar Labs and their work.
   • Secret Society of the Instructional Designer – a nice idea but one that seems to have stopped.
   • Share Watcha Learned – I’m surprised to see this has not been updated since 2023 (podcast listening seems to contribute to my lost accuracy for tracking of time!).
   • McKinsey Talks Talent – another where I’ve subscribed to consulting related pods in areas of interest (some learning-related content in the bigger talent picture).
   • Talk about Talk – a relatively recent find, the episode on modern CV/resume formats included a lot of information I had not heard before.
   • The B Word – the B is “behavior”.
   • The BLOC Podcast – the BLOC is “Building Learning and Organizational Culture”.
   • The Curious Advantage podcast – one I got into, I think, as a presenter appeared on another show.
   • The Future of Learning and Development – apparently the future is for this podcast to die 😦
   • The HR L&D podcast – another I don’t always listen to but worth a sub.
   • The Moodle Podcast – for Moodle LMS related news.
   • The Secrets of Learning and Development – pretty sure this is one of the new ones from Hive.
   • Train Like You Listen – another good one on learning but its been a while…actually seems to have made a come back this week.
   • Trainer Tools – another that has not been published for a while.
2. Non L&D-specific work related podcasts
   • Social Media Marketing is helpful for looking at topics (e.g. AI – although I couldn’t listen to this one due to the AI’s voice/accent) from a marketing perspective.
   • A Little Bit of Genius – primarily focused on school-age education but with some interesting learning theory topics and other posts.
   • Accreditation Matters – touching upon topics related to my current work role.
   • Agile with S3 – I’ve attended a few S3 related events and read about it in the past. One of those topics I would be interested in being more of an expert in if more relevant to a role in the future.
   • Amanpour – the CNN podcast for world news.
   • Back from 2040 – this is an old one where I still have the subscription after enrolling on podcasts from “the Big 4” a while ago to check out their podcasts.
   • No Code, No Problem – another that seems to have died but was useful when I was previously doing more with no/low code.
   • Climate Vision 2050 – one for consulting and sustainability topics.
   • Coconut Thinking – one I’ve considered unsubscribing from but quite interesting on sustainability education.
   • Dare to Lead – for business (leadership) in general.
   • Design Cast – for design education.
   • WIPOD – intellectual property topics and internationalism from WIPO.
   • DIN Young Professionals – another one more specific to my current position.
   • How I Built This – I don’t listen to every episode but there are some interesting stories on here, including recently on the early years of PayPal.
   • Huberman Lab – a great pod on the body, including neuroscience for learning (but more than just that).
   • The Innovation Storytellers – another good one for innovation, start-ups and business thinking.
   • IP Stories – another for IP related topics.
   • ISO 9001 (a few different ones on this) – another more specific to current work.
   • Join the Table – this one from World Cafe no longer seems to be updated. Another topic (i.e. World Cafe facilitation) I could dive deeper into in the future.
   • Leading – great for how a podcast can do solid interviewing on important topics (alongside their Rest is Politics show/feed).
   • Learning Explorations – a good pod on (school) education from a previous employer.
   • Masters of Innovation Podcast – another for some interesting business case studies and innovation topics.
   • Me, Myself and AI – a good one on the current ‘hot topic’ of AI.
   • Membership Geeks – helps with my thinking related to my current membership-focused role.
   • Risky Business – an interesting example of (school) educators on topics related to teaching.
   • SDG Learncast – one for my current role and the work with the UN/SDGs.
   • Set the Standard – related to my current work role/organization. Indeed we featured the host on a webinar.
   • Sleep Eat Perform Repeat – I seem to remember this being good on workplace performance, seems to have dried up though.
   • Take on Tomorrow – another with thoughts from a consulting house (PWC in this case). Once Big 4, always Big 4 😉
   • The Association Podcast – good for views on the association/membership space.
   • The Community Corner – another good one for community/member engagement, and one from making this of titles that I had not realized seems to have finished.
   • Daily Stoic – not something I am actively following but interesting from an emotional intelligence perspective.
   • The Digital Adoption show – some good examples of how things are changing with digital renovation of industries, etc.
   • The Intelligence from the Economist – a nice mix of takes on big news as well as more niche stories.
   • The Intrazone – helpful for keeping up with changes in Microsoft365. I also listen to Windows Weekly for Microsoft related news.
   • The So What – another from consultants (BCG).
   • The Standards Show – THE show related to my current area of work.
   • The Sunflower Conversations – a great show on hidden disabilities, should be essential listening to make us all more aware of these conditions.
   • The Third Sector Podcast – a good one on all things charity sector.
   • UNECE – again, something helpful for my current role.
3. Sport, history, hobbies and more – a lot of my listening when walking, washing up, cleaning, relaxing, etc. is to the sound of:
   • The 1865 Podcast / Forest Focus / Shut Up and Show More Football – three Nottingham Forest podcasts.
   • Ancient Warfare Magazine podcast – I’m not hugely knowledgeable on ancient history and this one covers a lot of topics that are new to me.
   • Career We Go – found through their appearances on other podcasts, this football trivia quiz show is outstanding, especially for football fans of roughly my age. 100% the kind of podcast where you think “why didn’t I do that”.
   • Deserter – a wonderful slice of south London life.
   • Down the Dog – I still have a subscription to Matt Forde’s Reservoir Red Dogs (which seems to have finished) and this pod is a nice recent find for more Forest-related and other chat.
   • Echoes of History – I am a big fan of the Assassins Creed games so this is a nice link between them and real history.
   • Empire – one of the big players (at least based on the charts) in the history podcast world.
   • Football Cliches – possibly my favorite podcast, it provides a great alternative look at the world of football and plenty of laughs.
   • Football Weekly – one of my first podcast subscriptions and one I always listen to soon after publication.
   • Gone Medieval – I must admit I only listen to episodes with one of the current presenters (I find the other a tough listen for some reason) but still solid.
   • Great Lives – one where I pick and choose based on the topic (i.e. choice of person).
   • History Extra podcast – one of the best for history pods out there.
   • French language learning – a few pods for this never ending quest.
   • In Our Time – another BBC history podcast.
   • It was what it was – a nice combo of football and history.
   • Kermode and Mayo’s Take – I am a VLTL (back to Radio 1 days although I did miss a spell between R1 and R5) and a LTL of the podcast in its various forms. Hello to Jason!
   • Let’s Be Having You – the okay follow-up to the wonderful Quickly Kevin.
   • Making Kayfabe – a great alternative history podcast (for wrestling). Unfortunately seems to have dried up.
   • Not Just the Tudors – With Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and perhaps the best voice in podcasting.
   • Not the Top 20 – I don’t listen too often but a really great in-depth look at the EFL.
   • Page 94 – from the great team at Private Eye, some brilliant investigative journalism and other points.
   • Patented – another History Hit podcast (note I don’t actually listen to HH as I’ve never been a fan of Dan Snow). This one seems to have ceased?
   • Pax Britannica – the coverage of the English Civil Wars has been great and I’ve learned a lot.
   • Philosophy Bites – could be in the work category but a nice one on philosophy related topics in an easy to understand way.
   • Seriously – some good BBC documentaries.
   • Short History of… – a nice approach to history pods that differs from some of the others I sub to by having an actor narrate to start.
   • The British History Podcast – an epic that is already past 1066 in telling the story of Britain (in considerable detail).
   • The History Network.org, The History of Byzantium and The History of China – more history for my interest/learning.
   • The Mariner’s Mirror – more history! This one on the area of maritime history, which I did quite a lot of as an undergraduate.
   • The National Obsession – not a Torquay podcast.
   • The Rest is History – I was a big fan but its a good example of where two hosts can get “samey”.
   • The Retro Hour – retro (gaming) news with some excellent interviews that shed the light on technology developments. The recent one on the early internet at Netscape was particularly good.

So, there you go, please help yourself to my virtual CD rack / book shelf of learning and entertainment as above.