Why I Hate Business Podcasts
Listen and learn. The common mantra is that by listening to a variety of business podcasts you can enhance your acumen and improve your ability to deliver awesome things.
Maybe, but I don't think it's the most efficient. Business podcast are entertainment and should be leveraged as such to provide a fun way to pass time while giving the listener nuggets of wisdom without care to the most effective way of communicating it.
You're Not a Space Ranger - You're a TOY
Podcasts are entertainment. They're not a medium for the most succinct and effective communications like a textbook, a book, a white-paper. They are a fun way to pass time. Some of them communicate educational content. But, they're not the most efficient method of communicating that content. My issue is that these business podcasts think they have transcended the media to become on the league with full feature business books that are hallmarks in the space, i.e. High Output Management. They're not: they contain fluff, ads, and unnecessary space that reduces the listeners time.
Oh, Boy - an Ad
Podcasts need advertisements to survive. Up front advertisements are a-okay in my book. Ask me to try your crazy health pill or subscribe to Better Health for the fiftieth time.
What irks me is so many of these business podcasts invite guests under the guise of almost a visiting professor, when it is far closer to a timeshare sales pitch. There is educational material, but many guests are there to promote what they need to on the podcasts. This results in the time I spend listening feeling less like hearing two smart people speak, and more like the times I would go to a career fair and watch intern candidates desperately make their case to an apathetic recruiter.
Have Some Fun
Most of the mentor and mentee conversations I have had in my life have not been productive when they have been stiff and structured. When I can get someone comfortable speaking to me, they open up and it has been the most helpful advice. In contrast, most people in career positions have been in the position where you've been paired up with a mentor. Most business podcasts feel like you've been paired with an awkward and guarded mentor.
Like a bad double date, you're stuck awkwardly speaking to this person who shuffles through the same tidbits of advice you could have picked up on Medium or any front facing business book at Barnes and Noble until the company has mercy to put the program down like a sick animal.
My Conclusion
I don't hate podcasts. I love podcasts immensely and the entertainment they have provided me, along with tidbits of useful learning. But, I cannot abide by a glut in unfunny and boring self-congratulatory business podcasts intended to inflate the ego of the podcaster and listener while giving advice that could be summed up in two paragraphs. For that, I'll stick to business newsletter summaries while I enjoy my Rooster Teeth and Smosh podcasts.