Authors Read Podcast

Our world has increasingly become fear-based, but when we don't understand the sources of this fear, we can't heal them. We each hold collective fears, like dying in a pandemic, and individual fears, many of which we aren't aware of because they arise from conditioning and deeply embedded beliefs.

We are meant to live in joy, not in fear. Even if everyone around us is in fear, this doesn't have to be our personal experience. By taking us on a treetop journey through quantum physics, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and more, A Book On Fear gives us tools and awarenesses to see where our fear comes from. When we see how our belief systems were created, how they limit us, and what we have become attached to that creates fear, we will come to know ourselves at a deeper level. Then we can make different choices to transform our fears.

The end of each chapter includes a suggested simple exercise that can be done quickly but that will shift the reader into an immediate higher state of awareness about that chapter’s topic. Once we bring awareness to how we may have operated unconsciously before, we set out on the road to positive change.

Author and entrepreneur Lawrence Doochin is someone who has experienced, processed, and released a great amount of fear. Allow him to guide you out of the fear tunnel and back into the sunlight.

Link to the book on Amazon

book podcast, books, audiobooks, author reading, podcast, nonfiction, motivational, fear

Research in cognitive science over the last 30 years shows much of what we know about culture in the business world is based on myth, wishful thinking, outdated science, or is just plain wrong. This is why culture-shaping and change programs in organizations often amount to little more than sloganeering with minimal impact on the lived experience of employees.

This book bridges the gap between the latest research on cognitive science and culture, providing a valuable guide for change leaders, CEOs, and practitioners on how to sustainably work with and change this important resource. It answers many of the major questions that have plagued culture work, such as:

• Why so many CEOs and management consultants preach culture change when so few culture interventions actually succeed
• Why CEOs persist in believing "culture starts at the top" when virtually no research in anthropology supports that claim
• Why most culture shaping approaches have no answer for how toaffect culture in global companies
• Why culture doesn’tcauseus todoanything, yet we persist in believing that somehow it does
• Why so many culture-shaping projects focus on corporate values despite the fact modern science shows why changing personal values is exceedingly difficult

What we are learning about culture from the last 30 years of cognitive science gives us the foundation for far more impactful and sustainable interventions than have been possible to date. This book explains why, showing how everyday business practices well beyond HR are key to culture change. Why? Because the brain’s synaptic plasticity can only be altered through new sustained and widespread organizational habits and routines. This groundbreaking, practical guide will show you finally how to realize the full power of culture as a transformational, empowering, and competitive resource.

Link to the book on Amazon

books, book podcast, author reading, audiobooks, nonfiction, management, leadership, corporate culture

It's official. For the first time, the World Health Organization has classified burnout as a health problem. Renowned motivational speaker Eileen McDargh proposes that to tackle it, we must learn to break out of energy-draining thoughts and behaviors.

Resilience, she argues, is strictly a matter of energy management--by better managing your energy, you can both build resiliency and overcome burnout. Breakthrough happens when our energy is consciously distributed to what matters most in our lives. So after a short survey that will tell you where you fit in a burnout and resiliency profile, McDargh helps pinpoint the causes of your burnout and examine the energy demands that keep you from refueling and recharging. She provides an in-depth energy analysis and gives you the keys to master the four dimensions that can give you a resilience breakthrough: head, heart, hands, and humor.

McDargh guides the reader through the process of identifying energy drains and implementing strategies for handling them, whatever phase of life you are in. Her intention is to help you not only to successfully manage work and life demands but also make even larger strides in understanding how to put together a life by design and not by default.

Link to the book on Amazon

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The nation has transformed. The calls for racial equity are loud and insistent and they are now being listened to. And yet, companies across the country are still far behind when it comes to equity in the workplace. For decades, we've heard variations on the same theme on how to increase diversity and inclusion and we have still not moved. If we want equity to matter inside and outside the workplace, if we want to be real allies for change, then we need a new approach. We need to stop following trends. We need to lead change.

InAuthentic Diversity, culture change expert and diversity speaker, Michelle Silverthorn, explains how to transform diversity and inclusion from mere lip service into the very heart of leadership. Following the journey of a Black woman in the workplace, leaders learn the old rules of diversity that keep failing her and millions like her again and again, and the new rules they must put in place to make success a reality for everyone. A millennial, immigrant, and Black woman in America, Michelle will show you how to lead a space centered on equity, allyship, and inclusion and how together we can build a new organization, and nation, centered on justice.

Link to the book on Amazon

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A vivid account of life in the NFL—and an inspiring story of everything that comes after.

Against seemingly impossible odds, Sean Conley became the starting kicker for the University of Pittsburgh in his senior year. A year later, he suited up for the Detroit Lions. But when he joined the New York Jets soon after, Conley’s injuries caught up to him, and his lifelong dream came crashing down in a crisis of denial and fear.

The Point Afteris an all-access look at the NFL, one of the most intense workplaces in sports. Conley describes pushing through pain at NFL training camps, surrounded by rookies, All-Pro veterans, and long-shot undrafted free agents, all hell-bent on staying in the game. He recounts the insecurities he dealt with on and off the field, and the despair that overtook him when his career ended.

But while Conley thought life was over, it was just beginning. Transcending football, this is the story of an ex–football player who discovered the true meaning of sports and life, and found happiness in the most unexpected way. Embodying the spirit of the underdog, this is a moving tale of strength, determination, and spiritual grit.

Link to the book on Amazon

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Too many people associate creativity solely with the arts, even though to be an incredible scientist, engineer, or entrepreneur requires immense creativity. And it's the key to developing breakthrough products and services. Natalie Nixon, a creativity strategist with a background in cultural anthropology, fashion, and service design, says that in the fourth industrial revolution a creativity leap is needed to bridge the gap that exists between the churn of work and the highly sought-after prize called innovation.

Nixon says that since humans are hardwired to be creative, it is a competency anyone can develop. She shows that it balances wonder (awe, audacity, and curiosity) with rigor (discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail), and that inquiry, improvisation, and intuition are the key practices that increase those capacities. Drawing on interviews with fifty-six people from diverse backgrounds--farming, law, plumbing, architecture, perfumery, medicine, education, technology, and more--she offers illuminating examples of how creativity manifests in every kind of work.

Combining creativity tools and techniques with real-world stories of innovative people and businesses, this book is a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity that lies within each of us. It offers a more dynamic and integrative way to adapt and innovate, one that allows us the freedom to access our full human selves.

Link to the book on Amazon

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Many of us live paycheck-to-paycheck. We dream of a better and brighter life; but never achieve it. We hope and pray for a better job or pay; but never reach our goals. We never seem to feel financially independent or free. Living the American dream is a myth for most of us. Mom to Millionaire explains how an individual, who had all the odds stacked against her, became successful in life. It was not an easy journey, but she did it, and so can you and everyone else. In this book, you will learn:•The paths to financial freedom•How to increase your net worth•How to create generational wealth•How to gain control of your life and thoughts•How a regular job cannot guarantee financial peace

Link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3l5AqaD

book podcast, author reading, books, audiobooks, memoir, finance, nonfiction

They had been friends who fought side by side for better things. Now both were running from crimes neither could have imagined of themselves just a few days ago . . .

"A thrilling work of serpentine intrigue and crisp characterization"--Kirkus Reviews (starred review).

Heartsick that the towering trees that once sheltered him are being cut, Rinn van Ness commits a minor felony on a remote Alaska island.A woman he once loved, Kit Olinsky, is arrested for his crime--and the murder of a Tlingit elder broken by the loss of the Native way of life.

Out on bail, Kit fights a scorched-earth battle in the state legislature to save the Alaska she loves. It's not a battle she can win. But she will fight to the end even if she has to betray her secret lover, a Tlingit fighting desperately for what was promised to his people a generation ago.

Rinn slips out of the forest to protect Kit, never suspecting that he has more at stake than a lonely prison cell.

Heath's plotting is taut and propulsive, and the pages seem to fly through your hands.-- Red City Review (5-star review)

The ending was exceptional and will bring a tear to your eye.--Readers Favorite (5-star review)

Link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3iJTD1a

Book podcast, author reading, audiobook, thriller book, literary thriller

As the diversity, equity, and inclusion wave widens and deepens its reach, introversion is becoming a natural part of that movement. After all, about half the population identify as introverts, but many organizations are stuck in traditional extrovert-centric workplace cultures that reward people for speaking up publicly, expect them to log face time, and employ hiring and promotion practices rooted in the past. This ultimately discourages introverts from contributing and reaching their full talent potential, which could have a major impact on the bottom line.

"Champion for introverts" Jennifer Kahnweiler offers a road map for everyone in the workplace--including leaders, human resource managers, and team members--to create inclusive, introvert-friendly cultures. Kahnweiler provides an assessment to determine how introvert friendly your organization is and looks at every aspect of organizational life--hiring, training, leading, communicating, meeting, designing workplaces, and more--through an inclusive lens.

You'll discover how to make open-space offices introvert friendly, what the best practices are for encouraging introverts to participate on teams, which training techniques work best for introverts, and how to make remote positions work.

Link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hX89SD

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Leading futurist Bob Johansen shows how a new way of thinking, enhanced by new technologies, will help leaders break free of limiting labels and see new gradients of possibility in a chaotic world.

The future will get even more perplexing over the next decade, and we are not ready. The dilemma is that we're restricted by rigid categorical thinking that freezes people and organizations in neatly defined boxes that often are inaccurate or obsolete. Categories lead us toward certainty but away from clarity, and categorical thinking moves us away from understanding the bigger picture. Sticking with this old way of thinking and seeing isn't just foolish, it's dangerous.

Full-spectrum thinking is the ability to seek patterns and clarity outside, across, beyond, or maybe even without any boxes or categories while resisting false certainty and simplistic binary choices. It reveals our commonalities that are hidden in plain view. Bob Johansen lays out the core concepts of full-spectrum thinking and reveals the role that digital media--including gameful engagement, big-data analytics, visualization, blockchain, and machine learning--will play in facilitating and enhancing it. He offers examples of broader spectrums and new applications in a wide range of areas that will become possible first, then mandatory. This visionary book provides powerful ways to make sense of new opportunities and see the world as it really is.

Link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EmGb3D

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