Episodes

This week we're taking a gentle start to the year talking about the books on my reading list for this year, and how I'm rethinking my reading habits and goals. Here's some of the books I mention in the episode; How to Begin by Michal Bungay Stanier Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown I Didn't Do The Thing by Madeline Dore This Working Life by Lisa Leong and Monique Ross How to Tell a Story by The Moth The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink Stolen Focus by Johann Hari Making Numbers Count by C...

It's a December special with this bonus mini-series called How We Read, featuring conversations about the books that have stuck with us. In this episode of How We Read I'm talking to Claire Hatton about her top books of 2021, how she reads, and why 2021 has spurred some different genres of reading for her. Here's the books he talked about: 1. Leading Edge by Holly Ransom 2. Victoria, The Queen by Julia Baird 3. Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku Plus, honourable mentions of Girl, Woman, Other...

It's a December special with a bonus mini-series called How We Read, featuring conversations about the books that have stuck with us. In this episode of How We Read I'm talking to Lisa Leong about her top books of 2021, some existential considerations on what's really essential, and a few insights from her new book. Here's the books she talked about: 1. The Mindful Therapist by Daniel J. Siegel 2. The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander Support my book habit: http...

It's a December special with a bonus mini-series called How We Read, featuring conversations about the books that have stuck with us. In this first ever episode of How We Read I'm talking to Shane Hatton about his top books of 2021, how he reads, and how he weaved his way into a book club this year. Here's the books he talked about: Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates ...

About the book It’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you want is just out of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely? Kate Bowler believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, only to find that she was stuck in a cancerous body at age 35. In her instant New York Times best...

About the author Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony-Award-winning New Engl...

About the book Rejections don’t go on your resume, but they are part of every successful person’s career. All of us will apply for jobs that we don’t get and have ambitions that aren’t fulfilled, because that is part of being a working person, part of pushing oneself to the next step professionally. While everyone deserves feel-better stories, women are more likely to ruminate, more likely to overthink rejection until it becomes even more painful-a situation that the women in this collection are...

About the book Want to be more creative? Not sure of where to start? You’re not alone. We all have a dysfunctional relationship with creativity. We love it, value it and want more of it but just can’t seem to find the time or resources to give to it. And despite desperate calls for more innovative thinking, the systems and processes that hold most businesses together don’t allow or enable anything like it. This book is for anyone who feels like they have more to give but struggles to get it ou...

About the author Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. Clark, a consultant and keynote speaker, teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and she is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, whic...

About the author Highly regarded for his provocative style, James Victore is a graphic designer, art educator and dynamic high in-demand speaker on creativity. He lectures and teaches regularly around the globe, inspiring people to illuminate their individual gifts in order to achieve personal greatness. Raised in upstate New York, James moved to New York City when he was 19 years old and by age 23, after dropping out of two different colleges, he became an apprentice to noted book-jacket desig...

About the book You may have outgrown a relationship. Your job may no longer excite you. Maybe you look in the mirror and see someone you don’t want to be anymore. You might be so fed up that you’re ready to throw in the towel at work or in a friendship or relationship. Behind the scenes, thousands of smart, capable, amazing people like you feel the exact same way. In There Has To Be More, Rachel shares the methods and tools she created to genuinely grow and build a life that reflects what make...

About the author James Nestor is an author and journalist who has written for Scientific American, Outside Magazine, BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, Surfer’s Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, and more. He’s spent the last several years working on a book called Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. It released through Riverhead/Penguin Random House on May 26, 2020 and spent 18 weeks of the New York Times bestseller list in the first year of publication. At ho...

About the book The average human lifespan is absurdly, outrageously, insultingly brief: if you live to 80, you have about four thousand weeks on earth. How should we use them best? Of course, nobody needs telling that there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction, and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Yet we rarely make the conscious connection that these problems only trouble us in the first pl...

This week, it's time for another quarterly check in on my favourite reads from the last three months. If you missed the first part of the 2021 'best books', you can listen to it here, and the second instalment here. This time I'm talking about... Everyday Creative by Mykel Dixon 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman Breath by James Nestor Find Your Artistic Voice by Lisa Congdon The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Support my book habit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/stephsbookshelf See omnystudio.com/listene...

About the author Guy Raz is an independent producer who has been described by the New York Times as “one of the most popular podcasters in history.” He’s the founder and CEO of Built-It Productions and the creator and the creative force behind How I Built This. He’s also the former host and co-creator of TED Radio Hour. Guy is also the co-founder of Tinkercast, a children’s media company that produces audio podcasts and educational content for kids. Guy co-created and hosts one of those progra...

About the book Do you find yourself swamped by everyone landing problems on your desk, for you to solve? Do you wonder why your team members hand over issues for you to sort out, rather than sorting them out themselves? Even issues that you think they should be able to sort out themselves? Are you getting so bogged down in solving other people’s problems that you aren’t getting time to focus on your own work? If so, The Manager’s Dilemma — How to Empower Your Team’s Problem-Solving is the bo...

About the author Holly Cardamone is a Melbourne-based author, communications specialist, writer and all round Word Nerd who works with people to tell their story and grow their business using beautiful communications. Through her consultancy, Blue51 Communications, Holly provides specialist communications support and mentoring and business writing services. She writes anything and everything, and almost always with a smile on her face and a coffee within grasp. She’s a water baby, a voracious ...

About the author Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. He’s been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New Yor...

About the author Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a Professor in the Child Study Center of Yale University. As a researcher for over 20 years, Brackett has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. He has published 125 scholarly articles and received numerous awards and accolades for his work in this area. He also consults regularl...

About the author By some accounts, Roy Peter Clark is America’s writing coach, devoted to creating a nation of writers. A PhD in medieval literature, he is widely considered the most influential writing teacher in the rough-and-tumble world of newspaper journalism. With a deep background in traditional media, Clark has illuminated the discussion of writing on the internet. He has gained fame by teaching writing to children and has nurtured Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. He is a teacher who writ...

About the author Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg was the founder and director of educational services for The Center for Nonviolent Communication. Growing up in an inner–city Detroit neighborhood Dr. Marshall Rosenberg was confronted daily with various forms of violence. Wanting to explore the causes of violence and what could be done to reduce violence, he chose to study clinical psychology and received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1961. In 1966 he was awarded...

About the book We don’t need better speakers. We need more effective leaders. This book isn’t a primer on becoming a better speaker, though if it helps you nail your next presentation that’s great. The real goal is to help you become a more effective leader. In ‘Lead The Room’ you’re invited to think bigger and aim higher than the idea of presentation skills. To think holistically about how you can communicate and connect more effectively. This book will give you the tools to raise your visibil...

About the book These experiences of overwhelm can be a common part of a normal day or week in our life. Yes, the world can be an overwhelming place. We might have an emotional experience of being overwhelmed. We can experience the ‘too much on’ of workload — too much to do and not enough time in which to do it. Or we might feel like we’re submerged under an endless pile of information, reports, books and reading. At other times we can just be plain ‘drowning in’ it from a wicked combination of ...

About the author Robin Sharma is a globally respected humanitarian who, for over a quarter of a century, has been devoted to helping human beings realize their native gifts. Widely considered one of the top leadership and personal mastery experts and speakers in the world, his clients include NASA, Microsoft, Nike, Unilever, General Electric, FedEx, HP, Starbucks, Oracle, Yale University, PwC, IBM Watson, and the Young Presidents’ Organization. As a presenter, Robin Sharma possesses the rare ab...