519: The Practice and Shipping Creative Work with Seth Godin (an Encore Presentation of Episode 344)

If I had to make the difficult choice of selecting just 20 books to access for the remainder of my life, I could do a lot worse than the 20 written so far by today’s special guest.

Seth Godin is special to me for a lot of reasons; not the least of which is he is almost singlehandedly responsible for helping rekindle my love of reading.

seth godin
Seth Godin image credit Darius Bashar and Archangel

In fact, you could go so far as to say that, without Seth Godin, there’s a real good chance the last seven-plus years of my life would have been spent doing something else.

But thanks to his book Purple Cow, I’m here instead. And the beauty of that is, so are you.

Seth’s latest book, released last week, is called The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, and I am thrilled to dive into it in this episode with Seth and with you.

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518: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully with Elaine Lin Hering

If there’s a topic not talked about all that much, it’s the topic of silence. The kind that says why speak up if you know that it won’t be received well and often makes things worse?

Today’s guest, Elaine Lin Hering, explores how we’ve learned to be silent, how we’ve benefited from silence, how we’ve silenced other people—and how we might choose another way.

She teaches ways to recognize and unlearn unconscious patterns so we can make more intentional choices about how we want to show up. Only by unlearning silence can we more fully unleash talent, speak our minds, and be more complete versions of ourselves…and help other people do the same.

Elaine’s new book releases next week on March 19 and you can pre-order it right now. It’s called Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Elaine and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

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517: The Vision-Driven Leader with Michael Hyatt (an Encore Presentation of Episode 312)

As I say in today’s podcast, I buy this author’s books before I even know what they’re about.

There are only a few of these kinds of authors on my list, but Michael Hyatt is one of them.

michael hyatt

His latest effort is a book called The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Question to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business.

It is, in my estimation, a book that EVERY leader needs to read, especially now, what with all that is going on in our world today (I’m looking at you COVID-19).

As Michael writes in the book, “…a mission defines what a business is, a vision describes where it’s going. Mission is here; vision is still out there. Mission is now; vision is next.”

The Vision Driven Leader takes you step-by-step from why to what and then how.

Your business will never be the same.

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516: Take Your Career From Accidental to Intentional with Scott Jeffrey Miller

One of my favorite people to watch over the years has been Scott Miller. He interviews tons of wonderful authors for his podcasts and other projects. I learn something new every time I watch him work.

I’m thrilled to be able to welcome him back for the second time to Read to Lead. The first time was back in 2019.

This time we’re chatting about his new book (surprise!). It’s called Career On Course: 10 Strategies to Take Your Career from Accidental to Intentional.

Most careers, Scott says, unfold accidentally, haphazardly, and with too much serendipity. That means lost traction, lost years, and lost opportunities. But your career doesn’t have to be that way! Career on Course unpacks the 10 steps that will take your career from accidental to intentional.

Drawing upon insights and best practices from three decades in professional and leadership development, Scott shares his proven process for creating a plan that empowers you to take control of your career.

The most successful professionals are those who have clarity, have a plan, live in accordance with their values, and know how to pivot in the face of disruption. Whether you’re just starting your career or you’ve found yourself stuck somewhere in the middle, this book will help you get your career on course

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Scott and his work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

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514: How to Fix the Always-On Culture of Business with Malissa Clark

For the second week in a row, I’m delighted to welcome a guest whose book made my list of the 9 books I’m most looking forward to this year.

malissa clark

That guest is the University of Georgia’s Malissa Clark. She’s written a new book, released just last week, called Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It.

Malissa says that many workers believe that, in order to compete with other top talent, they must embrace a culture that rewards long hours and a constant connection to work.

In fact, businesses and society endorse busyness, overwork, and extreme commitment as the most valued traits in workers. Sometimes that endorsement is explicit. More often it’s an implicit contract, a buildup of organizational and cultural norms and the adoption of new technologies that make it easy to tether people to work.

Either way, this workaholic behavior is unhealthy and counterproductive for workers and for organizations. And, according to Malissa, it’s time to fight back.

She shows you how to escape the trap of putting work at the center of everything and thus losing your well-being—or your company’s performance—in the process.

Her book is deeply researched and written for everyone from leaders to individual contributors. You might say Never Not Working is the essential guide to identifying workaholism in yourself and others and starting on the road to recovery.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Malissa and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

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