Seeking Wisdom is a podcast from Drift about personal & professional growth -- but it's told from the perspective from inside of the company. The podcast originally started as a conversation between Founder/CEO David Cancel and VP of Marketing Dave Gerhardt about the things they were learning as the company was getting started -- from how they set goals, to company rituals like team meetings, to personal development and career growth -- all the way to books they were reading and things they were learning along the way. Each episode is a real and raw discussion about what's happening inside of the company, lessons on career & personal development, or a conversation with a mentor or author of a book the two recently read.
David and Dave want you to feel like you are having a conversation with them. We could say fly on the wall, but it goes a few levels deeper than that because of the connection they have with listeners -- listeners will share lessons & questions they want to learn more about, or ask for David & Dave's commentary on a new book or a trend in the business world. The strategy for Seeking Wisdom is simple, but powerful in today's businesses environment: be real, be authentic, and be human. Seeking Wisdom listeners feel like they are getting their MBA by listening to the podcast -- not just from the lessons David & Dave are sharing about what they are learning at Drift, but from bringing on their mentors. Guests on Seeking Wisdom must be someone that has influenced David & Dave directly (someone at work, partners, coaches, etc.) or people they are learning from (podcast hosts, authors, speakers, video producers, etc.) Neither David or Dave have MBAs, but they wanted Seeking Wisdom to be the REAL MBA they never got through their experience.
You also have two people at opposite ends of the career spectrum having real conversations about life and business: David is a 5x founder, 2x CEO who has seen it all. And Dave is an up and coming marketing leader who has grown from individual contributor to VP at Drift in just three short years (all documented on the podcast).
The podcast now has over 500 5 star reviews and 50,000+ downloads a month, and the company's annual HYPERGROWTH conference (which has 7,000 people this year) is largely fueled by the brand from Seeking Wisdom. But the true measure of Seeking Wisdom's success comes in two forms:
1. The number of fans who now asks to leave "6 Star Only" reviews on Apple Podcasts (the highest rating you can give is 5 stars but "6 Stars Only" has becoming a saying among Seeking Wisdom listeners).
2. The number of people who interact with the company Drift that mention first listening to Seeking Wisdom -- from future employees coming in for interviews to customers buying the company's product, they all mention listening to Seeking Wisdom first. Which is a feat on it's own considering the podcast is NOT about selling Drift's software and the two rarely mention the company's products or services. This says everything about how people want to buy today: they don't want to be marketed to, they don't want to be sold to -- but they want to build real, authentic relationships with people first, and a podcast (if done right) is one of the best channels to do so.
