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Hey Reader! I hope you're enjoying the sunny weather like I am. Something a little different, but here's my tweet of the week in case you missed it:

Kieran MacRae @KieranMacRae The graveyard of podcasts is filled with hosts who forgot that podcasting is fun. 2:25 PM • Jul 31, 2024 7 Retweets 31 Likes Read 4 replies

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Follow Your Curiosity

I’ve been coaching my client Adrian through launching his podcast, which you should subscribe to by the way, and he told me some of my advice stood out so I thought I’d share it here.

He was getting ready to begin his first interviews and he asked for any pointers. I told him:

“Follow your curiosity. You can have your questions prepared but don’t live and die by them. If your guest says something surprising or interesting, follow that thread and see where it leads.”

I think this is where a lot of people go wrong in podcasting. What started as fun can become stilted and boring, or the true gems of an interview can never be revealed because the host is just going through the motions.

But it’s through curiosity that podcasting stays vibrant. For the listener, for the guest, and for you as the host.

It’s Better for the Listener

I remember listening to Tim Ferris talking to Will MacAskill back in 2015. Tim Ferris had a recurring question: He would ask his guests what they would put on a billboard.

Will replied with a story about how he would put the billboard outside Bill Gates' house and ask him why he is doing nothing to stop the threat of artificial intelligence. At least that’s the Spark Notes version.

Tim replied. “I did not see that coming. I was planning on wrapping up in the next two minutes, but I can’t let this one go.” And then they had a fascinating conversation about the dangers of human intelligence level AI.

But if Tim wasn’t a curious person he would simply have moved on to the next question and all that potential would have been lost.

Which version do you think the listener prefers?

It’s Better for the Guest

I came across this great quote from the author and podcaster Ryan Holiday talking about how it feels as a podcast guest when the host is going through his prepared questions without much thought:

“They’ll ask you a question, you’ll give an answer and then you can almost hear their eyes scan the paper they have in front of them as they move on to the next question on the list.

It’s disrespectful to the guest, but that’s not my real problem with it. My problem is that it makes for really boring audio. Who wants to listen to someone literally phone something in? Why should you listen to a conversation that the host isn’t even listening to?”

I’m not here to debate the merits of Q&A-style podcasts (Tim Ferris) vs. conversational podcasts (Joe Rogan). You can absolutely have your list of questions and topics to discuss. But if you don’t put in the effort to engage and provide the answers as they come, it’s not fun for the guest.

Alternatively, an engaging and curious conversation with your guest will lead to them having a positive experience. That positive experience will then make them more likely to talk about you, which can lead to a point where guests come to you because they’ve heard how great it is to be a guest on your show.

It’s Better for You Because It’s More Interesting

There’s one surprising benefit of leading with curiosity. You’ll avoid pod fade. The dreaded fading away of passion and interest until your podcast fizzles out and ends with no explanation.

Pod fade comes, I believe, because they are a lot of work. More work than you expect when you start and the result is that something that was once fun, gets turned into a job to do, which can lead to one day not wanting to show up any more.

An antidote to that is curiosity.

Curiosity about evolving the show, reaching for bigger guests, changing the format. Everything about podcasting is more enjoyable when you approach it with curiosity rather than rigidity. Even your podcast marketing is more enjoyable when it starts with curiosity. “I wonder if I could get on to that show as a guest?”

Stay Curious

Curiosity is a skill as much as a mindset. You can practice it in every area of your podcast, and it will start to lead you to interesting places. Your listeners will love it, your guests will love it, and you will love it.

Nothing starts off an interview like the statement. “I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are on…”

Best to you from Scotland,

Kieran MacRae

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