Episode #032: Adam Bryant, New York Times Bestselling Author of Quick and Nimble

Author Adam BryantNew York Times bestselling author Adam Bryant and I seem to have a few things in common.

He’s spent a good portion of his career in media. I’ve spent my entire career in broadcasting. He interviews CEOs for his New York Times column. I interview authors for my podcast. He’s incredibly good-looking. I’m…well…okay. So, two-out-of-three ain’t bad, right?

In his latest book, Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, Adam draws on interviews with more than two hundred CEOs to offer business leaders the wisdom and guidance to move an organization faster, to be quick and nimble, and to rekindle the whatever-it-takes collective spark of a start-up, all with the goal of innovating and thriving in a relentlessly challenging global economy.

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Episode #031: Ken Blanchard and Tim Kearin, Authors of Fit at Last: Look and Feel Better Once and for All

Ken Blanchard and Tim KearinThis week’s episode marks a first. It’s the very first time I interview two authors at the same time. Dueling banjos? No! More like two members of an orchestra, one gracefully complimenting the other.

I’m talking about Ken Blanchard, New York Times bestselling co-author of The One Minute Manager and the book we talk about today – Fit at Last: Look and Feel Better Once and for All, and his co-author and fitness coach extraordinaire, Tim Kearin. Together, they want to take you from being interested in in life change to committed to it.

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve made your share of fitness-related resolutions. Maybe you even called them goals because someone said you were supposed to. Either way, despite your good intentions, they never quite went according to plan. Believe it or not, you can break that cycle.

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Episode #030: Liz Wiseman, Author of Multipliers: How Great Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (with Greg McKeown)

Liz WisemanThough I wouldn’t discover it until 2013, author Liz Wiseman would release one of my favorite books of the year…way back in 2010.

And ever since I launched the Read to Lead Podcast in July 2013, one of my goals has been to have her on. That’s one more item to cross off the bucket list.

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In the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz and co-author Greg McKeown, share about the two dramatically different types of leaders we’ve all had experience with.

On one end of the spectrum are the Diminishers. These are the idea killers or the energy sappers. On the other end are the Multipliers, the kind of leaders who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results and surpass expectations.

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Episode #028: Daniel Pink, Author of To Sell is Human

Author, Daniel PinkAccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges: so do the other eight.

So argues Daniel Pink in his new book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Whether you’re an employee pitching colleagues on a new idea, an entrepreneur trying to sway potential funders, or a parent or teacher trying to convince children to study, you spend much of you day trying to move others.

Like it or not, Dan says, we’re all in sales now.

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Daniel Pink is one of my all-time favorite authors, and having him on the show has been a goal of mine from the very beginning. Two of my favorites from Dan, in addition to his latest, are Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

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Episode #025: August Turak, Author of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks

August TurakAugust Turak is a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, award winning writer, and author of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity (Columbia Business School Publishing).

He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Selling Magazine, the New York Times, and Business Week, and is a popular leadership contributor at Forbes. And, he rocks! Just ask my friend Jeff Sanders.

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Augie, as his friends call him, shares how he defines career, leadership, and business success. Simply put, at the center of a great business and a great life is service and selflessness.

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