Podcasts about success?

March 3, 2011 5:20 PM

Does anyone know of a podcast that focuses on interviews with successful people?

To be slightly more specific, I really enjoy listening to interviews with people that have found success in their life and are happy to share what has helped get them there. To define success, I mean achieving the goals that you've laid out for yourself and being able to find contentment in everyday life.

So yes, it'd be neat if there was a podcast that one week interviewed a hedge fund manager, and the next week a full-time mom who became a novelist. If that's too much to ask for, I'll settle for podcasts that have riveting interviews with successful people within one field.

As a reference point, I really enjoy Tony Robbins' Power Talk as they are with people of different walks of life (including a Vietnam veteran who survived I believe either 5 or 7 years in brutal POW camps).

Thanks in advance!

posted by fantasticninety to grab bag (4 answers total)

In a roundabout way, I think many many episodes of the Nerdist podcast hosted by Chris Hardwick fits your bill!

Many of the guests are successful and/or have had interesting career arcs (Chris Hardwick himself, Jon Hamm, Joel McHale, Kevin Smith, Adam Savage from MythBusters, Ozzy Osborne, Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Adam Corolla, Nathan Fillion, Wil Wheaton etc. etc. etc.) and I am constantly finding inspiration in hearing about how hard people worked to "make it overnight" or what fascinating twists and turns finally lead them to success. Ultimately, there is an underlying discussion going on about perfecting the positive attitudes and habits that get you where you want to be.

The conversations are long format and flow organically.

Plus, it's just a damn funny podcast!
posted by jbenben at 5:59 PM on March 3, 2011

I don't know if Mark Maron will be your style (he isn't always mine), but he typically interviews successful comedians and tends to ask interesting and specific questions about how they got to be successful.
posted by Xalf at 6:00 PM on March 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also entertainment-focused, but, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show podcast interviews often discusses the path to success. The podcast recently switched over to a pay-format for past episodes, but they're batched into $4.99 'seasons' of 25 episodes, and the newest episodes are still free until whenever they reach the 25th. It's kind of a huge time-sink at 1-2 hours per episode, but you could check out the recent Adam Savage episode #99 to see if it's to your taste. And episode #100 was Nathan Fillion.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:47 PM on March 3, 2011

MIPtalk might fit the bill.
posted by Kloryne at 10:11 PM on March 3, 2011