What if “I’m not ready” is the biggest lie holding you back? In this episode of Truth Works, Jessica Neal sits down with Suneel Gupta — once literally the “poster child for failure” in The New York Times — to unpack how failure, exhaustion, and uncertainty can become fuel for a more courageous, energized life.

Suneel shares how going from failed founder and Groupon’s hyper-growth implosion to successful health-tech exit, Harvard faculty, and Amazon Prime host wasn’t about having a perfect plan — it was about playing what he calls the game of now instead of the game of “someday.” He breaks down why none of the extraordinary people he’s studied ever felt “ready,” how they acted anyway, and how they managed their energy (not just their time) to stay in the game.

You’ll hear:

• Why “I’m not ready” quietly kills careers and ideas
• How being the face of failure opened doors to Oscar winners, founders & leaders
• The “game of now” vs. the “game of someday” — and how to start today
• Why courage is not the absence of fear (and why fear is required)
• Emotional runway vs. financial runway for founders and teams
• Rhythmic renewal: the 55:5 model for building breaks into every day
• Why vacations don’t fix burnout — and what actually does
• “Rest is not a reward, it’s a resource” — a new mantra for high performers
• The simplest definition of happiness: never worry alone

If you’ve ever felt behind, burned out, or paralyzed waiting for the perfect moment, this conversation will give you language, tools, and a different way to move forward — one small action at a time.

In this episode of Truth Works, Jessica sits down with Anna Lundström, the CHRO of Spotify, for one of the most honest and forward-looking conversations on the show.

Anna and Jessica share a rare parallel — both grew up inside iconic companies (Netflix and Spotify), both rose into the CHRO seat, and both had to navigate the shift from being seen as “the kid who joined early” to becoming the strategic leader responsible for how the entire company operates.

Together, they unpack:

The New Reality of Leadership in the AI Era

• Why AI is not a short-lived moment but a permanent shift every employee must prepare for
• Spotify’s approach to humanizing AI rather than creating fear around it
• How they drove near-100% AI adoption by focusing on learning, tools, and experimentation
• The cross-functional AI model Anna built with Product and Platform to lead transformation
• What “future-ready” really means for employees right now

Reinventing Culture at Scale

• How Spotify evolved its operating rhythm with a true “Execution Team” (E-Team)
• Why the company’s previous values took them to this point—but new values are needed to take them forward
• The shift from startup to scale-up to global operator
• The three new cultural anchors:
  • One Team
  • Make It Happen
  • Use Human Judgment

The Reality of Being a Modern CHRO

• Carrying roles that did not formally exist before: HR strategist, de facto chief medical officer, chief diversity officer, and now “chief AI officer”
• The pressure and responsibility of being the visible face of people, culture, and transformation
• Why deep technical understanding of every HR function is now a leadership advantage
• How to operate and make decisions in a world where no one has all the answers

For Employees Asking: “How Do I Influence Culture From Below?”

Anna shares practical guidance for individual contributors who feel stuck beneath stagnant cliques, unclear values, or top-down programs that do not translate into real behavioral change. She explores how to use HR partners, leaders, feedback channels, and thoughtful communication to influence culture from the ground up.

Why This Episode Matters

Spotify touches hundreds of millions of people every day, but the real transformation is happening inside the company as it rewrites how work, leadership, and AI coexist. Anna sits at the center of that shift, and this conversation offers a rare inside view into the future of work at one of the world’s most influential tech companies.

If you are a CEO, founder, HR leader, or individual contributor wondering how to move your organization forward in the era of AI and rapid change, this episode provides a clear, grounded and actionable perspective.

In this episode of Truth Works, Jessica Neal sits down with stress physiologist and author Dr. Rebecca Heiss to dismantle everything you’ve been taught about stress, fear, and burnout. If you’ve ever thought, “I’m stressed, this is bad, I need to make it go away,” this conversation will flip your entire mental model.

Rebecca explains why stress is a feature, not a bug, and why the belief that stress is “killing you” is often more dangerous than the stress itself. She breaks down how our cave-brain still thinks every hard conversation at work is a tiger about to eat us, why helplessness isn’t learned – it’s our default setting, and how to “invite the tiger in for tea” instead of trying (and failing) to shut it out.

Jessica opens up about panic attacks, stage fright in front of thousands, and the pressure to always “have it figured out,” while Rebecca shows how to turn that same fear into fuel, especially at work and in leadership. They dig into:

• Why the most meaningful, purpose-filled moments of your life are also the most stressful
• How to reframe anxiety as energy and excitement, not a personal failing
• Why parents are often less happy but more fulfilled
• How social media hijacks our need for acceptance and amplifies shame
• The truth about burnout, being “tired but wired,” and Rebecca’s “disaster diary”
• What great leaders should actually do with their own stress so they don’t infect their teams

If you feel guilty for resting, terrified of slowing down, or secretly convinced you’re an imposter who should “already know all the things,” this episode will hit uncomfortably close in the best possible way. You’ll walk away with a new lens: stress as your competitive advantage, not your enemy.

n this episode of Truth Works, Jessica Neal sits down with Alex Pentland, MIT professor and one of the world’s leading data scientists, to explore how human networks really function.

Alex Pentland, often called one of the “most powerful data scientists in the world” — has spent decades decoding how information, collaboration, and social trust flow inside organizations. From his pioneering work at the MIT Media Lab to advising global companies and governments, his findings have reshaped how leaders think about communication, culture, and innovation.

🎙 We unpack:
• How trust and idea flow predict company performance
• Why data can reveal the real power dynamics in any organization
• The limits of AI in understanding human behavior
• What social physics teaches us about leadership and creativity

🔔 Subscribe to Truth Works — where Jessica Neal (former Netflix CHRO) and her co-hosts bring the world’s top minds to reveal how culture, truth, and leadership collide.

This week on the Truth Works podcast, Jessica Neal sits down with Bob Sutton, Michael Arena, and Beth Steinberg to unpack one of the most debated topics in organizational design — flat vs hierarchical structures.

Drawing on lessons from companies like GM, Nvidia, and Netflix, they explore how culture, leadership, and network dynamics drive innovation and accountability. From Michael Arena’s experience at General Motors to Beth Steinberg’s work in shaping talent at high-growth startups, and Bob Sutton’s decades of Stanford research on power and scaling — this conversation reveals what truly makes organizations thrive (or collapse) as they grow.

If you’ve ever wondered how companies like Nvidia maintain speed and creativity without chaos, this episode is a masterclass in the art and science of organizational design.

This week on Truth Works, Jessica Neal sits down with Patrick Leddin — former U.S. Army Ranger, Fortune 500 consultant, professor, and bestselling author of Disrupt Everything and Win (co-written with James Patterson). Patrick shares how he’s led through constant change — from the military to corporate boardrooms to academia — and what it truly takes to navigate disruption without burning out.

In this episode, Patrick breaks down his research behind Disrupt Everything and Win, including:

• How leaders can turn chaos into momentum using the Disruptive Loop: Discern → Behave → Achieve → Refine
• The five roles people play in moments of change — from Trailblazer to Firefighter
• Why saying no can sometimes be the most disruptive move
• What it means to own the day before your feet hit the ground
• How to build resilience, self-awareness, and unity in command — even when your team feels overwhelmed

Patrick also opens up about co-authoring with James Patterson, leaving his professorship at Vanderbilt to bet on his own work, and why true leadership starts with reflection, humility, and purpose.

🔗 Learn more: https://patrickleddin.com

📘 Disrupt Everything and Win — available wherever books are sold
💼 Franklin Covey partnership: Disrupt Everything: Innovate for Impact (launching Nov 17, 2025)

Mark Thompson and Byron Loflin have been inside more boardrooms than most people could ever imagine — advising Fortune 500 CEOs, coaching global founders, and helping shape the leadership culture of the world’s most powerful companies.

In this rare, unfiltered conversation, they break down the real psychology of leadership — what happens when power, purpose, and pressure collide. They reveal the patterns they’ve seen across hundreds of top performers: how extraordinary leaders build trust when things fall apart, the silent habits that keep them grounded, and the mistakes that quietly destroy credibility.

Mark, one of the world’s leading executive coaches and a confidant to icons like Richard Branson, shares stories from decades spent observing what drives genuine greatness. Byron, as Global Head of Board Engagement at Nasdaq, opens a window into how boards think, how trust is earned at the highest levels, and how leaders survive the scrutiny of modern governance.

Together, they dismantle myths about charisma and control — and instead uncover what truly sustains leadership: empathy, self-awareness, and the willingness to tell the truth when it costs the most.

Robert Glazer built one of the world’s leading performance marketing agencies — scaling Acceleration Partners into a global firm serving top brands around the world.
But somewhere along the way, growth stopped feeling good.

In this episode, Robert opens up about the moment he realized that achievement without alignment can quietly hollow you out. He talks about how values shape every decision, why drive without purpose leads to burnout, and what it really means to grow,  as a leader, and as a person.

We talk about building culture that lasts, the hidden costs of ambition, and why the hardest work isn’t scaling a company: it’s staying true to yourself while doing it.

This is a conversation about values, fulfillment, and redefining success before it breaks you.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff has spent years decoding how our minds actually work — and why modern life keeps breaking them.
A former Google strategist turned founder of Ness Labs, she left one of the world’s most intense environments to study neuroscience and re-imagine productivity through self-awareness and mental clarity.

In this conversation, we go beyond the buzzwords. We talk about why burnout is not a failure of willpower, how our obsession with optimization destroys focus, and the science of thinking slower to create more.
Anne-Laure reveals what she learned studying cognitive fatigue, the myth of the “lazy brain,” and how anyone can design a life that supports curiosity instead of exhaustion.

This episode isn’t about doing more — it’s about understanding yourself deeply enough to know what actually works.

What does it take to drive real, lasting change inside organizations? In this episode of Truth Works, Jessica Neal sits down with Rosabeth Moss Kanter — Harvard Business School professor, trailblazing author, and one of the world’s most influential thinkers on leadership and strategy.

Rosabeth has spent decades studying how companies rise, adapt, and lead through transformation. From pioneering research on innovation and change management to her bestselling books like Confidence and Think Outside the Building, she has shaped the way leaders and organizations think about their future.

In this conversation, Rosabeth shares why bold leadership matters more than ever, how to overcome resistance to change, and what it means to foster confidence in both people and institutions.

👉 If you care about leadership, innovation, and the courage to make change happen, this episode is for you.