Unleashed – How to Thrive as an Independent Professional, Will Bachman’s elite podcast

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,…

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My interview on the It Will Come podcast

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…

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Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much

My Inc. post today, "Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much," begins Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much There is no half-integrity. Do it all the way or it undermines your leadership. Mark Zuckerberg announced a few months ago his plan to visit every state to learn more about people who use Facebook--people who struggle to make ends meet or fall through the cracks. Leonardo DiCaprio was named United Nations representative on climate change in 2014, which he followed up with the movie Before the Flood and many statements on slowing climate change and reducing pollution. Criticism Next thing you know, Zuckerberg…

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My C-Suite TV interview! [video]

  • Post category:Leadership

C-Suite TV released its interview of me on Leadership Step by Step for the show Best Seller TV. Click here for the hosting site While there, please click to share the link. I'm very happy with how it turned out and hope to spread the word. As you know, the book gets phenomenal reviews, now at 98% 5-star reviews, but people still have to hear of it. Here is the press release: July 25, 2017 10:06 ET Performance Based Leadership: Are People Born Leaders? The Latest Episode of Best Seller TV's Features Author Joshua Spodek And Kicks Off The Show's…

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Transformative Leadership, a guest post from Jethro Jones

Jethro Jones is hosting the Transformative Leadership summit. I know him because he hosts the Transformative Principal podcast. Here's my conversation with him, “How You Learn Is As Important As What You Learn." I'm participating in the summit. We recorded part of my session, and if you want to improve your leadership, you'll benefit from the summit. I recommend signing up! There are many short recordings of what you'll hear at the online event so you can learn and find out more. Longtime readers know I barely promote anything that isn't my book or courses, but I'm promoting Jethro. Jethro…

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Leadership and the Environment podcast overview and structure

Overview Leadership and the Environment features influencers who care about the environment leading by example by taking on personal challenges to live by their values---a challenge in today's world. Guests have loved it for showcasing them as authentic, empathetic leaders and giving them a chance to act on values that they've put on hold. Guests don't need environmental expertise. They including luminaries such as Dan Pink, multiple #1 NY Times bestseller, over 40 million TED views Marshall Goldsmith, multiple #1 bestseller, #1 rated leadership coach Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, CEO of Girl Scouts, named "Best leader in…

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Nelson Mandela on sidchas

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth. I've waited to share something I discovered reading his autobiography a few months ago. First some context. It's the day of your release. You're a revolutionary, fighting Apartheid, imprisoned for 27 years, much of it in an 8 foot by 7 foot cell or, if outside, breaking rocks. Meanwhile, you've become a global celebrity. Over 200 million people watched your London birthday event in absentia. Meanwhile, you're a 72-year-old man, recently recovering from tuberculosis and have barely seen your family for decades. On the day of your release, what do you…

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Bill Clinton on Nelson Mandela, for His 100th Birthday

My Inc. story today, "Bill Clinton on Nelson Mandela, for His 100th Birthday," begins Bill Clinton on Nelson Mandela, for His 100th Birthday The father of his nation was born 100 years ago today. Bill Clinton's anecdote reveals the change he created in the world. Nelson Mandela was born on this day in 1918. Few people become the father of a nation. He was imprisoned for 27 years beginning at age 45. Where most people would give up, he persevered. Eventually he negotiated from prison with the presidents of his country. He later got their job. Think about that the…

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NYU Students Speak About Joshua Spodek’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Courses

I recently met with two groups of students who took my leadership and entrepreneurship courses at NYU, Charlie Rose-style. I believe the 9 students represent the experiences of the majority of students who took my courses and did the exercises conscientiously. They included undergraduates who took my courses as freshmen and adult professionals founding or running successful businesses they founded and ran for decades. These videos are the first of more to come from these conversations. Two are mostly edited. The third is still in progress. I think they speak for themselves so here they are: Six entrepreneurship students https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLsrEwaJ94g…

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I’m not a total failure

My passion lately has been my talk and other work on leadership and the environment. I've progressed a lot by the measure of my talk going farther without triggering automatic responses to push back. But by the important measure of someone agreeing to change behavior to pollute less, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, consume less resources, or the like, as of this morning, I couldn't think of anyone who took on a challenge. In other words, I felt I failed. Despite working hard for months to develop my talk, giving it many times to many audiences, framing the challenge as improving…

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Happy 200th Birthday to Henry David Thoreau

My post on Inc.com today, "Happy 200th Birthday to Henry David Thoreau," (the editors changed the headline) began Happy Birthday to Henry David Thoreau, a True Family Businessman The entrepreneur and supporter of self-reliance, simplicity, and small government was born 200 years ago. 200 years ago today, Henry David Thoreau was born. July is a big Thoreau month. On July 4, 1845 he moved to live by Walden Pond, pictured above, for 2 years. He spent a night in jail, July 24 or 25, 1846, to avoid supporting slavery, inspiring generations. Most periodicals reporting on his birthday talk about nature,…

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Entrepreneur Magazine quoted me on Nelson Mandela

Joshua Steimle quoted me today in Entrepreneur's "11 Modern Leadership Lessons from History's Masters: Helen Keller. Theodore Roosevelt. Ann Bradstreet. Nelson Mandela: Who inspired you?" I'm honored to be a member of an ensemble cast of authors, gurus, and influencers including Simon Sinek, Robert Cialdini, Marshall Goldsmith, Geoff Smart, Gretchen Rubin, Ryan Holiday, Leonard Kim, and more. I had recently finished reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography when Joshua interviewed me, so he wasn't a hard choice. Since you should read the whole article, I don't think I'm giving anything away by quoting the part including me: Nelson Mandela No one likes…

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Leadership Requires Getting in the Trenches and Doing, Not Just Learning: The Interview

Steve Caldwell hosts the Manager Mojo podcast. On Independence Day he posted our conversation, "Leadership Requires Getting in the Trenches and Doing, Not Just Learning – a conversation with Joshua Spodek, bestselling author of “Leadership Step by Step” and an Adjunct Professor for Columbia Business School." Listen to the conversation. Listen to the conversation. Here are the show notes: Leadership Requires Getting in the Trenches and Doing, Not Just Learning Great leaders have developed their ability to connect with others by learning about and understanding what motivates each individual. They recognize that we each bring a different view of the…

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A Millennial Making America Clean Again

My Independence Day post on Inc. today, "A Millennial Making America Clean Again," begins A Millennial Making America Clean Again He's doing a simple, small, short term act that makes a difference and is leading to more. Will you follow? I love Independence Day. I don't eat hot dogs, nor do I care that much for fireworks. I celebrate July 4th by reading and writing about influential Americans and American history. I'll put this one in context with some memories of living abroad. National pride and garbage One of my most vivid memories of China was of a Chinese man…

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How to coach leadership and executives actively and experientially [video]

I led a webinar at this year's World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS) online summit earlier this month. If you coach, you'll find value in the annual summit and my talk in particular. My talk, "Experiential Learning and Coaching," was popular, with nearly 5,000 registrants. I put the video below. I find this active, experiential way of coaching helpful. If you learn from the video and practice it, please let me know your results. About WBECS: With more than 20,000 attendees from 150 Countries in 2016, WBECS is the world's largest online gathering of business and executive coaches. Our…

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What is Wrong with Leadership Training for Sustainable Success?

Chris Salem hosts the Sustainable Success radio show on Voice America, Wednesdays at 11am. He interviewed me yesterday and posted the interview. Live radio means no retakes or editing, which makes everything more dynamic. Also, we practice the Meaningful Connection exercise from Chapter 17 of my book and leadership course, so if you're working on them and want to hear it in action, listen to this episode. Here's the episode description: There is the knowledge of leadership and then actually how it is applied in a real world environment. Everyone talks about what it takes to be an effective leader…

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Dave Kerpen on my book: “This Book Gets It: Learn to Lead Yourself and Others”

There are leaders in media and then there are leaders in media. Dave Kerpen stands above the crowd, having achieved what most dream of, gathering around him a community of great people (plus 600,000+ LinkedIn followers). I'll take the liberty of putting his LinkedIn profile below, which recounts his #1 bestselling book, founding and leading a major online media firm, Likeable Media, and his family life. I'm honored and flattered that he reviewed my book and posted it on Inc.: "This Book Gets It: Learn to Lead Yourself and Others" Here's an excerpt: This Book Gets It: Learn to Lead…

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Patagonia founder acting on his values, even at the company’s expense. Still works out.

I rarely simply post someone else just talking, but my focus lately on motivating people to act on their values against comfort and convenience has resulted in such a desert that the video below was too refreshing not to share. No one I talk to considers avoiding one flight. No one who visits can stop bringing garbage. Yet this man keeps choosing actions that would appear to hurt his company, yet he's become a billionaire and they haven't. For example (at 38:18 in the second video below), he had his company research the toxicity of materials his company used. When…

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Leadership and the Environment podcast episode #5: The slideshow, June 23, 2017 [video]

I've delivered this talk a lot lately. It continues to iterate and I'm years from being able to deliver it at the I-Have-A-Dream-level quality to motivate people as the cause demands, but I consider it ready. Please share! (with @spodek) I welcome suggestions to improve. This is the 90-minute version. I will create shorter versions too. Most of all, please contact me to join the movement. I'd love to hear from everyone interested in helping, whether you can help with the areas I name or otherwise. Remember to do part 1---an effective personal challenge---first. Please tell me if you take…

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Published in the Leader to Leader journal

I just got my copies of the summer 2017 edition of the Leader to Leader Journal, published by the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute (formerly named for Peter Drucker). The journal is a many-times winner of the APEX award for publication excellence. In other words, it's prestigious. My article, "Leadership Step by Step," is on page 25. Here are some scans to whet your appetite: To whet your appetite more, the article begins The movie The Iron Lady shows an acting coach teach Margaret Thatcher to speak, dress, and act more like a leader. Some may have dismissed such training as…

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Leadership and the Environment podcast episode #4: My talk, recorded live, June 19, 2017

Still a work in progress, below is my latest keynote on Leadership and the Environment. I gave it to a live audience, June 19, 2017. Sorry, no video. Since it’s still a work in progress, so I welcome suggestions for improvements. [EDIT: click here for the audio]

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Why I turned down nearly $10,000 to teach for an Ivy League school for a week in Shanghai

Columbia University offered me nearly $10,000 to fly to Shanghai to teach an entrepreneurship class, block-week style, meaning a semester in a week, 9-5 each day. I've taught that way before and got great results. I love teaching entrepreneurship. I'm not bragging to say that my reviews say I'm exceptional at it. I love my alma mater, Columbia, and as an adjunct professor, experience teaching at Ivy League schools helps my career. I had developed the relationships with the department that offered me to teach with them for years. I had worked on making this opportunity happen for years and…

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