Cool Change

David Risher is the CEO and co-founder of Worldreader. His early appetite for reading, coupled with his technology background, encouraged him to launch an organization that now reaches more than 13 million readers across 46 countries with content in 52 languages. Worldreader helps children everywhere access the books they need to improve their lives and live their potential. 

Before Worldreader, David left his executive post at Microsoft to join Jeff Bezos in building Amazon’s first billion in revenue as Senior Vice President of Retail. When he left after just five years, Bezos wrote a personal tribute thanking David for his leadership and hid it on Amazon’s home page with a secret link.

In our conversation, we talk about how romantic and functional mindsets play into decision making and career choices, what happens when we see the potential in people by default, and the one critical life skill that travel affords us, and much more.

When Sadie Lincoln and her husband, Chris, decided to start fitness company barre3, it was borne from a sense in which popular fitness models weren’t working for her, despite doing all the things and having all the stuff. Now with more than 175 locations in three countries, she is seeking to redefine fitness by helping people be “balanced in their body” and “empowered from within.”

This is a podcast about change, so I sat down with Sadie to learn about how she thinks about it… it’s one of the core ideas she’s espoused in her business from Day 1.

You can hear more about Sadie’s very unconventional early life and upbringing in podcasts like How I Built This and The Rich Roll Podcast, and I encourage you to do that.

In our conversation, we park on a few key themes and insights to see what makes her such an inspirational leader to thousands of people.

If you’ve ever considered starting your own business without leaving your day job, listen to how Katy Mallory partnered with her mom to do just that… all while parenting three young children.

With millions in revenue after only a few short years, and following a successful appearance on ABC Television’s Shark Tank, Katy talks with me about launching SlumberPod, the must-have device for parents who travel with babies and toddlers.

Cool Change Podcast listeners save $20 off their purchase of a SlumberPod purchased from the company website using discount code COOLCHANGE20.

Jeff Henderson, author of the new book "Know What You're FOR: A Growth Strategy for Work, An Even Better Strategy for Life” and someone Forbes just called "one of the top 20 speakers you need to hear” has launched a movement based on two game-changing questions: What are we known for? What do we want to be known for?

In this episode of Cool Change Podcast (link), Jeff discusses the importance of finishing strong before making a change to a new role or job, the role of purpose in our work, and how he has used his experience as a marketing executive for the Atlanta Braves and Chick-fil-a to help companies move from self-promoting to people-centric organizations.

A quick-hit of the most interesting and insightful lessons learned from my full-length interview with Pete Gumbrecht. If you haven’t heard it yet, go back and listen to that one first! You’ll be glad you did.

It took visiting Maui to make it happen (poor me, I know), but I finally caught up with Pete Gumbrecht to learn what sailing 28,000 miles on his boat in the middle of his career taught him about life and change.

"I met a lot of people who had allowed their dream to shackle them... but they weren't happy anymore. They had allowed the dream to own them and they had allowed it to become a burden instead of something joyful... and I didn't want that to happen. So I came back..."

A mini-episode that unpacks useful, practical, real-world insights taken from Episode 22 with Stuckey’s CEO Stephanie Stuckey (listen to that first).

Rilla Delorier discusses the importance of businesses having a soul and a story beyond the financials, the impact of fearless leadership, appealing to your tribe, and using the skills we pick up along the way in new ways and new roles.

Our invisible, inherited scripts often govern how we show up in life. Susan Eckstein, Ironman triathlete and women’s empowerment coach, shares her insights on how to take control of the stories we tell ourselves, and how one very unconventional decision opened her eyes to a more powerful way of living. Whether you want to make major life changes or just tweak certain aspects of your daily existence, this is the episode for you.

Introducing a new mini-episode format designed to pull actionable insights from podcast interviews, featuring Rilla Delorier. The idea is to unpack the stories shared in full-length interviews so that we can apply their lessons to our own lives.

In this episode, Chuck and Rilla discuss Cool Change Podcast Episode 26 with Ashley Baer. You’ll want to listen to that episode in its entirety before listening to this one.

Ashley Baer had it all growing up — living with her parents and siblings in a loving home in a safe, exclusive community — her childhood was nearly perfect… until a tragedy changed everything.

Listen in on Ashley’s story as she describes a series of events that unfolded over many years, and how she was able to make a few key changes that not only helped her recover, but is helping many others in the process.

Follow her on Instagram: @missashleybaer

Listen to her guided meditations on Insight Timer.

Practice virtual yoga with her through Village Yoga online.

Available on Apple Podcasts or your favorite listening platform.