310: Leading with Gratitude with Adrian Gostick

When I first became aware of today’s featured book, I wasn’t convinced an entire book on the topic was necessary.

The idea of showing gratitude seems, well, pretty straightforward. We all know what it means, and most of us can recognize the value of showing it on occasion.

adrian gostick

The problem is most of us aren’t nearly as effective at is as we think we are (kind of like our assessment of our own driving skills).

And, as it turns out, there was much for me and, I think, you to learn about this soft skill.

Adrian Gostick is the co-author, along with Chester Elton, of Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results.

Together, they introduce eight simple ways managers can show employees they are valued. And, they supplement their insights and advice with stories of how many of today’s most successful leaders—such as Alan Mulally of Ford and Hubert Joly of Best Buy—effectively incorporated gratitude into their leadership styles.

Showing gratitude isn’t just about being nice, it’s about being smart—really smart—and it’s a skill that everyone can easily learn.

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309: Discussing the Art of Doing Nothing with Celeste Headlee

Today’s guest wins the prize – if there indeed were a prize – for fastest repeat appearance on the show.

That’s right, we first heard from Celeste Headlee when we chatted about her last book.

celeste headlee

Her new book, out today, is called Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving.

Wow, is it an eye-opener, challenging conventional wisdom on a number of topics.

From the book’s inner jacket: “Burnout is now classified as a legitimate medical diagnosis according to the World Health Organization. Do Nothing offers an understanding of how we’ve arrived at this point and how to break the cycle.”

Let’s indeed break that cycle, shall we?

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307: 30 Hacks for Bringing Joy to Your Job with Bruce Daisley

It’s easy to fall into the mistaken belief that the way we work today is the way it has sort of always been.

In reality, what we know as work today has only been practiced for the last 200 years or so; a mere drop in the ol’ history bucket, if you will.

bruce daisley

My guest today on the podcast is Bruce Daisley, most recently Vice President of Twitter’s European division.

His new book is called Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat: 30 Hacks for Bringing Joy to Your Job.

In it, he draws on both his experience at companies like Twitter, Google, and YouTube and his relationship with experts in psychology, economics, and behavioral science to offer 30 research-based hacks for bringing joy into our burned-out, unproductive work culture.

How, for example, does a lunch break create more productivity? Is it true that you can improve team performance simply by moving the coffee maker? How can walking meetings be a better alternative to the usual conference room?

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306: The Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin

My guest today has been a friend of mine for a few years now.

I’ve learned a ton from him just watching him and picking up on how he does what he does.

grant baldwin

What makes him special? In my opinion, he’s one of the best there is at his craft: the fine art of public speaking.

His name is Grant Baldwin and he’s written a brand new book, out today, along with four-time Read to Lead guest Jeff Goins.

It’s called The Successful Speaker: Five Steps for Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform.

Within a week of reading Grant’s book, I secured my own speaking gig worth thousands of dollars using the techniques I learned. It’s that good!

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My guest today has been a friend of mine for a few years now.

I’ve learned a ton from him just watching him and picking up on how he does what he does.

grant baldwin

What makes him special? In my opinion, he’s one of the best there is at his craft: the fine art of public speaking.

His name is Grant Baldwin and he’s written a brand new book, out today, along with four-time Read to Lead guest Jeff Goins.

It’s called The Successful Speaker: Five Steps for Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform.

Within a week of reading Grant’s book, I secured my own speaking gig worth thousands of dollars using the techniques I learned. It’s that good!

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304: Discover How You Contribute to the World with Tom Rath

Author of Life's Great Question

It was more than a dozen years ago when a colleague of mine at the time, Teresa White, first introduced me to the work of today’s guest.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit I hadn’t already been studying his work. You might say Teresa’s introduction makes this interview today possible.

tom rath

I’m talking about Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0, Amazon’s top-selling nonfiction book of all time, and How Full Is Your Bucket and several others.

Today, we dive into two of his latest works:

  1. Life’s Great Question: Discover How You Contribute to the World (out today!)
  2. It’s Not About You: A Brief Guide to a Meaningful Life

We spend the majority of our time on the first of these two works, and attempt to show you how to make your work and life more meaningful, and greatly boost your wellbeing.

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