Francine Lacqua is Editor at Large and TV news anchor for Bloomberg.

With decades of experience interviewing leaders in business and politics, she has launched a podcast, Leaders, and talks us through three very different interviews: a CEO of one of the world's biggest banks; a fashion entrepreneur who has a "shapewear" partnership with Kim Kardashian; and Melinda French Gates, business leader and philanthropist and former wife of Bill Gates.

Leaders with Francine Lacqua:

• Homepage: https://www.bloomberg.com/btv/series/leaders-with-lacqua
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1623682235
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqq4LnWs3olXnyY_CJUC2M1NtT_VdXw8i

Episodes of Leaders featured on this episode of POP-The Podcast:

‘I Was Ruthless About Killing Complexity’: HSBC CEO on Rewiring the Bank: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-was-ruthless-about-killing-complexity-hsbc-ceo-on/id1623682235?i=1000758149108

Emma Grede on the Kardashians and Why Work From Home Is ‘Career Suicide': https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emma-grede-on-the-kardashians-and-why-work-from-home/id1623682235?i=1000763755419

Melinda French Gates on Tech, Billionaire Wealth and Why She Worries About the Truth: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/melinda-french-gates-on-tech-billionaire-wealth-and/id1623682235?i=1000755513346

Francine’s dream interview:

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Francine's Pod Picks:

Acquired:

• Homepage: https://www.acquired.fm/
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/acquired
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquiredFM

Odd Lots:

• Homepage: https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1056200096
• YouTube (audio): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0MuA6M0zkZyy-99-qc87wKV

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day:

• Homepage: https://www.elizabethday.org/podcasts
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1407451189
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HowToFailPodcast

Francine’s book picks:

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/238226991-london-falling

Supremacy by Parmy Olson: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/parmy-olson/supremacy/9781035038244

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Get the weekly Pick of the Pods: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-the Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7

Jonathan Block interviews leaders from a diverse range of occupations to ask about the times when things went wrong. What did they learn from the hardest moments, and what can we learn from them?

This is Episode 3 of Pick of the Pods-the Podcast, the audio companion to Pick of the Pods-the Substack.

POP-the Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/pickofthepods/p/my-journey-from-foreign-correspondent?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Listen to Stumbling Blocks on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1849573843

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StumblingBlocksPodcast

Episodes featured:

Clip 1: Sandra Sucher, Harvard Business School: How to Apologize

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sandra-sucher-harvard-business-school-how-to-apologize/id1849573843?i=1000739623769

Clip 2: Admiral Mark Harnitchek, Director of DoD Logistics: How I Solved the Puzzle of Pakistan

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/admiral-mark-harnitchek-director-of-dod-logistics/id1849573843?i=1000736688810

Clip 3: ​​Brent Beshore, CEO, Permanent Equity: How Winning Made me Lose

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brent-beshore-ceo-permanent-equity-how-winning-made-me-lose/id1849573843?i=1000748384408

Bonus clip:

Admiral Tim Ziemer, Chief, President's Malaria Initiative: How (and Why) I Saved 12 Million Lives

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/admiral-tim-ziemer-chief-presidents-malaria-initiative/id1849573843?i=1000750513190

Jonathan’s pod picks:

The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: https://careynieuwhof.com/episode646/

Heavyweight: https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/heavyweight

Also mentioned:

Radio Davos, with Scott Galloway: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/scott-galloway-men-women-masculinity-crisis/

Jonathan's dream interviews:

Jon Meacham, author of His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope

Jonathan’s father

George W. Bush

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Get the weekly Pick of the Pods: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-the Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7

Reuters Econ World, a weekly show from one of the world’s biggest news agencies, delivers analysis of how global events are affecting the economy.

Host Carmel Crimmins reveals how the show is made and shares:

• Haters gonna hate: how Taylor Swift fans reacted to the podcast’s take on the notion of “Swiftonomics”
• New York state of mind: how a New York audience helped her overcome stage fright at her first live in-person podcast
• Powell Unplugged: why her dream podcast guest would be Fed chief Jerome Powell with his guitar

Links to Reuters Econ World:

Homepage: https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/reuters-econ-world/

Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1746360591

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZhRxE9191zNaeyyMWJM0OL4QE__u0q6u

Episodes mentioned in this podcast:

‘Swiftonomics’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8BVG3a2LUs

Trump’s economy — Live from New York: https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/trumps-economy-live-new-york-2025-12-03/

Inside Iran: A video diary: https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/inside-iran-video-diary-2026-03-28/

Minneapolis from different angles: https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/minneapolis-different-angles-2026-01-31/

Carmel’s recommendations:

The Rest Is History

• homepage: https://therestishistory.com/
• on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1537788786
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@restishistorypod

All-In

• homepage: https://allin.com/
• on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1502871393
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@allin

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Get the weekly Pick of the Pods: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-the Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7