You can’t cheat the harvest. Not in farming, not in funeral service, and not in leadership. That’s the line I kept coming back to after tonight’s conversation with Jay Jacobson, author of Lead by Legendary Example — a book forged inside a profession with zero room to fake competence: funeral service. Forty years of leading people through the worst day of their lives taught Jacobson something most executive coaches never pick up in a classroom. Leadership isn’t a title, a slide deck, or a TED Talk. It’s what you do when nobody’s applauding.

Jacobson’s framework rests on six leadership pillars — Integrity, Presence, Vision, Servant Leadership, Adaptability, and Mentorship — and the mistake most bosses make is treating them like a checklist instead of a practice. They chase vision before they’ve earned presence. They demand loyalty before they’ve modeled integrity. Tonight, Jacobson walked us through a grandfather-and-grandson story that reframed what dignity in leadership actually looks like, and a piece of his own history — assisting families after the Sioux City air disaster and later testifying before the U.S. Senate — that shows exactly what these leadership pillars look like when the stakes are real and there’s no script to follow.

Here’s the part that stuck with me most: trust isn’t built in the big speech. It’s built in the routine call you actually prepared for. I tell my coaching clients and hockey parents the same thing — character shows up in the boring repetitions, not the highlight reel. If you run a team, a business, or a household, this episode hands you a mirror. Which of these six pillars are you skipping because it’s inconvenient, and which one is quietly costing you the trust you’re trying to build?

You don’t have to take my word for how it unfolds — watch it yourself. The full replay of tonight’s episode of A New Direction with Jay Jacobson is live now on YouTube and available everywhere you get your podcasts. If you lead people — at work, at home, or on a bench — block out 45 minutes and let Jacobson’s version of legendary leadership put yours to the test. Then tell me in the comments: which pillar are you getting backwards?

Jay Jacobson‘s book, “Lead by Legendary Example” is a combination of real stories, and practical psychological and behavioral practices that anyone can employ right now.  You don’t have to wait to make things happen with these 6 pillars of leadership, you can start today, this very moment.

This book is also special because not only is it a book that you will read, but at the end of each chapter he has simple practical exercises that you can do to change you.  And the second half of the book are 10 sessions that you can even train your team on.

The real point of the book however is one that many of us struggle to comprehend.  Change does not come from performing better, real change occurs because we changed our internal selves.  We make a choice through our mind, will and emotions to change the way think so that we can become the leaders and practice the leadership that can be within all of us…if we make that choice.

I loved this book.  It read so fast. The stories are real and the insights that Jay Jacobson pulls out of them are relevant and poignant. This book is for everyone.  Not simply “business leaders” it is for all of us who interact with others, because we are all leaders in one way or another.  This book is for you and me!

Get your copy of Lead by Legendary Example by clicking here.

A New Direction is so grateful to our sponsors, please reach out to them and tell them thank you, and please LIKE their social media pages.

Linda Craft Team, Realtors for more than 40 years their customers call their customer service “legendary”.

Linda and her team built their business on building relationships and understanding your home is full of memories that are important to you! It is about the relationship, not the transaction.

So if you have a question, want a free market analysis of your home just click on over to www.LindaCraft.com and Check out their Facebook Page

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post 6 Pillars of Leadership Where Most of Us Struggle appeared first on Jay Izso.

What actually separates the candidate who walks away with a $250,000 offer from the one who walks away with “we’ll be in touch”?

That’s the question we sat down with on this episode of A New Direction, talking with Craig A. Fleming, author of Mastering the $250,000 Interview. You can catch the full episode now on your favorite podcast platform. But whether you’ve already listened or you’re catching up now, here’s what the book — and the conversation — comes down to: the interview most people prepare for isn’t the interview that’s actually happening.

Here are just four of the ideas and thoughts Craig shared.

The biggest myth about high-stakes interviewing is that it’s a performance you can improvise your way through if you’re smart enough or charming enough.  At the six-figure level, nobody wins an interview by winging it.

Preparation and rehearsal aren’t about memorizing a script — canned answers get spotted from a mile away in an executive-level interview. They’re about doing the unglamorous work beforehand so that, by the time you’re in the room, you already sound like the answer to a question the company hasn’t even asked out loud yet. The candidates who get the offer aren’t the ones improvising the best answers. They’re the ones who rehearsed until the room had nothing left to catch them off guard.

Here’s where a lot of good candidates lose a great interview: they answer the question they were asked instead of the question that was actually meant. Craig give us insights that you must build skills around the idea that reading between the lines is the real skill — figuring out what a company is genuinely looking for, versus what the job posting says on paper.

The book points out as well as Craig does on the show, it is rarely about whether you can technically do the job. It’s about whether you can solve the specific problem that’s keeping someone up at night. That means the strongest interview answers aren’t the most polished ones — they’re the ones that show you actually understood the problem behind the posting.

One of the more useful reframes in the book: stop treating your résumé, and the interview itself, like a formality where you simply report your history. Start treating both like what they actually are — a sales pitch. The résumé’s job is to get you into the room. The interview’s job is to close.

That shift changes everything about how you prepare. You’re not there to be interesting. You’re there to prove, point by point, that you’re the fix for a specific, expensive problem. Every answer in a $250,000 interview should be doing sales work, whether you think of it that way or not.

Maybe the most eye-opening piece of Mastering the $250,000 Interview: the evaluation doesn’t stop at the door. Long before — and long after — you sit across from a hiring committee, there’s a silent search running in the background. Your social media. Your online footprint. Everything a company can find about you without ever asking you a single question in an interview.

The book’s point isn’t to make you paranoid. It’s to make you aware. What shows up in that silent search can either back up everything you said in the interview or quietly undercut it. Either way, it’s part of the interview now, whether it’s on the official agenda or not.

We covered all four of these in depth in this episode of A New Direction with Coach Jay Izso — why interview preparation matters more than raw talent, how to read what a company is really asking, why your résumé and your interview answers should both be doing sales work, and what the silent search means for how you show up online long before you ever get invited to interview.

If you’re heading into an interview where real stakes — and real money — are on the line, this is worth the listen. Find the episode on your favorite podcast platform — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen. And if this hit home, share it with someone who has a big interview coming up. They’ll thank you for it.

Craig Fleming’s book, “Mastering the $250,000 Interview: A Step-by-Step System” is simple the best book on interviewing I have ever read.  And I have read dozens of books on the subject and have taught interviewing at the college level.  While the book may be geared toward the executive interview, the lessons and structure can apply to any interview situation.

Every chapter is filled with practical guidance from the psychology of how to read and interpret the job listing, to the psychology of how the interviewers think, to what your online brand and reputation may say about you that is holding you back from getting that next level job or promotion.

Craig touches on topics like spending days preparing for the interview, how to express confidence without being over confident, demonstrating your value so you can demand the best salary and benefits, how to turn your resume from experience to a story that demonstrates results and so much more!

This book was quite convicting for me, because I say in myself that I have developed habitual words and phrases that are not helping me in my communication.  That if I were in the interview situation would probably disqualify me pretty quickly.  If you want the edge in your next interview you must read this book.

Get your copy of Mastering the $250,000 Interview by Clicking Here.

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For 40 years helping people all over the world make a transition in life.  They take the stress out of the home selling and home buying process.

When you are looking for consistent, top of their game, professional real estate service with a track record of successfully helping 1000’s, check out Linda Craft Team, REALTORS.

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post Mastering the $250,000 Interview appeared first on Jay Izso.

Can a company really put people first and still build a thriving workplace culture? On A New Direction with Coach Jay Izso, my guest Josh Block says yes — and he’s got fifteen years of proof.

Josh Block spent fifteen years leading Block Imaging, growing the team from fifty people to more than four hundred, and revenue from thirty million dollars to two hundred fifteen million. He didn’t get there by squeezing more out of people — he got there by building a workplace culture rooted in trust. He went on to found Cube Mobile Imaging, expanding access to medical imaging for patients across the country, and today serves as Executive Advisor at Block Imaging. He’s also the author of the new book People Matter @Work.

Josh works with executives navigating growth, brand-new managers who got the title without the training, and teams stuck in fear and disengagement — helping them reshape their workplace culture around trust, ownership, and generosity instead of pressure.

At the center of People Matter @Work is a simple but demanding idea: the biggest thing standing between a team and real performance often isn’t strategy, budget, or talent — it’s a leader running everything through “me.” Josh’s framework is built to shift workplace culture from isolation to ownership, and from pressure to possibility. If leadership has ever felt heavier the more responsibility you took on, this is the conversation for you.

Josh breaks it down into three practices any leader can start using right away to strengthen their workplace culture:

Whether you’re an executive navigating change, a manager who wasn’t quite ready for the promotion, or leading a team stuck in disengagement, these three shifts are the blueprint for a workplace culture where people — and performance — actually thrive.

Josh’s book is a playbook for building the kind of workplace culture where trust, accountability, and generosity aren’t posters on a wall — they’re how the place actually runs. Catch the full conversation with Josh Block on A New Direction with Coach Jay Izso, live and on the podcast, and get a new direction on what it actually means to lead.

Josh Block’s book, “People Matter at Work: Fostering a Culture Where Team Members Thrive and Everyone Wins” is an outstanding book.  If you are a fan of “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team” by Lencioni then you are going to love this book!  It takes a deeper look at how we will can truly build a team that builds trust and makes you organization and business more profitable.

We have all heard the saying, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” well Josh Block has the proof as he takes his company to a higher stratosphere financially through a powerful workplace culture shift.  And how does he do that?  By sharing the principles of People Matter @Work.

Josh literally takes us through his step of becoming a 20 something President of an already successful company and makes it even better.  He recognizes during his own humbling experience there are 3 T’s, Working Together, making Thoughtful Decisions that affect his people, and being Transparent, helps his entire workforce become safe, seen, and successful.  And the result is people take ownership of the company to want to see it succeed and in turn makes it tremendously profitable.

It may sound like a risk to the average CEO, but as Josh points out the real risk was by not doing the work to make his entire team a integral part of the business.  This book is for both the current leader and the aspiring leader.  And he not only has proved, he gives you the tools and the mindset to create it for your business as well.  Really enjoyed every page of the book.  I highly recommend it.

Get your copy of People Matter @Work by clicking here! 

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Linda Craft Team, REALTORS no matter where you live in the world, Linda Craft and her team can help you find the best professional in your area to help you sell or buy your next home.

While most real estate professionals belong to a nationally affiliated company where they are obligated to use the people in their company’s network.

Linda Craft Team are privately owned and operated.  That means they can find the absolute best professional from ANY company to ensure you get the best service.

Located in the Raleigh Research Triangle Park of North Carolina…they are indeed legendary when it comes to service.  Learn more  by going to Linda Craft & Team, REALTORS  www.LindaCraft.com

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post Workplace Culture: 3 Shifts Every Leader Needs appeared first on Jay Izso.

What if the biggest leadership breakthrough of your career isn’t a new strategy, a new title, or a new set of KPIs — but a philosophy you’ve been overlooking your whole career? That’s the question at the heart of today’s show. At 5pm Eastern on “A New Direction with Coach Jay,” I’m sitting down live with Mark Miller — co-author, alongside legendary leadership expert Ken Blanchard, of the newly revised and expanded 4th edition of “The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do.” Blanchard and Miller say 82 percent of managers struggle to lead effectively, and their answer to why is deceptively simple: servant leadership. If that number makes you uncomfortable, good — that’s exactly why this conversation matters.

“The Secret” isn’t your typical leadership book stacked with theory and jargon. It’s a business fable — the story of Debbie Brewster, a newly promoted executive who’s drowning in low morale, high turnover, and a team that’s losing faith in her. Her mentor hands her one deceptively simple truth: great leaders serve. That’s servant leadership in action, and it plays out through the five practices of the SERVE model — seeing the future, engaging and developing others, reinventing continuously, valuing both results and relationships, and embodying the values you claim to hold.

What makes this conversation especially powerful is who’s sitting across from me. Mark Miller didn’t study servant leadership from a distance — he lived it. He walked into Chick-fil-A as the company’s 16th employee, starting out in the warehouse and mailroom, and spent the next 45 years working his way up through Corporate Communications, Field Operations, and Training and Development before retiring as Vice President of High-Performance Leadership. That’s a quarter century spent directing research and initiatives worth tens of millions of dollars to figure out, test, and validate what actually works when you’re trying to lead people well.  This is a man who has been in the trenches — which means today’s conversation isn’t theory, it’s tested truth.

So here’s what we’ll be digging into together: why so many capable, hardworking managers still fail to lead effectively — and what the small percentage who practice true servant leadership are doing differently. We’ll talk about what it really means to “see the future” as a leader, why reinventing yourself never stops being optional, and how you rebuild trust and credibility once it’s been damaged.  Whether you’re leading a team of two or two thousand, this episode is going to hand you a servant leadership framework you can start using before the day is over.

If you would like engage Mark’s services you can call him on his cell phone directly: 678-612-8441 or email Mark, [email protected]

Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller‘s book, “The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do, , 4th Edition, Revised and Expanded” is what I would refer to as a timeless guide for those seeking to be great leaders.  Why do I say timeless?  Because the principles in this book would work in the first century and will work any time in the future.

I had never read the previous versions of the book, so I do not know what to compare it to, but I can tell you that was fundamental mind shifts in every single chapter.  The book is counter-intuitive for those leaders that believe they must be in control.  Yes, you need to be valuing results, but if you want your leadership to translate into great results you need to value those relationships both inside and outside of your organization or business.

You have probably heard the term “servant leadership”.  But you may have not really thought how a leader actually serves others.  Well, this is where the book sets itself apart from other books.  It doesn’t just talk about it as a philosophical ideal, but puts into practical terms that translate into greater profits, and truly having a great team.

I truly enjoyed reading every page of this book.  What I pulled from The Secret was more than a great story that surrounded the main principles of SERVE, but also the valuable practical nuggets that made me think, and that I could apply to my own leadership immediately.  Do yourself and your business a huge favor and get it.

You can get your copy of The Secret by clicking here.

Please reach out and thank the sponsors of  A New Direction and bringing you great guests like these:

Linda Craft Team Realtors. So what can you say about a real estate company that has spent more than 40 years at the top of their game?

Well the first thing is you have to admit that their customers and clients continue to drive their business…but why?

That’s because the Linda Craft Team continue to believe that every person and every relationship is important, not just now, but even in the future.

It is why she is devoted to continually adding value to her clients and community by serving them in ways that matter…it is also why their clients say, “The Linda Craft Team have legendary customer service!”

When it comes to real estate start with the legends start with Linda Craft & Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post Servant Leadership: The Secret Great Leaders Know appeared first on Jay Izso.

What are you hiding — and what is it actually costing you? Not just in your business, but in your marriage, your friendships, the relationship with your own kids. That’s the question at the center of my conversation tomorrow at 5pm Eastern, LIVE on A New Direction, with Tyler Dickerhoof, author of the brand-new book The Things We Hide. If you’ve ever wondered why so many high performers still feel alone at the top, this is a conversation about the hidden barriers to authentic leadership — and how to finally tear them down.

Tyler isn’t theorizing about authentic leadership from the sidelines. He built businesses generating over $500 million in combined sales, and sat on John Maxwell’s Network Marketing Advisory Council. But he’ll tell you the whole time he was doing it, he was hiding — behind the results, behind the intensity, behind the belief that his worth was tied to how much he knew and how hard he could push. It took losing his younger brother Joel as a teenager, and decades of pushing people away while pushing through everything alone, before Tyler finally turned around and faced what he’d spent 25 years running from. That turn is exactly what separates performance from authentic leadership.Shorten with AI

That’s the real subject of The Things We Hide: the hidden barriers that keep capable, driven people from ever leading — or living — authentically. Tyler breaks it down into what he calls the Four Walls of Insecurity: Intensity, Inactivity, Insensitivity, and Isolation. These are the defense mechanisms so many high achievers mistake for strengths. We’re going to talk about why “intensity is a bulldozer” that clears a path for success but leaves relationships in the wreckage. We’re going to talk about the lie that leadership has to be lonely. And we’re going to unpack his core message, one every leader chasing authentic leadership needs to hear: what you hide controls you, what you face transforms you.

So clear your schedule, and join us for a real conversation about hidden barriers, vulnerability, and what authentic leadership actually looks like once the performance drops away. Bring your questions, bring your comments, and bring whatever wall you’ve been hiding behind — because Tyler and I are going to talk about how to tear it down without tearing yourself apart in the process. This isn’t just another leadership interview.

Tyler Dickerhoof’s book, “The Things We Hide: A Guide to Identifying Hidden Barriers and Leading with Authenticity” is a deep, insightful view into ourselves that most of us do not want to look at.  And yet, is fundamentally required if we want to achieve both true significance and success.

We all have walls.  We all have fears and insecurities.  For most of us we will never admit them throughout our lifetime.  Instead, when our insecurities are triggered, we become intense, maybe we become inactive hoping this will just go away, perhaps it we resort to becoming insensitive because the more calluses that we have we don’t have to feel others’ pain, or maybe we just isolate and disappear.  Maybe it is some combination of all of these. The point is…our insecurities will show up.

So what do we do about it?  Well this is where this book separates itself from so many others.  Tyler includes exercises and free assessments in the book that if you choose to take on the mission can start moving you onto the path of true significance, success, and real authentic leadership.

This book is not going to be easy.  It is going to challenge you. It is going to make you uncomfortable, but growth comes from being comfortable getting uncomfortable. This book will make you think and help you grow if you choose to follow his guidelines.  I loved every page!

Get your copy of The Things We Hide by clicking here!

Please reach out to our sponsors and LIKE their social media pages as their financial contributions help keep A New Direction on the air and bring us great guests.

Linda Craft Team, REALTORs for more than 40 years their clients and friends have said when it comes to real estate they have “legendary customer service”.

Locally owned, and independent of any national brand, they have literally helped people all over the world by finding the best real estate professional in your area.  And because they are independent they are unbiased who they choose because they have relationships with the best agents regardless of company.

So, if you live somewhere else, or you live in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Research Triangle Park, before you sell or buy your home, start with the “legends” that know the local market, and stay on the bleeding edge of technology at Linda Craft Team, REALTORS…you can learn more by going to www.LindaCraft.com

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post The Hidden Barriers to Authentic Leadership appeared first on Jay Izso.

Are you struggling to transition from a high-performing technical expert to an effective people manager? On the next live episode of A New Direction, best-selling author Steven Riddle joins us for Part 2 of our deep dive into his book, Falling into Leadership. Join us as we tackle the critical leadership mindset shift required when stepping into executive roles. Many new managers fall into the trap of leading through the exact technical skills that got them promoted, failing to realize that team management and executive growth require an entirely different playbook.

One of the biggest hurdles in leadership development is mastering difficult conversations in leadership. Why do founders and executives endlessly rehearse tough performance reviews or confrontational talks in their head, only to avoid having them altogether? Steven exposes how surface-level communication erodes trust and why moving toward active listening and practical empathy is essential for creating psychological safety. By understanding the nuance between empathy, sympathy, and apathy, leaders can stop micromanaging and start asking powerful questions that build real engagement and clarity.

As you climb the organizational ladder, executive loneliness becomes an unmistakable reality. The higher you advance, the more isolated decision-making feels, making emotional intelligence and self-awareness non-negotiable tools for survival. We discuss how resilient leadership helps senior executives navigate uncertainty, adapt to constant workplace change, and lead with steady character rather than relying on sheer force of personality. True adaptability isn’t about avoiding stress; it’s about maintaining presence under pressure so you can guide your team through disruption without getting knocked off center.

Ultimately, the leadership mindset shift is from task-based management to sustainable leadership requires mastering effective delegation and structuring high-impact 1-on-1 meetings that foster team accountability. Strong organizational culture isn’t built top-down through rigid policy; it is forged daily through authentic connection, shared values, and mutual respect. Tune in to New Direction, to learn how to focus on the human inputs that drive high performance and leave behind a lasting leadership legacy.

Steve Riddle’s book, “Falling Into Leadership: How Leaders Emerge, Grow and Lead With Purpose” is a play by play guide into coaching a new leader. In Steve Riddle’s approach we are introduced to a new emerging leader in Sally who is open and willing to change as a leader, but is uncertain of the steps. In 8 sessions Steve Riddle walks us through his process of coaching that helps you have a Leadership Mindset Shift to help you go from promoted to great.

Steve Riddle has a very organized approach that starts with focusing on the leader’s own self-awareness. His big push is if that self-awareness is only the beginning, but without it, you will never get to the next steps of growth. His methodology of using questions to push the client are both refreshing and eye opening for all of us.  And that leadership mindset shift is fundamentally necessary for growth.

Behind the curtain he takes through the importance of emotional intelligence, communication, adaptability, resilience, and what true accountability looks like. He emphasizes the importance of the leaders role of empowering, inspiring, and influencing those the leader leads, and helps us recognize that as a leader our responsibility is to leave a legacy of leaders in our employees.

Packed with tons of insights and thought provoking questions, and leadership mindset shifts, the book, in my opinion is using the case of Sally to take a closer look at ourself. Some of our dysfunctional mindsets, becoming more self-aware and becoming the leader we had always hoped we would become.

Please reach out and thank the awesome sponsors of A New Direction:

Every real estate agent is asking the same question right now: is AI going to help me, or leave me behind? Here’s the honest answer — the agents who’ve learned to use it are already pulling ahead. They’re writing listings in minutes, answering every lead the second it comes in, and following up until customers become clients, all without adding hours to their week. And if you’re not using AI yet — because you’re not sure how, or it honestly feels a little intimidating — you’re not behind. You’re exactly who this was built for. You don’t need to be technical or “good with computers.” You just need a clear, plain‑English path to putting these tools to work in your business.

That’s what AIREpro Certification is: a step‑by‑step course, built by real estate coaches for real estate agents, that teaches you to use AI to grow your business and make more money. Convert and close more of the leads you already have. Improve your marketing while saving marketing dollars. Get the work of a marketing assistant and a personal assistant for about the price of one lunch a month — not a salary. It’s twelve self‑paced modules, zero jargon, and a certificate that shows clients you’re AI‑ready. Best of all, you can try Module One completely free — no signup, no credit card — and decide for yourself. If it’s a fit, the full certification is just $99

Linda Craft Team, Realtors when you are looking to sell your home or buy a new home start with what their clients refer to as “the legends of customer service”.

Whether you are in the Greater Raleigh Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina or any where in the world they can help you with your home dreams.

Contact our friends Linda Craft Team at www.LindaCraft.com

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post 3 Hard Truths Every Promoted Leader Must Face appeared first on Jay Izso.

What separates a championship-winning franchise from a team that can’t even make the playoffs? It’s a locker room culture rooted in a higher standard of fair play, integrity, and a relentless drive to win the right way. In this episode of A New Direction with Coach Jay, we are huddling up to completely redraw your corporate playbook. Join me as I sit down with performance strategist and author Jake Shannon to discuss his groundbreaking book, Sportify: Beyond Business Ethics. We are tossing out the dusty, uninspired compliance manuals and mapping out a radical new game plan where high-level moral codes meet elite athletic execution.

In this hard-hitting episode, we are diving deep into the powerful, unexpected intersection of elite sportsmanship and bioethical principlism. Shannon argues that traditional business ethics are fundamentally broken, relying on lazy, defensive legal box-checking that inspires absolutely no one. Instead, he borrows the rigorous, high-stakes ethical frameworks typically used in modern medicine—Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, and Justice—and fuses them with the unyielding spirit of athletic fair play. We’ll discuss how this unique ethical ecosystem creates a transparent, high-trust workplace where your team doesn’t just follow rules out of fear, but actively plays hard for the brand because they respect the game.

Sportify isn’t just philosophical theory; it’s about the practical ethics of daily leadership. As coaches and managers, we’ve all dealt with the frustrating drain of “Zombie Labor”—that exhausting scenario where a company pays for full-time salaries but only gets a fraction of the actual effort due to poor morale and toxic corporate governance. Shannon’s Sportify framework tackles this head-on, proving that running an ethical organization is actually the ultimate productivity hack. We will break down how transitioning from an obsolete supervisor model to a dynamic “Head Coach” framework changes everything, allowing you to stop running an “adult daycare” and start engineering a self-governing competitive dynasty.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to protect your bottom line or a manager ready to revitalize a disengaged locker room, this episode is your ultimate pre-game brief on how doing the right thing drives winning results. It’s time to stop settling for mediocrity and take your leadership in a bold, new direction. Get ready to upgrade your corporate code of conduct for good. See you on the field and Sportify your business!

Jake Shannon’s book, “Sportify: Beyond Business Ethics” is a quick read filled with no nonsense guidance to run your business like a sports team.  Let’s be honest, sports require competition and sportsmanship.  Your business should really run on the same principles. In Sportify, Jake Shannon makes a strong case that you can run a successful and profitable business by applying the same sports and ethical principles that we find in sports.

In today’s business world it can feel very difficult to have a winning edge and still play ethically, but Jake Shannon uses examples throughout Sportify to demonstrate that when you play the ethical game, you reduce problems, build trust with customers, obtain the best talent and create a legacy that goes beyond you.

The problem for most companies is the question of leadership.  If leadership demonstrates ethical behavior and you make it part of your core values and mission your business will be holding up the championship trophy at the end of the day.  Is it a one time fix? No, it will require practice.  Practice in your daily routines.  Practice with each other.  Practice with your clients and customers and practice in the business and outside of it.

Sportify while a quick read is the new way to do business, and do it successfully!  Loved this book.  I highly recommend it.

You can get your copy of Sportify by clicking here!

We are so grateful for the financial support of the sponsors of A New Direction.  They really do help us secure great authors, books, and distribute the show.

Please go to their websites and thank them.  Even going to their social media pages and giving them a LIKE would be awesome!

Linda Craft Team, Realtors, their clients say that their customer service is “legendary” and the reason for that is because for more than 39 years they build and maintain personal relationships with their clients.

Why?  Because buying and selling of a house is a great deal more than a business transaction, it is a life altering experience.

That’s because we don’t just live in a home, some of our most significant memories will be made in that home.

Linda and her team are dedicated to taking care of your memory maker as if it were their own.

Whether you are about to purchase a new home, or sell your current home, start with the relationship legends.  Start with Linda Craft Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post Game On! Sportify Your Business appeared first on Jay Izso.

We live in the most connected era in human history, and somehow, we have never been more alone. That paradox is the beating heart of Unknown: Finding Connection in a Disconnected World, the USA Today bestseller from leadership coach and New Hope Church founder Keith Spurgin. After years of advising leaders across North America, Europe, and Africa, Spurgin kept hearing the same quiet confession over and over: “I’m surrounded by people, but I feel completely alone.”

Today on A New Direction, he joins us live to talk about why that ache of aloneness shows up everywhere — in marriages, in friendships, and especially in the lives of the leaders we assume have it all figured out.  We can have great success and still be totally alone.  And

What makes this conversation different is that Spurgin isn’t speaking from a podium. He’s speaking from the night his wife told him it felt like he had “a mistress” — not another person, but his work, his calling, and his reputation, all of which had quietly crowded her out. It rocked his world, and it took years to rebuild. Thirty-eight years of marriage later, he’s living proof that disconnection doesn’t have to be the end of the story. That honesty is exactly why readers keep saying this book “reflects my own life” and “is going to change my life” — and it’s why this episode is going to hit closer to home than you expect.

For leaders, the stakes are even higher. You can build a brilliant strategy, hit every number, and still be running a team of people who don’t actually know each other — or you. You feel everything falls on you…and you are alone at the top. Spurgin argues that healthy culture isn’t built on performance; it’s built on genuine connection, and most of us were never taught how to create it. In this conversation he lays out the practical road map at the core of Unknown: how to move relationships from lifeless and transactional to vibrant and real, and how the leaders who master this end up building teams people never want to leave. If you’ve ever wondered why your organization feels busy but hollow, this is the missing piece.

Keith Spurgin‘s book, “Unknown: Finding Connection in a Disconnected World” is an honest, insightful look into the epidemic that is growing around the world.  Being alone and being “unknown”.  The fact of the matter is that being alone and loneliness is growing and no one is talking about it.  Yes are we more technologically connected…sure.  But what we are truly build and designed for is 3-dimensional human connection, and without it according to research comes a number of physical problems with a shorter life span.

Keith Spurgin, doesn’t pull any punches in Unknown.  He is vulnerable with his own shortcomings.  He is honest with where he has missed the mark and how in some cases he recovered and others, he did not.  He helps us to understand that having these truly connected deep relationships enhances our lives as not only leaders, but as people.  The problem that most of us face is that we are all broken people and relationships are not easy.

Many people believe that they don’t need people.  They have convinced themselves of the lie that they are independent, and life is safer without the complications.  However, what we learn is that even the most independent of us still will try to have relationships, but we bounce from one to another, so we don’t get hurt.  We ultimately fall into the relationship pain cycle.

For leaders it is more difficult.  Many have made the choice that being alone is the price to pay for being on top.  Spurgin explains that it’s not the best we to lead.  We are only mediocre at best when we go it alone.  And you can’t go from good to great when you are satisfied with mediocrity.

The book takes through some practical steps we all need to consider, because it is not just having great relationships we must choose wisely.  Because you should know that the deeper relationships you have, have your back.  They are the ones who can listen without judgement and yet can call you out when you have gone off the rails.  Does it take time?  Of course it does.  You may say you don’t have the time.  But who’s choice is that?

At the end of the day, we come to learn a couple of important factors from Unknown: First, we need relationships to make us better.  Second, love (not in the movie version) of your closest friends changes the landscape of being alone.  And three, we are all broken people, and so relationships require work, vulnerability, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  It’s not easy, but as with anything else, it is the hard things that are worth it.  I highly recommend “Unknown“

Get your copy of Unknown by clicking here. 

Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so this one lands in your feed. Whether you lead a company, a team, an organization, a church, or a household, you’ll walk away with language for something you’ve felt for years but couldn’t name, and a real path toward changing it. Some episodes inform you. This one might just reconnect you. Don’t watch it alone — share it with the person who needs to hear it most.

We really would like to ask you to thank our sponsors.  Their financial support of A New Direction is so critical to helping us provide quality guests, books, and great sounding show.

“You tune in to A New Direction to grow your business and your mindset. But you can’t move forward if you’re worried about what’s lurking in your inbox.

That’s where Data443 Cyren comes in. It’s the industry standard for real-time email security and URL filtering. They stop phishing and malware before they strike, so you can focus on your success, not your safety.

Don’t let a cyberattack derail your journey. Go to Data443.com today and secure your future.“

Linda Craft Team, Realtors they literally are a locally owned independent real estate company,  that serves the world.

How can a small company serve the world?

They have created relationships with the best real estate experts in the world to help you regardless of where you live get the best person possible.

And because they are independent of any national brand, they have relationships with other professionals from all the companies, not just the ones that are part of a national branded network.

For more than 39 years they continue to build relationships because that is how Linda started the business and continues to do so today.  Head on over to www.LindaCraft.com

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post It’s Alone at the Top and 3 Ways to Change It appeared first on Jay Izso.

Ever feel like you’re doing all the “right” things—reading the self-help books, checking off your goals, grinding every day—but inside, you’re still wrestling with the exact same anxieties? You aren’t broken; you’ve just hit the ceiling of what your current self can handle. Real, lasting change requires more than just adding new habits to your daily routine; it demands a total identity transformation. If you are ready to stop merely managing your symptoms and start evolving who you are at your core, it is time for a radical internal upgrade.

Today on A New Direction, Coach Jay dives deep into this psychological frontier with cutting-edge mindset expert and best-selling author, Dr. Ryan Gottfredson. We are breaking open his latest, game-changing book, Becoming Better: The Ground Breaking Science of Persona Transformation. Dr. Gottfredson bypasses the usual self-help clichés to deliver the actual, hard science behind vertical development. He will show us how to achieve a deep mental transformation that rewires our internal operating systems for unprecedented success and peace.

In this powerful conversation, you will discover why traditional willpower consistently fails and how your hidden mindsets are secretly sabotaging your growth. Dr. Gottfredson will reveal the neurological and psychological blueprints necessary to shed your defensive armor, heal old wounds, and accelerate your personal transformation. This isn’t a superficial conversation about doing more; it is an exploration of how to fundamentally alter how you see yourself and the world from the inside out.

Do not miss this chance to experience a life-altering transformation in real-time. Join us right here on A New Direction with Coach Jay to catch every insight, absorb the science, and discover the keys to unlocking your next level. Your old self has taken you as far as it can—it is time to step into the ultimate transformation and meet the person you were actually meant to become.

Ryan Gottfredson’s Book, “Becoming Better: The Groundbreaking Science of Personal Transformation” is a life changing book that will be transformational for your business.  You may be asking how can that be?  Because the fact is your business success is limited by your personal success in life.  And when you are broken (which we all are) we are never going to be as successful in life and business until we start our journey of healing from the inside out.

Dr Gottfredson likes to use the analogy of our brain and reactions, and mindsets and thinking as an operating system.  That operating system has coding from birth to now.  So, anything that we react to our coding kicks in and we respond in a way that can damage our success.  So, the fact is our operating system really needs to be recoded, the problem is we don’t want to do the hard work to do it.

But here is the irony.  When we have problems in life and business what do we typically do?  We try to find ways we can “do” our way out of something.  We may go to a conference to go new ways of “doing” things.  That all sounds great but let’s take the analogy one step further.  Think of it this way.  If you download another app on your phone to help you “do” something, but your operating system coding (IOS) is screwed up, and is a mess, how effective is that app… it’s not. And no transformation.

That’s the point of Becoming Better.  Until you change the coding from the bad coding in your past all the “do this” and “do that” are nothing more than great apps on a horribly written operating system. And your business and life transformation is at a stand still.

The brilliance of the book is that not only does Dr. Gottfredson address these issues he gives you the science behind them and offers the small building blocks and steps to start erasing the bad code in your operating system and writing new code.  But it is not easy.  And I am speaking from my own experience here.  When you realize just how much trauma in your past (that you will deny, like I did) and how it has affected your coding, you will see how much success you can achieve.

Please get a copy of this book Becoming Better and do the work!

We really would like to ask you to thank our sponsors.  Their financial support of A New Direction is so critical to helping us provide quality guests, books, and great sounding show.

“You tune in to A New Direction to grow your business and your mindset. But you can’t move forward if you’re worried about what’s lurking in your inbox.

That’s where Data443 Cyren comes in. It’s the industry standard for real-time email security and URL filtering. They stop phishing and malware before they strike, so you can focus on your success, not your safety.

Don’t let a cyberattack derail your journey. Go to Data443.com today and secure your future.“

Linda Craft Team, Realtors they literally are a locally owned independent real estate company,  that serves the world.

How can a small company serve the world?

They have created relationships with the best real estate experts in the world to help you regardless of where you live get the best person possible.

And because they are independent of any national brand, they have relationships with other professionals from all the companies, not just the ones that are part of a national branded network.

For more than 39 years they continue to build relationships because that is how Linda started the business and continues to do so today.  Head on over to www.LindaCraft.com

Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do!

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

The post 3 Steps to the Deep Transformation of Your Success appeared first on Jay Izso.

When most people think of starting a business, their minds immediately go to fast food. We’ve been conditioned to associate “franchising” with burgers, fries, and massive overhead. But in his game-changing book, “Non-food franchising: The Better Path to Business Ownership,” Jon Ostenson explains why you might want to leave the grease traps behind. This isn’t just about picking a different industry; it’s about a fundamental shift in how you build wealth. Non-food franchising offers a gateway to high-margin, essential-service businesses that provide the stability the food industry often lacks.

There is a profound emotional cost to staying in a corporate job that no longer serves you. We all crave a sense of agency over our own lives, and non-food franchising is designed to provide exactly that. Jon explores how these businesses—ranging from home services to specialized health care—allow “corporate refugees” to stop trading hours for dollars. It’s about building a legacy that supports your family and your freedom, using a proven system that doesn’t require you to be the one performing the labor. If you’ve ever felt like your potential is being capped by a ceiling someone else built, this conversation will be your sledgehammer.

During our live deep dive, we’ll look at why the most successful investors are flocking to non-food franchising. These businesses are often “recession-resistant” because they provide services people need rather than just things they want. We will break down the semi-absentee model, showing you how to scale a portfolio of businesses while keeping your day job or enjoying your retirement. By focusing on non-food franchising, you minimize the complexity of high-turnover staff and perishable inventory, focusing instead on the “boring” businesses that produce exciting, consistent cash flow.

You cannot afford to miss this high-impact session on A New Direction with Coach Jay. Join us live this Wednesday, May 27th at 5pm Eastern as we interview Jon Ostenson and pull back the curtain on the lucrative world of non-food franchising. Whether you’re looking to diversify your investments or completely pivot your career, this episode will give you the roadmap to move forward with confidence. Tune in and discover why your next big move doesn’t have to involve a drive-thru window.

Jon Ostenson‘s book, “Non-Food Franchising: The Better Path to Business Ownership” is one of those powerful books in a short read.  The fact is I learned more about non-food franchising in this 75-page book than I had learned in my lifetime.  In fact, the book was so good, it has got me thinking about investing in to a non-food franchising opportunity.

What I found so great about the book is that it is an honest, simple look at why non-food franchising is such a great opportunity.  He looks at the pros and cons of comparing to food franchises.  He also compares to the challenges of starting your own business or perhaps purchasing someone else’s business.

Now don’t think that what Jon Ostenson is saying is all butterflies and roses when it comes to franchising.  Because he is not.  He points out there is a risk.  And he also points out something else.  It is not for everyone.  The fact is you could be “TOO entrepreneurial” for a non-food franchise, because you like to tweak and do things your own way.  That’s where you need to put your ego aside, accepting some humility comes in.

The book talks about the subject of how to get money, different avenues to get started, and a step-by-step process he uses.  He also discusses the documents that are reviewed and specific areas to pay very close attention to.  Glad I read it twice!

To get your copy of “Non-Food Franchising” click here.

Please thank our sponsors of A New Direction by going to their social media pages liking them and following them.

“You tune in to A New Direction to grow your business and your mindset. But you can’t move forward if you’re worried about what’s lurking in your inbox.

That’s where Data443 Cyren comes in. It’s the industry standard for real-time email security and URL filtering. They stop phishing and malware before they strike, so you can focus on your success, not your safety.

Don’t let a cyberattack derail your journey. Go to Data443.com today and secure your future.“

Linda Craft Team, Realtors for more than 40 years they have been helping people all over the world take the stress out of real estate.  And they would love to help you!

When Linda started the business she built it by reputation and one relationship at a time and that is a foundation that continues to be built today.

They truly understand that when you think about your home it is more than bricks and mortar, you made memories there and you want someone who cares about those as much as possible as you do.

When you are ready to sell or buy your home, start with the relationship builders and home transition experts.  Start with Linda Craft Team, Realtors… www.LindaCraft.com

Executive Performance Coach  |  Host of A New Direction

Every week on A New Direction, I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything.

But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors.

I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move.

The problem, almost every time, is the person running it.

I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results.

My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in.

The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid.

The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis—in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

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