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'Insecure' showrunner hints at the drama to expect from season 2

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Lawrence and Issa in apartment Insecure

"Showrunners" is a new podcast from INSIDER, a series where we interview the people responsible for bringing TV shows to life. The following is a highlight from our interview with Prentice Penny, the showrunner of HBO's comedy series "Insecure."

Subscribe to "Showrunners" on iTunes here!

"Insecure" is an HBO comedy series that tells the story of two women — Issa and Molly — as they navigate the ups and downs of their relationships, careers, and their own friendship. Season one ended with a dramatic breakup between Issa and her boyfriend Lawrence, so what can viewers expect to see when season two returns on Sunday?

INSIDER spoke with showrunner Prentice Penny about the upcoming themes for "Insecure."

"Imagine your friends, who are like single, fresh off a break-up, and the mistakes they make and the things they do when they're getting back out there," Penny said. "Our characters will also probably make those same mistakes."

Penny said his team of writers was conscious of not repeating too many ideas that made season one successful.

"We're trying to be 80% of what you already love about this show, if you like it, and then like 20% new things," he said. "You want to give people what they love about the show and not deviate, but you also have to insert new things."

Melina Matsoukas Issa Rae Prentice Penny at Insecure season two premiere LA 2017 Getty

Part of the new approach will include additions to the cast.

"We have new characters coming in and we're expanding our characters' worlds," Penny said. "I think thematically what we're trying to explore is these are people who are hurting. Molly's trying to [deal with] being crushed by having these fairy tale things in her life come apart, and Issa and Lawrence are obviously coming off of being broken up."

Season one ended with Issa going to back to her shared apartment with Lawrence and hoping to reconcile, only to see that he had left and seemingly moved on.

"I think that's what we're dancing around — the choices people make when they're in those raw, vulnerable places," Penny said. "Sometimes they're smart choices, and sometimes they're not. It's more fun when they're not, but I think we're just trying to explore those things and keep building out the world so it feels fresh. Our tendency now is to just worry about, 'Are we telling the best stories for this character based on where they're at?' We can't be last year. We have to be this year."

Watch footage from our interview with Prentice Penny below:

Or listen to the full episode of "Showrunners" featuring Prentice Penny below:

Join the conversation about this story »

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Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reveals how he became the world's happiest retired billionaire

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Success How I Did It podcastSteve Ballmer, LA Clippers

Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, may be the happiest retired person in tech, or even the world.

He met Bill Gates in college and joined Microsoft as the 30th employee. Now he lives an enviable (and well-deserved) life full of late-morning rises, golf, yoga, sports games, philanthropy, meditation, and walks with his wife.

"What I found is I control my time, I can pick and choose what I do," Ballmer told Business Insider US Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on her podcast, "Success! How I Did It."

At first, Ballmer tried to stay as busy as when he was Microsoft's CEO. Now he's found a slower pace is better.

"I had probably been retired about a year and then I said, 'This is nuts, I don't have to recreate the pace with which I used to work,'" Ballmer said.

"I get up, I walk with my wife, I have a chance to reflect and meditate, work out. I usually don't get any place until about 10 in the morning ... Work some, hit some golf balls late in the afternoon. It's cool to be able to control my time and still be involved in fun and productive activities."

Ballmer bought the LA Clippers in 2014 after Donald Sterling was forced to offload the team following the public release of a racist recording. Ballmer is also involved in philanthropy with his wife, Connie, and they launched USAFacts.org, an initiative that shows how the government spends money on local, state, and federal levels.

In the wide-ranging conversation, Ballmer and Shontell discussed:

  • What Ballmer's days are like now that he's retired
  • How Bill Gates recruited him to Microsoft as employee No. 30
  • What the day of Microsoft's IPO was like, and how he celebrated
  • How difficult it was to run Microsoft while Gates was still around
  • What he says really happened during the infamous chair-throwing incident with a Google engineer
  • How he dealt with the rise of all the FANG stocks while he was at the helm of Microsoft
  • What it was like to leave Microsoft after so many years
  • How he bought the Clippers in the midst of the Donald Sterling controversy
  • Starting USAFacts.org to increase transparency about government spending
  • Ballmer's career advice for anyone who wants to become a Fortune 500 CEO

You can listen to the full interview here:

Subscribe to "Success! How I Did It" on Acast or iTunes. Check out previous episodes with:

Following is a transcript of the podcast episode; it has been edited for clarity and length.

Becoming the happiest retired billionaire

Steve Ballmer Alyson Shontell Success How I Did It Podcast

Alyson Shontell: We're so happy to have you with us here, Steve.

Steve Ballmer: Thanks for having me — really appreciate it.

Shontell: The first thing I wanted to ask you about is my colleague Julie Bort recently sat down with you and she says you are the happiest retired person in tech. So tell me what it's like to be you right now. What are your days filled with?

Ballmer: The No. 1 thing I would say about retirement is you get to control your own time. I probably went into retirement maybe a little anxious, certainly not knowing what I was getting into. I didn't think about exactly what I was going to do until the day I walked out the door at Microsoft, and what I found is I control my time, I can pick and choose what I do, and I found three things that delight me in addition to just having a lot of fun, playing golf, doing yoga, stuff like that. But I'm also working on the Clippers. That's a serious investment of time. Part of that's going to games. I'm going to say it’s fun work, if you will.

I'm working on a project we call USA Facts, which is a project to pull together government numbers in a kind of 10K-like format to try to provide better integration of government data and better transparency. Then my wife and I have a philanthropic focus on kids in the US who are born into circumstances where they may not get a real shot at the American dream.

Shontell: I'm going to ask you about all of that, but first, let's go back into the very beginning. From what I understand, you were a pretty shy kid and you grew up in Michigan.

Ballmer: Yeah, I grew up in Detroit, and when I was 8 years old, my family moved to Belgium for three years, which actually was kind of a nutty thing back then. My dad was an immigrant, spoke a bunch of languages, so Ford sent him over there, but it was like being in an isolation chamber. You know, very little English TV, Europe was really still coming out of World War II, and it built a global perspective that I think was helpful. Grew up middle-class and then developed an interest in math and numbers, which has been a core strength, I would say, of mine since.

Meeting Bill Gates in college, and how Gates recruited Ballmer to Microsoft

steve ballmer bill gates

Shontell: You were the Harvard basketball team's statistician, you beat Bill Gates at a math competition at Harvard, so I think a math whiz would be a justified term. So one person that you met when you were at Harvard is Bill Gates, who you would have a long career with. What were those early days with Bill like?

Ballmer: We met early sophomore year. We were living on the same floor in our dorm, and we had a mutual friend who lived in the middle. He said, "You guys are both crazy, unusual guys, you would enjoy each other." So he introduced us and we became good friends. That was the year he started Microsoft. It was a friendship from the start. Classes, math, economics, a lot of talk about business. Not that I knew a lot about it, but there was some mutual interest and then when he started Microsoft, he'd come back when he was gone and talk a little bit, be involved in some Harvard activities. I remember a long walk we had here in New York one time. We were way uptown, maybe in the Plaza, and we walked all the way downtown and back, and he was just telling me and explaining all about Microsoft and what was going on and some of the small things like managing the office and getting furniture, and I said, "Oh, you ought to hire somebody like my mom — that's kind of what my mom does at her business," and by the time I got hooked up at Microsoft, Bill had this great lady, Miriam Lubow, who did all that stuff. Those were fun times.

Shontell: You joined as employee number 30. What was your interview process like? Was there even an interview? Did you just call up Bill and say, "Hey, like can I come on full time?" How did it work?

Ballmer: Kind of the other way around. I worked a couple years at Procter and Gamble. Microsoft was going and then I was back at Stanford, at business school. The summer before, I went to business school, I had come up to Seattle to visit Bill when the business was in Albuquerque and I was at Procter and Gamble, so we had stayed in touch. I was getting probably April-ish of my first year in business school, and I was trying to decide between investment banking and consulting and I got a call from Bill and he said, "Hey, you know, we're kind of looking for a business person. Yeah I know you're in school, too bad you don't have a twin brother." Blah, blah, blah.

So then, it became clear to me what the hint was. I was supposed to take a trip back East to visit all these companies and I called him back the next day and said, "Hey, Bill, maybe I'd be interested." I flew through Seattle on the way back and nobody could believe it. But I decided to go and Bill and I had a deal. If things didn't work out, he'd fire me at the end of the summer or I could quit at the end of the summer. For the first month or so, I'd say we both wondered whether it might work. And then we hit a rhythm and quickly thereafter I bought a house and that now was 37 years ago, so a long time.

Early days at Microsoft as 'chief dishwasher,' and an 'office' that was Bill Gates' couch

steve ballmer bill gates

Shontell: You made it long past that first month —

Ballmer: I did.

Shontell: Which is great to see. So remind us all what Microsoft was like in those days.

Ballmer: The year I arrived in June, and the last year for which we had filed taxes, was $2.5 million in revenue. Then the first year I was there, we got to $7.5 million in revenue. The company was already in hardware and software.

People focus on the software side, but we had a product called the Z-80 SoftCard, which plugged into an Apple II and made it into a CPM, which is an old operating-system machine. About 30 employees, kind of helter-skelter.

When I got there the first day, there was no office, no place to sit. And Bill said, "Oh, you can have this corner of my couch in my office." So we pushed some papers aside, and I sat down and sure enough my office was sitting on that couch until I could carve one out of the office going forward. I became the chief cook and bottle washer, I would say, accounting, HR, and pretty soon thereafter, some folks from IBM came to talk about what would become the first PC. Bill wanted somebody to sit in the room with him, I was probably the guy who could best wear a suit, so to speak. For IBMers, you needed to have suits, so I became also the IBM account manager pretty early in my stay.

Shontell: So a lot of different jobs. As any fast-growing startup, you wear a lot of different hats.

Ballmer: I think my title was assistant to the chairman or something like that.

Shontell: So assistant to the chairman to CEO. It’s a pretty incredible rise. What do you think are the most important things you did over your first decade there that set you up to become the eventual CEO?

Ballmer: You sort of glamorized my path. I kind of came in as a No. 2 guy. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were both founders, and there was a guy named Vern Raburn. I didn't ascend very far over time; I moved from No. 2 to the top job.

But the first 10 years, the two things I would probably highlight: One, I really set up the recruiting system, particularly college recruiting. The lifeblood of any tech organization is its talent. I'd say that was, to me, one of my pride and joys and very instrumental in the company's growth because we needed that huge influx of talent to drive our agenda and stay up with the industry.

The other thing which was a major focus and very important was managing the IBM relationship. That really got us into the operating-system business. That was the foundation on which we defined the PC business.

I'm going to give you two more. I ran the Windows development project. I got in and managed to get Windows into the market, which I say was a very important thing in the company's history. And we did go from a partnership when I joined, to a corporation, and the corporation had stock options, which was an important recruiting and attraction tool. At the time, the notion of giving out stock was there but certainly alien, particularly to these college recruits.

Shontell: So talk to me about the IPO day because I believe you owned about 8% of the company when it went public. What was that day like?

Ballmer: I don't really remember it terribly well. Two things I do remember about the day: We had moved into our new campus, I think the same day maybe, and one of the guys who had been with us — he actually predated me as a summer intern — was a friend of Bill's from high school. There was a sign he put up that was sort of neon-y that said it was IPO day, move into a new office day, I think, if I'm remembering this correctly, and maybe it was his birthday, maybe he didn't put it up but it was his birthday.

I remember that and I remember going out for drinks afterward with my then girlfriend and being slightly celebratory, and I don't remember anything else about it, frankly.

Bumping heads with Gates and learning to be a CEO

Steve Ballmer

Shontell: IPO day is not exit day necessarily. From a business perspective, business certainly goes on and then you've got a whole other suite of people to please with your public company.

I wanted to talk to you about your first few years as CEO. It seems like it was a little bit of a challenge because Gates had huge shoes to fill — it’s his company that he cofounded and he was still around. So what were those first years like really running the company?

Ballmer: I would say there were four things that were important or interesting.

No. 1: I did take over at the top of the dot-com bubble. Microsoft's market cap may now be where it was back then — the stock price is certainly over — but it's only in the last couple of years. So I took over at exactly the peak and it was really hard to show fine stock performance from there.

No. 2: We had to really resolve our issues with the Department of Justice and the EU. People forget that was a big issue at the time.

No. 3: I had not really run any product development except that small stint on Windows, and so building relationships and thinking about how I interact with the product development side, even with Bill as "chief software architect."

And then Bill and I had to go through a rough patch to figure out what it really meant that he had asked me to become CEO, but he wanted to stay around sort of working for me as "chief software architect." We got through what I've called the bumpiest period in about a year and a half, two years, but it was bumpy. But I don't think I felt really like CEO in full until Bill chose to leave the company in a full-time sense in 2008.

Shontell: And what were some of those bumpy things? Because I think I've seen you say you figured out eventually how to manage Bill or you're not quite sure if you ever really realized how to do it.

Ballmer: Well, I never really managed Bill. Forget the “figure out how to do it.” We changed the nature of our partnership and I think that was important, but it was still a partnership as opposed to my CEO-ship. When it came to technology judgments, Bill really drove that stuff, I would say. The bumps were: Nobody quite sure what it meant. You'd get in front of a team meeting — am I supposed to lead that meeting? Is Bill supposed to lead that meeting? Is he following my lead? Am I following his lead? That's a transition. When you're in a meeting, am I supposed to guide the meeting? Do I look like the final decision maker or not? We had to get through a lot of bumps like that; I had things I had to evolve, Bill had ways in which he needed to evolve.

The infamous chair-throwing incident that he says never happened

Eric Schmidt looks unhappy

Shontell: And one thing you touched on is that you did become CEO right at the peak of the dot-com boom, and then the next 10 years were totally insane. All of the FANG stocks right now, you saw either launch or explode during those 10 years. Microsoft had been the main player and then all of a sudden there's all this competition. So what was it like watching Facebook rise, watching Apple kind of come from the ashes into dominance, Google come from obscurity and actually not even exist into full bloom?

Ballmer: At the time, each and every one of those things hurt me in the sense, "Oh, we should do this, we should have done that." In a way, that was the most naive view I had. There's no reason why one company should have every idea in every category. The world's not going to work like that. But that was my thought process at the time and I probably allowed myself and our company to get a little bit too diffuse in its thinking. But it did — oh — it wounded me. Facebook's not in the same business as Microsoft, not really. Apple, a little more competitive still. Google, more competitive still. Amazon, because of their AWS web services, more competitive still.

Shontell: So about Google, you're obviously a passionate person, which is great for rallying people up and getting them pumped. Sometimes, I'm sure, in management, you had to keep it in check a little bit. There was that famous story of your engineer leaving for Google. Can we talk about that chair incident? What happened that day?

Ballmer: Oh, it got overblown. Mark Lucovsky, who was the engineer, I had worked with for many years. I think the story was that I threw a chair, that's not right. I shook —

Shontell: So you never threw the chair?

Ballmer: No.

Shontell: Oh my god — OK we need to set history straight.

Ballmer: I kind of shook the back of the chair. I mean I shook one, I'll cop to that, so to speak. But I never threw a chair.

Shontell: OK, the legend goes that he told you he was leaving for Google and you were like "Ahh!" and threw a chair. No chair thrown?

Ballmer: I said, "Mark, come on, you should stay." And then I kind of rattled — "Come on, Mark." I was rattling the back of a chair — I didn't pick a chair up and throw it. I'm not even sure I'd have the strength to do that.

Shontell: Sounds like healthy passion then.

Ballmer: I think it was healthy passion.

What advice Steve Ballmer gave to his successor, Satya Nadella

bill gates steve ballmer and satya nadella greet microsoft employees

Shontell: You've called Microsoft your fourth kid; you were breathing it for 34 years. What was the process like when you realized that your time there was coming to an end and that you were going to have to figure out what the next phase of your life was going to be?

Ballmer: OK, first let me say, winding up Microsoft was about Microsoft. Other than having a big sense that I'd like to own a sports team, I had no plan. I was really focused in on Microsoft. When you say the final time, I actually think of the period starting in 2008 when Bill stepped down.

My focus over that time was really getting us started in the cloud. We did and I'm highly pleased at the progress Microsoft's made. There's something I wish we'd started earlier or different. We started what's now our Azure effort. Probably would have done that slightly differently. What's now Office 365 was really moving. We really dove further into the hardware business. We doubled down on Xbox, we started our Surface product line — I think that's terribly important today to Microsoft's real presence with the consumer.

We wandered around still a little bit in Internet services, search being the focal point. But there was some wandering. We built, though, a good technology base, which the company is using today. Really it is the foundation for the AI pool, so I think we made great progress and moved in some important and interesting directions. I feel really good about that.

I also feel really good about the fact that my successor was somebody who worked for me. I had been out scouring for potential successors, talking to the top people at Amazon and Apple. When it came time to actually make the transition, the board knew about those candidates, and the best candidate was somebody, I had identified early and we had given good jobs and who's just an amazing talent and is doing a fantastic job.

Shontell: Tell me about the rise of Satya Nadella.

Ballmer: I remember going with him to Bentonville, to sell to Walmart, and that's really when I said, "God, this guy is very talented." I can't tell you exactly what year that would have been, but it was 14, 15, 16 years or something like that before he ascended to CEO status.

I just thought he was a really smart, really talented guy, and plucked him pretty soon after that to start running research and development in our business applications division, our dynamics product line. He did a great job, he moved into leadership for that whole business. We needed him on search, put him into the search business. He showed amazing maturity. Eventually gave him running our server and cloud business and he just kept doing great job, great job, great job, and boom, he's doing a great job now as CEO of Microsoft.

Shontell: What advice did you give him as he was going to be coming in as CEO of Microsoft?

Ballmer: He quotes this and I'm sure he's right: I said, "You've got to be bold, but you've got to be right." It turn out that being bold and being wrong may be the worst place to be. The most important thing in leadership is actually pointing people the right direction. If you should be zagging left and you send people down the right, that's the biggest failure a leader can make.

Finding a new identity after Microsoft ('The Good Wife' is a good show!)

Steve Ballmer

Shontell: What were those first few months like after you stepped down from being CEO of Microsoft? You seem to have binged a lot of "The Good Wife," and played a lot of golf, but what was that transition period like? And did you have to find your new identity? Because people's identity gets wrapped up in a business when you've been there so long.

Ballmer: Yeah, I had to find my new identity. I also had to find my new pace of life, frankly. Both of those things. I had actually done the binge-watching over Christmas, because we delayed the announcement of Satya as my successor, or delayed the selection, and I said, "I'm not going to start new projects when I'm going to get replaced in a few weeks we're going to announce them."

The binge-watching was kind of fun, though. “The Good Wife” is a good show. So I retire and then the question is, what do I do? I made a trip to New York fairly quickly. I met with the commissioner of the NFL and the commissioner of the NBA and said, "Hey, I'm interested in sports." I signed up pretty quickly to teach a class in the fall on leadership and value creation at the business school at Stanford.

And I was trying to keep busy. I'm glad I don't have as hectic a pace now, but that seemed to me to be the right thing to do. I was trying to be the best Microsoft shareholder. In a sense I was trying to track Microsoft almost as carefully as I tracked it when I was CEO, but I didn't have all the data. I was busy doing all of that and then come about April, my son called me on a Saturday morning and said, "Dad, this Clipper thing with Donald Sterling — that team's going to be available for sale."

Shontell: Smart son.

Ballmer: I had looked at the Milwaukee Bucks; they didn't want to sell to me. I had asked the commissioner who I should get to know. There was nothing that seemed like it was going to sell. The Sterling thing comes, my son gives me a call, and then that really gave me an outlet for the work.

Two other things got me going in that period of time: My wife said, "OK, it's time, dude. You’ve got to get involved in our philanthropic stuff." I wasn't sure I wanted to do that in retirement. Not that it's unimportant, but she was doing a fantastic job. She said, "No, no." I said, "If we just pay our taxes, we're going to help the old, the poor, the sick," because her focus had been child welfare and opportunity for children and she just growled and — not growled, she's a very nice lady but — "Come on, we can do better than that. You know, the government doesn't necessarily do all of that stuff and our money doesn't necessarily go there."

So I kind of said, "OK, well I'm going to dig into this and really have a conversation,” and what I found is it was very hard to find that data. That's what led to the USA Facts effort. It came from stimulation. Now it turns out what we've learned, my wife and I together, is philanthropy can be helpful, but it mostly is a change agent for government programs. No philanthropy is really going to solve the issues of providing opportunities to kids who are born in unfortunate circumstances. It's just not going to happen.

I also made a trip to DC. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I visited a bunch of politicians and I said I had had this conversation with my wife about, “Just pay your taxes and believe in the government to take care of this.” And these two guys looked at me and said, "You can do a lot better to help people than the government's going to do." And I was kind of taken aback. These are two US senators. Out of that, I dedicated myself to working with my wife on our philanthropic efforts and I understood that the point of the philanthropy is to work in partnership with government.

I had probably been retired about a year and then I said, "This is nuts, I don't have to recreate the pace with which I used to work." And that's where I sort of calmed down, managed my own time. I get up, I walk with my wife, I have a chance to reflect and meditate, work out. I usually don't get any place until about 10 in the morning unless I'm on the road here in New York or doing something like that. Work some, hit some golf balls late in the afternoon, it's cool to be able to control my time and still be involved in fun and productive activities.

How to buy an NBA team and beat out Oprah

Steve Ballmer

Shontell: That's amazing. I'm so glad that you're enjoying yourself. It sounds like the life that all of us hope to eventually have. One of those steps that I wanted to talk about more in depth is the Clippers. It was not easy for you to own the team and, like you said, you met with the commissioners and they were like, "Eh, there's not much available." Then all of a sudden, this Donald Sterling scandal happens where there was this tape of him coming out saying these racist things and he got eventually pushed out and there was this opportunity to buy the Clippers but you were not the only bidder. Oprah was interested and Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle was interested. What did you do to eventually be able to own the team? What were your negotiating tricks? I hear you buttered up Mrs. Sterling quite well. How did that work?

Ballmer: Well, it turned out the most difficult thing was actually figuring out how to get involved in the process. I didn't know Shelly Sterling, nobody was quite sure who was selling the business. I was talking to the commissioner, but things were very vague because, while they had banned Donald, Shelly and Donald hadn't stepped up to agree to sell the business and then she eventually gets involved. There was no obvious banker to talk to, but I knew Michael Eisner from Disney for a number of years and a lightbulb went off.

The Eisners have had season tickets to Clipper games for years, right next to the Sterlings. So Michael Eisner made an introduction for me to Shelly Sterling. He called me on a Saturday morning, 7 o’clock. He says, "Call Shelly Sterling right now at this number, she'll be available for your call." She said, "Well, what's your number?" Then she said, "Ah, it's OK, why don't you come see me?" So I went down, had a meeting with Shelly. I actually brought my brokerage statement, I never ended up showing her but a friend of mine had said, in some businesses, they want to see whether you can really afford the asset. I got through that without actually showing her the brokerage statement.

And then I met with her lawyer again later that evening and the process was really to try to ensure that I bid an appropriate amount of money. What I learned later, the fact that I was a sole bidder was of importance because her lawyers knew she was going to go through a set of legal wrangling with her husband over this, and they wanted a buyer who they could count on to stay with them through the process and they were worried about groups of buyers being tougher to do that with.

So I know there were at least three other bidders, two others who got bids in. There was a local Angeleno, there was a group that did include David Geffen and Oprah, and at least rumored, there was a group from the Mideast. I knew what my walkaway price was. I had actually told her lawyer, I wasn't a great negotiator. I had told them, "This is what I'd like to pay, this is the maximum I'd pay and, oh by the way, you have to understand, I don't want to look stupid in front of my wife for being a guy who dramatically overpays." But I, I laid it out there, I wasn't trying to be some tough, get the last 3%, 5% out of the deal, I just wanted to own the team.

Shontell: Of course.

Ballmer: And that was my negotiating approach. And then I had to hold on for the ride as the Sterlings went through their legal wrangling about whether Donald was competent to participate in the management of their trust.

Shontell: I remember that. And also, at the time, it sounded like you structured it like a venture-capital deal where you had a valuation on the team, and what you were willing to pay. No one had bought a team for $2 billion within the NBA before, but now it seems like you set the bar and other teams would be that valuable at this point.

Ballmer: Yeah, I think the thing people miss is in a business sense you'd say, it's not sort of a fluid market. Assets are limited, figuring out what the price is in that kind of calcified market is hard to do, and particularly in LA. LA and New York are different places. No matter what else is going on, buying land is more expensive in LA, and buying basketball teams is more expensive in LA. The baseball team the Dodgers had sold for about $2.1 billion, but they also had a lot of parking and they owned their stadium, so what was the right price for the basketball team? I knew exactly what the right price was: whatever the other bidders were willing to pay, plus some percentage.

Shontell: Do you have a perspective or an opinion on this conference debate within sports? You own a team that is in the west conference where some of the best teams in the NBA are, and then in the east, you've got LeBron and the Cavs, but not quite the competition that there is in the west.

Mark Cuban has been very vocal about his opinions on it and how he thinks you should just scrap the conference thing altogether, rank the teams, seed them. What's your take?

Ballmer: I think, you know, fans expect to have some notion of you know A versus B. You have it in baseball, you have it in football, you have it in basketball. I think it's fan expectation. There's some energy about that.

The west does happen to be stacked these days versus the east, but at the end of the day, whether you come from the west or the east, presumably the process leads to the best team being crowned champion of the NBA. I'm OK with that. We're in the west, OK, it's tougher, OK, bring it on. We'll do our best.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you are, you've got to beat the most important guys in the NBA in order to get to the championship. I wouldn't change it. I am but one owner with one voice. That will be determined in an appropriate way. As we move forward, the commissioner will lead that process. I'm OK with the way things are today.

Giving back by arming the world with facts

Steve Ballmer and Connie Ballmer

Shontell: I wanted to touch one more time on your philanthropy and your USA Facts and just make sure people understand what that is and what you all are doing, because you're doing a lot of work here in the United States. Some people do their philanthropy outside; a lot of what you've been focused on is here.

Ballmer: Well, USA Facts is an effort to pull together government data in a comprehensible form so that citizens, if they want to, can understand where money comes from in the government, where does it get spent, and what kind of outcomes. And we've taken a very business-like approach. We said, “Let's do this like a 10K.” No projections, very factual, no third-party data. In this case, we've used only government data to report.

We use the Constitution as our organizing framework. Businesses need to have segments. Well, the segments for government in the US are established in the preamble of the Constitution: establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, provide for the common defense, secure these blessings for ourselves and our posterity. And you can put education and health and a number of other things into that framework.

I'm proud of what we've done. USAFacts.org, or you can follow us on Twitter at USAFacts.org or like us on Facebook, you have all of the options. I was delighted with the initial interest, 750,000 visitors across every state in the US, almost every country in the world. If you look at the activity now, it's come down some. We need to continue to push on our end to talk about how important the facts are. We just did a new poll that found people actually care about the facts. They are distressed with the fact that people with different beliefs actually have different facts. Let's get everybody on the same page. I'm excited about it. I guess you call it a philanthropic activity except we don't take any tax deductions for it, so it's just something we go do.

On the flip side, in the rest of our philanthropic activities, we focus exclusively in the United States. We'll support our alma maters and local things in Seattle, but what we focus in is a lot of kids, not all people born into poverty, what's their ability to move up economically? There are some kids born in the US who have very little opportunity to move up by a circumstance of their birth. What other kind of supports can you provide for parents to help those children? What do you do in the school systems? People talk about making the schools better, that's important, but a lot of the reason why it's tough to work in schools is because there's dysfunction elsewhere in the kids' lives. Parents are homeless, very hard to do your homework if you're in a single-family home, if there's no childcare, if you're hungry. Those things wind up being very, very important and so what we try to do is support not-for-profits that work in these areas, we believe deeply that an integrated approach in a community and getting the community to embrace it has great potential.

Advice for the next generation of Fortune 500 CEOs

steve ballmer

Shontell: Final question: You've had a long, impressive, awesome career that I think anybody would feel so lucky to have. Looking back on it, if you're giving advice to someone who's just starting theirs out, what's the best advice you can give if someone wants to follow in your footsteps?

Ballmer: A few things. No. 1, find something to do that you're passionate about. If you're not passionate, I can't imagine how anybody can get there. There are two kinds of people. My son will tell me this, "Dad, there are people who live to work and there are people who work to live," and I respect both of those things. But if you're trying to have a career, you're going to have a little bit more live-to-work in you than work-to-live. So passion.

No. 2, evidence that in hard work, evidence that in good thought and good thinking — but be lucky. I know Microsoft's a talented company, we have very talented people. I certainly felt like I worked hard and had some good ideas as did Bill Gates and Paul Allen. But if anybody says there's no luck involved, I don't believe that. There is some luck. There's no, what was it, George Bernard Shaw? "Man and Superman."

No, there are people who are willing to work a little harder, willing to be a little smarter, and still don't have success. And some people do and there's a luck element that distinguishes those. I'd probably highlight those things: hard work, good ideas, and put yourself in a position to get luck, if you will. I think that that's very important.

Shontell: Thank you so much, Steve.

Ballmer: Thank you. Real pleasure to be here — I really enjoyed it.

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Billionaire Clippers owner Steve Ballmer shares 3 key traits you need to have if you want a successful career

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Success How I Did It podcastSteve BallmerLuck is a crucial key to success, according to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. But you also have to put yourself in a position to become lucky.

In an interview for Business Insider's podcast, "Success! How I Did It," Ballmer said he advises younger people who are just starting their careers to find something they are really passionate about. Once they have a passion, they can build a career by working hard, being thoughtful, and getting a little lucky. 

"There are people who are willing to work a little harder, willing to be a little smarter, and still don't have success," Ballmer said. "And some people do and there's a luck element that distinguishes those."

The three most important things any ambitious future leader needs, he says, are:

  1. Hard work
  2. Good ideas
  3. Luck

"There are two kinds of people," Ballmer explained. "My son will tell me this, 'Dad, there are people who live to work and there are people who work to live,' and I respect both of those things. But if you're trying to have a career, you're going to have a little bit more live-to-work in you than work-to-live."

Once a solid career has been developed, Ballmer has additional advice for how to be a successful leader. 

He told his successor at Microsoft, Satya Nadella: "You've got to be bold, but you've got to be right." 

A leader has to point employees in the right direction. "If you should be zagging left and you send people down the right, that's the biggest failure a leader can make," Ballmer told Business Insider.

Below, check out the episode with Ballmer explaining how he helped build Microsoft, or keep scrolling for a transcript detailing his advice to the next generation of leaders.

Subscribe to "Success! How I Did It" on Acast or iTunes. Check out previous episodes with:

Here's the part of the interview where Ballmer shares his career advice: 

Shontell: What advice did you give Satya Nadella as he was going to be coming in as CEO of Microsoft?

Ballmer: He quotes this and I'm sure he's right: I said, "You've got to be bold, but you've got to be right." It turn out that being bold and being wrong may be the worst place to be. The most important thing in leadership is actually pointing people the right direction. If you should be zagging left and you send people down the right, that's the biggest failure a leader can make.

Shontell: Final question: You've had a long, impressive, awesome career that I think anybody would feel so lucky to have. Looking back on it, if you're giving advice to someone who's just starting theirs out, what's the best advice you can give if someone wants to follow in your footsteps?

Ballmer: A few things. No. 1, find something to do that you're passionate about. If you're not passionate, I can't imagine how anybody can get there. There are two kinds of people. My son will tell me this, "Dad, there are people who live to work and there are people who work to live," and I respect both of those things. But if you're trying to have a career, you're going to have a little bit more live-to-work in you than work-to-live. So passion.

No. 2, evidence that in hard work, evidence that in good thought and good thinking — but be lucky. I know Microsoft's a talented company, we have very talented people. I certainly felt like I worked hard and had some good ideas as did Bill Gates and Paul Allen. But if anybody says there's no luck involved, I don't believe that. There is some luck. There's no, what was it, George Bernard Shaw? "Man and Superman."

No, there are people who are willing to work a little harder, willing to be a little smarter, and still don't have success. And some people do and there's a luck element that distinguishes those. I'd probably highlight those things: hard work, good ideas, and put yourself in a position to get luck, if you will. I think that that's very important.

SEE ALSO: Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reveals how he became the world's happiest retired billionaire

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9 mind-expanding podcasts to listen to if you only have 30 minutes

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The average morning commute in the US is just shy of 30 minutes.

That's no fun if you spend it in rush-hour traffic, but it's a good time to try out a new podcast, especially one that upends the way you see and think about the world.

From business to history to psychology, here are some of the most mind-expanding podcasts that you can gobble up in a half-hour or less.

SEE ALSO: 8 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior

Hidden Brain

In Hidden Brain, host Shankar Vedantam guides listeners through their own cognitive missteps, biases, and blind spots. 

He reveals the many hard-to-see ways our decision making and judgment are influenced by various forces, such as our built-in fear of losing money and our tendency to romanticize the past.

There's a lot we don't know about the human brain, but Vedantam illuminates the fascinating things we do know — but probably don't notice.



Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin has written extensively on happiness — both her own and others' — and distills many of the big concepts in her weekly podcast, which she co-hosts with her sister, Elizabeth Craft.

Many of the episodes center around cultivating happiness through the building of good habits (and the avoidance of bad ones).

Though happiness can seem elusive for many people, the co-hosts present it as something well within reach.



Arming the Donkeys

Duke University behavioral economist Dan Ariely is an expert in human irrationality. 

In Arming the Donkeys, he sits down with authors, researchers, and fellow social scientists to discuss the many ways humans seem to violate their own self-interest through behavior.

That can mean overpaying for certain goods, feeling bad when you should be feeling good, and generally misunderstanding the world around you.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

John Sculley went from an entry-level job driving Pepsi's trucks to its CEO in 10 years — here are his secrets for getting promoted fast

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John Sculley

John Sculley is the former CEO of Pepsi and Apple. When he was at Pepsi, he climbed the corporate ladder quickly. The MBA grad started in an entry-level position that included driving Pepsi's delivery trucks and posting signage in 100+ degree heat. 

"They didn't know what to do with me, so they put me out in Pittsburgh, in a bottling plant, and I worked in the bottling lines," Sculley told Business Insider during a podcast episode of "Success! How I Did It." 

"Then I was sent on to Phoenix, Arizona, where I also drove trucks and I put up Pepsi signage in various neighborhoods in 120-degree heat, and I was then sent on to Las Vegas for a month of training, and then I finally ended up in Milwaukee."

He rose to become Pepsi's CEO within ten years. Then he got poached by Steve Jobs to run Apple.

Sculley explained how he grew his role so rapidly at the soft drink giant, and gave advice for how others can advance at their companies.

He says he was:

  • Insatiably curious
  • Always looking to solve problems and figure out better ways to do things
  • Persistent
  • Creative and a great marketer — his team helped create the first-ever 2-liter bottle of soda, and he helped coin the "Pepsi Challenge" marketing campaign that launched the 1970s "Cola Wars."
  • Up for anything — he moved all over the country on job assignments for Pepsi. Wherever the company needed him, he went.

"You have to have an inquiring mind," Sculley said. "You have to say, 'There must be a better way to do things, and now with technology at a point where everything is possible, how do we turn the possible into the probable?' And it all starts with a passion to do something really well, to solve a problem in a way that's never been solved before, and to have just an incredible work ethic, to be persistent."

Here's the podcast episode about Sculley's career as a Fortune 500 CEO, below:

Subscribe to "Success! How I Did It" on Acast or iTunes. Check out previous episodes with:

Here's a transcript of the part of the podcast where Sculley talks about his career rise from driving trucks at Pepsi to CEO.

Shontell: Talk about your first job at Pepsi and what it was like.

Sculley: I was the first MBA and they didn't know what to do with me, so they put me out in Pittsburgh, in a bottling plant, and I worked in the bottling lines, and then I was sent on to Phoenix, Arizona, where I also drove trucks and I put up signs, Pepsi signage, in various neighborhoods in 120-degree heat and I was then sent on to Las Vegas for a month of training, and then I finally ended up in Milwaukee. So I got a really hands-on introduction to the soft-drink industry. I was so appreciative of the fact that I was able to not only learn a business through what I learned at business school, but I was able to learn it with hands-on learning. I'm a huge believer in hands-on learning.

Shontell: So you drove the Pepsi delivery trucks?

Sculley: I did, yeah.

Shontell: So from there all the way on up to CEO.

Sculley: I learned some amazing things, and I'll give you a perfect example of it. I was appointed marketing VP when I was just turning 30 years old and the first assignment I was given was to design a bottle that could compete with the little 6.5-ounce returnable bottle that Coke had that was a classic design. And we thought about that and we said, so why are we trying to design another little glass bottle? We make our money selling liquid ounces — why not design a really big bottle? And out of that came the development work of the first plastic bottle, the first 2-liter plastic bottle, and Pepsi brought that to market several years before Coca-Cola. It was a huge thing for us because, at the time I became marketing VP, we were outsold by Coke in the US, 10 to 1, in 50% of the country, so we were really a regional brand, and when we came out with the 2-liter plastic bottle, it completely changed the way in which soft drinks were merchandised. Because I was a designer, I designed the merchandising equipment and all the various things around it to help introduce the 2-liter bottle, and then we followed that on with the Pepsi Challenge.

Shontell: You hopped around all over the country for Pepsi and you were the youngest VP in Pepsi by age 30, eventually became its CEO within 10 years of being there. What do you think are the most important things you did during that first 10 years to take you from driving trucks to becoming CEO of the whole thing?

Sculley: I was always insatiably curious. I still am. I kept observing — when I was working in bottling plants, resetting shelves in supermarkets, out on the trade, talking to other Pepsi bottlers, observing, thinking, asking questions, you know. Why is it done this way? I think that, while I didn't know what the word "entrepreneur" was at that time, it's exactly the characteristics that I look for when I'm looking for really good entrepreneurs to lead companies because you have to have an inquiring mind, you have to say there must be a better way to do things, and now with technology at a point where everything is possible, how do we turn the possible into the probable? And it all starts with a passion to do something really well, to solve a problem in a way that's never been solved before, and to have just an incredible work ethic, to be persistent.

SEE ALSO: Former Apple CEO John Sculley is working on a startup that he thinks could become bigger than Apple

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Totally Football Show and No Such Thing as a Fish podcasts help AudioBoom's revenue jump 329%

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QI_elves

LONDON — On-demand podcast platform AudioBoom has reported a record 329% jump in third quarter revenues, thanks to signing key new podcasts like the Totally Football Show and hanging on to classics like No Such Thing as a Fish.

A boom in the popularity of podcasts helped the platform's number of monthly users grew from 81 million to 90 million between the second and third quarters of the year, AudioBoom said on Thursday, while advertising impressions were up 24%.

AudioBoom highlighted the success of The Totally Football Show, a new twice weekly football show hosted former Guardian Football Weekly chair James Richardson. The show, which AudioBoom helps produce, debuted at the start of August at the top of the UK iTunes chart, and now has two million downloads per month.

AudioBoom also re-signed No Such Thing as a Fish, a weekly podcast presented by the researchers on BBC comedy panel show QI. That title has six million downloads per month.

"This growth is directly impacting our financial performance and our quarter on quarter revenue growth continues," said Rob Proctor, CEO of AudioBoom. "This increasing momentum, together with record advance bookings for the final quarter of the year, means we are increasingly confident for the remainder of the current financial year and beyond."

AudioBoom hosts almost 11,500 channels produced by leading broadcasters including the BBC and Associated Press, as well as celebrities such as Russell Brand.

In the US, an important re-signing was Undisclosed, which investigates wrongful convictions and the criminal justice system, and newly acquired morning show Dave & Chuck The Freak. AudioBoom also reported rapid growth in India, while Australia's leading podcast producer, Planet Broadcast, has also signed up to its platform.

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The former CIA director who worked with Clinton, Bush, and Obama breaks down the presidents' leadership styles

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John Brennan CIA

John Brennan had an inside look into the US presidency.

Brennan was the director of the CIA until January 2017; he worked with Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

In an episode of Business Insider's podcast, "Success! How I Did It," Brennan explained to Business Insider US Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell the differences in each president's leadership style.

Here are Brennan's thoughts on the last three US presidents:

Bill Clinton

Clinton remembered everything 'like a computer'

"The thing about President Clinton is that he had a photographic memory. He would read something, or I'd brief him on something, and then two or three months later, when I'm briefing him on something else, he'd say, 'Didn't you tell me — ?' and then he would recollect something that I had long since forgotten. You could see his brain was working like a computer."

George W. Bush

Bush was a 'wise person' who 'wanted to do what was right'

"President George W. Bush, as I mentioned, he's somebody who had tremendous, tremendous respect for CIA officers, the intelligence community. Obviously being there at 9/11 and the aftermath of that, he was somebody who, again, wanted to talk to the experts, and not just the directors of the CIA, whatever. I was heading up a multi-agency counterterrorism program at the time, so I had a lot of interaction with him, and I felt as though he was really trying to get to the bottom of things because he wanted to do what was right.

"And although I didn't agree with a number of his decisions — and, quite frankly, I blame that not on President Bush but some of the people around him in the White House who had a rather dark view of the world, but I won't mention Vice President Cheney. But President Bush really was a very hard worker, very diligent. He's somebody who recognized he didn't have all the knowledge that he needed, but I felt that he was a wise person because he tried to tap into the knowledge of others."

Barack Obama

Obama sought 'other views and perspectives'

"President Obama, as somebody who I worked obviously most closely with, he would, you know, stay up into the early hours of the morning reading papers and absorbing it, and so any meeting he would go to, he had a lot of background already on it. But what I always found interesting, as well as I admired, he would always ask, 'What do you think?' He tried to draw out from people other views and perspectives."


 Listen to the whole episode and subscribe to more Success! 

Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | ACast


SEE ALSO: Former CIA Director John Brennan reveals what it takes to join the agency and how he rose through the ranks to tackle top-secret missions for multiple presidents

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Football journalist Iain Macintosh wants to build a podcast empire — the Totally Football Show is just the start

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  • New podcast Totally Football Show attracts five million downloads in two months;
  • Founder Iain Macintosh wants to use success to launch more shows, beyond just sport;
  • Macintosh predicts podcast advertising boom: "I think there's going to be a swing in that direction."

Iain Macintosh Totally Football Show Muddy Knees MediaLONDON — Ever since the breakout success of true crime show Serial, podcasts have been one of the few areas of media that are growing.

The market is forecast to be worth $300 million (£223.5 million) this year and is growing fast. An estimated 4.7 million people in the UK are listening.

The only thing anyone in UK football podcasting — perhaps a bigger niche than you might think — can talk about right now are defections from Guardian Football Weekly.

The Guardian launched Football Weekly in 2006 as a chat-show style audio round-up of World Cup action. Since then it has grown into one of the UK's most popular podcasts, regularly charting in the top 10 and averaging 150,000 downloads per episode. Central to its popularity was its gregarious, pun-loving host James Richardson — probably best known as the host of Channel 4's well-loved Football Italia.

But Richardson, podcast producer Ben Green, and regular contributor Iain Macintosh surprised fans in late July by announcing they were leaving the Guardian to set up their own, rival venture. The news was described by more than a few Twitter users as the biggest shock of the transfer window.

"When you see the response to the news when it came out — we pretty much broke Twitter for a day," Iain Macintosh told Business Insider in a phone interview this week.

Macintosh, known for his buoyantly delivered "Hellos" at the start of podcasts, was the mutiny leader. A football journalist by trade, Macintosh said he could see podcasts were the future after guesting on the Guardian and other shows and listening to podcasts himself.

"We're 10 years down the line really for podcasts," he says. "It's less of a niche thing and more into the mainstream. I always look at my parents — when my parents are talking about something, that's when I know the cut-through moment is there. It's there now."

But why break from the Guardian? It would easy to see it a move motivated by avarice — all three of the breakaway podcasters have an ownership stake in the new business, Muddy Knees Media, and will share any spoils. Suspicions aren't helped by the fact that the Totally Football Show, the trio's first production, sounds remarkably similar to the Guardian's output.

But Macintosh says it's not about the money but about creative control.

"There's so much freedom in podcasts — it doesn't have to be just the standard panel, the standard current affairs, everyone getting their takes on everything," he says. "The success of some of the other stuff that you see in the industry just shows you what is possible. I mean My Dad Wrote a Porno [a comedy podcast about a middle-aged man writing a pornographic novel] — that would never get commissioned by anyone. But in the podcast world, there's a chance."

Going independent means Macintosh, Richardson, and Green can try new things and not worry if their experiments don't all come off.

"There are an awful lot of reasons and every person involved has got their own motivations but obviously there's a desire for independence, for control," Macintosh says.

'When the last football season ended this wasn't even a thing'

James Richardson Totally Football ShowJust weeks after announcing the split, the first edition of the Totally Football Show was released, timed to launch at the start of the new football season in early August. A second show focusing on the lower leagues of English football was launched two weeks ago.

Both sound slick and well rehearsed, but their launch has been much more seat-of-the-pants than it seems.

"When the last football season ended [in May] this wasn't even a thing," Macintosh says. "It was very, very late. Very late indeed.

"Ordinarily, you'd want about three or four months to set up a company like this. Just for the Totally Football Show. I think we had about two and a half, three weeks? It all just happened."

He adds: "It had always been in my head that podcasts were the way forward but the way it happened — I basically spent a week with a phone sellotaped to my ear."

Despite the hurried start, the trio still managed to pull together a consortium of private investors to fund the project. Macintosh says Muddy Knees Media is well-funded enough not to be looking at outside investment for now.

5.7 million downloads and counting

Incredibly, just eight weeks after its first show, the Totally Football Show and the Totally Football League Show have had 5.7 million downloads between them — up from two million at the start of September.

"I wasn't entirely surprised when the numbers came in as high as they did," Macintosh says. "It was sort of what we'd hoped for. It's always been a thing of mine — get good people doing stuff that they're good at. And we've got the best presenter in James Richardson, the best producer in Ben Green. It's all about harnessing that power now and taking that power and spreading it out to the other shows."

We kind of have a rocket boost on everything we do

Macintosh's ambition is to take Muddy Knees Media beyond football — beyond sport even — and turn it into a podcast production juggernaut.

"We're in talks now for a number of very different directions, as I say non-sport," he says. "There are three or four that are at the concept stage."

Macintosh hopes to have three football podcasts in production by the end of this year and launch another three titles in the first half of next year. Ben Green, better known to listeners as Producer Ben, is a keen wrestling fan and Macintosh has talked elsewhere about the possibility of launching a WWE podcast.

"We've got the number now," he says. "The Football League Show, we've been able to advertise that for free straight to our own audience [through the Totally Football Show]. You'd kill for that audience if you were setting up a football league show now.

"We kind of have a rocket boost on everything we do and it's all about joining it all up — everything we do helping to support everything else. And this is before we even get to live shows and other commercial avenues that we can take."

'The guys at Football Ramble are doing brilliant stuff'

Ambition has been fuelled by the response of advertisers, which Macintosh says has been "really encouraging." Muddy Knees Media has already secured deals with subscription shaving startup Cornerstone and fantasy football game Fan League and is "deep in talks for more advertising."

"One of the things that really made a difference is a couple of days before we launched there was a story in the Sunday Times about Proctor & Gamble," Macintosh recalls. "They had slashed online spending because they just didn't know where it was going. I saw that and thought, well, if your primary concern is you don't know who's seeing these adverts then, god, podcasts are great.

"There's no better medium for seeing who your audience is. The data that we get is so detailed. I think there's going to be a swing in that direction."

He isn't alone in thinking this. The Totally Football Show is not the only new football show to launch this summer — The Telegraph and The Independent have both launched ones, while popular title The Football Ramble has launched a new spin-off title about European football, On The Continent. Clearly, many people see a bright future for sports podcasts.

"Competition is good," Macintosh says. "It keeps everyone on their toes. The guys at Football Ramble are doing brilliant stuff. They're a great example of what can be done in this industry. They've got such great chemistry and it's really working out well for them."

'We've got nothing but love for the guys at the Guardian'

Totally Football ShowWhat about those left behind at the Guardian? New host Max Rushden and his guests sounded almost shell shocked in the first new episode of this season.

"We've got nothing but love for the guys at the Guardian," Macintosh said magnanimously. "I think they're in a very good place."

Not all listeners agree. New host Rushden has drawn ire from some, who have taken to Twitter and the Guardian comments section to complain.

Macintosh says: "Max and Barry [Glendenning, a Guardian journalist and Football Weekly regular] are a terrific double act. Initially, the listeners will be a bit upset but, once they listen to it for a bit, they'll realise how good Max is, how good Barry is."

Ah, Barry — Glendenning is perhaps the only element of the Guardian's secret sauce that Muddy Knees Media failed to march away with. The sardonic Irishman is a fan favourite, with many wondering why he didn't choose to move across.

Did Macintosh try and tempt Glendenning over? 

There's a pause.

"We love Barry. All things are open in the future but Barry has a very good job at the Guardian outside of podcasting. He's a very good writer."

For now, Macintosh has enough on his plate beside chasing new talent.

"The company has to evolve otherwise it's just me running from studio to studio and I don't think anyone wants that," he says. "I think as we progress through these chaotic first three or four months, we'll assess the situation as we go. Nothing is off the table, is the way I always work."

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Star Fox News anchor explains how she plans her show, while knowing Donald Trump might be watching

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dana perino

  • Dana Perino, President George W. Bush's former press secretary, is the host of two Fox News shows, "The Five" and "The Daily Briefing."
  • Fox News has come under fire this week from some of its employees, who were reportedly appalled by its Russia investigation coverage.
  • Perino was interviewed for Business Insider's "Success! How I Did It" podcast and asked if she believes America receives two separate sets of facts from news organizations, depending on which way the organization leans.
  • Perino says she just sees "facts as facts" and reads a lot to try and see a story from every angle. She does acknowledge that sometimes she thinks about the fact that President Donald Trump is probably watching her show. She says that doesn't shape how she plans her show, but she has sent "messages of advice" toward him while on air.


On Tuesday, Fox News came under a slew of criticism for how it covered developments in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference. Instead of headlining the indictments handed down, it focused on other stories throughout the day — including pertaining to Hillary Clinton and her alleged ties to funding of the firm that produced the dossier detailing President Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia.

A "Fox News right now" meme trended on social media as people spotted stories the network covered sometimes in lieu of the Mueller news. Some Fox News employees said they were so embarrassed by their network's Russia investigation coverage that they told CNN they wanted to quit.

Dana Perino is the host of two shows on Fox News, "The Five" and "The Daily Briefing." Prior to joining Fox, Perino was press secretary for President George W. Bush. Former first lady Barbara Bush and others have referred to Perino, who comes from conservative roots but considers herself fairly nonpartisan, as the "voice of reason" at the network. She has also been targeted by Donald Trump on Twitter.

Business Insider interviewed Perino about her career for our podcast, "Success! How I Did It," one week before the FBI's indictments. We asked her if she believes Americans receive two separate sets of facts from news organizations, and how she takes that into consideration while preparing her show.

"I just see facts as facts," Perino replied. "I like to have all the facts and then let the chips fall where they may. That means that you have to do a lot of reading. I also think it's very important to be honest that there are upsides and downsides to every policy choice."

Here's the full portion of the Q&A where Perino addresses how to deliver nonpartisan facts, and how it feels knowing President Trump might be watching (she says it does not shape how she does her show, but she has tried to send him messages of advice on air).

Shontell: The president watches Fox all the time. Do you feel pressure knowing that President Trump might be watching you? Does it shape how you do your show?

Perino: Every once in a while I think about it.

Shontell: Because for a while, weren't people waving and saying, "Hey, Donald Trump!"?

Perino: Oh, like I'm trying to send him a message of advice? I have done that on "The Five" before actually. I don't know if he really watches "The Five"— maybe he does. But there have been times when I'm, like, "You know what I'd say?" Because I always have to be everybody's press secretary. But it does not shape how I do my show. I actually feel a tremendous amount of freedom to just report the news and to bring to bear my experience of having worked in Washington, both at Capitol Hill and in the White House, and having grown up outside of the media bubbles in the Midwest and western Rockies, that there is a freedom that comes from not feeling that you're affiliated with any particular party or candidate.

Shontell: And you've been called "the voice of reason."

Perino: I know Mrs. Bush calls me that.

Shontell: How do you do that when people look at Fox as a network as more conservative?

Perino: I mean, there's no denying that I was a Republican press secretary or that I lean conservative. I actually think that you are more likely to be successful in getting people to listen to you if you are reasonable and if you can present things as reasonable.

You asked me, "How do I remain the voice of reason?" I'm not a yeller. I don't interrupt people. Maybe I should. I mean, there are times when I think, "I really should get in there and try to fight." But when I do get animated, it's for a good reason.

Shontell: Do you think that there are two different sets of facts being presented to both sides, and do you think about that when you're talking to your audience?

Perino: I just see facts as facts. And I like to have all the facts and then let the chips fall where they may. That means that you have to do a lot of reading. I also think it's very important to be honest that there are upsides and downsides to every policy choice. On trade, for example, yes, it is true, if you do more trade, it is possible that some types of jobs will leave the United States. Now is that counterbalanced by the fact that products that are being sold back into the United States are much cheaper so consumers are able to afford more in America? And vice versa, it goes the other way, as well. So I think that being honest about upsides and downsides is so important in this era where you have lots of different information coming in from all over.

SEE ALSO: Dana Perino reveals how she became the White House's 2nd-ever female Press Secretary and a Fox News star — and how she got stuck telling the world about Bill O'Reilly

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20 podcasts that will make you smarter

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Max Levchin Alyson Shontell Success! How I Did It

There are so many great podcasts out now that you're guaranteed to find some you'll get addicted to.

And though there are plenty of entertaining options to check out, you can make the most of your next commute, workout, or laundry run by listening to one guaranteed to teach you something.

We've given you a few to get going, but it's by no means a definitive list.

From Terry Gross' intimate conversations on "Fresh Air" to the "Radiolab" team's clear but in-depth explorations of science, these are our top picks for expanding your listening diet.

SEE ALSO: The 19 best business books of 2017

'This American Life' provides a deep look into American society

Since 1995, Ira Glass and his team have been telling moving and sometimes hilarious stories from people across the United States. 

In more recent years, the team has beefed up its news reporting, from making the financial crisis understandable to speaking to people affected by this year's immigration ban.

Find it here »



'Success! How I Did It' will show you what it takes to make your ambitions reality

We're plugging our own podcast, but only because we think you'll like it!

In "Success! How I Did It," Business Insider has people at the tops of their fields guide us through their careers, reflecting as much on how they've grown personally as they have professionally.

Guests have included TV reporter Megyn Kelly, life coach Tony Robbins, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Find it here »



'Fresh Air' will give you an intimate look at your favorite writers, celebrities, and journalists

NPR's "Fresh Air" host Terry Gross has been on the air for more than four decades, and her interviewing skills have earned her accolades like the Peabody Award, the Columbia Journalism Award, and a spot in the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Gross may have a smooth, relaxed speaking style, but the way she digs deep into her interview subjects will keep you engaged throughout the conversation, whether it's about Jake Gyllenhaal's acting process or what a writer learned from covering Mexican drug cartels.

Find it here »



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

7 podcasts to help you find a new job in the next 12 months

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  • Podcasts are a great way to keep yourself entertained or learn something on your commute. 
  • Whether you want to monetize a side gig, map out a career plan, or climb the corporate ladder, there are a number of podcasts that will tell you how.
  • Some of these include "Career Relaunch,""Manager Tools," and "How Did You Get Into That."


Looking for a near-effortless way to improve your odds of landing a job? Look no further than podcasts.

Sure, you might associate them primarily with shows like "Serial" or "Welcome to Nightvale," but there are plenty of podcasts out there that aim to be as useful as they are entertaining.

Whether you're hoping to upgrade your resume, polish your networking skills or pass an interview with ease, there's a podcast out there that can help — and gaining that valuable knowledge is as easy as putting on headphones.

So the next time you need a way to pass the time — say, during your commute, at the gym, while you're cleaning — listen to one of these seven great career podcasts. It won't take a lot of effort, but it can make a huge impact.

SEE ALSO: 3 things the most successful people do at work every day, according to neuroscience

1. 'Career Cloud Radio'

Best for: Brushing up on the fundamentals

Must-listen episode: Great Resumes and Good Advice

"Career Cloud Radio" is often considered the OG career podcast, providing expert insight on the job search since 2007. While it delves into the nuts and bolts of job seeking — what to put in your resume, how to answer interview questions, how to negotiate your salary — it's not just for first-time job seekers. The variety of guests on the show and points of view presented will maintain the interest of even the most seasoned professionals. Best of all, it's full of actionable, straightforward and most of all effective advice.



2. 'Career Relaunch'

Best for: Transitioning to a new career

Must-listen episode: Making Your Next Career Move With Khai Yong

Anyone making a drastic career change will feel unsure of themselves from time to time. If that happens to you, just tune into "Career Relaunch" to gain the inspiration you need to keep going. Host Joseph Liu interviews real professionals from all walks of life who have successfully transitioned from one role to a drastically different one (think: a pharmacist turned digital marketer). Aside from giving you hope that big career changes are indeed attainable, the guests share practical tips and tricks on how you can make a pivot yourself. And their personal, often moving anecdotes will ensure that you hang onto their every word.



3. 'The Pitch'

Best for: Learning how to market yourself

Must-listen episode: Shift

If you like "Shark Tank," you'll love "The Pitch." It's a similar concept — entrepreneurs with 'The Next Big Idea' pitch investors, with real money on the line — but in podcast form. Besides hearing intriguing business ideas (Premium instant coffee! Smart mirrors! In-home bidets!), you'll learn plenty about what it takes to sell someone on your idea — critical if you're hoping to start your own business, or just need to hone the perfect elevator pitch about why you're the best candidate.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A true crime podcast will explore the chilling disappearances and murders of over 22 children — and it will be your new obsession

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Willie Mae Mathis, mother of Jefferey, an Atlanta Child Murders victim 1999 AP

  • "Atlanta Monster" is a new true crime investigatory podcast from Tenderfoot.
  • Host Payne Lindsey and producer Donald Albright spoke with INSIDER about the series.
  • The podcast explores a string of murders in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1979 to 1981.
  • The Atlanta Child Murders remains the biggest "solved" case in the state's history.
  • The man many believed was responsible for the death of over 22 children is Wayne Williams.
  • But Williams was only convicted of killing two adults, and the police merely attributed the children's murders to him.
  • Lindsey and Albright said they've spoken to people close to the case who believe the case was never truly closed.

 

More than 30 years after a string of attacks that claimed the lives of at least 22 children, a new true crime podcast called "Atlanta Monster" is re-exploring the Atlanta Child Murders.

From 1979 to 1981, a string of murders were committed in the Atlanta region. Most of the victims were young male children, and every victim was black. In 1982, a man named Wayne Williams was tried and convicted for the murder of two adults. The Atlanta Police Department attributed the deaths of many of the younger victims to Williams as well, though no specific charges for those cases were brought against him.

Wayne Williams escorted from jail for trial 1982 Atlanta Child Murders AP

Williams maintains his innocence to this day, and several family members of the younger victims in the Atlanta Child Murders have publicly expressed doubts about the claim that he was the serial killer at work. 

INSIDER spoke with the host of "Atlanta Monster," Payne Lindsey, along with producer Donald Albright, about the new podcast series. Lindsay previously created "Up and Vanished," another podcast exploring the unsolved case of Tara Grinstead's disappearance. Albright is the co-founder of Tenderfoot TV, the production company behind both "Up and Vanished" and "Atlanta Monster."

Lindsay and Albright revealed why they chose the Atlanta Child Murders as their next podcast subject, and how the conviction of Wayne Williams remains one of the biggest misconceptions people have about the case. 

Kim Renfro:  Why was the story of the Atlanta Child Murders the one that you decided investigate next as your follow up to "Up and Vanished"?

Payne Lindsey:  With "Up and Vanished," the Tara Grinstead case was the biggest case in Georgia history that was unsolved. Ironically, the Atlanta Child Murders is arguably the biggest case in Georgia history that is labeled "solved." Even though it's 30-plus years old now ... a lot of what happened during this time period really shaped Atlanta's culture. It's almost kind of like a dark secret here.

Atlanta officials at crime scene Atlanta Child Murders AP

I didn't really know much about it at all [before] my business partner Donald [Albright] told me about the Atlanta Child Murders case. Once I started looking into it, I realized there was so much misinformation and misconception that had developed over the years.

Renfro:  What would you say is one of the bigger misconceptions that you think people have about the case that you're hoping to shed more light on?

Lindsey: A lot of people question whether or not Wayne Williams, who is presumed by many to be the Atlanta Child Murderer, is the one responsible, or [they question] if he's responsible for all of the kids that were murdered.

I've talked to a lot of different family members and people who were close to the case and close to the victims, and a majority of those people feel like this case was never fully closed. The door was left open and they didn't feel like they received any justice.

You have to think, after awhile, that maybe there's something to that. Why do a lot of people feel that way? Just based off that alone, we decided that we should look into this for these families who — almost by their request — wanted us to give this a second look. They felt like there were too many unanswered questions. Things didn't all the way add up. 

Annie Hill mother Timothy Hill Atlanta Child Murders victim at funeral service 1981 AP images

Donald Albright:  Also, I think that one of the biggest misconceptions is that Wayne Williams was convicted of killing more than two dozen kids. A lot of people just gloss over the fact that he was only convicted of two murders of adults and they attributed about 22 more [child murders] to him and just closed those cases.

That's one of the reasons why there was outrage from the families then and why they still have doubts now. They feel like their child was never given their day in court or given the justice and have someone actually pay the price for their child's murder. A lot of them that we've been talking to have their doubts.

When the victim's families have doubts, that's worth a second look, and then you start to uncover a lot more, and the story, it begins to take shape. There's no real one direction that it's going. There's misconceptions on both sides. Within the African American community, there's the misconception that there is no such thing as a black serial killer. There's both sides of the coin here, and we're trying to explore it all.

Wayne Williams Atlanta Child Murders 1983 press conference

Renfro: Is there anything you want people to know before listening to "Atlanta Monster"?

Albright: ["Atlanta Monster"] is not a recap of history. There are lessons to be learned by listening to this [podcast]. We feel like what we're doing now is the most intense overview and investigation since the original investigation.

There have been people who have covered it on TV [or in] one episode of a podcast. We're planning on going probably 10 hours deep into talking to all players on all sides, whoever we can reach, and really tell every angle, like Payne said earlier. This could and should be the last time this [story] has to be told. That's the bar we're setting for ourselves.

Lindsey: Yeah, I personally have no interest in retelling a story that's nearly 40 years old. I have interest in a 40-year-old story that warrants a re-exploration. This is not a history recap, this is not something that you're going to get in your college class. While there are a lot of lessons in it, and there's a lot of stuff to learn to get up to speed here, this is an investigation. We pose questions and we try to find the answers.

You can learn more about "Atlanta Monster" here, and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. The first episode premieres Friday.

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'Mindhunter' season 2 will likely center on a series of child murders many believe are unsolved — even though a convicted man is in prison

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Holden and Bill Tench Mindhunter Netflix photo interview

  • Netflix's drama "Mindhunter"  is based on real events from the FBI's serial crime unit. 
  • For its second season, "Mindhunter" might focus on the Atlanta child murders. 
  • A new podcast series, "Atlanta Monster," is also exploring these murders. 
  • The podcast team has interviewed FBI agents and police department officials familiar with the case. 


Netflix's hit crime drama "Mindhunter" is based on the real events of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit study of serial killers in the late 1970s. The first season introduced several real serial killers as part of the storylineand now the show is looking ahead to the Atlanta child murders.

"Mindhunter" creator David Fincher told Billboard last year that season two will likely focus on the Atlanta child murders — a string of killings carried out in Georgia from 1979 to 1981.

A new podcast, "Atlanta Monster," happens to also be exploring the Atlanta Child Murders this year. When INSIDER spoke with co-creator and host Payne Lindsey about the podcast series (produced by TenderfootTV and HowStuffWorks), we asked if he had heard about the coming "Mindhunter" storyline.

"Yeah, we've heard that, which we think is pretty cool and very exciting," Lindsey said. "It's interesting that all these different stories about this case are kind of coming around in the same year. It's kind of ironic."

Donald Albright Payne Lindsey Jason Hoch

Netflix's "Mindhunter" series is a fictionalized version of the nonfiction book written by former FBI agent John E. Douglas called "Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit." The book was co-authored by Mark Olshaker.

The Atlanta child murders are mentioned in the "Mindhunter" book when Douglas recalls his involvement with the case. A man named Wayne Williams was arrested and convicted for the murder of two adult men, and was subsequently blamed for the deaths and disappearances of over 22 young children. But Douglas seems to disagree with the police department's assessment.

Here's a quote from Douglas' "Mindhunter" book where he casts doubt on the assertion made by police:

"Despite what his supporters maintain, I believe the forensic and behavioral evidence points conclusively to Wayne Williams as the killer of eleven young men in Atlanta.

Despite what his detractors and accusers maintain, I believe there is no strong evidence linking him to all or even most of the deaths and disappearances of children in that city between 1979 and 1981."

Wayne Williams escorted from jail for trial 1982 Atlanta Child Murders AP

Lindsey says the "Atlanta Monster" podcast team has spoken with FBI agents during the course of their own investigation into the Atlanta child murders.

"We've already interviewed countless members of the FBI and the local Atlanta police," Lindsey said. "We're really just aiming to tell the true version of this story. 'Mindhunter' is ... obviously a scripted adaptation of a real story, but ours would be the real voices of everybody here."

Willie Mae Mathis, mother of Jefferey, an Atlanta Child Murders victim 1999 AP

"We're reaching out to everybody, and we want everyone to be involved," Lindsey said. "We want the story to be told really by the people who were there and remember it [...] There's been tons of stories on this case, but none that goes in deep enough to make you feel like all your questions are answered, and that's what we're trying to do. We can only do that with the people who know the answers."

You can learn more about "Atlanta Monster" here, and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here

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SEE ALSO: Critics cannot stop gushing about 'Paddington 2,' the best-reviewed movie of 2018 with an 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

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'It is a very lonely job': Mark Zuckerberg and other top CEOs reveal what their jobs are really like in 'Freakonomics' podcast series

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Mark Zuckerberg

  • "Freakonomics Radio" is launching a six-part series called "The Secret Life of CEOs," featuring interviews with nine prominent executives.
  • Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, and others discuss what their jobs actually involve, whether their pay is fair, and what it feels like to be at the top.
  • Female interviewees discuss the lingering challenges facing women who hope to rise the corporate ladder.


A podcast series focused on illuminating the "hidden side of everything" is setting its sights on the corner office.

"Freakonomics Radio" has revealed to Business Insider that it will be launching a new six-part series called "The Secret Life of CEOs" on Thursday, January 18. The series features interviews with nine prominent executives, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Episodes will touch on a variety of topics related to life at the top of the corporate ladder: what propels some people to the rank of CEO (and not others), whether CEOs get paid too much, and what the day-to-day job of being CEO actually entails.

"Most of us hear about CEOs only when something very bad or very good happens," Stephen Dubner, the host of "Freakonomics Radio," said in a statement. "We wanted to know what's going on the other 99.9% of the time."

stephen dubner headshotIn tandem with the CEO interviews, the new show incorporates insight from academics who study the habits of successful people. The experts shed light on the persistent challenge of gender inequality at the top and what it's like to transition out of the role of CEO, among other topics.

Many of the interviews become refreshingly candid at times, as the CEOs discuss sensitive points throughout their careers.

"I got so broke then I had to borrow $4,000 from my dad," Bridgewater CEO Ray Dalio said, recounting the aftermath of the stock market crash in 1982. "And then letting go people who were like extended family — and it was literally down to me. That was a very painful experience but it was one of the best experiences that happened in my life because it changed my perspective from thinking, 'I'm right,' to asking myself, 'How do I know I'm right?'"

Interviews with female CEOs such as Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, and Carol Bartz, formerly of Yahoo!, center on the "#MeToo" movement and the lack of representation in the executive community.

"This kind of idea of pattern-matching can become very toxic," Ellen Pao, the former interim CEO of Reddit said, referring to the trend of firms historically hiring white men from Harvard or Stanford for their leadership roles. "They invested in those folks, and then those folks ended up becoming successful — kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Other interviewees reflect on the lesser-discussed downsides to being in the ultimate position of power.

"People don't talk about this a lot, but it is a very lonely job," Bartz said. Especially from the position of a female executive, she added, life as a CEO can be disheartening. "Have you noticed that there's less females in the Fortune 500 now than there were? I mean, we have made no progress! We have made absolutely no progress."

"Freakonomics Radio" launched in 2009 as an extension of the mega-hit book, "Freakonomics," which Dubner co-wrote with University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt. A sequel, "Superfreakonomics," soon followed to similar acclaim.

Listen to the first episode here:

SEE ALSO: 12 books Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and other moguls think everyone should read

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A child development expert reveals how listening to podcasts could affect your kid

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  • Researchers have looked into how parents' TV-watching habits affect their kids, but there's not much research on how listening to a podcast or radio show influences childhood development.
  • It's likely that playing a podcast in the background would not be as disruptive to kids as television.
  • But parents shouldn't expect that young children are learning about the world by listening to informative podcasts, either.


Being a parent comes with millions of questions.

Many of the most anxiety-provoking ones fall into a simple category: "How is whatever I'm doing affecting my child?"

That question even applies to what parents do to relax.

Research suggests that even having a television on in the background can have lasting negative effects on kids' language development — especially if it's running for hours every day. The flashing light and varied noises from a TV are designed to draw attention, so they can interrupt children's play, which is valuable learning time. Watching TV can also make parents less likely to interact with young children, which is crucial for development as well.

But what about the rapidly growing world of podcasts and audio storytelling? Is it equally disruptive for a parent to listen to a podcast while a child plays? Or might kids learn from what they hear?

There aren't many studies that directly address how audible entertainment like podcasts or talk radio affects young children, according to Jenny Radesky, a pediatrician who specializes in child development.

Radesky is the lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Media and Young Minds policy, and said this lack of research may be a sign that there aren't major concerns. 

"I think scientists have been less worried about the disruptive aspects" of audio storytelling, she said.

Podcasts and parenting

Podcasts are often created to be seamless and pleasing to listen to, with less attention-grabbing features than TV. That suggests the programs are less likely to distract a child who is actively playing. But what about the effect of podcasts on parental attention?

reading baby

"It's possible that when a parent's attention is really absorbed in a podcast, they're trying to listen to a story or learn about science, it's going to be hard for them to respond to children's cues also," Radesky said. "But on the other hand, I think it's also really important for parents to feel enriched ... so I don't have as strong of an opinion as to whether they should listen to podcasts."

As any parent knows, childcare often involves intense days that begin early and require hour after hour of focused interaction with someone who they adore but who is definitely not yet a good conversationalist. If listening to a podcast is a way to recharge while a child plays or does something else, there's likely value in that.

"Parents seek [an audio show] out either for pleasure or for learning and parents deserve that," Radesky said. "You can usually pause and attend to something that a child might need."

Learning from listening

Along with an ever-growing list of great podcasts for adults, there's been an explosion in child-focused audio shows lately, including Story Pirates and Tumble. But while older kids might learn from and enjoy the content, younger ones (up to two years old) probably won't get any benefit.

Research indicates that recorded voices don't mean much to very young children, since they process language best when it comes from a person who is reacting to cues the baby is giving, according to Radesky. 

Studies have tested whether a child can better distinguish Chinese language tones if recorded Chinese voices were played to them when they were very young, but the results showed that recordings don't offer the same benefits of hearing and seeing a real person speak.

A child will start to really process audio, like a book on tape, around the age of three or four. But even in case, Radesky said kids will still probably benefit most if an adult is there to explain the story and answer questions.

Choosing when, whether, and how to listen

prince george

Although playing an occasional podcast may have little impact on young children, many of us play podcasts from our smartphones — and Radesky recommends that parents remain aware of how absorbed in a phone we become.

Radesky researches how mobile devices affect kids, and some of her work on the topic has revealed that children's behavior changes when parents start staring at their phones. Some kids quiet down and stare into space, others begin to act up.

Other studies have shown that parents of kids with behavior problems are more likely to spend more time on their phones. It's possible those kids act out more because they want parental attention, but it's also possible that those parents are using their phones to take a break from their kids.

Like children, adults need to find balance when using technology. Choosing when to turn on a podcast should therefore be a conscious decision, Radesky said — it's ok to listen as a way to stave off boredom or relieve stress, but we shouldn't interrupt important bonding, and meals and joint play time should stay focused on real interaction.

"If we start to feel more self-awareness about what's driving our media use behaviors it helps us be more reflective," said Radesky. We can figure out "what parts of that [use] are good and fulfilling and which parts are starting to disrupt things."

SEE ALSO: 12 of the best science podcasts that will make you smarter

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9 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior

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Pretty much everyone is interested in learning what makes people tick.

Fortunately, there are no shortage of podcasts designed to cater to that interest — whether it's a short one-one-one chat about building good habits or an hour-long compilation of novel ideas.

Here are some of the best podcasts that help put life in perspective.

SEE ALSO: 15 books that will change the way you understand human behavior

TED Radio Hour

Each episode of TED Radio Hour, put on by NPR, unites several different TED talks around a common topic, even bringing in sounds from the actual TED stage.

The talks often approach the topic, which can be a question or idea, from varying perspectives. Recent topics include happiness, religion, giving, and mental well-being.

Though TED talks have received some criticism for watering down the science behind their research, the podcast provides an easy on-ramp for people looking to explore new ideas.



Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin has written extensively on happiness — both her own and others' — and distills many of the big concepts in her weekly podcast, which she co-hosts with her sister, Elizabeth Craft.

Many of the episodes center around cultivating happiness through the building of good habits (and the avoidance of bad ones).

For something that is so elusive for many people, the co-hosts present happiness as something well within reach.



Hidden Brain

In Hidden Brain, host Shankar Vedantam guides listeners through their own cognitive missteps, biases, and blind spots. 

He reveals the many hard-to-see ways our decision making and judgment are influenced by various forces, such as our built-in fear of losing money and our tendency to romanticize the past.

There's a lot we don't know about the human brain, but Vedantam shows listeners that even what we do know can be almost impossible to notice.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How Barstool Sports created one of the most popular podcasts despite making enemies along the way

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Big Cat PFT

  • Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" is less than two years old and yet is consistently one of the top podcasts across all subjects.
  • Its success has come despite its lack of association with a large traditional media outlet.
  • With The Chernin Group's additional $15 million investment in Barstool late last month, it's unlikely the podcast's success will end anytime soon.


Though Super Bowl media day is a time for the teams to answer both serious and playful questions from dozens of media outlets from across the globe, Barstool Sports, one of the fastest-growing in the US, continues to find itself on the outside looking in.

The site, which controversial but incredibly popular among men aged 18 to 34, has frequently clashed with the NFL over the past few years.

In 2015, four employees, including the company's president, were arrested while protesting Tom Brady's suspension. Barstool produces shirts depicting the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, as a clown. And it recently accused the NFL of trademark infringement by selling shirts that say "Saturdays are for the boys."

It shouldn't be a surprise that the league is trying to distance itself from Barstool.

The league's excluding it from media day hasn't stopped Barstool, though — the company's president, David Portnoy, snuck in this year, while the podcast host known as PFT Commenter did so last year. Getting to the press area isn't difficult, according to the host, who told Business Insider that "the dog show had tighter security last year."

PFT hosts perhaps Barstool's most popular entity, "Pardon My Take," along with Daniel "Big Cat" Katz. The podcast is a comedy show disguised as a sports show where the pair dive int0 the day's top sports stories by making light of the hot takes typically made by talking heads across the industry.

The show does this through satirical segments such as "Mount Rushmore," in which the two, their producer Henry Lockwood, and a guest pick a "top four" in a random topic, like road-trip activities or hangover cures. They say the idea is to poke fun at all the contrived debates that sports talk shows use to fill time.

They'll also frequently dive outside of the sports world into entertainment, with segments like "Bachelor Talk for People Who Don't Watch 'The Bachelor'" and a "Game of Thrones" recap (though neither has a clue what's going on in the show) designed to satirize the many sports shows that feel the need to dive into pop culture.

The podcast is known for having loyal listeners who frequently "subscribe, unsubscribe, then resubscribe," which is why "Pardon My Take" is consistently at or near the top of the charts for sports podcasts.

pardon my take 2But how did the podcast get here less than two years after debuting? Katz and PFT Commenter told Business Insider how "Pardon My Take" came to be.

Katz was working in real estate in Chicago when he had a quarter-life crisis and decided he wasn't cut out for the corporate world. He wanted to switch to the "fun thing," which for him was talking about and writing about sports.

It started out as just an email to his friends, but in 2012, Katz started blogging for Barstool Sports from his apartment — long before it had hit the mainstream and when it had about five people.

PFT started out as a comedy writer but temporarily gave it up for an office job in Austin. He got bored with his days, so he made a Twitter account to make himself laugh.

He began to gain notoriety for his Twitter account and comments on sports sites such as ProFootballTalk and started to get contracted to contribute to various blogs under his pseudonym.

The two got hooked up through people who read them online. They met for beers in Chicago and remained in contact with each other for the next couple of years.

In early 2016, when the media company The Chernin Group invested in Barstool, PFT was one of the first people Katz and Portnoy reached out to when they were looking to expand Barstool's talent base. Chernin Group made an additional $15 million investment late last month.

PFT and Katz recorded their first "Pardon My Take" podcast in February 2016, and within a week it was the top-ranked sports podcast and in the top 10 overall.

Though the two say their first few episodes were "trash," with awful sound bites and an inconsistent pace, they credit fan feedback and their ability to adapt quickly with the early, continuing success of the show.

Their immediate popularity wasn't always positive, however.

In March 2016, they received a cease-and-desist notice from ESPN, claiming the podcast's name and logo were infringing on two of the network's popular sports talk shows, "Pardon the Interruption" and "First Take." The logo would have to change, but the two used the letter as ammo for more comedic content — they sent ESPN a cease-and-desist on sending further cease-and-desists.

While the downloads were immediate, it took some time for Katz and PFT to realize they had arrived.

Later that month, multiple media outlets picked up the podcast's interview with Kyle Wiltjer, a former Gonzaga basketball player, who claimed that Adam Morrison, another former Gonzaga player, had an apocalypse bunker in his house, marking the first time the mainstream really noticed the show.

In the summer of 2016, they landed Scott Van Pelt, ESPN's premier "SportsCenter" anchor, as a guest on the show. Katz says that interview was a major reason he and PFT have been able to regularly get such famous guests in the year and a half since.

PFT says he also sees the show's interview with the controversial sportscaster Joe Buck that summer as a major moment for the show.

"No matter what team you root for, you think Joe Buck hates your team," the host said. So when their Twitter mentions filled with hundreds of comments like "damn you, I can't believe you made me like Joe Buck," PFT knew they had a special ability to humanize larger-than-life personalities.

While the show often sees a spike in downloads if the guest is big enough, its most loyal listeners keep it near the top of the charts regardless of who's on — notoriety that has led to partnerships with major networks.

During the week of the Super Bowl last year, Barstool's "The Rundown" featuring Katz aired nightly on Comedy Central. Last fall, the "Pardon My Take" team launched the "Barstool Van Talk" on ESPN2, though ESPN canceled it after one show.

The two said those experiences made them how important it is to their fans to not give up creative control, especially amid big changes in the media landscape in the past few years.

Katz and PFT say they're confident they can continue to grow their audience without attaching themselves to a major network — but they wouldn't rule out a partnership that made sense, as long as they maintained creative freedom.

They said they considered themselves extremely lucky that they get to work for an outlet that they say allows for so much creative freedom — something they point to, along with a feeling of community between Barstool employees and their audience, as a reason for their success in the two years since launching the podcast.

And with The Chernin Group's recent investment, there's no reason to believe their success will end anytime soon.

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Tom Brady's teammates on his first Super Bowl team

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Shaq on his love for new tech and how he tried to get Steve Jobs to give him a preview of the iPhone

There's now an easy way to make your own podcast for free and instantly distribute it on iTunes and Spotify

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Anchor

Making a professional-sounding podcast isn't easy. 

Most podcasting how-to guides recommend investing in equipment like microphones, audio-editing software, and portable recorders, not to mention a computer. From there, you'll need to learn a set of new software programs and then hunt down a place to host and distribute your podcast.

If you aren't technologically savvy, setting off to create an audio show might sound a little nightmarish.

Mike Mignano, the co-founder and CEO of Anchor, thought so, too, which is why he created a tool to make the podcast creation process not only easy, but completely free. The only technology you'll need is your phone and Anchor's app (available on both iOS and Android). Not only does the app provide a way to record yourself, it has all the tools with which to seamlessly splice together a phone conversation, musical recordings, sound effects, and more. When you're ready to publish your new audio show, you can easily distribute it from the app to platforms with ready-made audiences like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Overcast, and Stitcher.

Here's how to use Anchor:

SEE ALSO: This couple invented a clever piece of luggage so you'll never have to check your bags again — here's how it works

Here's what Anchor looks like when you open the app.



Just hold your phone up to your ear like you're taking a phone call, and you're ready to record.



Hit any of the bottom buttons to splice in a song, another recording snippet, a phone conversation, or a sound effect.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A public school teacher who reportedly hosts a white nationalist podcast has been removed from the classroom

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Crystal River Middle School

  • A social studies teacher in Florida reportedly hosts a white-nationalist podcast.
  • She has been removed from the classroom as the school investigates.

A Florida middle school teacher who reportedly hosts a white-nationalist podcast has been removed from the classroom, The Huffington Post reported.

Dayanna Volitich, a social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School, had hosted the "Unapologetic" podcast using the pseudonym "Tiana Dalichov," according to The Huffington Post.

On one recent episode of the podcast she argued that certain races were smarter than others and agreed with a guest on the podcast who said that more white supremacists need to teach at public schools.

Volitich also revealed that the principal of the school received complaints from parents that she was adding political bias to lessons.

A Twitter account under the pseudonym Tiana Dalichov has been deactivated, but the account previously shared tweets from avowed white supremacist David Duke, according to The Hill. The account also previously tweeted that terror attacks will continue "until we eradicate [Muslims] from the face of the earth."

After the Huffington Post broke the story, Crystal River removed Volitich from the classroom and an investigation is underway.

SEE ALSO: A 2004 school shooter serving a 20-year sentence wrote a letter in support of the Florida students advocating for gun control

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Henry Blodget: Will arming teachers with guns help stop school shootings?

The 10 best true-crime podcasts for anyone who's obsessed with 'My Favorite Murder'

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my favorite murder

  • My Favorite Murder, which discusses true crime in a comedic way, has been one of the top podcasts since its launch in 2016.
  • Fans of the show may enjoy listening to additional true crime podcasts that are available.
  • Shows such as Up and Vanished, Zealot, and Someone Knows Something are also entertaining dives into the world of true crime.
  • Whether you’re interested in the psychological side of crime, the brilliance of investigative reporting, or simply scaring yourself, there’s a true crime podcast for everyone.

Since its initial launch in 2016, "My Favorite Murder" continually ranks as one of the most popular podcasts on the internet. Fans of the show trust hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark to provide heartfelt, hilarious retellings of the most notorious murders ever.

Equal parts terrifying and hysterical, My Favorite Murder (MFM) is like telling scary stories at a slumber party with your best girlfriends. Karen and Georgia will spend several minutes discussing the details of a ghastly murder, then swerve and discuss anything from pet peeves — such as people who scream when they sneeze — to their love for their pets at length. It’s a perfect balance of gravity and irreverence.  

After you’ve binge-listened to all of MFM’s episodes, though, there are many other podcasts that look at the worst parts of humanity in novel, interesting ways. Really, the world of true crime podcasts is exploding, so listeners are spoiled for choice. As a fellow true crime podcast connoisseur, I have been captivated by all of these shows.

Hopefully you can also enjoy some of these stories while you wait for the next episode of MFM to drop.

Crimetown

The Crimetown podcast looks at the ways organized crime has affected American cities. The first season starts with a profile of Providence, Rhode Island and the many ways it has been shaped by corruption.

Hosts Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier examine crime families, politicians, and their interwoven connections in this fascinating listen.



Criminal

Although the Criminal podcast does examine terrible events, the focus is more on the human story behind the crimes. It isn’t as grisly as many other shows in the genre, so this is a great choice for anyone who shies away from the more shocking stories.

Host Phoebe Judge walks you through some of the more nuanced, complex aspects of true crime stories. For instance, in episode 78: The Botanist, listeners learn more about the world of forensic plant science, and how studying plants can help solve crimes.

Plus, this podcast often examines less flashy crimes that still have major effects on people’s lives. For example, episode 51: The Money Tree examines a case of identity theft and the lasting effects it had on one woman’s credit score, as well as her concept of family.



Cults

If the cult-based episodes of MFM are your favorites, then this is the show for you.

Join hosts Greg and Vanessa as they delve into the history of some of the most notorious cults in the world. It’s a fascinating look at everything from the Ant Hill Kids to The Family, filled with plenty of research and psychological speculation. What drives people to get involved in cults, anyway?

Oh, and don’t let the professional, calm demeanor of the hosts fool you. This podcast goes into some grisly stories, and they don’t skimp on the details.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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