458: Over 10MM Copies Sold: My Summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear

Just over four years ago, I interviewed my friend James Clear about his, then, new book Atomic Habits. Little did I know then that this book would rock the publishing world and become a worldwide bestseller.

Jeff Brown

I call it a modern-day 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, or How to Win Friends and Influence People, or Think and Grow Rich.

I had the chance to exchange messages with James over the weekend, and took the opportunity to congratulate him on his incredible milestone (I’d seen a recent post of his on Facebook about it). That milestone is 10MM+ copies sold.

In his post, James was quick to credit everyone else. More than anything he did, James said, it was simple, consistent, and passionate word-of-mouth by us, his readers, that was responsible for his book’s success.

Our exchange inspired me to honor this incredible milestone by revisiting the book in this episode.

This go ’round, I’m sharing an audio summary of Atomic Habits, the audio version of the same written summary I share with my members inside the Read to Lead Community.

By the way, if you’d like to receive a new written book summary every week, jump on over to my Community page and sign up for free. You get access to the Read to Lead Community, the chance to interact with other readers, and a new book summary each and every week.

And, if you’d like to check out my audio summary of Atomic Habits, just hit the play button below.

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386: How to Listen Like You Mean It with Ximena Vengoechea

I’ve coached hundreds over the years in the art of effective communication. But there’s one thing I try and always keep in the back of my mind. I too still have lots to learn about this topic.

Ximena Vengoechea

The book I’m featuring today is now at the top of my list of books I recommend to my clients on this topic.

What is it?

It’s a book by Ximena Vengoechea called Listen Like You Mean it: Reclaiming the Lost of Art of True Connection.

In Listen Like You Mean It, Ximena offers an essential listening guide for our times, revealing tried-and-true strategies honed in her own research sessions and drawn from interviews with marriage counselors, podcast hosts, life coaches, journalists, filmmakers, and other listening experts.

Now more than ever, we need to feel heard, connected and understood in a world that keeps turning up the volume.

Don’t you agree?

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

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326: Win Every Day with Chick-fil-a VP Mark Miller

There is a rare breed of business book authors capable of leveraging the power of story to help illustrate the concepts they’re trying to teach.

Bob Burg, Pat Lencioni, Ken Blanchard, and Andy Andrews all share their business fables quite successfully with wide audiences.

mark miller

Ken Blanchard, in fact, has co-written a couple of his books with today’s special guest, who is an author of a series of his own successful business fables.

His name is Mark Miller and he is Chick-fil-a’s Vice President of High-Performance Leadership. Mark’s new book, Win Every Day: Proven Practices for Extraordinary Results is the fifth and final book in that series.

If you’ve heard the show before, you know how I like to pull an audio nugget from the guest, something they said during our conversation, and bring it to the front of the podcast to sort of whet your whistle a bit?

Well, Mark had so many of these little nuggets that, for the first time I can remember, I had trouble choosing just which nugget to use. They were all so good!

Want to hear them all? You know what to do…

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324: The Future of Behavior Design with Dr. BJ Fogg

While technically today’s featured book was released in 2019 (December 31 to be exact), I’ve dubbed it my favorite book so far this year!

Upon reading it, I immediately wanted to share it and attempt to teach its concepts to others. That, to me, is the mark of a great book.

bj fogg

What is this amazing book?

Well, it’s the New York Times bestseller Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by Dr. BJ Fogg. Or, as BJ would now call it if he could rename it, Tiny Habits: The Future of Behavior Design.

The book sleeve on the front cover says confidently, “This book will change your life.” Just yesterday, my wife saw the book on my desk and asked if the claim was true. I answered with a resounding “YES!”

With breakthrough discoveries in every chapter, you’ll learn the simplest proven ways to transform your life. Whether you want to lose weight, de-stress, sleep better, or be more productive each day, Tiny Habits makes it easy to achieve.

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321: Habits of a Champion with Dana Cavalea

Award-winning, New York Yankees strength coach

One of the greatest things about creating something like a podcast is the doors it opens, allowing you to meet people you wouldn’t have otherwise met.

For me, one of those people is Sherri Griffin.

dana cavalea

In her words, she is Read to Lead’s biggest fan. Who am I to argue?

It’s because of Sherri that I am able to bring to you my guest on today’s episode.

His name is Dana Cavalea, and he is the former Director of Performance for an organization you’ve probably heard of called the New York Yankees. He helped lead the team to a World Series Championship in 2009 and that same year was voted by his peers as the top Strength Coach in Major League Baseball, receiving the Nolan Ryan Award.

Dana’s book is called Habits of a Champion: Nobody Becomes a Champion by Accident.

Click the play button below to join our conversation now, or keep scrolling for a summary.

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