The Extraordinary Business Book Club

'The majority of people think their life would be better if they were more creative, but they don't know how.' There are lots of books on creativity out there, but surprisingly few at its intersection with everyday business, what Sue Unerman and Kathryn Jacob call 'pragmatic creativity'. So they developed a series of practical techniques and structured approaches for fostering creativity in every...

'We're on the edge of really very exciting things, but also tremendous risks at the same time.' Whether you're an AI enthusiast or it fills you with existential terror, this conversation will challenge your perspectives and elevate your understanding of our increasingly super-smart world. Futurist Patrick Dixon has been predicting AI for 25 years, and now he works with the world's largest corporat...

'We have this image of a reader being someone who's giving time and attention to our words... but online that doesn't happen.' Anna Faherty found out the hard way that there were no books to help her teach a course on 'digital storytelling' - so she had to write her own. And if you're trying to write a business book then much of what she tackles in it - writing for busy readers, structuring ideas,...

'I'm going to tell you how you should be doing it, but it's up to you to do it. But I'm going to dress it up in a way where the message might land 15 minutes later when you're on the bus going to town. And you're like, Oh, that's what he meant.' It takes courage, tact and humour to point out to a leader not only that there might be an issue with their organization's culture, but that the issue mig...

'It's that little extra something that makes the ordinary into extraordinary and the impossible into the why not?' When her son was diagnosed with autism at the age of 10, it was what former head of trading and executive coach Alina Addison calls her 'butterfly moment'. While she accepted the diagnosis, she says, she didn't accept the prognosis, which was bleak. Instead she dedicated herself to di...

In a world that celebrates speed and working smart, adopting AI solutions and smashing simple success metrics, it can feel not just challenging but unhelpful to diverge from received wisdom.  But if we're going to create anything of real value - in business, in writing, even in sport - we need to be ready to take the less-traveled path. Because that makes all the difference.  In this Best Bits epi...

David B. Horne, creative accountant and author of the award-winning Add Then Multiply: How small businesses can think like big businesses and achieve exponential growth , has a multidimensional perspective on the Business Book Awards as entrant, finalist, winner and now judge. He also knows a thing or two about the power of books for business growth. In this week's episode, we discuss how books se...

Our definition of success has led us to a place that's actually constrained us from exploring what we're capable of. We're not getting the innovation or the collaboration that we want. We need to think about things differently.' If you're enthralled by the drama of the Paris Olympics, here's a thoughtful take on what you might be missing if you're focused primarily on the medals table. World Champ...

'It's an unfair advantage to have a platform, it massively helps, don't get me wrong. But it's totally possible to do it without one.' When Hasan Kubba and Ash Ali got together to write 'The Unfair Advantage: How you already have what it takes to succeed', they assumed they'd self-publish. They even put up a 'lean' version of the book on KDP. But as it turned out they had publishers fighting over...

'Embrace AI, but also make sure that you evolve as an individual and you understand the art of the possible while still staying grounded in the art of the practical.' Implementing AI in your business isn't easy, but NOT implementing it could be disastrous. Sol Rashidi is a former C-suite executive turned AI consultant who knows more than most about the real-world challenges and opportunities in AI...

Henry Mintzberg is quite simply a legend, and my personal business thinking hero. When I was studying his writings for my MBA I could only have dreamed that one day I'd be chatting about writing to him on my podcast - and sometimes when dreams come true, the reality is even better than you dared imagine. Along with the nuances of management theory and social change, he revealed insights into his o...

Journalism is changing, which means journalists have to change too. And a great example of this is the way that BBC reporter Dougal Shaw has reinvented his own role from pure video journalism, transforming what started as corridor conversations with business leaders who happened to be visiting the BBC into a high-profile series that runs on rolling news channels, on social media, in radio and podc...

'This is the moment to embrace authentic neurodiversity inclusion as a core organizational value. It isn't the whole solution to anything, but it is part of the solution to nearly everything.' As we hurtle towards the workplace of the future, where human and machine intelligence will interplay in ways we can't yet fully imagine, one thing is clear: standard modes of thinking are becoming less valu...

'We can't really understand what failure teaches us until we achieve success after failure. So it's the success actually, that is more instructive.' If you're navigating business or personal growth challenges, this episode could be a game-changer. Rob Hatch challenges the widely accepted narrative that failure is our greatest teacher. Instead, he argues, the most useful lessons come from our succe...

At this risk of going a bit meta, this is a brilliant conversation podcast about how brilliant podcast conversations are… Michelle Glogovac is an author and host of the My Simplified Life podcast, and a frequent guest on other podcasts. She's passionate about the special, intimate connection that podcasts create between authors and their readers, and the triple win of a good conversation: great co...

'That last pillar before you go make your decision: is it ethical? What's the effect it's going to have? The feedback I've got from a lot of people was, oh, I never really thought about that.' While ethics has become more talked-about in business, it might not be something you've considered as a factor in your business writing. But you should. In this Best Bits episode, I draw together insights fr...

'So they go, "Hang on, I've got to look confident… I have to have all the answers," which is the worst place to come from.' Becoming a first-time CEO is a lonely experience, and David Roche (who's got that particular t-shirt himself) believes every new CEO should be assigned a coach and mentor, because if we expect our leaders to have all the answers, we're setting them - and ourselves - up for fa...

'We basically treated legal compliance as a proxy for ethics, which has never really been a particularly good fit.' I think we can all agree the world is ready for some fresh perspectives on the ethical obligations of the business world: Alison Taylor is here to provide them.  All too often there are stark differences between company statements and their day-to-day actions, as they perform the del...

"Do what you can in the circumstances you are given right now. And don't wait for the systems in the world around you to change in order to get some life into your life." Most of us are only too familiar with 'languishing' - the opposite of flourishing. It was when Adam Grant wrote his famous 2021 New York Times article that we all recognised it as the defining post-pandemic emotion, and it contin...

'For an academic book, you are looking to demonstrate that you stand on the shoulders of giants. For a practitioner book, you ARE the giant... But you're not the first giant.' Meredith Norwich is a senior acquisitions editor at Routledge, part of Taylor and Francis Publishing, and she has seen a LOT of business book proposals. What makes a proposal stand out for her? You might be surprised... Pack...

I'm just back from an exhausting, exhilarating few days at London Book Fair. My ears are still ringing slightly, my feet hurt, I need to spend a few days on my own in a darkened room and I can't even tell you how many follow-up actions are on my to-do list – in other words, it was a great Fair. But what does that mean? As publishers, we at Practical Inspiration Publishing are all about selling boo...

Louise Brogan helps entrepreneurs and professionals elevate their LinkedIn game. In this week's conversation she explains why LinkedIn is so important for businesses and why most people are so dreadful at it. From fundamental mindset to the most effective tactics right now, it's a masterclass in maximising your profile on LinkedIn without losing your soul.   She's also in the throes of writing her...

"It was fantastic, just as a sheer exercise in putting something out there and being brave and saying, these are my thoughts, what does everyone else think?" Lucy Adams spends her days helping HR leaders reimagine their profession, and her classic work HR Disrupted and its sequel, The HR Change Toolkit, are critical to this mission. Her message is simple: treat employees as adults. But the implica...

'The beautiful part of it, which is also the hardest and the most painful part, is the editing... [if] you put a book out into the world which will be around longer than you, you might as well put in the effort to get it right.' David McQueen has never been one to shy away from tough conversations. In his book, The BRAVE Leader, he challenges all leaders to lean into the difficulty, to be more cou...

Following last week's quadricentennial episode, a slightly belated but still brilliant best bits episode, showcasing the shiniest gems from the last few Extraordinary Business Book Club conversations.  The theme is pushing through discomfort, and it brings together extraordinary stories, illuminating insights and gloves-down challenges from:  Errol Doebler on emotional regulation and the disciplin...