Frequently Asked Questions - Podcasts

Podcasts are radio shows or other audio programs available for download over the Internet and can be transferred to your portable media player or smartphone. The maker of a podcast, called a podcaster, often updates their podcast with a series of episodes that you can subscribe to and receive automatically without any additional effort.

The easiest way to get our free podcasts is to download our app. You can get an android version here and an iOS version here.

There are many other podcast "catchers" available, and you can simply search for Manager Tools and Career Tools. If you need the RSS feeds, you can find those here.

You can listen our podcasts in multiple ways.

• You can listen directly from our website. Choose a podcast from the Map of the Universe or any podcast webpage, and once you click on the podcast title, you'll be taken to a page with a player. Just click play.
• The easiest way to get our podcasts on your mobile device is to download our app. You can get an android version here and an iOS version here.
• There are many other podcast "catchers" available - you'll find them on the app store for your device - and you can simply search for Manager Tools and Career Tools. If you need the RSS feeds, you can find those here .

The audio and shownotes for Executive Tools™ are only available to Manager Tools Licensees. To find out more about the benefits and to become a Licensee, click here.

If you are a Licensee, you can find your personal feed for Executive Tools on your user profile.

The easiest way to get our podcasts is to download our app. You can get an android version here and an iOS version here.

There are many other podcast "catchers" available, and you can simply search for Manager Tools and Career Tools. If you need the RSS feeds, you can find those here.

Our normal podcast feed only contains the most recent podcasts. If you are a registered member (sign up for free), you can add the Archive Feed, which contains ALL the Manager Tools podcasts. At this time, the standard Careers Tools feed contains all the Career Tools podcasts. You can also find all the podcasts on this page.

You can find all our podcasts on the Map of the Universe or all podcasts pages.

Subscribe to the Manager Tools Archive Feed in iTunes

Subscribe to the Career Tools Feed in iTunes

No. We recommend it for easiest use, but you may also play any of our podcasts on that cast's webpage on our website.

The Manager Tools feeds in the podcast format are provided free of charge for use by individuals for personal, non-commercial use.
 
Use of all Manager Tools podcasts are subject to our Terms of Use.

If you're looking for information about a particular topic, use the Get Answers page.  If you're more of a visual thinker, use the Map of the Universe - there's a link at the top of each page.

If you're still struggling to find the answers you need, ask on the forums.  There's always someone around to point you in the right direction.

If you need answers about our products or training, and the answer isn't on this page, email us at [email protected].

We created collections of podcasts around particular topics so that you can get all our guidance at once. You can find them here.

A Personal License gives you access to the written materials which accompany each free Manager Tools and Career Tools podcast, as well as the audio and written materials for Executive Tools, which is exclusive to Licensees. It also includes access to many of our other products: The Interview Series, Resume Workbook and First Job Fundamentals products; Roadmap, our app to help you learn, roll out and track your progress though the steps of the Manager Tools Trinity™; and weekly emails, Things We Think We Think and Three Random Things. For more details, and to purchase, click here.

Yes it does!

Once you’ve purchased your Personal License, you’ll have access to the all the benefits through “my account”.  There’s a link at the top right of every page, and you’ll see your new benefits in the left-hand menu that appears when you click.

No, we don’t.

Executive Tools™ is a biweekly/fornightly podcast, in the Manager Tools style, focused on how to be an Effective Executive.

Topics to be discussed in the next two years: Executive Reset, Session C, Talent Supply Chain Management, Executive Culture Matrix, Organization Tools, Mission & Role of an Executive, Executive Relationships, Compromise and Politics.

Many Manager Tools listeners over the last 16 years have been promoted to the executive ranks, and have been asking for this help.  We're launching in response to requests from our community.

There is not a simple answer to this question, because the definitions of manager and executives vary.

Executives are responsible for the long term continuation of the organization (whatever organization they're in).  Managers are responsible for the short term continuation (operations) of the organization.  As such, executives deal much more with the chaos of factors external to the organization: customers, competition in the marketplace, geopolitics, the environment, society.  Managers deal much more with internal systems and processes.

Executives as leaders have to make decisions about where an organization is going to go.  Managers get it to go there.  A healthy organization has both effective executives and effective managers.

The audio and shownotes for Executive Tools™ are only available to Manager Tools Licensees. To find out more about the benefits and to become a Licensee, click here.

If you are a Licensee, you can find your personal feed for Executive Tools on your user profile.

$200/year, which is the cost of a Manager Tools Personal License.

It's a free weekly podcast with specific actionable guidance for managers of people in all sized organizations in all industries.  It's been downloaded over a quarter of a billion times worldwide over the past 18 years.  It has been awarded so many Podcast Awards that the Podcast Awards category for business is now named "The Manager Tools Business Podcast Award".

It is designed to help managers know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it in their day to day managerial lives.

One of the founders, Mark Horstman, sold his previous management consulting firm to retire in 2003.  Michael Auzenne, his longtime friend and corporate client as an executive, suggested to Mark that they should find a way to continue sharing what Mark had developed at his previous company, Horstman & Co. Mike put together the technical aspects of the podcast, and in 2005, they recorded their first podcast ever: "Solution to a Stalled Technical Career". They quickly followed that cast up with guidance on One On Ones, Feedback, Coaching and Delegation: the basis for the Manager Tools Trinity.

Kate Braun and Sarah Sentes, the Managing Partners of Manager Tools. Both have been with Manager Tools for 8+ years and have been, for much of that time, have been delivering our content while being responsible for our highest revenue products. Kate has a background in mechanical engineering with experience in aerospace. Sarah's background is in information technology, specifically, in academic environments.

Yes.  The Manager Tools podcast has won so many Podcast Awards that the Podcast Awards category for business is now named "The Manager Tools Business Podcast Award".

Manager Tools has been downloaded over a quarter of a billion times.

They are based on Mark's consulting to large organizations and coaching and training managers and executives through his previous company, Horstman & Co. At his first company, Mark and his firm gathered data on effective managerial behaviors. Over the course of 17 years, they studied - not surveyed - the behaviors of over 975,000 managers on every continent in the world except Antarctica.

We don't have guests on Manager Tools.

Kate Braun and Sarah Sentes took over the Manager Tools podcast in 2021 from our firm's founders Mark Horstman and Mike Auzenne.

We use Zoom to connect our hosts, and then record the output on each end from an Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB Cardioid Dynamic Microphone (ATR Series) with Audio Hijak Pro.  We use Hindenburg Pro to convert our recordings to mp2 to send to our sound engineer, Paul Figgiani, who then does the mixing to give us a professional quality sound. 

For a 30 minute podcast, we record for 31 minutes – we very rarely restate or re-record anything.

It's a free weekly podcast with specific actionable guidance for everyone, whether they’re managers or not.  It covers topics that are applicable to anyone, from those who are just starting out, to those with 40 year careers, in all sized organizations in all industries.   It’s not enough to be good technically and get good results. The more successful you are, the more you need relationships. Career Tools podcasts help you be more effective in both areas.

Around the 2008 market crash, Mark Horstman realized that people needed more career content than we could release at a rate of one per month in the Manager Tools feed.  We created Career Tools as a dedicated channel for career content that we could provide weekly, and still for free.

Yes, Career Tools won the best business podcast at the Podcast Awards in 2010.

About half a million people download Career Tools each month.

They are based on Mark's career consulting to large organizations and coaching and training managers and executives through his previous company Horstman & Co, his previous experience as a recruiter and his current experience working with managers and executives with Manager Tools.

We don't have guests on Career Tools.

We use Zoom to connect our hosts, and then record the output on each end from an Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB Cardioid Dynamic Microphone (ATR Series) with Audio Hijak Pro.  We use Hindenburg Pro to convert our recordings to mp2 to send to our sound engineer, Paul Figgiani, who then does the mixing to give us a professional quality sound. 

For a 30 minute podcast, we record for 31 minutes – we very rarely restate or re-record anything.