The world of learning and development (L&D) is ever-evolving. L&D practitioners always have new innovations to explore and experiment with, and keeping a finger on the pulse may seem challenging for many professionals.
Podcasts offer an easy solution to stay updated with trends, strategies, and best practices to deepen your understanding of corporate L&D, all through listening to experts discuss L&D in a laidback environment.
We’ve curated this list of the 21 best L&D podcasts to subscribe. Let’s get started.
1. The Digital Adoption Show
The Digital Adoption Show is Whatfix’s biweekly podcast that covers a simple goal: to help organizations maximize the ROI from their human resources. The podcast hosts some of the most prominent thought leaders in the HR and L&D space to discuss successful strategies and execution roadmaps for improving digital adoption at various organizations.
- Featuring: Kelly Palmer, CLO of Degreed
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Why Adaptive Learning Is What the Future Workplace Needs with Kelly Palmer
2. L&D Plus: A Collaborative Learning Podcast
L&D Plus is a podcast by 360Learning focused on exploring the idea of a collaborative approach to L&D. Every episode includes an interview with the L&D leaders from top companies, like Spendesk, Animalz, Amplitude, and more. It digs deep into questions around what makes a learning partnership successful, individual case studies, and the challenges that come in the way of making L&D a team sport.
- Hosted by: David James
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Spendesk: How can you turn subject-matter experts into content creators
3. The Learning Leader Show
The Learning Leader Show shares inspiring life stories of some of the biggest thought leaders around the world—like athletes, entrepreneurs, business coaches, best-selling authors, and CEOs. Every episode walks you through the guest’s life, revealing the driving factors behind their success. One of the all-time best-sellers on Apple Podcast, the show promises valuable lessons for L&D professionals.
- Hosted by: Ryan Hawk
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Jimmy Soni—An Indispensable Guide to Innovation, Curiosity, and Leadership
4. The Overnight Trainer
The Overnight Trainer is the brainchild of a seasoned L&D coach, Sarah Cannistra. Designed as a go-to guide for beginners in the L&D space, this podcast gives listeners a thorough primer on how to start and scale a learning partnership. She also hosts learning leaders to uncover their journeys and explore training challenges.
- Hosted by: Sarah Cannistra
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Getting Started with L&D Entrepreneurship
5. The eLearning Coach
The eLearning Coach shares actionable strategies on diverse topics within the L&D space—such as cognitive psychology and social media learning—with a core focus on instructional design. The podcast features experts from different industries—designers, authors, professors, and developers. Its key objective is to give listeners a detailed guide on creating meaningful digital experiences.
- Hosted by: Connie Malamed
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: The Evolution to Learning Experience Design
6. Learning While Working Podcast
The Learning While Working Podcast explores how the world of L&D is changing with new technology and trends. The podcast interviews L&D thought leaders to understand their views on performance-driven instructional design, digital learning, and learning data. These episodes collectively create a value-packed guide for L&D professionals to improve and scale learning partnerships.
- Hosted by: Sprout Labs
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: The link between learning design and habit design with Britt Andreatta
7. The Learning Geeks
The Learning Geeks dives deep into learning to understand the impact of various advanced approaches. The podcast gets its name from the trio of learning professionals who created it and the perfect mix of learning and fun it offers to geeks. Every episode features a guest, some games, and banter to deliver an enjoyable experience.
- Hosted by: Bob Gerard, Dana Koch, and Jake Gittleson
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Embracing Learner Agency
8. L&D Go Beyond Podcast
The L&D Go Beyond Podcast collects and delivers insights from a global perspective. Each episode hosts seasoned L&D leaders to consolidate their knowledge on different sides of corporate training and learning. The podcast covers various topics, such as chatbots in workplace training, design thinking for learner engagement, and learning ecosystems.
- Hosted by: Amit Garg
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: AI and The Upskilling Imperative for L&D, with Maria Leggett
9. The Learning Hack
The Learning Hack podcast positions itself in the middle of people and technology to explore the future of learning. It hosts leading professionals and L&D experts to understand the ins and outs of learning partnerships, what challenges face the changing industry, and the factors that matter.
- Hosted by: John Helmer
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Showtime! A Report from Learning Technologies 2022
10. The HR L&D Podcast
The HR L&D Podcast by the JGA Recruitment Group curates the best advice for learning professionals to drive the company’s performance through an L&D program. This weekly podcast hosts HR and L&D leaders discussing the best practices for organizational development, performance and training, recruitment, and strategy. The show is also backed by Think Learning, dedicated to creating safer workspaces.
- Hosted by: Nick Day
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: How Leaders can Trust and Inspire with Stephen Covey
11. The Mind Tools L&D Podcast
The Mind Tools L&D Podcast combines learning with humor to bring insights from HR and L&D leaders every week. The podcast dives into the depths of the learning and development space to offer actionable solutions for challenges organizations commonly face. The four-member host team translates its years of experience into value-packed interviews with all the guests.
- Hosted by: Gemma Towersey, Ross Dickie, Owen Ferguson, and Ross Garner
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: How to grow your people
12. The Learning Xchange
The Learning Xchange is an avenue for L&D professionals to discuss the best practices, core challenges, and future of talent management. The podcast is hosted by the CEO of Schoox, a learning management system for developing talent within an organization. It includes a mix of interview and commentary-style episodes to let people exchange and deliberate over relevant ideas.
- Hosted by: Matthew Brown
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Vulnerability, Authenticity, and Partnership in Employee Experience
13. Learning Uncut
Learning Uncut is a fortnightly podcast presenting chosen guests’ real-life experiences and stories. As the name indicates, each episode is an unscripted and candid conversation about the biggest roadblocks and innovations in the L&D space.
- Hosted by: Michelle Ockers
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Celebrating 100 episodes: Five Powerful L&D Insights
14. The Learning & Development Podcast
The Learning & Development Podcast is a fortnightly series where David James discusses the most critical issues in the world of learning. He also interviews L&D practitioners and leaders from leading organizations to uncover some tried-and-tested strategies. James brings over 20 years of experience in the L&D sector from his diverse career worldwide.
- Hosted by: David James
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Product Management in L&D with Anne-Marie Burbidge
15. The Business of Learning
The Business of Learning is a series of podcasts exploring the correlation between business performance and human capital development. The podcast by TrainingIndustry.com features guests with expertise in organizational learning and research experience in corporate training. It also offers a lens into experiential learning, diversity and inclusion, and ROI of learning.
- Hosted by: Training Industry
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: How to Measure and Maximize the Impact of Training
16. All Hands
All Hands is a bimonthly podcast featuring some of the biggest names from various verticals, like Gary Vaynerchuck and Alexis Ohanian. The podcast reflects host Katelin Holloway’s people-first ideology and attempts to enable more business leaders to create an ecosystem of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
- Hosted by: Katelin Holloway
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: There’s No Shortcutting Your Company Culture, with Katie Burke of HubSpot
17. The Future of Learning Podcast
The Future of Learning Podcast looks at a single question: what will the future of corporate L&D look like? The podcast approaches this question from multiple angles featuring its guests’ diverse viewpoints. It also strategically offers meaningful solutions to maximize the return on investment for learning programs.
- Hosted by: Lloyd Dean
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Gamification Science: Dr David Chandross
18. Leading the Future of Work
Leading the Future of Work is a weekly podcast by Jacob Morgan where he interacts with leading thinkers, authors, and business leaders to get their take on the future of work. The podcast features prominent guests like Yuval Harari, Stephen M. R. Covey, and David Allen. You’ll find some food for thought on various topics, like digital body language, personal development, and organizational learning.
- Hosted by: Jacob Morgan
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Leadership & Vulnerability Lessons From A Former US Navy SEAL
19. HR Happy Hour
HR Happy Hour is one of the longest-running radio shows, now available as a podcast. The show addresses different aspects of HR management and learning partnerships through industry commentary and interviews. You’ll generally hear from practitioners, academics, consultants, and business leaders.
- Hosted by: Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: How Scheduling Impacts Employee Mental Health and Work-Life Balance
20. Learning at Large
The Learning at Large Podcast delves deep into the behind-the-scenes L&D strategies of the most successful organizations. With every episode, host Simon Greany addresses pressing issues in the HR world and delivers feasible solutions to tackle these challenges.
- Hosted by: Simon Greany
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: Building a robust learning ecosystem ready for future challenges
21. Mind the Skills Gap
The Mind the Skills Gap podcast explores the barriers to learning transfer and how to overcome them. Stella Collins, the neuroscience for learning guru and co-founder of Stellar Labs is joined by some of the brightest minds in L&D. They share stories, evidence-based insights and practical advice to help listeners design and deliver learning in a way that takes people from knowing – to doing.
- Hosted by: Stella Collins
- Listen on Spotify: Here
- Our favorite episode: How L&D can start using AI to power performance [with Donald Clark]
Find expert insights at your fingertips
Podcasts are your secret weapon if you’re too busy to read blogs or can’t concentrate enough to complete a book. Listen to these 20 handpicked podcasts to build your awareness about the ins and outs of L&D strategy. Learn from leaders’ real-life experiences and experiments to scale your program.
Bookmark this roundup of the 20 best L&D podcasts for the next time you need actionable advice on tackling any challenges in your learning framework – and subscribe to the Digital Adoption Show’s podcast to keep up with L&D best practices, news, and trends on Spotify or its website now!