The Most Popular HBR Podcast Episodes of 2025

With the start of a new year, thoughts turn to self-improvement: exercising and eating right, exploring new hobbies, building skills and seizing opportunities at work. If you’re like me, those resolutions last until about the end of January. But, for HBR podcast listeners, personal growth is clearly a 365-day-a-year commitment. Just look at the IdeaCast episodes that climbed to the top of our charts in 2025… 1. The Keys to Great Conversation Alison Wood Brooks is one of the bubbliest people I know—as well as being a brilliant Harvard Business School professor. In this conversation, she outlines the research on how to create sparkling conversations by choosing and moving between topics, asking lots of questions, inserting some levity, and demonstrating kindness. And, yes, even introverts can do it! . . . 2. Stop Multitasking and Try Timeboxing The more responsibilities you have as a leader, the shorter each day and week begins to feel. How can you possibly get everything you need to do done? Author and CEO Mark Zao-Sanders argues that the answer is merging your to-do list with your calendar and then committing to finish each activity in the timebox you’ve allocated for it. He explains how it works in practice and why it can supercharge your productivity. . . . 3. The Conversations You Should be Having with Your Manager Executive coach Melody Wilding counsels clients on how to “manage up” by engaging their bosses on 10 topics, ranging from alignment on priorities to understanding each other’s leadership style and boundaries. It takes some bravery to have these types of discussions up front but, according to Wilding, they’re the surest way to set yourself up for success. . . . 4. How Leaders Can Encourage Learning Rapid, accelerating, lightning-fast….we’re running out of adjectives to describe the pace of change in business today. To keep up, says INSEAD professor Gianpiero Petriglieri, we must all become continuous learners. Leaders have a big role to play in helping their teams do so—as custodians aligning people with new norms, challengers who seek innovation, or cross-function, cross-discipline connectors. . . . 5. How to Get Better at Saying No If you’re an ambitious executive, it can be tempting to accept every assignment and agree with the opinions of those more powerful with you. But there can also be great value in defiance. In this conversation, Sunita Sah, a psychologist and professor at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business, explains her rules for knowing when and when not to fall in line. . . . 6. How to Build an AI Assistant for Any Challenge Generative AI was no doubt the biggest business story of 2025, and yet many of us are still struggling to figure out how to use it to do our jobs more effectively. Not technology journalist Alexandra Samuel, however. She has built four expert AI assistants to which she delegates various tasks and explains how anyone can do the same with just a little upfront investment of training time. She also introduces us to her AI coach, Viv. . . . 7. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Agility, AI Strategy, and the Changing Role of Managers In this wide-ranging interview, Jeff Bezos’s successor (who launched Amazon Web Services before being promoted to the top job) explains how the U.S. technology giant continues to operate like “the world’s largest startup” by listening to customers, weeding out bureaucracy, and embracing transformation. It’s not as directly self-help as our other most popular 2025 episodes, but there are takeaways for any aspiring leader. . . . Now, instead of listing more IdeaCast favorites from 2025, I also wanted to share the year’s most popular episodes from our five other podcasts… 1. That’s Our Show Women at Work After 11 wonderful seasons offering insight and advice from and for female leaders (and their allies), the Women at Work podcast team signed off in their typical style—sharing stories, spotlighting listeners, and answering two final Ask-the-Amys questions. . . . 2. How to Develop Your Executive Presence HBR on Leadership This replay of a 2019 Women at Work episode featuring Megan Bock, an insurance technology company COO, and Laura Sicola, a cognitive linguist who coaches executives, outlines the best ways for any leader to convey the confidence and competence you need to secure a top job. . . . 3. How Do I Position Myself to Influence Senior Leadership? Coaching Real Leaders This is a question so many of us struggle with and, as always, executive coach Muriel Wilkins has terrific advice. In this episode, she’s coaching a strategy executive who is getting mixed signals from senior leadership and wants to get more involved in their decision-making on growth plans. . . . 4. The Evolution of Luxury Brand Porsche Cold Call Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke talks through his case study on the German automaker’s approach to industry competition and disruption, and points to lessons for any business or individual trying to navigate similar challenges. . . . 5. A Middle Manager’s Guide to Executing Strategy HBR on Strategy This highlight from Women at Work’s 2024 special series “How to Manage” outlines how to enact a plan that you may or may not have helped to design, including asking questions upfront and overcoming resistance. If you’re mapping out your self-improvement plan for 2026, consider tuning into some of these listener-endorsed shows or any of the hundreds more available at hbr.org/podcasts. Happy new year!

The Most Popular HBR Podcast Episodes of 2025

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