Read to Lead Podcast

I am thrilled to introduce author Kary Oberbrunner to you on this 1-year anniversary of the Read to Lead Podcast!

His latest book is Day Job to Dream Job: Practical Steps for Turning Your Passion into a Full-Time Gig.

Simply put, I loved it. If you’re dissatisfied with the current state of your career (and studies suggest that 86% of us are), then I believe you will love it too.

I especially appreciate that Kary doesn’t stop with simply telling  you what you need to do. He goes so far as to lay out a 9-step plan for how you can accomplish it. And he’s no armchair quarterback. Kary himself moved from day job to dream job in early 2013.

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In today’s episode, Kary will help us understand:

Why you should invite fear, not fight it

Some of the benefits of creating your Dream Job and why your chances for success are better than they’ve ever been

How to begin carving out your own unique niche

Overcoming self-limiting beliefs that sabotage success

And much more!

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With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

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The Day Job to Dream Job Book Trailer

Books Authored by Kary

You can pre-order your copy of Day Job to Dream Job: Practical Steps for Turning Your Passion into a Full-Time Gig right now.

Kary has also authored several other books. For more visit his Author Page on Amazon.

Books Kary Recommends

Kary recommended Chris Guillebeau’s latest book, The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

Whether you desire to one day strike out on  your own, or create more diverse work options in your present job, Pamela Slim’s recently released book Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together, is for you.

The reality is, these days, it’s getting harder and harder to have a stable career in any field. More and more of us are blending big-company jobs, start-up gigs, freelance work, and volunteer side projects. In an attempt to expand our knowledge, capabilities, and experience, we’ve built a career that’s difficult to explain. How do we make sense of it? Well, that’s where Pamela comes in.

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In Body of Work, Pamela gives us the tools to have meaningful careers in what she calls this “new world of work.” She shows how to find the connections among diverse accomplishments, sell your story, and continually reinvent and relaunch your brand.

In today’s episode, Pamela will share how to:

* Define your body of work and specific steps you can take to begin building yours

* She’ll explain what she means by “naming your ingredients” and going beyond describing yourself by your job title or the name of your degree

* She’ll lay out her simple but effective “Loathing Scale” and how it can help you determine whether it might be time to branch out on your own

* And a lot more.

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Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

The Body of Work Trailer

Books Authored by Pamela

You can order your copy of Body of Work right now.

Pamela is also the author of Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.

Books Pamela Recommends

One of Pamela’s favorite books is If You Want to W...

A highly effective marketing plan executed in just five days and for as little as $300? Is it really that simple?

According to Mark Satterfield, it can be. In his new book, The One Week Marketing Plan: The Set It & Forget It Approach for Quickly Growing Your Business, Mark lays out a step-by-step blueprint that anyone can use to create a highly effective marketing system in just five business days. If you’re tired of constantly having to chase down new business, then this book is for you.

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In today’s episode, Mark will help us understand:

* How to choose your Niche Market

* The Power of Drip-Marketing Messages, why they’re important, and how to use them

* Why relationships trump everything else

* And a lot more.

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Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Books Authored by Mark

You can pre-order your copy of The One Week Marketing Plan: The Set It & Forget It Approach for Quickly Growing Your Business right now.

Mark has also authored eight other books. For more visit Mark’s Author Page on Amazon.

Books Mark Recommends

Mark recommended his favorite Seth Godin book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Godin, Seth 1st (first) edition [Hardcover(2008)].

He also mentioned Traction by Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business.

Jeff mentioned Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling by Michael Port.

Mark Satterfield Resources

A blindspot is another word for a weakness you don’t know you have.

In his new book Leadership Blindspots: How Successful Leaders Identify and Overcome the Weaknesses That Matter, Robert Bruce Shaw defines it as “an unrecognized weakness or threat that has the potential to undermine a leader’s success.”

He goes on to say that they also operate at multiple levels. For example, how you view yourself and your impact on others around you, the strengths and weaknesses of your team and company, and the forces operating in the industry and markets in which you compete.

To be a savvy leader, you have to be willing to admit you likely have blindspots on each of these levels.

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In today’s episode, Robert will help us understand:

* Why blindspots matter

* How to surface and overcome blindspots

* Why not all blindspots are bad

* And a lot more

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Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Books Authored by Robert

You can order your copy of Leadership Blindspots: How Successful Leaders Identify and Overcome the Weaknesses That Matter right now.

Robert also authored Trust in the Balance: Building Successful Organizations on Results, Integrity, and Concern.

Book Robert Recommends

The Social Conquest of Earth by Edward O. Wilson

Robert Bruce Shaw Resources

Be sure and check out the site dedicated to his new book.

And check out this recent article Robert wrote for Fast Company.

Click to tweet

Would you consider clicking the link below and tweeting it? I’ll notice it, thank you and tell my followers how wonderful you are. And Robert just might do the same.

There is danger in being overconfident and not seeing the weaknesses that have the potential to ruin you.

I don’t know about you, but I love to have my traditional way of thinking challenged.

One of my favorite things about this episode, is that nearly every bit of conventional wisdom I learned growing up is turned on its head.

When it comes to carving a path to wealth, there is a major difference in how the middle class and those who’ve actually managed to achieve a high net worth think about how to get there. From delegation and saving versus spending, to networking and negotiating, high net worth individuals look at seven key areas very differently from the majority of the middle class.

These differences in viewpoints, studies show, are among the key reasons only a few are successful at building wealth while many others are not. The good news though is, armed with these seven principles, you can put  yourself in the minority.

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In today’s episode, Lewis encourages us to buck trends and suggests:

* Reducing your number of intimate connections

* Concentrating on innovation and execution, rather than that big idea

* The belief that attempting to scrimp and save your way to wealth will not work

* And a lot more

Sponsor – Blinkist – Sponsor

Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Lewis Schiff in Action

Books Authored by Lewis

You can order your copy of Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons right now.

Lewis has cowritten two other books:

The Influence of Affluence: How the New Rich Are Changing America with Russ Prince

The Armchair Millionaire with Douglas Gerlach

Books Lewis Recommends

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham

No Man’s Land: Where Growing Companies Fail by Doug Tatum

Lewis Schiff Resources

Sunni Brown, simply put, is a breath of fresh air.

When we first connected to bring you the chat you’re about to partake, we immediately hit if off.

You always know you’ve created magic when the official interview is over but the conversation just keeps going. I eventually wrapped it up, but only because I was coming up against another appointment. BUMMER!

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Sunny is proudly leading The Doodle Revolution; anyone and everyone who believes that doodling is really deep thinking in disguise. Sunni desires to defy all parents, teachers, and bosses who say Stop Doodling! Get serious! Grow up!

She proves that doodling can help all of us to think and do better in whatever fields we pursue.

In today’s episode, Sunni helps us to understand:

* The 5 Doodler types

* The payoffs for using doodling and drawing as tools to learn complex subjects

* Some of the ways group doodling can impact teams and organizations

* And much more!

Sponsor – Blinkist – Sponsor

Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Sunni Brown and her 2011 TED Talk

Order Sunni’s Books

You can order your copy of The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently right now.

And get Sunni’s first book Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers cowritten with Dave Gray and James Macanufo.

Books Sunni Recommends

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela

Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery by Chogyam Trungpa

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

Sunni Brown Resources

You can find Sunni on the online at her website.

Your definition of success is unique to you – and so is the path that leads you to achieving your goals!

So says Lauren Maillian Bias, author of The Path Redefined: Getting to the Top on Your Own Terms.

Success, she says, is not about climbing the corporate ladder, but about rising to your full potential. Says Lauren, “In today’s career climate, you have to be innovative and ambitious and know how to capitalize on your individual talents.”

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Lauren’s goal is to help you tap into what makes you unique. She believes that it really is possible to achieve your dreams in work and in life faster and more independently that you thought possible, all on your own terms.

In today’s episode, Lauren shares:

* What living a serendipitous life by design looks like

* How she weights the risks and rewards of new opportunities

* Why you should always be proving yourself, even if you feel you’re accomplished in some right already

* And much more!

Sponsor – Blinkist – Sponsor

Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Lauren Maillian Bias, 2011 Empact100 Honoree

Get Lauren’s Book

You can order your copy of The Path Redefined: Getting to the Top on Your Own Terms right now.

Books Lauren Recommends

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed by Alexis Ohanian

Likeable Business: Why Today’s Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver by Dave Kerpen

Rework by Jason Fried

Connecting with Lauren

For most of us, when we think change, we resist. There are things, it seems, that begin happening inside our body that tense up at just the idea of it.

Change is something we all have to face from time to time, but the word change sounds so abrupt, doesn’t it?

What if we could think instead to shift, much like an entrepreneur’s business idea might do when it comes to responding to changing market conditions?

Shift feels more gradual, more baby step-friendly, more evolutionary and, maybe most important, less stressful.

In her book Make Your SHIFT, Bev Flaxington reveals the five most powerful moves you can make to get where you want to go. Change, in other words, doesn’t have to be hard.

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In today’s episode, Beverly shares:

* The problems with traditional goal setting

* The techniques you can use to successfully deal with difficult people

* Why understanding the behavioral patterns of those around us is so important

* What she strives to achieve whenever giving a public talk

* And a lot more!

Sponsor – Blinkist – Sponsor

Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Bev Explains Make Your Shift

Get Bev’s Books

You can order your copy of Make Your SHIFT:: The Five Most Powerful Moves You Can Make to Get Where YOU Want to Go right now.

Check Amazon for a complete list of Bev’s books.

Books Bev Recommends

Changing Behavior: Immediately Transform Your Relationships with Easy-to-Learn, Proven Communication Skills by Georgianna Donadio

The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction by M.A Rebecca Z. Shafir CCC

Connecting with Bev

For more on what Bev is up to, you can visit her at

In his new book Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, Simon Sinek asks why only a few of us get to say “I love my job?”

It seems unfair that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong.

But what if we could all feel that way, every day, knowing we were going to feel valued and trusted, and then return home fulfilled?

In many successful organizations today, great leaders are managing to create a safe place in which teams naturally gel to do some pretty amazing things.

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Others workplaces tend to be full of cynicism and self-interest.  But the very best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders manage to separate the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

In today’s episode, Simon with share:

The lies we tend to believe about the “safety” of our jobs

The chemicals in our body that all play a role in our positive feelings

The challenges that new technologies present for today’s leaders

And much more!

Sponsor – Blinkist – Sponsor

Tired of unfinished books on your shelf? Wanna read more books in less time? Like, say, as many as four of your favorite business books in an hour?

With Blinkist, glean the main ideas and key insights from some of your favorite business books in just 15 minutes. To start your free trial today, just click our special Blinkist link.

Use the discount code readtolead to save 20% on an annual subscription!

Leaders Eat Last Book Trailer

Simon’s Famous TED Talk that Started it All

Get Simon’s Books

You can order your copy of Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t right now.

Simon’s first book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, is an international bestseller.

Simon’s Book Recommendations

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by David Marquet

Today’s episode is special. There is no guest!

Wait?! What?! How is that special you may ask? There’s rarely an opening on the schedule like today so, rather than toss the week aside, I thought now is as good a time as any to share something with you I’ve wanted to share for quite some time. Some of my favorite leadership books from the last few years.

As you know, we tackle a number of topics here on the podcast in addition to leadership. Topics like business, marketing, personal development, career and entrepreneurship. At the same time, each of these broader topics points back to improving our leadership abilities. It is the Read to Lead podcast after all, right?

In the case of my leadership book list, however, I attempted to choose books specifically on the topic of leadership itself (“attempted” being the key word). I did allow one non- leadership-focused book to sneak through. I think you’ll agree it is worthy of inclusion here.

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Here they are, in no particular order, my 5 favorite leadership books from the last five years.

1) EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey

In this book, Dave shares the lessons he’s learned in his 20 plus years running a super successful business: practical business wisdom from the trenches as the subtitle says. Dave teaches you how to inspire your team to take ownership and love what they do, how to unify your team and get rid of all gossip, tips for handling money to set your business up for success, how to reach every goal you set, and loads more.

Visit Dave’s site

2) Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath

As this book is not specifically geared to the topic of leadership, I initially struggled to justify its inclusion. But in my nearly 30 years in the workforce, I’ve witnessed too many leaders struggle with effective decision making; things like understanding how to weigh the options, what to ignore and when, and more.

Research in the area of psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by a number of biases and irrationalities. We’re often overconfident. We seek out information that supports what we already believe to be true and we downplay information that doesn’t. We get easily distracted by short-term emotions. Our brains, you see, are flawed instruments. But merely being aware of all this doesn’t fix the problem. So, how can we improve as decision makers?

In their book, Chip and Dan lay out a four-step process designed to help you counteract these natural biases that we all have. A mastermind group I participate in is currently reading this book (we’re nearly finished). All of us have thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to you if you want to vastly improve your decision-making ability.

Vist Chip and Dan’s site

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