Our Favourite Podcasts
What We’re Listening to Right Now
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In a previous post, Pat talked about improving productivity in knowledge translation (KT). One way our KT team here at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) likes to do this is by listening to podcasts, particularly on our rush-hour commutes and workouts. Here are some of our team member’s favourite podcasts to listen to (which may or may not be related to KT).
WorkLife with Adam Grant
Chosen by Kate Sibley — listen here
What is this podcast about?
The website itself best describes it: “You spend a quarter of your life at work, so shouldn’t you enjoy it? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant takes you inside some of the world’s most unusual workplaces to discover the keys to better work. Whether you’re learning how to love criticism or trust a co-worker you can’t stand, one thing’s for sure: You’ll never see your job the same way again”.
What makes it your favourite?
It has super interesting insights for both working as part of a team and thinking about how to lead one.
What’s your favourite episode and why?
I enjoyed all the episodes. Listening to podcasts like these is a great way to be “productive” on my runs when I take breaks from writing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Chosen by Carly Leggett — listen here
What is this podcast about?
This is a podcast that celebrates the messiness of being human — with a decade of sobriety, a degree in anthropology and four years of improv training, Dax uses the podcast to explore other people’s stories including the challenges and setbacks that lead to growth and betterment. This podcast looks to discover human “truths” without the labs, clinical trials or data collection, the embodiment of the “armchair expert”.
What makes it your favourite?
At the end of each episode, the co-host and producer Monica Padman does a ‘Fact Checking’ portion where she provides detail and corrections to any fact, phenomenon or theory that Dax (mis)quoted or referred to during the episode. I also love the “Experts on Expert” where they invite topical experts (David Sedaris, Wendy Mogel, etc.) to explore their field. From a KT perspective, the use of honest and often humorous dialogue to explore cultural and human experience is incredibly engaging — with enough facts and evidence thrown in at the end to make it reliable!
What’s your favourite episode and why?
The inaugural episode with Dax’s wife Kristen Bell. She is delightful and it offers a real and amusing view of their marriage and life together (warts and all).
Freakonomics Radio with Stephen J. Dubner
Chosen by Patrick Faucher — listen here
What is this podcast about?
Dubner speaks with Nobel laureates, entrepreneurs, and various underachievers in an attempt to reveal the “hidden side of everything” from a behavioural economics perspective. Their library counts over 300 episodes, including “People aren’t dumb. The world is hard,” “What can Uber teach us about the gender pay gap?”, and “How stupid is our obsession with lawns?”
What makes it your favourite?
I love it because Stephen approaches the world with immense curiosity without taking himself too seriously, asks the same follow-up questions that come to my mind during guest interviews, and I usually end up learning something of interest from each podcast (which I can finish in a roundtrip commute).
What’s your favourite episode?
My favourite episode so far is “How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?”, featuring John Urschel, a football player who was pursuing a PhD in Mathematics from M.I.T. when he retired from the NFL over growing evidence on sports-related brain injuries. As a sports enthusiast, it really forced me to look at the human side of the story and just what some of these guys lay on the line everyday — and why many continue to play despite the risks.
TED Talks Daily
Chosen by Trish Roche — listen here
What is this podcast about?
I don’t know if you’d even call it a podcast, it’s pretty much just the audio of TED talks, but I can’t get enough of them. TED Talks are “ideas worth spreading”, shared in 20 minutes or less, on a wide range of topics including design, art, psychology, mental health, science, technology, business, and economics. It features amazing speakers like Chris Hadfield, Brené Brown, and Tony Robbins.
What makes it your favourite?
I tend to be indecisive and have the urge to try everything — TED Talks lets me learn about topics and fields of research that I know very little to nothing about, in the most interesting and engaging way possible — storytelling! They almost always challenge the way I think about certain things, and are very inspiring and uplifting. It’s a very hopeful podcast.
What’s your favourite episode?
Even 4 years after watching it, it’s still got to be Ze Frank’s “Are You Human?” It starts out light and humourous, and you find yourself relating to everything he’s saying. Then it gets a little closer to home, and a little more real, and you realize that the things that make you really feel human are shared with everyone around you, and we are all on this ride together.
What are your favourite podcasts? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @KnowledgeNudge.
