There are millions of podcasts available in our world, so to be ranked in the top 0.1% of podcasts globally really says something. Utah Valley University’s Jonathan Westover, PhD, is a professor and the chair of organizational leadership at the Woodbury School of Business and has achieved that success with his Human Capital Innovations (HCI) podcast.

To say the HCI podcast is one in a million is an understatement, and it was just honored with the Silver Signal Award in the Best Commuter Podcast Shows category as evidence of its success. HCI was selected as a finalist from more than 1,700 entries from over 30 countries by a prestigious panel of judges and the nearly 150,000 votes cast in the Listeners’ Choice Awards.

“I was honestly shocked even to be included as a finalist among so many other incredible podcasts. Receiving the Silver Award has been a wonderful recognition and speaks to the quality and impact of the content I try to put out,” said Westover.

The HCI podcast aims to be a source for personal, professional, and organizational growth and development. In daily 30-minute episodes, Westover shares original research that explores industry trends and interviews executives and thought leaders from around the globe on topics such as leadership, talent management, organizational development, and change management.

Westover said the podcast originally started as a pandemic project. “With travel being shut down back in the spring of 2020, I wanted a way to continue interacting with and having conversations with leaders from around the world, and it just grew organically over the past couple of years.”

The Signal Awards are essentially the Academy Awards of podcasting. They were created to honor the world’s best podcasts.

“We created Signal Awards to celebrate and discover great works being done in the podcast space. The overwhelming response so far has affirmed our decision,” said Managing Director Deondric Royster. “Our show’s commitment to all things podcasting will ensure the best programming and content is celebrated and rightfully rewarded.”

The content of the HCI podcast was created to share valuable knowledge that could help people effectively navigate their work environments.

“I hope listeners receive practical insights that they can use to make an immediate difference for their teams and organizations,” said Westover. “I am gratified by people choosing to listen when there are so many options.”

Westover says it is another teaching platform and a way to positively influence the lives of others.

“The podcast is one of the ways I try to make an impact in the community,” Westover said. “We spend [more than 50%] of our waking hours at work, so I hope that every individual leader can create a healthy and dynamic workplace environment that will allow their people to thrive and achieve their potential. As I reach 150K+ listeners a month, I am hoping that there are wide ripples as listeners apply what they are hearing to help improve the lives of those within their sphere of influence.”

The “best commuter podcast” can easily be consumed as individual episodes and is the perfect way to start or end the day, according to the judges and thousands of listeners whose votes led to the HCI Podcast receiving a Signal Award.