Good morning, MPW Daily readers! Today Fortune MPW editorial director Ellie Austin is here with a take on a recent podcast episode she couldn’t stop thinking about. More news below…
On a recent Diary of a CEO podcast episode, host Steven Bartlett welcomed fellow podcaster, Chris Williamson, as his guest. Between them, the pair front two of the world’s biggest podcasts: according to Spotify’s ranking of 2025’s most popular shows in the U.S., Bartlett, 33, who conducts in-depth, often provocative interviews with high profile people about business and life, comes in at No. 11 and has over 14 million subscribers on YouTube. Previous guests include Brené Brown, Michelle Obama, Trevor Noah and Rebel Wilson. Williamson’s Modern Wisdom, meanwhile, skews towards self-improvement, socio-economic trends and psychology and ranks at No. 17.
The theme of the two-and-a-half-hour episode was how to maximize your productivity and happiness in 2026. However, it was an exchange about the declining global birth rate, and its link to what Williamson, 37, in particular portrayed as female selfishness, that stood out to me.
In pondering why people are having fewer children, Williamson fairly cited social shifts as leading young women to delay motherhood in favor of higher education and careers. He then moved on to the “anti-family” message that he believes permeates modern society. One of its key proponents, he explained, is The Girl With The List, an influencer otherwise known as Abigail Porter, who wryly discusses the many factors that led her to not want children. These include “‘can’t wear cute heels with the girls’ [and] ‘will have to miss brunch,’” Williamson said.
