Manager Tools

Manager Tools is the podcast your manager's manager probably listened to. Running since the early days of podcasting, it has accumulated 945 episodes, won Best Business Podcast four times, and maintains a 4.6 rating from over 1,200 reviews. The show takes a radically practical approach to management. Instead of big-picture leadership philosophy, you get step-by-step instructions for specific situations: how to run a one-on-one, how to handle a hiring mistake, how to give feedback using the show's signature model. Multi-part series break complex topics into manageable chunks across several episodes. The show also maintains a "Hall of Fame" collection of foundational episodes that new listeners should tackle first. The delivery divides opinion. Some listeners love the methodical, no-nonsense style. Others find the pacing slow and the introductions lengthy. The content itself is almost universally praised as actionable and grounded in real management experience. This is not a show about being inspired. It is a show about being competent. For new managers especially, the specificity is invaluable. Instead of being told to "communicate better," you get exact scripts and timing for when to have which conversation. That level of tactical detail is surprisingly hard to find elsewhere in the leadership podcast space.