Pivot with Jenny Blake

“Vulnerability is a one-way ticket to trust,” says today’s guest Billy Anderson, founder of The Courage Crusade and mutual friend of longtime friendtor Michael Bungay Stanier (two-time guest of the Pivot Podcast). Billy is the author of Your Comfort Zone is Killing You: Finding the Courage to Be You. In this conversation we cover finding the courage to move past others’ expectations toward greater...

When was the last time you experienced a truly ecstatic flow state when working? Where time was flying, and you didn’t even notice it passing? Do you know how to create more of these in the future? It took 10 years for The Office to find success after it aired. What would you create for the intrinsic reward of the project itself? What if you knew it wouldn’t find popular success until 10 years fro...

What do you wish you had that doesn’t exist? Whether it’s a podcast episode, an article, or a physical product — innovation requires pausing the “infinite stream” of passive content we consume in receiver mode, and intentionally pausing to ask the question: how can you create what you need? Your magnet means something . . . pause and pay attention to it. This episode ties into topics covered in 14...

If social media drains you, yet continues to dangle itself as a “sexy should,” this episode is for you. I share my own process—mindset shifts and business focuses—that allow me to keep moving, even without platform-building or posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Tik Tok. From a business perspective, social media is a means to two primary ends: social connections and media (consuming and c...

When Michael and I were throwing together our very agile wedding at City Hall in New York City back in November 2018, with just a few weeks notice I asked two friends for a photographer recommendation. Both separately replied with the same person, today’s guest, which was all the serendipity I needed to say yes! That photographer is Phillip Van Nostrand, an instant friend and exactly the kind of g...

Henna Inam is on a mission to impact one million people by 2030, partly by helping us “Marie Kondo our mindset.” In this episode, you’ll learn about the five shifts in agility we can all make and the antidote to burnout, starting with our built-in neuro-emotional capability for resilience and collaboration. She is the CEO of Transformational Leadership Inc., a company that helps Fortune 500 organi...

Dr. MJC is back for part two of our most recent installment in the Pivoting Around a Pandemic series (listen to episode 224 first). In this session we riff on not quite feeling ready to leave our pandemic bubbles, the meta skill of self-education, and conscious luck (Gay Hendricks’ new book). What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask Ch...

Dr. MJC is back for the first time since episode 203, when we talked about re-opening three weeks ago. Today we riff on a range of timely topics: Joe Rogan’s exclusive Spotify deal and how it mirrors larger pandemic and content-creation trends, “blue” versus “red” ocean when it comes to competition, the important meta skill of self-education, and not quite feeling ready to leave our pandemic bubbl...

Today I’m peeling the curtain back on the shifts I’ve made to move from weekly to daily podcast publishing during the pandemic across five key areas: mindset, motivation, systems, skills, and software. Interested in learning more? Join me LIVE for a much-requested update on my (He)art of Podcasting course! I’m facilitating a 3-hour masterclass on June 25 where you can ask me anything, get my best...

Can the universe possibly be always working “for” you and not just happening to you? How can that be if bad things that happen to good people? In this episode I respond to a listener question with my take on helpful ways to apply the placebo effect and pronoia, the belief that “the world around you conspires to do you good.” I talk about noticing what you’re noticing, and how to discern fears vers...

Don’t bench yourself before the game begins. Be willing to be the exception. What problems can you solve during this unique time? What skills can you teach yourself? For any disempowering article or statistic, what if the opposite were true? Systemic inequality, student debt, lack of social support — these are massively broken systems in America. But that doesn’t mean you need to hang your head in...

Welcome to Part 3 of Wandering with Michael (Part 2 here) — we talk about my favorite band, how to protect your flame, the importance of not planning or problem-solving too much around one’s creative process . . . and then! Around minute 22, Michael jumps into facilitating (his first!) spontaneous guided meditation with more passion than most :) More background: Feeling stuck and bored for the fir...

“Everything is the pandemic’s fault,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of nascent streaming platform Quibi last week. Is it? I share my thoughts in this week’s riff on how streaming companies are responding and piloting during this time. Building on episode 142: Creative Economy Lessons from “The Great Race to Rule Streaming TV”, I share a tale of two platforms — and encourage you to examine wh...

I’m releasing exactly the kind of episode I can’t usually stand . . . but maybe that’s a good thing? Michael even said in all seriousness, “I don’t think you should release this one on the main channel.” We cover everything and nothing, and digressions in-between. Welcome to Part 2 of Wandering with Michael. Our alternative titles for this one are, “Infinitely Boring” and “The Household Ramble”— s...

Life on lockdown means a perfect opportunity to capture spontaneous thoughts from a very special guest . . . and no, it’s not Ryder :) Feeling stuck and bored for the first time in a loooong time last Saturday, Michael and I decided the only thing that would alleviate our Groundhog’s Day discomfort on yet another freezing New York City weekend would be to hop on the podcast mic with no direction i...

Dani Zoldan is a lifelong entrepreneur. In 2008, he purchased Stand Up NY, the famous comedy club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that made its name in the 80’s and 90’s with many of the world’s best comics including Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Louis CK and Jon Stewart. Today, (at least pre-pandemic when we could still gather in person!) the club has been home to many current A...

Why are so many of us allergic to the word innovation, solving the wrong problems, and experiencing idea-fatigue? Because, as Stephen Shapiro brilliantly shares in his new book, Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, what we’re really aiming for is relevance. How can you apply the 5D’s of disruption to solve difficult problems? We dive into that and...

Seth Godin recently described Mitch Joel (in celebration of his 700th episode) as “in the pantheon, one of the greats.” I couldn’t agree more. Mitch is a well-respected friend and colleague to so many of us in the business, writing, and speaking communities. He sees trends and platforms coming long before they hit mainstream, and his output, ideas, and incisive interviewing style consistently leav...

Building on the previous episode that covered virtuous circles (or cycles), this is an excerpt from my Pivot to Profit course where I go deeper into Jim Collins’ Hedgehog and Flywheel concepts. This will help you think more strategically about the highest impact activities in business and career that create self-perpetuating, unstoppable momentum. Join us in Momentum at http://pivotmethod.com/mome...

How can virtuous circles (or cycles) help us think more strategically about the highest impact activities in business and career that create self-perpetuating momentum? That’s the topic of this episode; how we can transform even “time for money” or marketing activities into something more. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey at http://pivotmethod.com/survey Help us...

"If you truly are diversified, that means something is underperforming (in the short-term).”  Today’s Pivot conversation is with wealth manager Kathryn Brown, whose mission is changing families’ traditional relationship with money to foster a healthy relationship between money and life for the families she serves. What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions at http://www.pivotmethod.com/ask Ch...

Jennifer Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the concept of self-care with her first bestseller, The Woman’s Comfort Book. Since then, she’s written seven additional books on well-being and whole living, including The Woman’ s Retreat Book and The Life Organizer, with close to a million copies of her books in print in nine languages. She’s been profiled or quoted in two of Brené...

This riff is inspired by the synchronous confluence of two things: re-reading a note to self on “sensitivity as a tool for trend spotting” and a recent NYT interview with Jerry Seinfeld (who I also highlight in the chapter on pilots in Pivot), Jerry Seinfeld Is Making Peace With Nothing: He’s ‘Post-Show Business.’ Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at htt...

Part two of my recent Momentum Masterclass on Your Book & Big Idea (recorded 3/3/20). Whether you’re creating a course, a speech, or a book learn how to map the transformation you’re trying to create, and the difference between different stages such as harvesting, thinking, outlining, writing, editing, and launching. As Richard Bach says, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” List...

In this replay of a Momentum Masterclass on Your Book & Big Idea (recorded 3/3/20), I’m walking you through how to hone in on a powerful, resonant message that will connect with and help you build your ideal community, as well as next steps to getting it out into the world.  As one of my earliest book mentors Michael Larsen said to me, "It's not a question of if you'll get published, but when and...