Episode 432 - Ruthlessly Caring with Amy Walters Cohen
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
Release Date: 11/18/2024
Episode 459 - Beyond Belief with Mike Porteous
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
'I see confidence as something that's rooted in how we feel before any words, something which touches on sensations.' What do you think of when you think of sports coaching? Elite lean performance machines preparing to break records? Mike Porteous has competed and coached at elite level as a triathlete, but he believes that coaxing new swimmers from the shallow end is just as important an act of coaching as taking an elite to a new world Ironman time. His vision of coaching is centred on confidence - and all the messy, emotional reality that surrounds human ambition, at whatever...
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Episode 458 - Healing-Centred book launch with Kerry Tottingham
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
"How do you want your book to make people feel? Start with the feeling and then work your way backwards." When you're all about creativity, social justice and empowering individuals to transform pain into positive action, how do you design a book launch that reflects that? Kerry Tottingham rejected the warm white wine option for a radically different book launch event to celebrate the launch of her new book 'Healing-Centred Transformation: Mend, tend and change the future'. This week's podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at how she did it, with insights and advice for anyone planning...
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Episode 457 - The Work We Need with Hilary Cottam
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
What does a good working life look like in the 21st century? Dr Hilary Cottam, OBE has spent the last five years exploring this question through collaborative workshops she calls 'imagininings', involving all sectors of the post-industrial workforce from gravediggers to consultants. The same resonant themes kept emerging: the need for work that pays the basics, offers meaning, allows space for caring and play, is tied to place, and demands collective, not just individual, change. She discovered that the challenges we face - technological disruption, ecological crisis and a lack of social...
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Episode 456 - We Need New Leaders with Charlotte Otter
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
'Every time I interviewed somebody, I said, is there anyone you think I should talk to? And so it had a network effect for me. My network grew with these generous, amazing, thoughtful people.' Writing a novel can be lonely; writing a thesis can be demanding; writing a business book can be a team effort. Charlotte Otter's done all of these, with a side of journalism, and in this week's podcast we talk about the different approach to those genres, and what she learned about structure and community along the way. In her new book 'We Need New Leaders: Mastering reputation management...
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Episode 455 - Best business books with Todd Sattersten
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
' I think reading a book is sometimes like... you've slowed things down. You're in this present moment, working on this very particular thing. And I think we want more of that in our lives.' What makes a business book worth reading - or publishing? If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume (and, let’s be honest, variable quality) of business books on the market, you’ll appreciate Todd Sattersten's refreshingly thoughtful approach. As the author of The 100 Best Business Books of All-Time and the upcoming 100 Best Books for Work and Life, he's done a lot of leg work on your...
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Episode 454 - From spark to flame
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
'Creativity needs oxygen just as much as fire does.' What does it take to turn a spark of inspiration into a sustained creative fire? This week’s episode is a reflection on the art of making fire, from striking the first spark with flint and steel to nurturing the ember with just the right balance of oxygen and fuel, and how that process sheds light on the creative process. More specifically, it's about the moment I found myself grinning like a loon while holding a flaming bundle of hay on my recent Write it Wild retreat. (Yes, really. Check out the episode artwork.) Discover how permission,...
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Episode 453 - The business of being a writer with Jane Friedman
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
'The foundations of how authors build visibility, build a readership... while the tools change, the principles don't.' Jane Friedman has been commentating on the business of books for many years, and her classic The Business of Being a Writer has demystified the industry for thousands of authors. So on the release of its second edition it seems a good time to ask: what has changed over the seven years since the first edition? It turns out that while the specifics of platforms and tech tools have moved on, the principles of writing and promoting a good book are pretty much as they always...
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Episode 452 - Creative Velocity with Leslie Grandy
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
Leslie Grandy always wanted to be 'creative', but after discovering that she 'sucked' as a child at piano, painting, drama, dancing and so on she decided (to the relief of her teachers) that it simply wasn't for her. Until she realized, in her corporate career working with visionary leaders like Steve Jobs, that creativity can also be defined as 'the ability to solve problems in novel ways'. And now she helps organizations - from major brands like Starbucks to early-stage ventures - navigate the challenges of innovation. Creativity, it turns out, is not an inbuilt talent reserved for the...
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Episode 451 - Collaborating with AI with Georgia Kirke
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
'If you just want a machine to write all of this stuff and put your name on it and say it's yours, I don't know what the motivation is. I don't know what results you think it could bring.' What does it look like to use AI in creative activities practically, ethically, and in a human-centred way? One answer to that question might be Cliobooks.ai, the speak-your-book technology developed by publishing entrepreneur and business coach Georgia Kirke. Starting and ending with humans, and rejecting the quick fix of AI-generated content, this is an attempt to develop workflows that make...
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Episode 450 - The one about conversations
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
‘It’s not a presentation or a business card. It’s a conversation.’ This Best Bits episode is a love letter to intentional conversations – the ones that unlock insight, build cohesion, shape identity and, ultimately, bring books into the world. As I looked back over the last few episodes, what stood out was how often my guests spoke about dialogue in all its forms – with ourselves, with each other,and with our readers – as the real work of writing, leading and changing the world. Hear from: Sarah Rozenthuler on the life-changing magic of energising, intentional dialogue; ...
info_outline'Ruthlessness exists on a continuum, caring exists on a continuum, and it's about being in the sweet spots of both of those, not overplaying either one, or underplaying either one.'
Amy Walters Cohen is the author of Ruthlessly Caring: And Other Paradoxical Mindsets Leaders Need to Be Future Fit, which was named overall Business Book of the Year in 2024. It's based on years of research, which revealed that the key skill for effective leadership in a complex world is the ability to hold in tension five seemingly paradoxical mindsets.
As well as talking me through these, Amy told me about the challenges and rewards of translating her research into a book, including the amount of fidgeting, procrastination and coffee-fetching involved in the early stages.
She also introduced me to the 'pub test', which I am shamelessly stealing for all future writing...