Having started my Leadership and the Environment podcast, I'd meant to record audio posts for my blog. Today is my first foray. Just after the solstice, I find myself at Equinox, the gym, comparing the luxury experience to bare bones.
Tanner's third conversation continues his project beyond just polluting less himself to influencing a store, in fact a whole grocery store chain. You can hear his growing enthusiasm, that the more he works on his project, the more he finds parts of it to love and act on. Listen to the conversation. Do you think because he's a gold medal winner things come easier for him? On the contrary, things don't go his way. But he doesn't give up. If you try projects and they don't work out, which describes me, I think it will help to see that people as successful as Tanner don't succeed on their first tries either. I don't know about you, but when I read their books or see them…
Stop the presses Today's episode of Leadership and the Environment is Player FM's Podcast of the Day! ... a great honor for a new podcast. It features conversation #1 with Tanner Gers -- Paralympic U.S. Gold Medalist, Beep Baseball (baseball for the blind) star, TEDx speaker, coach, podcaster, and more. The credit goes to: All of you, for subscribing and reviewing, helping it reach #38, with 70+ reviews, overwhelmingly 5-star. Tanner, for an inspirational conversation. You'll hear the chemistry that began when he first hosted me on his show. I'm more reserved, so he gets credit. He's open, vulnerable, caring, fun, funny, and more. Player.fm, for recognizing Tanner's awesomeness and being a great podcast player. I looked them up: over a million downloads and 60,537…
Thanks to all of you---listeners and guests---Leadership and the Environment launched at 38: to overwhelmingly 5-star reviews: I don't know how many people listened and subscribed, but it's short of the billions whose beliefs and behavior have to change to clean the air, water, and land we share, so we have a way to go. The measure of success is not ranking, but measurables like amount of litter, number of extinctions, depth of topsoil, wars over resources, as well as people's happiness, joy, and deliciousness resulting from their new beliefs and behaviors. Social Media shares Please help share about Leadership and the Environment. The goal is to change beliefs and behaviors so people enjoy living by their values and help clean the environment in the…
Here is an email I'm sending tomorrow, relevant to people who care about Leadership and the Environment: Hello friends, family, and people I've worked with this year​, I'm writing you who have seen my passion evolve in 2017 from launching my book to launching my podcast, Leadership and the Environment.​ Please listen if you haven't, especially Episode Zero, which gives its back story. But first read on. The podcast goal and my great passion is to help people change how they see acting on the environment from sacrifice and lonely to rewarding and part of a large, growing community. I'm interviewing influential people like TED speakers with 40 million views (like Dan Pink), #1 bestselling authors (like Marshall Goldsmith), a Pulitzer Prize winner (Elizabeth Kolbert), a…
Some conversations are open and honest. Then there are whole other levels of friendship that leads to sharing vulnerability and intimacy. Dov Baron---speaker, writer, coach, guru---makes his conversations like that. We spoke like two friends who love helping people learn the social and emotional skills of leadership sharing what we've learned, how we teach, and the struggles we learned them from. Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) Dov's inspiration of me People use the word inspiration to describe a feeling, but I reserve it for when someone acts, not just feels. Dov inspired me. Case in point: the three posts I wrote to answer the questions he posed in one of our conversations. Lots of coaches pose questions and give little exercises. I don't often do…
[Below is the content of my fourth email announcement of my podcast, which I just released. It's over 12 years in design, based on 3 years of testing the underlying techniques and 1 year making the podcast. I intend for it to change culture, I hope broadly and fast enough.] Hello all, Leadership and the Environment is live! The first four episodes are up, featuring Dan Pink, multiple #1 NY Times bestseller, over 40 million TED views Marshall Goldsmith, multiple #1 bestseller, #1 rated leadership coach Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker writer Michael Bungay Stanier, WSJ bestselling author Many more coming soon, two episodes per week. I hope you'll subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher, PlayerFM, and Castbox. Most of all, please…
The more I cook for myself, the more I appreciate nuance, subtlety, complexity, variety, and so forth in food, as well as the expression of the person who prepared the food. Also, the more I see others as stuck in the yummy phase, which describes the United States population increasingly in number and increasingly in areas beyond food. What's the yummy phase? The urban dictionary defines it effectively: The period of life, commonly experienced during childhood, when a person's taste is limited to those foods/treats considered "yummy." Having not yet developed an appreciation for such acquired tastes as coffee, beer or wine, certain vegetables, cigars, etc, a person in the yummy phase tends to favor the flavor of such savory treats as sugary sweets that…
Dave Gardner lived a successful mainstream corporate life, but then started looking at the world around him and seeing problems mainstream society is missing. After scratching the surface, you can't help but find our drive for growth---usually enumerated through GDP and population---at the root. Dave created a documentary, Growthbusters, questioning growth. He's asking the critical questions of our time that nearly everyone is ignoring, leading them to miss important issues beyond, say, just renewable energy sources or extinctions. However strongly people believe economic and population growth is necessary for happiness, belief doesn't make something true. A growing number of steady-state economists are showing alternatives to perpetual growth. I'm in the middle of Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen, a book describing a…
Jay Wong's Inner Changemaker podcast is growing like crazy, making #1 in self-improvement on iTunes. He just released our interview. We talked about passion and how to create more, leadership, the environment, sidchas, and the passions I'm working on. Listen to our conversation Here's a preview: Listen to our full conversation
Daniel Bauer uncovered what I'm up to next and what led me to it in his second interview of me for his Better Leaders Better Schools podcast. He released it yesterday. All the burpees, vegetables, and so on are leading up to a lot more than just personal habits, as the conversation reveals. The next big step is the podcast launch, featuring some big names---a Pulitzer Prize winner, tens-of-millions-times-viewed TED talker, New York Times bestselling authors, and more---sharing their struggles you don't normally see. Daniel and I talked about its origins and why such big names are doing it, even pre-launch. Listen to the conversation Listen to the conversation Daniel also interviewed me in episode 79: Great Leaders Aren't Superheroes. Daniel's show notes: Josh Spodek…
A recent workshop I attended had me write my dream of a "Year of Opportunity"---that is, what I'd like to make happen if I achieved everything I could. Normally we don't share our greatest hopes and expectations since they enable others to judge us---for dreaming too much, for being unrealistic, for thinking too much of ourselves, for not achieving our dreams, and so on. So what? I'm going to share anyway. It's mostly about the podcast I'm working on, Leadership and the Environment, as the start of a movement to change mainstream beliefs and behaviors so people want to lower or reverse their impacts enough to act meaningfully. For context, the podcast features well-known and influential people taking on personal challenges to live by their…
Robbie Samuels hosts the On the Schmooze podcast and today he released his conversation with me, "Leadership Through Living." I love that, unlike many podcasters, he enjoys the conversation and has fun, not just asks questions. Listen to the conversation Listen to the conversation Robbie's show notes: Today's guest is an "astrophysicist turned new media whiz" who has earned five Ivy League degrees and holds six patents. He helped build an X-ray observational satellite for NASA, and has co-founded and led several ventures. A serious athlete, he has completed six marathons and competed at the World and National level of Ultimate Frisbee. He has swam across the Hudson River, and has done burpees every day for six years, 90,000 and counting. Although his passions are…
An early memory is of my mother, when she moved into sales and more entrepreneurship, having Zig Ziglar books. This was the late 70s. I was in grade school and knew nothing of business or this guy, except his memorable name. I'm pleased to announce that the Ziglar show, featuring Zig Ziglar's son Tom and Kevin Miller posted an interview of me, "The massive power of habitually doing what you don't have to do." Tom and Kevin make a positive and inquisitive team that led to a wonderful conversation. Kevin, in particular, recognized the value of sidchas, so we talked about them in depth. Kevin "got" them and got me to share their value. In fact, he has kept up a burpee sidcha since before…
David Shriner-Cahn hosts the Smashing the Plateau podcast and today he released our conversation, "How to Create Real Change." As fellow New Yorkers, David and I have met in person many times since my first time on his show, including at events he's organized through his firm, TEND Strategic Partners, which helps small firms and entrepreneurs advance. Being friends makes the conversation more open and friendly. I talk more about developing my upcoming podcast, Leadership and the Environment. Listen to the conversation Here are the show notes: Today we welcome back Joshua Spodek, founder of Spodek Academy and bestselling author of Leadership Step by Step. Topics include: Why leadership and big social changes usually come from outside of government The challenge that actually comes with…
In June, Leigh Martinuzzi, host of the Hidden Why podcast, gave me a break/kick-in-the-butt to record my first audio in "My first guest "host" on a podcast: The Hidden Why, by Leigh Martinuzzi." We met online. Talking about podcasts, I thought he might have me as a guest. Instead he suggested I record a solo message. I was anxious to fly solo, but did, despite taking weeks to record. It got me over the hump of taking initiative, leading, in part, to my starting my Leadership and the Environment podcast. Thank you, Leigh! Listen to the new recording. We've since recorded a two-way conversation and it's live. We had a great conversation about growth, values, and many aspects of personal leadership. As he wrote in…
Following up Dov Baron's questions from yesterday and the day before, the next and last question he recommend me answering was Question: If I led in the environment and no one knew my name, what change I created would be my legacy? Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) My answer: My legacy would be that people will view changing their behavior to reduce their pollution, greenhouse emissions, resource depletion, and the like as joyful fun opportunities for personal growth that they wish they did earlier. This perspective would change for most people from seeing such changes as deprivation, sacrifice, and pointless. This cultural shift would be on the scale of how, in my lifetime, American culture shifted on Smoking Drinking and driving Wearing seat belts We've…
Following up yesterday's advice from Dov Baron to answer the 5 whys, the next question he recommend me answering was what could make me give up leading in the environment. Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) My first answer is if people changed their behaviors enough that the work was unnecessary. Since the overwhelmingly most common behavior people show when I prompt them to think about changing their behavior is to justify why they shouldn't change, I don't see this change happening without significant leadership. Frankly, I'm disheartened by how much people put their interests ahead of everyone else's... how much they suppress and deny consideration of their externalities and the effects of their behavior on others. That lack of empathy and self-enforced ignorance to maintain…
The other day I interviewed leadership speaker, author, and coach Dov Baron for my Leadership and the Environment podcast (not yet launched). He interviewed me for his podcast. Listen to our conversation (on iTunes) The interview was tremendous, with tears, laughter, insight, inspiration, dinner invitations and more. Sorry to make you wait for it, but I haven't launched my podcast. I asked advice for direction for my podcast. He recommended three exercises, which I decided to post here. The first is the 5 whys exercise: to answer five levels of why I'm doing what I'm doing. The 5 whys Why am I working on Leadership and the Environment? Because the science says that if we keep behaving as we are, we will pollute the Earth's ecosphere…
Award winning former radio host for 26 years, Jeff Brown hosts the #3 ranked Read to Lead podcast. His experience and passion show in his interview, as well as his research into my book and the field. He posted the interview today. Here's a highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4XFSA9ihsg Listen to the interview Listen to the interview Here are the show notes: There is no shortage of books that talk about leadership. Few, though, actually help you learn how to lead. Fortunately for you and me, our guest today has not only taken on the challenge of solving this problem, he's done so quite successfully. I'm talking about Joshua Spodek, author of Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow. The key, Joshua says, is practice. It's…
Jeffrey Shaw hosts the Creative Warriors podcast and he just posted our interview. Twitter Twi Twitter Twitter Twitter Twittertter I enjoyed the interview a lot. He listened and asked meaningful questions that gave me a chance to share on leadership, learning, vulnerability, and more. Listen to the interview Listen to the interview Here are the show notes: When you think of a good leader, what do you think of? A good leader is someone who really knows the people that are following them. The people who follow them also know all about the leader. There needs to be a strong level of empathy. People need that emotional connection, and to feel invested. If you throw your power around, you're only going to get compliance, not…
My webinar on leadership, education, and learning to lead will appear on the Transformative Leadership Summit tomorrow. It's valuable, but is a teaser that will only be free for 48 hours. I recommend watching it. No obligation to participate in the summit, buy you may find you want to. I'm very impressed with Jethro, who is running it. I'm doing it as a friend who likes his work. I don't get anything out of it. Here's the link, featuring my video starting 8am August 3.
In June, Leigh Martinuzzi, host of the Hidden Why podcast, gave me a break/kick-in-the-butt to record my first audio in "My first guest "host" on a podcast: The Hidden Why, by Leigh Martinuzzi." We met online. Talking about podcasts, I thought he might have me as a guest. Instead he suggested I record a solo message. I was anxious to fly solo, but did, despite taking weeks to record. It got me over the hump of taking initiative, leading, in part, to my starting my Leadership and the Environment podcast. Thank you, Leigh! We've since recorded a two-way conversation and it's live. We had a great conversation about growth, values, and many aspects of personal leadership. As he wrote in the episode notes: My interview…
Will Bachman hosts the podcast, "Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional." He also co-founded the tremendous online community of top-tier management consultants, Umbrex. Will and I have known each other online for a decade as Columbia Business School alumni active in leadership. We recorded this conversation in-person at my apartment. Listen for an intimate, unfiltered inside view of my life as we walk around my place and Will asks me to describe various things---my garbage, my blackboard and what's written on it, and inside things like that. If you read my stuff and want an inside view, this is your chance. Here are Will's episode notes: Our guest today is Josh Spodek, the author of Leadership Step by Step. Josh is an…
George Samuels hosts the It Will Come podcast. Its subtitle, "A philosophy of success through patience, persistence and momentum" is right up the alley of someone like me with my years of daily burpees, blog posts, cold showers, and other sidchas. He posted our conversation, "How To Become The Leader Other People Will Follow." I'd write how much I enjoyed the conversation and how I recommend it, but his comprehensive show notes, below, tell you enough already. I like his thoroughness. I also liked his disarming friendliness. Listen to the conversation. The episode notes 👤 About Joshua Spodek Joshua Spodek is the bestselling author of Leadership Step by Step, an Adjunct Professor at NYU, leadership coach and workshop leader for Columbia Business School, columnist for Inc., and…