Who are you and what is your podcast about?

My name is Bruce Whitfield. I am a nosy sod who has worked as a financial journalist and broadcaster for 25 years challenging business leaders, founders and policymakers live on radio about their decisions.

It struck me that if the world was to have just one more podcast, it should be about learning from those who successfully make complex, high quality decisions from which I distil key lessons for my audience to help them make better choices.

We all make thousands of decisions everyday ranging from the mundanity of what to wear, what to have for lunch, the words we utter, the ideas we act on, to what brands we consume. Plus of course, there are those life-altering calls around our relationships or where we should live, work and spend our lives.

Why did you decide to start The Art of Deciding?

I am fascinated by brilliant people. I have a deep curiosity about what makes those who are the most successful in their fields great at what they do. I have learned that it all boils down to the quality of their decision making, the trade-offs they are prepared to make and the risks they will take in order to bring an idea or project to fruition. The Art of Deciding is about drawing lessons from those people and challenging ourselves to think more deeply about the decisions we make.

The Art of Deciding host, Bruce Whitfield

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

The News Quiz! It was hosted by Sandi Toksvig who uttered the immortal line: “…and the Tories who have put the ‘n’ into cuts….” I was hooked. I know it was a radio show that became a podcast but it was the first time that I became aware that there was a new way of sharing audio content via smartphones on demand and that it was going to change everything.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

I love great storytelling – I found Stephen Fry’s Seven Deadly Sins captivating. I enjoy Dan Snow’s approach to history, the depth of “The Rest is…” series and the choreographed madness of No Such Thing as a Fish. There is so much really good, focussed work by specialists in their field available, but those are great examples of professionals sharing their brilliance.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

That depends on what you want. and no, that is not a cop out.

The content on The Art of Deciding podcast is massively diverse and each episode is connected to the others via the single golden thread of decision making.

In episode one, the Jack Reacher creator Lee Child explains why he moulded his hero in the way that he did, why he chose to “write a bestseller” instead of following his ex TV colleagues into new jobs doing the same thing as they always had. His is a story of courage in the face of disaster. It also contains a vital parable around the myth of job security. His biggest decision was to create his own income stream without being beholden to the vagaries of corporate life.

Sharmadean Read is also all about self belief and the power of implementing your own ideas and your ability to execute those in a unique way.

Former Bank of England chairman Sir Brad Fried’s desire to expand his global horizons and how the decision to pick up the phone to the most respected man on Wall Street at the time, changed his life. What is the worst that could have happened if he had asked for help and had been rejected?

Lee Child at Bouchercon XLI, 2010. Photograph: Mark Coggins (CC by 2.0)

Lord Karan Bilimoria’s decision to break with a long family tradition of joining the Indian army led to the creation of Cobra beer. He is a big believer in serendipity. Some might call it luck; but his definition: “Serendipity is seeing what everyone else sees, but thinking what no one else has thought,” is a key differentiator between those who always seem to be in the right place at the right time and those who wonder how they do it.

So often we make decisions from a position of fear or insecurity, and invariably that makes us more risk averse than perhaps we can afford to be. Having options, and calculating the odds in the knowledge that no decision is ever likely to be perfect is preferable to leaving our lives to chance.

As former world poker champion Liv Boree tells us, it is all about rational decision making – she describes rationality as a dance between intuition and logic – and what is intuition but the result of our experience which shapes the way we approach new situations?

We’ve all watched police dramas with interrogators hammering their fists on a table with paper cups of half drunk “coffee” as they have sought to badger confessions out of suspects. Former police superintendent Asbjorn Rachlew, charged with overseeing the interrogation of mass murderer Anders Breijvik is revolutionising the way police question suspects – insisting they take nothing at face value. Ever. “What if the opposite is true?” is his mantra. It’s an approach all of us can use when making a big decision. We vote for our favourite candidate based on their campaign promises – can we live with our call if they prove disappointing?

Any one of the episodes is a perfectly good entry point to the series, and series two, poised for the new year, includes one of the most successful West End producers of this generation, a world leading expert on how to decide who does and does not remain within your inner circle, and a wonderful discussion about whether AI is going to make it easier or harder for us to make decisions that will serve us well.

Are there any decision-making tips or skills mentioned by your guests that have particularly stood out to you?

Brad Fried: Never allow yourself to be in a position where you are forced to make a decision, which if it does not work out, can break you, financially, emotionally or reputationally.

Lee Child: Be wary of being timid. His biggest regrets stem from being fearful about taking big decisions as a younger man. Ironic, considering his biggest was sitting down to write a book he hoped would be a bestseller rather than find a safer, salaried job.

Sharmadean Reid: Back yourself, but also never launch anything new until you have done proper market research. Never stop asking questions. You do not know everything, no matter how smart and connected you think you are.

Karan Bilimoria: Fortune favours the brave. Trust serendipity, provided of course you are able to think what no-one else is thinking when presented with an opportunity, using precisely the same dry facts.

Liv Boree: Suspend emotion. Focus on the facts. And never, ever, allow your emotions to get the better of you at critical inflection points in life.

Asbjorn Rachlew: Keep an open mind. Mind your own incentives, emotions and beliefs, they can often cloud your judgement.

What do you hope listeners will gain from listening to your podcast?

They will learn that there is no such thing as a perfect decision. Everything worthwhile requires a trade-off of some kind. They will also learn that it’s perfectly acceptable and even essential to own up to a bad call and deal with it sooner rather than later. They will learn to keep an open mind at all times and realise that the moment you make a decision, every assumption and piece of information you used to reach your conclusion, is already out of date. It doesn’t provide an opt-out and leave critical outcomes to chance, it just means that you should never allow yourself to be boxed into a corner where you are forced to choose a least-worst outcome rather than what is best for you. Lee Child speaks about decision making as a writer: “When you have a blank sheet in front of you, you have endless possibilities, the moment you write a single line, you have reduced the number of potential outcomes considerably.” The same is true for any decision you make. Your viable options reduce each time you make a decision.

Who would be your dream guest for The Art of Deciding?

Give me a break! I have had six, but if there was to be one more…it seems too easy to say Elon Musk…how about Salman Rushdie on forgiveness…but also Richard Shotton, Nuala Walsh, Annie Duke, Adam Grant, Gary Kasparov, Brené Brown, Steven Levitt, Dan Ariely, Angela Duckworth, Malcolm Gladwell…right now, just one? Would have to be Rushdie, followed by all the others and I wouldn’t be picky about the order.

If you could go back to just before you recorded the first episode of your podcast and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be? Are there any decisions that you would change?

Trust the process. The concept is strong. The guests are brilliant. Stay insanely curious…That’s lots of one things…Trust the process, understand it will take longer than you hope, cost more than you want, but that the end result is non-negotiable. It’s a massively competitive landscape. You are asking potential listeners to give you some of their most valuable and finite commodity: time. Respect that. One thing: Focus on making it great.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you/the podcast?

www.brucewhitfield.com is the central repository for all information into the World of Bruce.

Listen to The Art of Deciding on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other popular podcast apps >>

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What inspired you to start The Starting Line podcast, and how has your podcasting journey evolved since your very first episode?

I spotted a gap in the podcast market for straight white men in their thirties and just ran at it, before anybody else could have the same idea.

In seriousness, the show is a love letter to my family, and a message to people that no matter where we start in life, and what challenges we face – and we all will, we can do and achieve amazing things. God, I sound properly bleeding heart, don’t I?

The first episode was with Levi Roots, and since then – he showed up in a three piece suit, dripping with gold, and I was in shorts and a t-shirt, looking like a toddler who’d been allowed to dress himself for the day – I’d like to think I’ve been able to forget the mics and the cameras, and really just get to who each guest is, why they are who they are, and have fun in the process. I’ve loved every second of it.

You’ve had some fantastic guests on the show so far – who has been your favourite or most memorable guest, and why?

I’m going to have to pick splinters out of my backside here and say – I honestly don’t have a favourite. Some have made more of a splash than others, as with Brian Cox, but how lucky am I?

It’s been the biggest pleasure to sit and get to know these incredible people and share our conversations. What I will say is – I think I’ve cracked the code of what makes a successful person. It’s not a drive to earn money, beyond financial security. It’s these two things: I’m-going-to-learn-like-I’ll-live-forever curiosity, and unadulterated obsession.

Brian Cox and Rich Leigh

Being shortlisted for the Independent Podcast Awards is a huge achievement! How did it feel to get that recognition, and what do you think sets The Starting Line apart from other shows?

I’m god-awful at feeling proud of myself for various reasons, but to have a group of people far better versed in podcasting than me take a subjective look at something I’d created and respond positively made my entire week.

As for what I think sets it apart – I create it as if it will be watched or listened to by millions, in the hope it one day will be. I research like I’m at a cork board with pins and string, trying to solve a murder. I listen to and watch as much as I can of everything my guests have done, and I write notes I memorise, and know I might not even use.

The production quality has to be as perfect as can be, and I try to move heaven and earth to speak to the best and most interesting, entertaining, and inspiring guests. When all that is done, the conversation is the easy, fun part.

As you look back on your podcasting journey, what challenges have you faced, and how have you overcome them to keep the show growing?

Everybody that’s ever published even one episode of a podcast will tell you – the main issue is discoverability.

I’ve worked in public relations for almost seventeen years now, and that has its advantages. I could have the best, most incredible episode – but if nobody listens or watches, I’m wasting time, money and effort. So, I aim to spend about as much time promoting each episode as we do producing it.

Short form content creation is an art, and I’m scratching the surface of being anywhere near good at it, relying on colleagues that are far smarter than me. Combining that with other aspects of promotion is essential.

Rich with Ellie Simmonds, Wynne Evans, James Cracknell

Your podcast explores the stories behind people’s personal and professional starts –has any guest’s story particularly resonated with or inspired you?

In terms of inspiring me – who people are, and why they are who they are, is hugely inspiring, so every conversation lights a fire under me. That said, I do have an answer here.

I’d say that Robin Ince has had the biggest lasting impact on me. I volunteered to be his taxi to the nearby Cheltenham Science Festival after our chat, in which I’d mentioned that I was thinking about how to go from good to great with the podcast, and I talked about branding. Robin asked if I’d read the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling, in which Rosling says ‘I’m not an optimist, I’m a possiblist’, and said that on the basis of our two-to-three hour conversation, he thought that applied to me. That’s really got me thinking.

With the new series coming up, what can listeners expect? Are there any exciting guests or themes we should be looking forward to?

This answer follows on nicely from the last.

Listeners and viewers can expect similar conversations, where I’m very happy to be the curious and excitable idiot in the room, with amazing guests. The difference will be a slight reframing, which will possibly come with a name change and rebrand.

I believe the show is good, but I want it to be great. The guests deserve the biggest audiences, and I want to have the biggest, most positive impact I can too – and given I’m not a celebrity with a big, existing audience, branding matters hugely here.

Levi Roots, Robin Ince

What advice would you give to someone just starting their own podcast, based on your experiences with The Starting Line?

I think, on reflection, it’s to stay consistent. If you set a scheduled day of release, respect your audience enough to stick to it.

And more than that – have fun doing it. It’s like when you play sport as a kid – you did that for free because you enjoyed it, and only a few people will realistically ‘make’ it. So, while pointing in the direction of having a successful show and getting better as you do it is important, if you’re not enjoying it, would big numbers change that?

Huge thanks to Pod Bible and the Independent Podcast Awards!

Listen to The Starting Line on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other popular podcast apps and watch on YouTube >>

Follow The Starting Line on Instagram and X/Twitter to be the first to know when the new series is launching! 

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Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

We’re Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg, and together we host How To Be Fine, a show about feeling better, not perfect. All this season, we’re tackling the sometimes thorny subject of friendship – from how to make friends and how to maintain long-distance friendships, to how to deal with conflict and even how to break up with BFFs. On some episodes we talk with experts. And in alternate episodes we serve as the show’s friendship guinea pigs, trying out the advice of our experts while recording ourselves.

What’s the first podcast you ever listened to?

It was probably This American Life for both of us!

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

Jolenta is a comedian who wanted to make her own content and tell her own stories so podcasting seemed like a natural fit. Meanwhile, Kristen got thrust into it 15+ years ago. She was working as culture producer at a public radio show and was asked to start hosting a podcast. A few years later, when they were each between podcasts, Jolenta invited Kristen to start hosting a show with her, and they’ve been doing it ever since.

Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

We love any podcasts where the hosts have smart takes on what otherwise may seem like dumb subjects – reality TV, tabloid news, celebrity memoirs, and so on. We believe that those “dumb subjects” tell us a lot about what we value as a society. They’re also fun!

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

Definitely Dolly Parton. We adore everything about her! Her creativity, her entrepreneurial spirit, her altruism, her joy, her vulnerability, and her work ethic. She truly makes the world a better place.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

We don’t have to be perfect. In fact, our listeners tend to like us best when we’re being vulnerable, stumbling, and learning along with them.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

The first episode of our series on the Loneliness Epidemic is a great place to start.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

You can follow us on Instagram at @howtobefinepod. You can also listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite shows.

Listen to How To Be Fine on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other popular podcast apps >>

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The topics discussed in BRKIN Bread are wide-ranging. From colourism and Idris Elba, to Arsenal or Manchester United, and asking ‘Should Ukrainian refugees be sent to Rwanda?’ the conversations are feeding curiosity. Meanwhile, host Sabrina feeds her guest, making these episodes an insight to a dinner-party with a difference.

Who are you, and what’s your podcast about?

I am the Founder of Lateral Theory, an independent digital media company where difference creates. I created, produce and host BRKIN Bread. BRKIN Bread is an audio-visual podcast for the hungry mind. I invite dinner guests to dine and debate over a three-course African or Caribbean meal expertly curated by a Chef. My guests do not know each other or topics until they are at the BRKIN Bread table. BRKIN Bread is about the art of conversation and demonstrates we can disagree without being disagreeable. All opinions, politically correct or counter-cultural, are welcome at my table.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Revisionist History

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

When I discovered podcasting as a medium, I knew it would be the future. I also know that I have a perspective and a voice that is uniquely mine and creates a space for dialogue, debate, and education, for which podcasting provides an avenue. As an outlier, podcasting gives me the opportunity to explore and stretch my creativity while edutaining. As a Founder, I get to create jobs and support local businesses, which is essential to how I operate.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

At the moment, The Shop UNINTERRUPTED.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

For BRKIN Bread, this would be a table. To have a spicy conversation, my table would be Michelle Obama, Trevor Noah, JK Rowling, Andrew Tate, Piers Morgan.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

This is like asking if I have a favourite child. All episodes are a perfect introduction to BRKIN Bread. Tune into any episode, and you will get a flavour.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

You can find out more about me at sabrinaverse.com. You can catch BRKIN Bread on all audio platforms and on YouTube @lateraltheory.

Listen to Brkin Bread: For The Hungry Mind on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular apps, or watch the conversations on YouTube >>

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