Episode 461 - The Disruptors with Sally Percy
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
Release Date: 09/15/2025
Episode 461 - The Disruptors with Sally Percy
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
When she started her first job reporting on farming, trying to work out how to move into interior design, Sally Percy had no idea she'd forge such an extraordinarily successful careeer as a business journalist and author. But the lessons she learned in her earliest days - how to write so a five-year-old child could understand, how to write to word count, the sanctity of deadlines, and perhaps most importantly how to ask questions without embarrassment - have stood her in good stead. That kind of unashamed questioning is a trait also shared by many of the leaders she interviewed for her...
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Episode 460 - Shaking things up
The Extraordinary Business Book Club
People who write business books - at least, business books worth reading - tend to think a little differently. This ‘Best Bits’ episode features a formidable line-up of disruptors, each of whom brings a very personal toolkit for unsettling the status quo, in work and in life. Challenging the system often starts by asking awkward questions and you'll find lots of those here. What you WON'T find are excuses. Think you’re not creative or confident enough to be an author? This is for you. Listen, enjoy, but don’t expect to leave with your assumptions undisturbed. Hear from: ...
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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...
info_outlineWhen she started her first job reporting on farming, trying to work out how to move into interior design, Sally Percy had no idea she'd forge such an extraordinarily successful careeer as a business journalist and author. But the lessons she learned in her earliest days - how to write so a five-year-old child could understand, how to write to word count, the sanctity of deadlines, and perhaps most importantly how to ask questions without embarrassment - have stood her in good stead.
That kind of unashamed questioning is a trait also shared by many of the leaders she interviewed for her latest book 'The Disruptors', shortlisted for the Business Book Awards.
In this conversation she shares her hard-won lessons for writers, and also reflects on how business and business writing has changed over recent years and where the opportunities for those writing in the space can be found.