A list of the best social impact podcast shows, as well as a few of my favourite general business podcasts thrown in for good measure.

Everything from impact investing, to social enterprise, as well as ESG and battling inequality. I’ll do my best to update it regularly.

Have a listen…

Lowy Institute – Covidcast – by Jonathon Pryke

with Dame Meg Taylor

Listen HERE

Published 29/05/2020

Dame Meg Taylor is the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. This conversation brought out the colour, and the passion and the optimism of Pacific Islanders, and more specifically Fijians.

She explained that when she returned to the villages she saw them all planting gardens. The crisis has stopped the flow of tourists, so the people returned to what they knew. They were growing food as that’s what’s most important.

She’s got an amazing story, and great questions from Jonathon Pryke.

Economists’ Hour by Russ Roberts

with Binyamin Appelbaum

Published 16/12/2019

Listen HERE

Appelbaum blames the triumph of free-market ideology for the rise in inequality and the decline in growth rates over the last half-century. It’s a discussion about the economic events over that time period and the role of economists in changing economic policy.

Masters in Business Podcast by Barry Ritholtz

with Sarah Cone

Published 2212/2019

Listen HERE

Barry Ritholtz speaks speak with investor Sarah Cone, founder of Social Impact Capital, a New York based VC firm focusing on “teams doing good with technology.”

She’s as energetic and assertive as any of Barry’s other “masters of the universe” type guests, but, she’s an impact investor! She has a decidedly commercial approach, but it’s clear there are few boundaries keeping impact investments from pushing further into the mainstream.

At this stage, it’s just a matter of mindset.

Unmistakeable Creative Podcast

Tamsen Webster – The Red Thread

Published 14/02/2017

Listen HERE

As humans, we have an innate desire to make things make sense. The meaning we create dictates the thoughts that we think, which dictates how we see the world and the role that we see ourselves playing in the world.

In this episode of Find the Red Thread, Tamsen shares the template for meaning-making, how the path to meaningful change is like Mad Libs, and why learning to identify the way that we make meaning is the key to making changes that lead to big action.

Inside Social Change Podcast

Storytelling and Social Change

Published 28/01/2020

Listen HERE

  • Jessica Blank – writer, director, and actor
  • Nicole Starr – Vice President for social impact at Participant Media
  • Marya Bange – Exec Director of Harness
  • Courtney Cogburn – Associate Prof at Columbia Uni School of Social Work

How do stories work to expand and accelerate impact? A roundtable discussion between four storytellers and leaders of change on narrative’s power to reach and inspire new audiences. Recorded at SSIRs 2019 NMI Conference.

This was a powerful discussion that took the discussion of “impact’ in a unique direction. They didn’t get weighed down by defining ‘impact measurement’ or talking about the latest fund raising round. Instead, they talked about the power of media and story-telling to shift mindsets. And that’s what we need now more than ever.

“Culture change precedes policy change.”

“Roma (the film) helped to create the cultural conditions for the legislation to be passed, the Domestic workers bill of rights. NFPs have valuable policy relationships that can be leveraged to make real change.”

“Story telling defines our culture. From sitting around a fire, this is or record.”

“The only time we come together as a nation these days is watching a Marvel movie.”

“You want your audience to know what they don’t know.  Your breaking down and challenging bias.”

“Telling the writers room that their stories have an impact! That can be a revelation to writers.”

Jolly Swagman Podcast by Joseph Walker

with Eric Weinstein

Published 30/01/2020

Listen HERE

Eric Weinstein is a big thinker, but he’s also a determined contrarian and a hard-nosed shit-stirer.

In this interview he doesn’t disappoint.

Here are some of my favourite quotes:

“It’s hard to find any place, that hues towards rugged individualism, that leaves enough space for radical innovation, which we desperately need.”

“The world’s mutants need somewhere to escape, coalesce and play.”

“Many of the world’s most innovative people are very difficult to deal with.”

“Australia is the closest to Asia, at a time when it matters. You’ve got an incredible population that is intellectually animated, and somewhat uncorrelated. Now is the time for un-correlated Australia and New Zealand. Now is the time, you’re the big dogs.”

“I’m fascinated by how far away you guys are, and how much of an opportunity you have. We had the Wild-West, but you guys are the Wild-South, and I think the Wild-South could go from a frontier mindset, from settlement, to an intellectual Wild-South.”