Advice I would and wouldn’t give Trump: My radio interview with Matt Townsend

Matt Townsend of BYU radio interviewed me today. I found Matt engaging. He did his research and he asked meaningful questions. Here's some background on his show: Matt Townsend specializes in energizing and involving audiences with his unique approach to building and maintaining successful relationships. Known as one of America's top presenters in the field of Human Relations and Development, Matt blends humor and story telling with interactive, real-life solutions that motivate and inspire his listeners. New episodes Monday through Friday at 9 am Eastern. The show notes said Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow (16:32) Joshua Spodek,…

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How you learn is as important as what you learn, part 1

The concept that how you learn is as important as what you learn is one of the fundamental principles behind my change from teaching through traditional educational and coaching techniques that may challenge and develop students and clients intellectually, but stagnate emotionally and socially. Leadership, entrepreneurship, influence, persuasion, and much of human relations are fundamentally emotional and social. Not activating students and clients socially and emotionally deprives them of the challenges necessary to develop the social and emotional skills of those disciplines. Jethro Jones, principal and host of the podcast Transformative Principal, led a conversation on this topic, how I…

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A formative story of how I cried in college in a thoughtful, open interview

Jaime Jay hosts the Stop Riding the Pine podcast, meaning don't live like you're on the bench of a team competition. Get in the game. Yesterday he posted our interview. He brought a lot out of me. A signature part of his podcast is to ask the guest for a breakaway moment in life, when something exciting happened. You'll get to hear about a tearful make-or-break moment in my life that punctuated my departure from feeling entitled to participation to choosing to earn it. I'm leaving the description vague here because the podcast tells it better than I could write…

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The best way to improve your teaching (and possibly your leadership): the SLA Summer Teaching Institute, July 17-21, 2017

I know my readership includes many educators, from K-12 through university through executive coaches. If you want to improve your teaching, no matter what level you teach, the best resource I've come across is Science Leadership Academy's Summer Teaching Institute. I highly recommend spending a week this summer learning SLA-style teaching---no matter what level you teach, from K-12 through university and adult learning. I've attended, taught at, consulted to, and led workshops at half the Ivy League, at elite boarding schools, at inner city public schools, in corporations, and more, and Science Leadership Academy is at least the equal learning…

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My disillusion from visiting Columbia’s Earth and Environmental Science Department

I'll get in trouble for describing this visit as one of the most disillusioning interactions I've had for a long time. This post is part of a work in progress, of me disentangling my thoughts and impressions to figure out how to act in a community I'm partly an outsider, but whose involvement I consider critical for achieving goals I consider important. I welcome perspectives. I know I didn't write that clearly. You can tell from the date in the picture below that I've taken nearly a month to process my thoughts to reach this level. It will take a…

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A more personal podcast interview with Jared Angaza

I comment these days that I'm becoming friends with the people interviewing me in podcasts and Jared Angaza's interview of me, "Do the Thing," is a perfect example. I've also said lately that if you put yourself out for public scrutiny, to succeed you can either create a persona and act like it or you can express yourself more openly, but to mix them---to mix acting like someone else with acting authentically---doesn't work. I'm trying to use these interviews to open up more and to speak more freely. I think I'm succeeding. I'm sure I have blind spots, like anyone,…

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Seeing Leadership Step by Step at a party on the host’s bookshelf!

  • Post category:Leadership

Over the weekend, I found myself in my first social occasion where my book was on the shelf! It could have been a scene in a Woody Allen movie---an NYU/Columbia professor with his just-released book with intelligentsia enjoying cocktails. That made two copies there, since I bring a copy everywhere too. You never know when it might come in handy. I couldn't help making it a topic of conversation. Another author was there too whose book was also on the shelf and had been out longer and had sold far more. The guests seemed to enjoy being there with us.…

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The heart of my leadership technique in a 46 second video!

On top of my column with Inc., I did a series of videos in their Inc. Video: The Playbook series. Other speakers in the series include Tim Ferriss and Tony Robbins. Yesterday we posted a video of me: How to Get Your Employees to Work With Passion subtitled Joshua Spodek, author of Leadership Step By Step, explains the importance of making members of your team comfortable sharing their motivations with you. Click here or the image below to see the video.

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Watch Callie Schweitzer, of Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, interview of me

Yesterday Callie Schweitzer---Global Managing Editor for Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global, where I write a column---interviewed me about Leadership Step by Step and leadership in general. Click here or on the image below for the interview. She described it after as the best interview she'd done. Over 4,000 people have watched it already, so it's one of my biggest exposures so far. I recommend watching it!

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Leadership Step by Step spotted in the wild!

Seen at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square! Some are in the business section, aside Richard Branson, some are downstairs, on the first floor, center. If you're looking for a copy of Leadership Step by Step, and you should get one if you don't, I recommend buying these copies. I signed them. I have to say, most of the stages I've passed---signing an agent, signing a publisher, finishing drafts, getting blurbs from prominent people, going on sale online---were meaningful, but seeing it on the shelf at a bookstore, and on a table, surprised me most with the intensity of…

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The Benefits of Experiential Learning for Leaders with Rocket Scientist Joshua Spodek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-DZIZxl1IM Mark Bidwell, founder and podcast host of Innovation Ecosystem, posted today a wonderful interview about Leadership Step by Step, experiential learning, exercises, and more. I can only describe Mark as someone who gets it. He ascended the corporate ladder, where he drove innovation, built teams, and so on, then found there was more to life and is creating resources to enable others to. If you are looking to improve your leadership, social, and emotional skills, Mark gets to the heart of how to, covering techniques that work, as well as the problems of traditional education that suppress learning these…

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How To Lead Better Through Practice: Watch a video with me and David Burkus

David Burkus is a writer, speaker, and coach on leadership and creativity. A mutual friend put us in touch and he's helped me with my book, coaching, and writing since. He's also hosting the Work Smarter Summit, an online summit of speakers, interviews, teachers, and thought leaders. I'm one of the speakers! ... That means it's quality. Here's a screen shot: My conversation with him is full of useful information, background, and tips. Here's a screenshot of my talking to him: Click here to view the video, which covers leadership techniques, perspectives, and a lot of what is in my…

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Neil Strauss, 7-time NY Times bestselling author, covers Leadership Step by Step

Two weeks in North Korea gives you the chance to get to know someone. Few writers define a genre. Neil Strauss made himself one of the great writers of our time by creating Transformational Journalism. His About page begins: Neil’s Journey into Transformational Journalism Neil Strauss is a seven-time New York Times best-selling author. His books, The Game and Rules Of The Game, for which he went undercover in a secret society of pickup artists for two years, made him an international celebrity and an accidental hero to men around the world. Both books topped The New York Times best-seller list and were #1 on Amazon, and…

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Pirates, leadership, and museums

A few weeks ago the team at one of my favorite companies (because a friend founded it and I knew it before it was cool), Museum Hack: This Isn't Your Grandma's Museum Tour, recorded a podcast with me, "Leadership & Pirates". They love all things historical and asked me to analyze the leadership of one of the most successful pirates of all time, Ching Shih. According to Wikipedia, she was a prominent pirate in middle Qing China, who terrorized the China Sea in the early 19th century. She personally commanded over 300 junks manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates—men, women,…

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Genuineness and authenticity: What it takes

I finally watched Gone With the Wind. People routinely rate it one of the top movies. Watching it, you automatically rate it by the standards of its time. But watch the acting these iconic scenes. The morning after watching the movie, I woke up realizing how ungenuine and inauthentic the acting was. Sure, by the standards of its time, the acting was probably great. But watch this scene, the opening scene of the movie. Do you not see what are supposed to be grown men behaving like caricatures of children? At 0:56 the man shows his happiness by dancing. What…

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Amazon ships Leadership Step by Step today!

Several milestones mark a book's publication. Amazon.com is the dominant book retailer and today they officially started shipping my book, Leadership Step by Step. Early reviews look promising: 27 5-star reviews and 1 4-star. Here's a screenshot The book has jumped to 472nd place in leadership, an auspicious beginning. Still, 471 places to go. I recommend reading the reviews and buying copies for everyone you know ;). Thank you! Reaching this point took a lot of work from many people, too many to list. But I have to thank my agent Melissa, who ushered me from drafts whose poor writing…

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My first Huffington Post piece

  • Post category:Leadership

Huffington Post signed me as a contributor and I jumped in head first with a piece, "If You Don’t Want To Make It Eight Years For Trump...," on politics, influence, our president, and what to do about it. I'm not a fan of how people who don't like Trump are responding to him. I'd advise them, "Don't be Walter," but I'm not sure everyone would get the point of a video from The Big Lebowski. This piece follows my Inc. pieces on connecting with Trump supporters. It begins If You Don’t Want To Make It Eight Years For Trump... People…

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Struggling To Find Your Authentic Voice As A Leader? Try These Exercises

My guest post, "Struggling To Find Your Authentic Voice As A Leader? Try These Exercises," posted today on the American Management Association's AMACOM Playbook. It begins What is an authentic voice and why does it matter? I’m asked this question a lot because my company has developed an exercise called “Your Authentic Voice.” First, let’s look at the benefits of an authentic voice and the costs of not having one. Shortly after the presidential election, I led a leadership workshop where all the attendees happened to have supported Hillary Clinton (common in Manhattan). I asked them to forget whether they…

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The One Way Ticket Show podcast: the American Revolution and Leadership

Steven Shalowitz, host of The One Way Ticket Show podcast, posted yesterday our interview, "Josh’s one way ticket is back to this historic time in American history," which covers the time in history I would choose to go to if I could magically go there with no chance to return, as well as Leadership Step by Step. Click here to listen! I find the show fascinating, as well as his guests, who include Nobel Prize winners, heads of state, heads of industry, and more, including, at last, me. From the podcast's about page: There was one question Steven Shalowitz thought…

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Becoming The Person Others Follow: the Art of Authenticity awesome second interview!

Laura Coe, host of The Art of Authenticity podcast, posted today our second interview, "Joshua Spodek: Becoming The Person Others Follow," which covers Leadership Step by Step, along with authenticity in general. Laura is a wonderful interviewer who genuinely cares about her guests. A second interview means more familiarity and comfort, which means covering perspectives and details beyond what a first interview can cover. Listen to the interview! (scroll down) Here are Laura's notes: In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Joshua Spodek, an astrophysicist, entrepreneur, leader, and author of the book Leadership Step…

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My radio interview on Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Advocate

This morning Jim Blasingame interviewed me on his Small Business Advocate Show. Here is the interview: Find interviews with Small Business experts on the Small Business Advocate show Find interviews with Small Business experts on the Small Business Advocate show If you don't have javascript (and you see white space above this line), click the image below: Click below for three edited highlights: Defining leadership elements that sustain success: Joshua Spodek joins Jim Blasingame to reveal more key leadership disciplines, including serving others and creating new leaders. Defining leadership with four key steps: Joshua Spodek joins Jim Blasingame to reveal…

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Is leading with empathy and compassion soft? Will you get taken advantage of?

A reader wrote with some questions common enough from other readers to share. His second message is the common one. The first sets the context of dealing with a difficult person. Here's the first message: I'd like to know how to deal with the type who is indifferent to the possible adverse repercussions for his actions (or lack thereof) and may actually want to deliberately trigger you to intervene and micromanage even if that's the last thing you have time for and it defeats the purpose of having the individual take on a role in the first place. In other…

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Forbes on marketing Leadership Step by Step

Cheryl Conner at Forbes wrote, "Three Entrepreneurs Share How They Took Their Public Relations Strategy To A New Level," which covered me. Lord knows I'm in the middle of public relations! Anyone who has seen me in person this year has heard me say "I can't believe how much work goes into launching a book." I'm the third of three entrepreneurs profiled in the story. The part about me begins Joshua Spodek is a New York City-based executive coach and academic (he’s an adjunct professor for NYU) who is passionate about transformative leadership, creativity, strategy and motivation. His problem: A…

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“Great book. Truly a must-read.” — Eric Jacobson on Leadership Step by Step

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Eric Jacobson writes an award-winning leadership blog, "Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership: Tips, ideas and techniques for leaders and managers" and reviews books. Yesterday, he posted a review of Leadership Step by Step. It begins Yes, it will take you some time to read Joshua Spodek's new book, Leadership Step by Step. Yes, it will be a little like doing "homework." Yes, this is a book you'll read and likely need to revisit a few times for the concepts to fully sink in. Yes, this is a book you must read if you want to become the person others…

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An educational, learning perspective on Leadership Step by Step from the Better Leadership Better Schools podcast

Daniel Bauer of the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast interviewed me and posted it today. As Daniel helps develop school leaders, mainly K-12, he approached Leadership Step by Step and my work from a more learning and educational perspective than most of the business and personal development approaches of other interviews. It's a natural perspective since I'm teaching, so I'm glad he did. The interview touched on a lot of where my material came from, and at least one very vulnerable moment I don't often share because it was such a difficult time---actually, one particular painful, tearful day that I…

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