3 professors we can learn from about educational podcasts
Let's say that you are in the corporate or educational space and you want to create content that's a bit more professional, but you also just don't see yourself fitting into TikTok trends and doing Instagram. Like you're exhausted and burned out on what we think of traditionally as social media.
I'm going to share in this video a proven way that you can be on social without being on social and still reap a lot of the same benefits that you're probably looking for.
You know that you need to create some kind of media and have some kind of production process, whether you're putting out Instagram content for your business or making YouTube videos and video podcasts.
I'm going to share three examples. crushing it that are in the educational space that is very well respected and also ranks pretty decent in the charts and are just great examples that I think that you can borrow and gain inspiration from.
And I'm also drawing on my experience, working with a lot of clients that are in this edge of tech space where you get to see how Okay, you can overdo it with the edits, you can give them a lot of emojis, you can make it super colorful with b roll, and still, a lot of times, they want simplicity, they want things to breathe.
They don't want the same vibe, in some ways.
So let's dive in. The three examples that I'm gonna share with you, all of these are professors. They are professors in a given field at pretty big Universities. And they are also interested in a multitude of things aside from, this subject that they might be teaching.
For example, the first person that I'm gonna share with you is Lex Friedman's podcast. I believe that he is a professor in robotics and computer science or engineering or something like that at MIT. And so when you listen to his podcast, you not only get all the respected scientists and businessmen and high performers and people from all walks of life.
Lex Fridman
So Lex Fridman is the number one, right? He's very respected. People want to be on his show. They love his interviewing style. He's genuinely curious and people can feel and appreciate the clips that he puts outright for his podcast, their 10-minute clips. They're not highly crazy edited.
They don't have a lot of crazy stuff going on. It's focused on the content, the meat, the questions and. He will very well bounce between scientists and then somebody who is now a comedian.
Serve one community while also being okay, like, hey, not every episode I put out. You're going to hate the one with the comedian, but like, all the comedians are going to love this, and they hate the ones with the science sometimes, right?
And there's a crossover, but like, Lex and these scientists have done a masterful job at basically weaving together multiple communities in a show that you would just expect to be boring and about science, right? Which, speaking of.
2. Dr. Andrew Huberman
Number two, Dr. Andrew Huberman. He is making science accessible. If you don't know, he's the host of the Huberman Lab.
Podcast. He's a professor out of Stanford and likes ophthalmology and neurobiology or neuroscience. I think he's a smart dude. And when you listen to his podcast, they feel like lectures that you're getting for free from Stanford, right? I mean, even though it's not connected with Stanford because he teaches there, he has that he's earned his stripes.
He has tons of papers out there. Like not everything he says is maybe fact or true, right? Or you should just take it as that. I'm talking about the experience that you feel tuning in to a podcast with him, right? You feel like you're getting this world-class education for free, and it's such a steal.
What's important to even note about his show is how he keeps it focused on the content. There might be times when he shares stories and things like that about himself, but he's very focused if there's a guest, he's very focused on the guest and shining the light on them and extracting as much of their knowledge with that scientific POV.
It's very important to note that when he did this podcast solo So this is the format that my third person is gonna show you as well many many professors who start podcasts do it solo Right because they want to deliver that lecture-styled feel they want to be able to connect with their audience They already have a bunch of Q& A's.
They already have students who are giving them maybe raw material They can talk about and discuss what they have access to already. They don't always need the guest, to be entertaining or to help them grow the show.
So Dr. Andrew Huberman was actually, it was like that in the beginning. Each episode was a dense episode on something scientific and answered things in a very practical way that we could use day to day.
Then he eventually. So I had guests on as well.
3. Cal Newport
But the third person I will share with you is Cal Newport. Cal Newport is a famous author and professor. He's written the book Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You.
If you wanted a productivity guy who had the lens of a professor, and you could resonate with his lifestyle.
You could resonate with them, he doesn't like to be on social. I don't like to be on social either. How's he doing his thing, right? How's he making it work? He's still doing podcasts. That's what I found fascinating. And Cal Newport will talk about this in certain episodes where he's using each episode as a chance to connect with his audience.
He's investing money and time into the studio and sitting down and recording it. Ever since the inception of his podcast. I've seen how he shared the clips in a very simplistic manner, similar to Dr. Andrew Huberman and similar to Lex Fridman. Because the focus is on information, and it's on providing value through that.
Dr. Andrew Huberman could sound like he knows what he's talking about all the time, but he doesn't always do that. He comes at it from like a, well, keep this in mind also, as he gives you a balanced response.
And so it goes to show, like, you don't need to be a know it or a professor to be conducting these kinds of things.
You need to be curious. That's the commonality among all of these professors that are crushing it and I'll throw in a fourth one in there for you.
4. Adam Grant
Adam Grant. He's a psychology professor at UPenn and has had epic books out as well where he's been writing for years. He's been sharing his work outside of the classroom in ways and he also is doing kind of a podcast tour.
He's doing the thing which I love with new books. I like to watch interviews with the author about the book after the book has come out. Usually, that's when they're doing these podcast tours.
But they reveal so much, this afterthought process of like, what they learned, the feedback that they're getting now that they're done the book, now that they can, actually reflect like, what are they sharing with us?
So I hope this was useful in extracting a few elements that are common amongst these professors and how they're using it in a very educational format and space.
They do know what they're talking about, but they also come at it with some humility that makes you want to listen to them, even though they are professors and they know what they're talking about and they have these fancy degrees.
So whether it is their studio setup, whether it is the structure and format of their show, whether it is their distribution strategy that you appreciate, I'm curious to know what's one of your favorite educational podcasts or YouTube channels. And if you're a fan of any of the professors I mentioned, drop a comment.
I'd love to hear what you think.
And if you do feel inspired by their strategies, because I know I do, I love seeing that that's also working when there are other productivity YouTubers that have a different editing style, totally different point of view. Different everything and I love both but sometimes I'm in the mood to watch this one and other times I'm in a mood or season to watch the other one.
So I hope doing this little overview on each of their shows and what kind of stands out to me about them has Unlocked the possibility in your mind of how you can do your own and if you're looking for free resources, or you're looking for ways to accelerate your launch process and make something for yourself that you can Use to learn to learn about topics that you're interested in and contribute to the body of knowledge contribute to the community that you're probably also really consuming things from.
So make sure to check out the resources in the description below there are a ton of tools that I think you might find useful especially if you are in the early stages of getting started with the launch of your show.
