Best Honest Field Guide® Podcasts (2025)

1
How Did the Chicago Sky Get Started? Fueled by Great Women In Sports and Business by Michael Alter 48:03

5d ago48:03

48:03

The Honest Field Guide Podcast, is a production by Birk Creative and hosted by its President JinJa Birkenbeuel. The show is for people in all dimensions of business, from the C-Suite to the entrepreneur and small business owner. The show shares tools and value to help you navigate the complexities of being a person that uses business to lead. Conve…

1
Understanding This Will Make You 10's Or 1000's Of Dollars 15:30

2d ago15:30

15:30

Ready to make 10s or 1000s of dollars? Understanding key marketing concepts for real estate investors drives real profits and Don Costa breaks them down as he launches the Watch Me Scale Challenge. In this no-nonsense episode, Don reveals why most marketing fails—it’s either deployed poorly or managed improperly once leads come in. He dives deep in…

1
The Price of Free Speech: Politics and Power on Campus 33:34

6d ago33:34

33:34

Hosts Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett Jones explore the mounting political and financial pressures confronting higher education on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., it unpacks the unprecedented clash between the Trump administration and Harvard, raising broader questions about academic freedom, ideological conformity, and the role of govern…

1
Academic Librarians: A Discussion with Karen McCoy 55:53

7d ago55:53

55:53

The library is an important partner in academic success for students and professors. So why do so many people overlook this key resource? Karen McCoy takes us inside her job on two college campuses, unpacking what librarians do, and why she’s so happy to help everyone find exactly what they need. Our guest is: Karen B. McCoy, who is a librarian cur…

1
Stop Losing Money: The Entrepreneur's Guide To A Solid Business Plan 14:29

9d ago14:29

14:29

Alright, let's cut to the chase: are you building a business that's truly free or just another gilded cage? In this episode, Don Costa pulls no punches about the number one mistake he sees crushing even million-dollar businesses: the lack of a solid plan. Drawing from years of mentoring high-level entrepreneurs through his ICE Mastermind and Watch …

1
Watch Me Scale In 2025: The Official Launch Of A Zero-To-Profit Business 14:25

16d ago14:25

14:25

Embark on a wild ride as we witness a real estate entrepreneur build a company from scratch in 2025; scaling to profitability and beyond is the name of the game in this explosive episode of Flip Talk! In this launch episode of the "Watch Me Scale" series, host Don Costa unveils his bold plan to document his journey of building a new business from z…

1
Ep 80 - Alfie Koetter - So You Want To Work In Hollywood? Here's how one architect did it 1:17:19

21d ago1:17:19

1:17:19

JinJa Birkenbeuel explores the intersection of creativity, entrepreneurship, and design with guest Alfie Keotter, a designer and architect. They discuss the evolution of the Sundance Film Festival, the often-overlooked role of graphic designers in film, and the importance of storytelling in architecture. Alfie shares his journey from a creative chi…

1
Scientists Cooperate while Humanists Ruminate (EF, JP) 41:46

1M ago41:46

41:46

Back in 2021, John and Elizabeth sat down with Brandeis string theorist Albion Lawrence to discuss cooperation versus solitary study across disciplines. They sink their teeth into the question, “Why do scientists seem to do collaboration and teamwork better than other kinds of scholars and academics?” The conversation ranges from the merits of coll…

1
Yellowlees Douglas, "Writing for the Reader's Brain: A Science-Based Guide" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 1:01:55

1M ago1:01:55

1:01:55

What makes one sentence easy to read and another a slog that demands re-reading? Where do you put information you want readers to recall? Drawing on cognitive neuroscience, psychology and psycholinguistics, Writing for the Reader’s Brain (Cambridge University Press, 2025) provides a practical, how-to guide on how to write for your reader. It introd…

1
The World of Academic Publishing: A Conversation with Robert Dreesen 48:06

1M ago48:06

48:06

How do academic books get published? How do scholars turn dissertations and articles into the books we love? How does academic publishing compare to the world of trade publishing? This week, we speak with Robert Dreesen, a seasoned publishing professional with over 30 years of experience in the industry. Dreesen has worked in trade publishing at Pe…

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Ep. 79 - Tracey Panek, Levi's Historian on The Power of Listening and Creating Surprising Connections For Business Growth 1:05:16

2M ago1:05:16

1:05:16

In this episode of The Honest Field Guide, host JinJa Birkenbeuel interviews Tracey Panek, the historian and director of archives at Levi Strauss & Co. They discuss the importance of curiosity, the role of an archivist in preserving history, and how fashion intersects with personal identity and culture. Tracey shares her journey from a curious chil…

1
Project Management for Researchers 1:06:57

2M ago1:06:57

1:06:57

Our book is: Project Management for Researchers: A Practical, Stress-Free Guide to Getting Organized (U Michigan Press, 2025), by Dr. Shiri Noy, which tackles the how, what, and why of project management. It offers step-by-step guidance on choosing tools and developing a personalized system that will help the reader manage and organize their resear…

1
Ep 78 Lisou Brand - Creating Vibrant Beauty and Fashion with Textile Designer Rene Macdonald 1:27:56

2M ago1:27:56

1:27:56

In this episode of The Honest Field Guide, host JinJa Birkenbeuel engages in a heartfelt conversation with Rene Moshi Macdonald, the founder of Lisou, a luxury women's wear brand based in London. They discuss the challenges of motherhood, particularly for Black mothers, and the importance of community support. Rene shares her journey from Tanzania …

1
Key Components of a Winning Book Proposal 8:17

3M ago8:17

8:17

In this episode of Publish My Book, we break down the key components of a strong book proposal. We discuss essential elements like a well-structured table of contents, a compelling cover letter, a carefully chosen sample chapter, and a narrative author bio that connects emotionally with acquisitions editors. We also explore the importance of a pers…

1
Conquering the Peer Review Stage 7:34

3M ago7:34

7:34

In this episode of Publish My Book, we explore the peer review process for book manuscripts. We discuss how securing an acquisitions editor’s support is the first critical step before entering peer review, where feedback can vary in depth and rigor. We share tips on suggesting reviewers, managing the often lengthy review timeline, and effectively a…

1
Ep. 77 - How To Empower Yourself - Shana Stephenson, Chief Brand Officer, the WNBA's New York Liberty Shares Her Story - and She's Sticking To It! 58:58

3M ago58:58

58:58

Host JinJa Birkenbeuel welcomes Shana Stephenson, Chief Brand Officer at the WNBA's New York Liberty, to discuss her journey in sports branding, the importance of storytelling, and the challenges of navigating a career in a male-dominated industry. Shana shares her experiences from her early days in fashion to her current role in sports, emphasizin…

1
Presenting Yourself to Acquisitions Editors 8:55

3M ago8:55

8:55

In this episode of Publish My Book, we dive into how to approach acquisitions editors with confidence and clarity. We discuss their role in the publishing process, what they're looking for in a manuscript, and how to make a strong first impression—whether at conferences or via email. We share practical tips on tailoring your pitch, respecting their…

1
Transforming Your Dissertation Into a Book 8:32

3M ago8:32

8:32

In this episode of Publish My Book, we explore how to transform a dissertation into a compelling book. We begin by examining the key differences between the two: while a dissertation demonstrates our research abilities to advisors, a book communicates core ideas to a broader audience. We discuss how to distill our arguments, streamline dense sectio…

1
Demystifying Indexing 7:37

3M ago7:37

7:37

In this episode of Publish My Book, we explore the essential role of a well-crafted book index in academic publishing. A good index helps readers easily locate specific topics, names, or places, making your book more accessible and impactful. Avi discusses different types of indexes—such as subject, author, and sources indexes—and provides guidance…

1
Understanding Open Access Publishing 7:15

3M ago7:15

7:15

In this episode of Publish My Book, we explore open-access publishing, a model designed to make publicly funded research freely available to everyone. Unlike traditional publishing, where readers or libraries pay for access, open access requires authors or their institutions to cover upfront fees—often $4,000 to $6,000—to make their books freely ac…

1
These Researchers Published at TSE their Research on LMs for Flaky Tests 45:08

3M ago45:08

45:08

Listen to this interview of Sakina Fatima, Research Fellow, University of Ottawa, Canada; and also, Taher Ghaleb, Assistant Professor, Trent University, Canada. We talk about the coauthored paper Flakify: A Black-Box, Language Model-based Predictor for Flaky Tests (TSE 2023). Taher Ghaleb : "With our RQs, it's not just a matter of there being a pro…

1
How these Authors Published at TCPS their Research about Cybersecurity Challenges in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry 37:49

3M ago37:49

37:49

Listen to this interview of Abubakar Mohammed, Manager, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria. We talk about the coauthored paper Cybersecurity Challenges in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry: An Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS) Perspective (TCPS 2022). Abubakar Mohammed : "I would put the success of the paper down to u…

1
Ep. 76 - Who Is Joe Favorito, Author, Sports Broadcaster and Consultant to “Creed?” How To Become an Entrepreneur in Sports 50:36

4M ago50:36

50:36

In this episode of The Honest Field Guide podcast, host JinJa Birkenbeuel engages in a dynamic conversation with sports entrepreneur Joe Favorito. They explore the intersection of sports, family dynamics, and entrepreneurship, discussing how personal experiences shape perspectives on sports. The conversation delves into the importance of showing up…

1
Timing's not Everything — It Takes Acting at the Right Moment Too 48:55

4M ago48:55

48:55

Listen to this interview of Arjun Guha, Associate Professor, Northeastern University. We talk about his coauthored paper MultiPL-E: A Scalable and Polyglot Approach to Benchmarking Neural Code Generation (TSE 2023). Arjun Guha : "My group and our collaborating colleagues really try to pick problems carefully so that we choose a problem that we can …

1
What Academia Don't Know Might Hurt Industry 43:42

4M ago43:42

43:42

Listen to this interview of Ricardo Amaro, Senior Engineering Manager, Acquia, USA, and also a PhD Researcher, ISCTE—University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal. We talk about his coauthored paper Capabilities and Practices in DevOps: A Multivocal Literature Review (TSE 2023). Ricardo Amaro : "One of the main challenges we've been experiencing in DevO…

1
It Takes a Research Village: How Institutes and Network Connections Make a Research Project 52:04

4M ago52:04

52:04

Listen to this interview of Isaac da Silva Torres, Postdoctoral Research, TU Delft, Netherlands. We talk about his coauthored paper Guidelines to Derive an e3value Business Model from a BPMN Process Model: An Experiment on Real-world Scenarios (SOSYM 2023). Isaac da Silva Torres : "I'm an industrial engineer, and I've worked in a lot of companies. …

1
Small Research Goes Big: When Less Represented Topics Find Resonance across an Entire Field 51:29

4M ago51:29

51:29

Listen to this interview of Sumon Biswas, Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University. We talk about his coauthored paper The Art and Practice of Data Science Pipelines (ICSE 2022). Sumon Biswas : "Yeah, it's true, not many people are working in software design and software architecture — at least at ICSE — and in fact, this has been an im…

1
Creativity is a Creation of Collaboration 44:53

4M ago44:53

44:53

Listen to this interview of Steffen Zschaler, Reader, King's College London, UK; and of Fiona Polack, Professor, University of Hull, UK. We talk about their coauthored paper Trustworthy Agent-based Simulation: The Case for Domain-specific Modelling Languages (SOSYM 2023). Fiona Polack : "The sort of collaborative environment that brings together re…

1
Marshall Poe on the New Books Network, Technology, and the Future of Academic Communication 1:19:35

4M ago1:19:35

1:19:35

Peoples and Things host, Lee Vinsel, is joined by guest host and Peoples & Things producer, Joe Forte, Media Projects Manager with Virginia Tech Publishing, in interviewing Marshall Poe, the founder and editor of the New Books Network, the largest academic podcasting platform in the world. The trio discuss how the New Books Network came to be; how …

1
Collaborative Research, not Competitive Research 43:42

4M ago43:42

43:42

Listen to this interview of Lianglu Pan, PhD Student, and Shaanan Cohney, Senior Lecturer, and also Thuan Pham, Senior Lecturer — everyone at University of Melbourne, Australia. We talk about their coauthored paper EDEFuzz: A Web API Fuzzer for Excessive Data Exposures (ICSE 2024). Thuan Pham : "The reading pattern in our group goes something like …

1
Limitations Are Not a Limitation 41:18

4M ago41:18

41:18

Listen to this interview of Lorenzo Rossi, Research Fellow, University of Camerino, Italy. We talk about his coauthored paper A Technique for Discovering BPMN Collaboration Diagrams (SOSYM 2024). Lorenzo Rossi : "Yeah, this way of structuring the concluding remarks in this paper is a technique we often apply in our research contributions, especiall…

1
Use Sequential Internal Review to Improve Your Next Submission 38:32

4M ago38:32

38:32

Listen to this interview of Kangfeng Ye, Research Associate, University of York, UK. We talk about his coauthored paper Probabilistic Modelling and Verification Using RoboChart and PRISM (SOSYM 2022). Kangfeng Ye : "In this paper, I have four coauthors, all of them senior researchers. And when we reviewed the manuscript internally, we adopted a str…

1
Your Best Defense Is Honest Offense 39:54

4M ago39:54

39:54

Listen to this interview of Emerson Murphy-Hill, Research Scientist, Microsoft. We talk about his coauthored paper GenderMag Improves Discoverability in the Field, Especially for Women (ICSE 2024). Emerson Murphy-Hill : "Too often in papers, the authors get defensive about limitations or threats to validity. Of course, they'll state outright a limi…

1
Unlock Limitations to Enable Community-Level Development of a Line of Research 39:09

4M ago39:09

39:09

Listen to this interview of Ionut Predoaia, Research Fellow, and also, Antonio García-Domínguez, Senior Lecturer — both at the University of York, UK. We talk about their coauthored paper Streamlining the Development of Hybrid Graphical-Textual Model Editors for Domain-Specific Languages (ECMFA 2023). Antonio García-Domínguez : "I think that the li…

1
Part of Your Paper Is the Conference Too 32:52

4M ago32:52

32:52

Listen to this interview of Zejun Zhang, Research Scientist, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. We talk about her coauthored paper Hard to Read and Understand Pythonic Idioms? DeIdiom and Explain Them in Non-Idiomatic Equivalent Code (ICSE 2024). Zejun Zhang : "Following my presentation of the paper at ICSE, it was interesting. I mean, th…

1
How Only a Few Paragraphs in Your Next Paper Actually Involve All of the Research Community 41:42

4M ago41:42

41:42

Listen to this interview of Roberto Verdecchia, Assistant Professor, University of Florence, Italy; and also, Per Runeson, Professor, Lund University, Sweden. We talk about their coauthored papers Threats to Validity in Software Engineering Research: A Critical Reflection (IST 2023) and Threats to Validity in Software Engineering — hypocritical pap…

1
The Introduction — Section in a Paper but also Tool for Discovering New Knowledge 42:12

4M ago42:12

42:12

Listen to this interview of Nan Jiang, PhD candidate, and Lin Tan, Professor — both at Purdue University. We talk about their coauthored paper Impact of Code Language Models on Automated Program Repair (ICSE 2023). Lin Tan : "In my research group, the procedure in every project is to write the Introduction early — very early, in fact. It's the firs…

1
Define Clearly, Select Carefully, End Compellingly 38:14

4M ago38:14

38:14

Listen to this interview of Jenny Liang, PhD student, Carnegie Mellon University. We talk about her coauthored paper A Qualitative Study on the Implementation Design Decisions of Developers (ICSE 2023). Jenny Liang : "When it comes to selecting specific results or codes, I like to think about it in terms of what was surprising. So, maybe it's not s…

1
Inspired Idea turns into Sound Results: The Influence of Creativity and Teamwork on the Research 43:02

4M ago43:02

43:02

Listen to this interview of Yun Peng, Research Associate, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; and also, Cuiyun Gao, Associate Professor, Harbin Institute of Technology, China. We talk about their coauthored paper Static Inference Meets Deep Learning: A Hybrid Type Inference Approach for Python (ICSE 2022). Yun Peng : "And I remember the reviewe…

1
Non-Artificial Intelligence: Human Factors in Research and Publishing in Software Engineering 51:54

4M ago51:54

51:54

Listen to this interview of Sterre van Breukelen, engineer, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands; and Ann Barcomb, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary, Canada; and Sebastian Baltes, Full Professor, University of Bayreuth, Germany; and Alexander Serebrenik, Full Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands. We talk ab…

1
When, Why, and How to Review the Literature 43:53

4M ago43:53

43:53

Listen to this interview of Roberto Verdecchia, Assistant Professor, University of Florence, Italy; and also, Luís Cruz, Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. We talk about their coauthored paper A systematic review of Green AI (WIREs Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 2023). Luís Cruz : "Sometimes, especially in system…

5M ago1:16:03

1:16:03

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Researchers Influence Research — Research Influences Communication — Communication Influences Researchers 43:38

5M ago43:38

43:38

Listen to this interview of Mathé Hertogh, PhD student, and Cristiano Giuffrida, Associate Professor — both in the Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. We talk about their coauthored paper Leaky Address Masking: Exploiting Unmasked Spectre Gadgets with Noncanonical Address Translation (SP 2024). Cristiano Giuff…

1
Research Culture /ˈriːsɜːrtʃ kʌltʃər/, Noun. Knowledge as the Act of Knowing Too 53:34

5M ago53:34

53:34

Listen to this interview of Bran Selic, President and Founder, Malina Software Corporation, Canada. We talk about publishing at ECMFA — that is, at the European Conference on Modelling Foundations and Applications. Bran Selic : "My experience in both industry and academia has taught me that most innovation actually comes from industry, because indu…

1
Diversify Your Publishing Portfolio: An Interview with Tim Menzies 40:57

5M ago40:57

40:57

Listen to this interview of Tim Menzies, Editor in Chief, Automated Software Engineering, and also, Full Professor, Computer Science, North Carolina State University. We talk about academic venues that target an industry audience, and we talk about one of his papers at just such a venue, Shockingly Simple: "Keys" for Better AI for SE (SW 2021). Tim…

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