TLP509: Capitalism Without Ethics Is Just Chaos
The Leadership Podcast
Dr. Bill Kline is a professor of business ethics and the Executive Director of the Academy on Capitalism. He argues that capitalism and ethics aren’t separate conversations. They’re the same system. Without ethics, there are no property rights, no enforceable contracts, and no functioning markets. Strip that away and you don’t get capitalism. You get chaos with a price tag. In this conversation, Bill discusses the difference between socialism’s ideals and capitalism’s outcomes. He also breaks down what leaders must do to rebuild trust with younger workers, and why one simple question...
info_outline
TLP508: Your Scars Are Your Resume
The Leadership Podcast
info_outline
TLP507: Disrupt or Be Buried: The Mindset That Changes Everything
The Leadership Podcast
info_outline
TLP506: Retention Is Dead: The Workquake Reshaping Talent
The Leadership Podcast
Steve Cadigan is a global talent strategist, author of “Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working,” and LinkedIn’s founding Chief HR Officer. Steve believes the world of work is going through a “workquake” — a fundamental shift that’s breaking the old employer-employee contract. At the core of it is a false premise: the idea of long-term loyalty that neither side can reliably keep. In this conversation, Steve explains why many of the world’s most successful companies have surprisingly short employee tenure, why the workforce isn’t...
info_outline
TLP505: Why Leadership Coaching So Often Fails
The Leadership Podcast
Will Linssen is the CEO of Global Coach Group, and the author of “Triple Win Leadership Coaching: The Coach’s Guide to More Impact, More Coaching, and More Clients.” In this conversation, Will challenges the traditional model of leadership coaching. Too often, coaching focuses on the leader while leaving the team out of the equation—one reason why team satisfaction frequently remains low even when leaders feel they’ve made progress. Will explains how great coaches assess coachability before the work even begins, why ego is often the biggest barrier to meaningful change, and what...
info_outline
TLP504: Why Your Team Is Still Disengaged
The Leadership Podcast
Mark Crowley’s newest book is The Power of Employee Well-Being: Move Beyond Engagement to Build Flourishing Teams. For more than a decade, organizations have chased employee engagement - through surveys, gamification, perks, and wellness apps - yet the results haven’t improved. Gallup now reports engagement at a ten-year low. Mark was one of the early voices questioning the engagement movement, and in this conversation he explains why the model itself is flawed. We talk about what leaders have been measuring incorrectly, what employee well-being actually means, and why the strongest...
info_outline
TLP503: 7 Hidden Beliefs That Sabotage Leaders (And How to Break Them) – with Muriel M. Wilkins
The Leadership Podcast
Muriel M. Wilkins is the founder and CEO of Paravis Partners, host of the HBR podcast, Coaching Real Leaders, and author of “Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential.” Muriel makes the case that lasting leadership change doesn't come from better tactics. It comes from changing the hidden assumptions driving those tactics in the first place. Drawing on research with over 300 coaching clients, Muriel introduces seven hidden blockers—simple, pervasive beliefs that quietly sabotage even the most capable leaders. She explains why high performers...
info_outline
TLP502: Never Fire Anyone with Mark Morgenfruh
The Leadership Podcast
Mark Morgenfruh is the President and CEO of GetHRready and author of “Never Fire Anyone: A Leader's Guide on how to Lead People not Companies.” He holds a Master of Human Resource Management from Rutgers University and built his no-nonsense, trust-first philosophy from the ground up. In this episode, Mark dismantles the two most common leadership failures he calls "keyboard cowboys" (leading from behind a screen) and "happy talk" (avoiding the real conversation until it's too late). He makes the case that trust isn't built through programs or policies — it's built by being a normal human...
info_outline
TLP501: Failure as Fuel: When to push through and when to quit
The Leadership Podcast
Steve Taplin is the CEO of Sonatafy Technology, author of “Fail Hard, Win Big: 30 Ventures | 20 Failures | 10 Wins,” and host of the Software Leaders Uncensored podcast. In this conversation, Steve reveals the partnership that almost destroyed him but vindicated him five years later; why he walked out of a meeting with a Fortune 500 CIO; and the discipline that saved his sanity. Steve also shares the 24-hour rule for processing failure to help his teams fail without breaking trust or morale. Steve breaks down the practice that taught him when to fight and when to quit. If...
info_outline
TLP500: The Leadership Myths We Keep Getting Wrong with Admiral Bill McRaven
The Leadership Podcast
Work–life balance sounds responsible. Admiral William (Bill) McRaven thinks it’s misleading at best—and often harmful. In our special 500th episode of The Leadership Podcast, McRaven strips away the language leaders hide behind and replaces it with judgment, clarity, and responsibility. Instead of chasing balance, he offers a far more useful distinction: knowing which commitments are crystal balls and which are rubber balls. Some things can be dropped and recovered. Others, once broken, are gone for good. Leadership starts with knowing the difference. He’s equally direct about...
info_outlineTodd Sattersten brings over 20 years of experience in nonfiction book publishing, and is the author of "The 100 Best Books for Work and Life." He's also the publisher at Bard Press and has dedicated his career to helping leaders navigate the overwhelming world of business literature.
In this episode, Todd reveals how he curated 100 essential books into 25 problem-focused chapters, moving beyond traditional business categories to address both professional and personal challenges leaders face. He explains why growth comes from believing change is possible and how daily effort accumulates into meaningful progress.
Todd discusses the shift from data-heavy business books toward more introspective, permission-giving literature that acknowledges the chaotic nature of modern leadership. Todd discusses the difficulty of finding quality fiction with positive leadership examples and his preference for books that help readers ask different questions rather than provide step-by-step formulas.
Todd concludes by stressing the importance of reading with intention, distinguishing between reading for entertainment versus insight, and building sustainable reading habits that focus on addressing real challenges rather than collecting impressive quotes.
Listen to discover how to navigate information overload, identify truly transformative books, and develop the reading habits that separate effective leaders from those who simply accumulate knowledge.
You can find episode 482 on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Watch this Episode on YouTube | Todd Sattersten on The 100 Best Books for Work and Life
Key Takeaways
[03:42] Todd explains his selection process started with 60-70 known books, then Todd describes how the 25 topics emerged naturally from the books themselves - goal setting, habits, leadership, relationships, motivation.
[06:48] Todd identifies two key patterns to accumulate people's consistent actions: "growth comes from the belief that change is possible" and "daily effort matters."
[13:28] Todd explains that great books redefine problems to create different solutions, citing examples like focusing on better customers rather than better products.
[16:02] Todd reveals he's nervous about trendy books, especially about companies or leaders that don't hold up over time.
[20:51] Todd believes people recognize tremendous value in listening to work others have already done, whether from Stoics, Buddhists, or other traditions.
[23:50] Todd emphasizes reading requires choosing between entertainment versus insight, asking "how will I act differently after reading this."
[27:03] Todd explains the data-heavy book trend came from 30 years of neuroscience research but now sees a shift toward permission-giving books.
[31:50] Todd identifies "Your Brain at Work" by David Rock as his top pick for explaining brain function limitations.
[35:40] Todd describes "Reboot" by Jerry Colonna as transformative for connecting personal stories to leadership effectiveness.
[39:17] Todd concludes by encouraging leaders to "build a habit of reading" since most successful leaders are readers.
[40:09] And remember…”The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who will get me a book I ain't read.” - Abraham Lincoln.
Quotable Quotes
“Growth comes from the belief that change is possible.”
“Daily effort matters.”
“A different way to define the problem creates a different way to solve the problem.”
“If you don’t understand the stories that you have about yourself, then you can’t possibly be the best possible leader.”
“Fiction can provide a really great perspective.”
“The work is internal most of the time. It’s not, hey, I need to go fix some business thing.”
“Leadership is a journey of growth.”
“A book still does something that almost every other art form doesn’t do.”
“The people who understand the value of books understand there’s a tremendous value in listening to the work others have already done.”
“Identifying a set of effective solutions… that’s what leaders need.”
“Please build a habit of reading. I can’t think of a better habit for a leader.”
These are the books mentioned in this episode
Resources Mentioned
-
The Leadership Podcast | theleadershippodcast.com
-
Sponsored by | www.darley.com
-
Rafti Advisors. LLC | www.raftiadvisors.com
-
Self-Reliant Leadership. LLC | selfreliantleadership.com
-
Todd Sattersten Website | http://toddsattersten.com
-
Todd Sattersten LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/toddsattersten
-
Todd Sattersten Instagram | @toddsattersten