In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo explore one of the most emotionally challenging chapters in Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory: How do you love difficult people — especially when they’re family?

From parents and siblings to in-laws and blended families, this conversation dives into the tension between accepting people as they are and protecting your own well-being. It’s a chapter about grace, boundaries, expectations, and choosing peace without pretending the hurt isn’t real.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why the people closest to us often have the strongest opinions — and why those opinions can hurt the most.

* The difference between understanding someone’s behavior and excusing it.

* How leading with curiosity instead of unsolicited advice can transform relationships.

* Why expectations often create disappointment, especially within families and across generations.

* How to decide when to strengthen a relationship, create healthy boundaries, or lovingly let go.

One Big Takeaway

You can’t control how the people you love show up.

But you can choose how you respond — and whether you continue carrying the weight of their opinions.

Why This Episode Matters

Family relationships are rarely simple.

The people who know us best can also challenge us the most.

This episode is a reminder that loving someone doesn’t require agreeing with them, and protecting your peace doesn’t require abandoning your values.

A Question to Consider

Is there someone in your life you’re hoping will become a different person... when what might actually bring you peace is accepting who they are today?

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas from this chapter is that people can only meet you as deeply as they’ve met themselves.

That perspective doesn’t erase the pain — but it can create the compassion needed to stop carrying it.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise tackle another difficult reality:

What do you do when someone else’s emotional reactions become your burden?

It’s a conversation about emotional responsibility, boundaries, and learning not to carry feelings that don’t belong to you.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo unpack one of the most freeing — and uncomfortable — chapters of Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory: What if you stopped living your life around other people’s opinions?

Whether it’s changing careers, raising your kids differently, making a bold life decision, or simply choosing a path that’s true to you, this conversation explores why fear of judgment often keeps us from living the life we actually want.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why other people’s opinions are often projections of their own fears, experiences, and limiting beliefs.

* How worrying about judgment can quietly lead to self-rejection instead of self-confidence.

* The difference between thoughtfully considering advice and allowing someone else’s opinion to direct your life.

* Why trying to make everyone happy rarely works — and often leaves you disappointing yourself.

* How living boldly means accepting that someone, somewhere, will always disagree with your choices.

One Big Takeaway

You can’t build a life you’re proud of if you’re constantly editing it for someone else’s approval.

Why This Episode Matters

Most of us don’t miss opportunities because we lack ability.

We miss them because we spend too much time worrying about what other people might think.

This episode is an invitation to stop giving away that kind of power.

A Question to Consider

Is there a decision you’ve been delaying... not because it’s wrong for you, but because you’re worried about how someone else will react?

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas in this chapter is that trying to avoid disappointing everyone else often leads to disappointing yourself.

And that’s a price far too many people pay for approval they’ll never fully earn.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise shift from fearing judgment to navigating relationships with the people closest to us.

How do you love difficult people without losing yourself in the process?

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue through Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory with one of the book’s most practical chapters:

How do you handle a job that’s stressing you out?

Rather than focusing on changing your boss, your company, or your circumstances, this conversation explores the one thing you always have control over: your next move.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why work is one of the biggest sources of stress—and why your relationship with your job matters as much as the job itself.

* The difference between waiting for your circumstances to change and deciding to change your response.

* Why coaching, books, and mentors don’t change your life — you do.

* The danger of staying stuck, waiting for the “perfect” decision instead of simply taking the next step.

* How the “Let Them” mindset shifts your focus from what others should do to what you can do next.

One Big Takeaway

You may not control your current situation. But you always control your next move. And that next move is where your power lives.

Why This Episode Matters

Many people feel trapped by a difficult boss, a frustrating workplace, or a career that no longer fits.

This episode is a reminder that while you can’t always change your circumstances overnight, you can always choose your response — and begin moving toward something better.

A Question to Consider

Where in your life have you been waiting...instead of choosing?What’s one small step you could take today that moves you forward?

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas in this chapter is that being stuck is often a decision we don’t realize we’re making.

Progress doesn’t require having every answer — it starts with making the next choice.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise tackle one of the hardest parts of the Let Them Theory:

How do you let go when the opinions that hurt most come from the people you love?

It’s a conversation about approval, relationships, and finding the courage to live your own life.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue through Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory with a chapter that feels especially relevant:

Life is stressful. Now what?

Instead of trying to eliminate stress, this conversation explores how to stop giving it more power than it deserves—and how a simple shift in perspective can help you protect your peace.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why most stress doesn’t come from one major event, but from a “death by a thousand cuts” of everyday frustrations.

* How other people’s behavior can steal your attention, energy, and peace—if you let it.

* The science behind stress and what happens in your brain when you’re constantly triggered.

* Why creating a pause between a trigger and your response is one of the most important leadership skills you can develop.

* Practical ways to protect your energy, from taking a deep breath to choosing a response instead of an automatic reaction.

One Big Takeaway

Stress is unavoidable.

Suffering isn’t.

The power isn’t in controlling what happens around you.

It’s in controlling what happens next.

Why This Episode Matters

Most of us spend our days reacting.

To emails.

To traffic.

To difficult people.

To unexpected problems.

This episode is a reminder that your greatest source of peace isn’t a calmer world—it’s a calmer response.

A Question to Consider

Think about something that frustrated you this week.

Did it actually deserve that much of your energy... or did you simply give it permission to stay with you?

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas in this chapter is that protecting your peace is an active choice.

Every time you pause before reacting, you reclaim a little more control over your life.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise tackle a topic that hits close to home for many professionals: When your job is the source of your stress.

They explore what it really means to “let them stress you out” and how to navigate chronic workplace stress without losing yourself in the process.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue their discussion of Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory by exploring the second half of the equation: “Let Me.”

If “Let Them” is about releasing control of other people, “Let Me” is about taking responsibility for yourself. This conversation dives into the science, psychology, and leadership lessons behind why that shift is so powerful.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why comparison, jealousy, exclusion, and insecurity often reveal more about us than the people we’re focused on.

* How social media can trigger feelings of being left out — even when nothing was actually done to us.

* The connection between control, safety, discomfort, and the stories we create in our minds.

* Why “Let Them” creates space, but “Let Me” creates responsibility.

* How leadership, parenting, coaching, and personal growth all begin with owning your own reactions rather than trying to manage everyone else’s.

One Big Takeaway

Most of the growth isn’t in what other people are doing. It’s in what their behavior reveals about you.

Why This Episode Matters

It’s easy to spend energy wishing people would change.

It’s much harder — and much more powerful — to ask: Why am I reacting this way?

That’s where the real work begins.

A Question to Consider

The next time someone frustrates, disappoints, excludes, or triggers you...

Instead of asking, “Why did they do that?”

Try asking: “What is this revealing about me?”

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas in this chapter is that discomfort isn’t something to immediately eliminate.

Sometimes discomfort is information.

And if we’re willing to sit with it, it can point us toward the work we need to do on ourselves.

Why This Chapter Feels Different

This isn’t a book about becoming passive. It’s a book about becoming intentional. Releasing what isn’t yours to control. Owning what is.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise tackle Chapter 3 and explore one of the biggest challenges in modern life: Stress.

Where it comes from, why we struggle with it, and how the principles of The Let Them Theory can help us navigate it differently.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo dive into Chapter 1 of Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory and explore a question that sits at the heart of so much stress, frustration, and disappointment:

How much of your energy is being spent trying to control things you can’t control?

This conversation moves beyond the book’s viral title and into the deeper truth behind the theory: learning to release the need to manage other people so you can focus on your own life, growth, and peace.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why people-pleasing often looks different than we think — and how many of us are still trying to earn approval, understanding, or agreement from others.

* The hidden cost of constantly trying to change, fix, convince, or manage other people.

* Why humans are naturally wired for connection, belonging, safety, and control — and how that wiring can sometimes work against us.

* What it means to “let them” be who they are, even when their choices, opinions, or behaviors don’t match your expectations.

* The often-overlooked second half of the theory: “Let Me” — creating space to focus on your own values, choices, and growth.

One Big Takeaway

The goal isn’t to stop caring about people. The goal is to stop carrying responsibility for things that were never yours to control in the first place.

Why This Episode Matters

Whether it’s parenting, friendships, family, work, or leadership...

many of us are exhausted from trying to manage outcomes that belong to someone else.

This episode offers a different path:

Let them be them.Let you be you.

A Question to Consider

Where in your life are you spending energy trying to change someone...when the real opportunity may be accepting who they already are?

What Stood Out Most

One of the most powerful ideas in this chapter is that people reveal themselves through their actions.

When you stop fighting reality, you create space to see people more clearly — and yourself more honestly.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise explore the second half of the equation: “Let Me.”

The part of the theory that shifts the focus from other people’s behavior back to your own choices, boundaries, and personal responsibility.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo kick off their next book journey with Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory — one of the most talked-about books of the year.

Before diving into the chapters, they explore why this book has created so much conversation, what they initially misunderstood about the message, and why it may be about far more than simply “letting people do what they want.”

In this episode we discuss:

* Why The Let Them Theory may actually be a book about releasing control and focusing on what is within your influence.

* How this book naturally follows the journey of:

* cleaning up your thinking

* tidying your work

* and now examining your relationships.

* Mel Robbins’ remarkable story from financial collapse and self-doubt to becoming one of the most recognized voices in personal development.

* Why so many people get stuck trying to manage, fix, convince, rescue, or control things that were never theirs to control in the first place.

* The importance of asking deeper questions about your fears, motivations, relationships, and the life you’re trying to create.

One Big Takeaway

The most exhausting battles in life are often the ones we were never meant to fight. Sometimes freedom begins when we stop trying to control what isn’t ours to control.

Why This Episode Matters

Most of us spend far more energy managing other people’s choices than understanding our own.

This episode introduces a different possibility:

What if peace starts with letting go?

A Question to Consider

What situation in your life is consuming energy right now...because you’re trying to control something you ultimately can’t?

What We’re Most Curious About

This book has generated strong reactions from both fans and critics. Which makes it the perfect book to explore together. Because sometimes the ideas that create the most debate are the ones worth examining most closely.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise dive into Chapter 1: “Stop Wasting Your Life on Things You Can’t Control.”

A conversation that promises to challenge assumptions about relationships, expectations, and where we spend our emotional energy.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo conclude their journey through Marie Kondo’s The Joy at Work by exploring what happens after the tidying is done.

This final conversation is about more than organizing desks, inboxes, and calendars. It’s about creating space — space for clarity, purpose, joy, and the life you actually want to build.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why tidying is ultimately a process of self-discovery, not just organization.

* How creating space allows you to better understand what brings you joy — and what no longer serves you.

* The difference between eliminating things from your life and simply giving them a new place within it.

* Why leading by example is often the most powerful way to inspire change in others.

* How clarity around purpose, motivation, and contribution can transform both your work and your life.

One Big Takeaway

The goal of tidying isn’t emptiness.

The goal is creating enough space to clearly see what matters most.

Why This Episode Matters

Many people think clutter is the problem.

But often the real problem is a lack of space:

Space to think.Space to reflect.Space to choose.Space to grow.

And sometimes creating that space changes everything.

A Question to Consider

If you removed the noise for a moment...

What would become more obvious about the life, work, or future you truly want?

Why We Loved This Book

What started as a conversation about tidying desks, emails, meetings, and workspaces became something much deeper:

* A conversation about purpose.

* A conversation about leadership.

* A conversation about becoming more intentional with how we live and work every day.

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise introduce the next book in the series and begin a new conversation about growth, leadership, and what comes after clarity.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo explore tidying teams — and why creating more joy at work isn’t about having fewer people, but about building healthier, more purposeful teams.

This conversation goes beyond org charts and job titles to examine purpose, engagement, trust, growth, and the role leaders play in helping people thrive.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why the goal of “tidying a team” should be creating an environment where people can experience more joy at work.

* How a lack of purpose creates confusion, disengagement, and messy teams.

* Three powerful questions every team should ask:

* How do we contribute to the organization’s goals?

* What useful ideas are we generating?

* What do we enjoy about being part of this team?

* Why leaders need to get curious about the people on their teams instead of assuming they know what everyone brings to the table.

* How to recognize when someone has outgrown a role, a team, or an organization — and why that isn’t always a failure.

One Big Takeaway

Teams become messy when people lose connection to purpose.

When people understand why their work matters, engagement, trust, and energy tend to follow.

Why This Episode Matters

A lot of people assume disengaged employees are lazy.

More often, they’re disconnected.

Disconnected from purpose.Disconnected from growth.Disconnected from the impact of their work.

And leaders have a responsibility to notice the difference.

A Question to Consider

If you asked every person on your team:

“How does your work make a difference?”

Would they know the answer?

Coming Next

Next week, Sam and Denise discuss how to share the magic of tidying and how the lessons from this journey can create more joy not only for you, but for the people around you as well.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Career Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue through Marie Kondo’s The Joy at Work with a conversation about a topic almost everyone complains about: Meetings.

From calendars packed with unnecessary invites to meetings that could have been emails, this episode explores how to make meetings more purposeful, productive, and maybe even a little more joyful.

In this episode we discuss:

* Why meeting satisfaction has a bigger impact on overall job satisfaction than many people realize.

* How to evaluate every meeting through a simple question: Does this need to exist?

* The importance of agendas, clear objectives, and communicating the purpose of a meeting before it starts.

* Why attendees have more influence than they think — including asking better questions, preparing in advance, and speaking up when they have something valuable to contribute.

* Practical rules for better meetings: show up prepared, listen fully, put away distractions, encourage participation, and respect people’s time.

One Big Takeaway

Most meetings aren’t frustrating because they exist.

They’re frustrating because nobody stopped to ask what they’re supposed to accomplish.

Why This Episode Matters

Every meeting costs something:

Time.Attention.Energy.Focus.

The question isn’t whether you have meetings.

The question is whether your meetings are worth the cost.

A Question to Consider

Look at your calendar for next week.

Which meetings move work forward...

and which ones are simply taking up space?

Coming Next

In the next episode, Sam and Denise continue exploring how to create more joy at work by tackling another area where clutter quietly steals our time, attention, and effectiveness.

📖 Buy the book and come along on the adventure with us.

We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you.

How to reach us:

Denise: LinkedIn | Substack | School of Thoughts LinkedIn Sam: LinkedIn | Substack | LeadtheGame’s Career Locker Room | Website

Subscribe and Review on Apple and Spotify.Subscribe to our YouTube channel.