Top 10: Executive Podcasts
Podcasts have become a major source of news for consumers in the past 10 years.
According to a report by Owl & Co, a management consulting firm servicing media, tech and the attention economy, global podcasting revenue has grown by 23% to US$9.2bn in 2025.
Since the 2020 pandemic, podcasting as a source of news and entertainment, has exploded across the media landscape, with 11 million podcasts published in 2020 alone, up from 300,000 in 2019 according to digital ad agency Neil Patel.
As podcasting becomes an increasingly valuable way to advertise and reach a large audience, many executives are turning to the podcast as a way to encourage wider conversations with other leaders throughout the business world.
In this week’s list, we look at 10 of the most popular podcasts aimed at executives looking to explore corporate strategy and listen to new trends affecting the wider industry.
10. WorkLife (TED Podcasts)
Founded: 2018
Followers (YouTube): 77.2K
Host Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist, offers listeners an insight into the world’s most unusual professionals to explore the “science of making work not suck”.
From learning to understand and take on good criticism to managing feelings of frustration, WorkLife aims to always offer listeners unique ways to view their jobs across all sectors.
In 2018, the WorkLife podcast became one of Apple Podcasts’s most downloaded new shows of the year, spending two weeks at the number one spot on the podcast chart.
9. Masters of Scale
Founded: 2017
Followers: 155K
Masters of Scale platforms some of the world’s most renowned business executives, allowing them to share lessons and strategies that helped inform them and their globally-recognised brands.
Founders, CEOs and executives across all industries are invited to have candid conversations about their likes, dislikes, success and failures with Jeff Berman, CEO of WaitWhat, and LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman.
From prototypes to global brands, the Masters of Scale podcast aims to provide specialist insight for anyone looking to create and scale their business.
8. The A16z Show
Founded: 2014
Followers: 278K
Discussing tech, culture trends, news and potential future shifts, The a16z Show features industry experts, business leaders and other unique thinkers from around the world looking to discuss economic and business developments.
The podcast is produced by Andreessen Horowitz, known to fans as “a16z”, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that features talks from industry veterans across the tech, AI, finance, crypto and business industry.
7. Acquired
Founded: 2015
Followers: 309K
Offering listeners a regular, four-hour deep dive into a single company’s history, Acquired is designed to provide listeners with extensive research on well-known industry titans.
Each episode uses primary sources, financial documents and multiple interviews with the people who were there during each company’s reign, piecing together a complete story.
Co-hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal have created a podcast that thoroughly details the profile of companies of the past, in the hopes that each episode can serve as a valuable study, long into the future.
6. The Knowledge Project
Founded: 2015
Followers: 397K
The Knowledge Project aims to drive success by exploring the “timeless principles” of our lives, covering subjects across science, business, media and art.
Hosted by author Shane Parrish, the creator of mental model and behavioural science website Farnam Street, the show explores a wide range of topics related to decision-making, critical thinking, psychology, learning and productivity.
The show also features interviews with entrepreneurs, authors, scientists and prominent voices across multiple fields to help listeners make more informed decisions using a range of diverse perspectives.
5. The Prof G
Founded: 2020
Followers: 795K
Hosted by Scott Galloway, a bestselling author, professor and entrepreneur, The Prof G focuses on giving listeners honest takes on subjects across business, tech, culture and everyday life.
Scott hones in on the biggest stories in business and investing with meticulous insights, bold predictions and thoughtful advice.
In addition to his economic discussion, Scott often discusses issues affecting society on a deeper, more social level and highlights the importance of investing time and money into younger generations.
4. All-In
Founded: 2020
Followers: 1.09m
Hosts Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg upload episodes throughout the week, covering topics across the economic and political sector, as well as topics related to poker and the challenges affecting the public socially.
The podcast was born from the restrictions brought on by the pandemic, which saw the four hosts unable to host their regular weekly poker game in person. To counter this, they took to the airways to socialise and discuss the news of the day, which has since led them to becoming one the biggest podcasts in the world.
3. HBR IdeaCast
Founded: 2006
Followers: 1.62m
One of the oldest podcasts still on the air, the HBR IdeaCast offers listeners weekly insights into words and thoughts from leading thinkers throughout business and management.
Under the Harvard Business Review brand, the podcast focuses on providing consumers with the research and advice they need to successfully lead across their respective fields.
The show, hosted by Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius, features extensive interviews with leading C-Suite executives, diverse perspectives on the most pressing issues currently facing business leaders globally.
2. The Journal. (The Wall Street Journal)
Founded: 2019
Followers: 6.6m
The Journal. – a co-production by Spotify and the Wall Street Journal – is hosted by Ryan Knutson and Jessica Mendoza, who discuss the most prevalent stories about money, business and power currently dominating the corporate world.
The show covers major global news stories, regularly framing them within an economic and financial lens and compressing them into a manageable but detailed breakdown across each 20-minute episode.
1. The Diary of a CEO
Founded: 2017
Followers: 17.6m
One of the most recognisable names in both the business world and the podcasting space, Diary of CEO has become a hugely respected and popular media brand in the past decade.
Hosted and created by British entrepreneur, investor and author Steven Bartlett, the podcast is designed to offer an unfiltered look into the personal views of some of the world’s leading CEOs, experts, leaders and public figures.
Steven says the DOAC brand serves as a double acronym, also standing for Dreamers, Open-minded, Awareness, and Connection, matching the podcast’s ethos of thinking boldly, expanding awareness and allowing for a greater connection with others.
