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Seven Savvy Podcasts for Stakeholder Engagement Specialists


As a senior fellow and comms advisor to Future 500, I’m fortunate to work with a bunch of exceptionally talented and informed people in the stakeholder engagement world. 

Officially, Future 500 is a non-profit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Unofficially, this funny, deeply informed, very skilled team helps diverse organizations step out of their echo chambers and seek common ground. 

Since starting my own production a few months back – details below – I’ve had podcasts on the brain. I thought it would be fun to ping my Future 500 colleagues and find out what shows they are listening to as they work out, commute, and generally tool around San Francisco, Portland, and Vancouver. 

Here, in no particular order, are a few on-demand audio productions that help the Future 500 team current on climate, campaigns – and comedy!

1. Innovation Forum

“Timely, insightful segments. Hosts regularly bring in thought leaders from the corporate sustainability space, but also don't shy away from the perspectives of NGOs and campaigners. They really understand the corporate-NGO dynamic, and tease out valuable insights at that nexus.” Kellen Klein, Senior Manager, Stakeholder Engagement

2. Sustainability Defined

“A crash course—really very accessible, but still meaty. The hosts [Jay Siegel and Scott Breen, above] tackle a single topic per episode, so it’s ideal for those newer to the space or who want to learn more about a particular issue or opportunity such as the circular economy.” Andreea Rodinciuc, Analyst, Stakeholder Engagement

3. Podship Earth

“Jared Blumenfeld provides newsy updates and conversations that shed light on subjects and issues at the heart of stakeholder engagement—such as microfibers, Brexit, media handling of climate change, and grassroots movements. He’s a former Obama-administration EPA regional administrator and founded the Business Council on Climate Change, and also logged time at NRDC. So yeah, he’s in the loop.” Erik Wohlgemuth, Chief Operating Officer

4. Warm Regards

“Nuanced, engaging, casual climate conversations, from different angles, featuring great guests. Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine, co-hosts with Andrew Revkin—creator of the late great New York Times Dot.Earth blog, and current strategic adviser for environmental and science journalism at the National Geographic Society.” Gavriella Keyles, Manager, Stakeholder Engagement

5. Sustainababble

“An environmentally themed comic podcast ‘for and by the confused.’ A bit scritchy-scratchy in places, much like the young unapologetically daft British co-hosts [Ol and Dave, above] but good fun.” Clara Salter, Communications Coordinator

6. Global GoalsCast

“British-American Journalist Edie Lush [seen here with her recent Media for Social Impact Award from the United Nations] and inclusion advocate Claudia Romo Edelman co-host this lively United Nations-backed program that chats with experts on issues closely linked to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It keeps me up to speed on empowering millennial influencers on issues such as migration, gender equity, education, sanitation, climate and others.” Erik Wohlgemuth, Chief Operating Officer

7. 3Things.Energy

Finally, please check out my own production, 3Things.Energy, which offers plain-language conversations, on-demand, on the leading energy solutions to climate change. And let me know what you think!

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.


Future 500 is a non-profit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Based in San Francisco, we specialize in stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and responsible communication. From stakeholder mapping to materiality assessments, partnership development to activist engagement, target setting to CSR reporting strategy, we empower our partners with the skills and relationships needed to systemically tackle today's most pressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.

Want to learn more? Reach out any time.

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