Category Archives: Career

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

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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.

Join in on our chat below

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

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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.

Join in on our chat below

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513: How to Do More of What Matters to You with Ali Abdaal

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I’ve been a fan of today’s guest for several years and have probably watched over 100 of his YouTube videos. So, when the good folks over at Readwise reached out about making an introduction, I was elated.

ali abdaal

I’m talking about the world’s most-followed productivity expert, otherwise known as the one and only Ali Abdaal.

Ali has written a brand new book that was released this past December, and I am delighted to feature it, and my chat with Ali, in this week’s episode.

That book is called Feel Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You. It’s already appeared on a few bestseller lists and, at last check, already has over one thousand reviews on Amazon. Go Ali!

We think that productivity is all about hard work, Ali says. That the road to success is lined with endless frustration and toil. But what if there’s another way?

Ali, though, has uncovered an easier and happier path to success. Drawing on decades of psychological research, he has found that the secret to productivity and success isn’t grind – it’s feeling good. If you can make your work feel good, then productivity takes care of itself.

Armed with Ali’s insights, you won’t just accomplish more. You’ll feel happier and more fulfilled along the way.

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

Join in on our chat below

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512: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder with Huggy Rao

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When your name is Huggy, surely people can’t help but like you. And after meeting today’s “Huggy,” all I can say is, “What’s not to like?”

Huggy Rao

Huggy Rao, along with Robert Sutton, have written a new book, out today, called The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder.

Every workplace, Huggy says, is clogged with friction—the convoluted, time-consuming, and soul-crushing gyrations that drive people crazy and undermine organizational performance.

Countless employees, executives, and customers bemoan hours lost to mazes of red tape, “efficiency tools” that become anything but, and clueless leaders who pile on needless complexity, all of which make it far too difficult to get necessary things done at work, and can burn out workers in the process.

But not all friction is bad. Striving toward a “frictionless organization” is a misguided goal, because too many organizations also make the wrong things too easy to do. Good friction exists inside organizations to help slow things down when careful consideration is needed for better and smarter decision-making.

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

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507: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of AI with Brian Evergreen

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These days, like you perhaps, I read just about everything I can get my hands on pertaining to artificial intelligence. Books on this topic a still few, but that’s beginning to change one year removed from the buzz that was the launch of ChatGPT.

brian evergreen

That’s why I was excited to learn about Autonomous Transformation, the new book by Brian Evergreen.

We are in the midst, Brian says, of an unprecedented degree of technology-driven change at the same time that society faces challenges more complex than our organizations and we as individuals have been prepared to handle.

We have all borne witness to the changes, for better and for worse, that technology has had on society, our nations, cities, the nature of work, and the human experience—but technology is neither the hero nor the villain of this story.

Brian’s book is for leaders who want to create a better future within this context of change and supplies a balance of historical and theoretical context with practical frameworks for beginning to create a more human future today.

The book provides a blueprint for leaders and managers who have aspired or attempted to harness artificial intelligence and its adjacent technologies for the betterment of their organization and the world, weaving strategy, management thinking, economics, systemic design, and philosophy into actionable steps with accompanying frameworks to create and sustain Profitable Good.

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

Join in on our chat below

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