Culture, jazz and decision-making: The Economist's "Boss Class" podcast on management returns with season two

Andrew Palmer presents a second season of the podcast, drawing lessons from people who actually run things, featuring Lars Jorgensen (Novo Nordisk), Michelle Gass (Levi's), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell) and Liz Reid (Google)

LONDON, May 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today The Economist released the second season of "Boss Class", a limited-series podcast on leadership and management that distills advice and experience from CEOs, academics and other leaders.

Boss Class is hosted by Andrew Palmer, author of Bartleby, The Economist's column on work that digs into the latest research and provides advice and solace for managers, as they attempt to understand what makes their workers tick.

The series's fifteen episodes will feature three formats: six thematic episodes, six leader interviews and three company profiles. Interviewees include Lars Jorgensen (Novo Nordisk), Michelle Gass (Levi's), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell) and Liz Reid (Google), amongst others.

"The secrets of good management can be learned. Last season we learned how to hire, how to run a team and how to conduct a successful meeting," said Palmer. "This season, we find out about innovation from Google's head of search, corporate culture from the boss of Novo Nordisk and decision-making from the CEO of Levi Strauss. We hear what jazz has to teach bosses about crisis management, how a ransomware negotiator goes about his work and whether a podcast host can maintain his dignity during a presentation training session. (Spoiler alert: he can't.)"

To mark the latest season, The Economist is putting season one of Boss Class in front of the paywall for a limited time. The Economist is also launching a weekly newsletter that gives subscribers direct access to the Bartleby columnist, and an exclusive extra helping of practical advice on the many pitfalls of office life.

"Boss Class" is the fifth limited series created for Economist Podcasts+, The Economist's podcast subscription. Subscribers to The Economist and Economist Podcasts+ will have exclusive access to the entire series. The first two episodes and the first company profile will be available to non-subscribers. The entire series can be found here.

"Boss Class" is the latest podcast to join The Economist's stable of shows that showcase the breadth and originality of its journalism. Today the portfolio includes:

• The Intelligence, a daily podcast on global news
• The Weekend Intelligence, a weekly exploration of stories beyond the news
• Checks and Balance, a weekly podcast on American politics
• Money Talks, a weekly show on markets, the economy and business
• Babbage, a weekly podcast on science and technology
• Drum Tower, a weekly podcast on China
• The Prince, a limited series on the ambitions of China's leader, Xi Jinping
• Next Year in Moscow, a limited series on Russia's future
• The Modi Raj, a limited series on India's prime minister, Narendra Modi
• Boss Class, a limited series on leadership and management
• Scam Inc, a limited series on the multi-billion dollar industry of online scams
• Boom!, a limited series on how a generation blew up American politics
• The World in Brief, a news briefing on the global agenda
• Editor's Picks, essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist

About The Economist
With rigorous reporting, in-depth analysis and global perspective, The Economist explains today's most important events and seeks to discern the trends that will shape the future. In addition to the weekly print edition, The Economist publishes its journalism daily through its website, app, podcasts, newsletters, videos and Espresso, an app for concise global news. The Economist has 1.2m subscribers. More than 60m people follow The Economist across X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok and Threads.

SOURCE The Economist