The Extraordinary Business Book Club

'I see confidence as something that's rooted in how we feel before any words, something which touches on sensations.' What do you think of when you think of sports coaching? Elite lean performance machines preparing to break records?  Mike Porteous has competed and coached at elite level as a triathlete, but he believes that coaxing new swimmers from the shallow end is just as important an act of coaching as taking an elite to a new world Ironman time.  His vision of coaching is centred on confidence - and all the messy, emotional reality that surrounds human ambition, at whatever scale. To allow people to go beyond what they believed themselves capable of - in sport and in life - the coach needs to build confidence in three directions: the athlete's confidence in their own ability, the athlete's confidence in the coach, and, crucially, the coach's confidence in themselves. There's an obvious parallel to the book-writing process, and the slow-burn confidence demanded of authors to grapple the uncertainty and believe that their message is worthwhile. If you're involved in coaching, in whatever capacity, and particularly if you're writing about it, this is for you. 

 "How do you want your book to make people feel? Start with the feeling and then work your way backwards." When you're all about creativity, social justice and empowering individuals to transform pain into positive action, how do you design a book launch that reflects that?  Kerry Tottingham rejected the warm white wine option for a radically different book launch event to celebrate the launch of her new book 'Healing-Centred Transformation: Mend, tend and change the future'. This week's podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at how she did it, with insights and advice for anyone planning a book launch of their own. 

What does a good working life look like in the 21st century? Dr Hilary Cottam, OBE has spent the last five years exploring this question through collaborative workshops she calls 'imagininings', involving all sectors of the post-industrial workforce from gravediggers to consultants. The same resonant themes kept emerging: the need for work that pays the basics, offers meaning, allows space for caring and play, is tied to place, and demands collective, not just individual, change. She discovered that the challenges we face - technological disruption, ecological crisis and a lack of social justice - together provide the springboard for this change. And in the process of putting it all together into her new book, The Work We Need, she also discovered that writing, like change-making, is a slow, humbling process best done in community.  Profound, challenging, generous, inspiring - and very much worth your listen. 

 'Every time I interviewed somebody, I said, is there anyone you think I should talk to? And so it had a network effect for me. My network grew with these generous, amazing, thoughtful people.' Writing a novel can be lonely; writing a thesis can be demanding; writing a business book can be a team effort. Charlotte Otter's done all of these, with a side of journalism, and in this week's podcast we talk about the different approach to those genres, and what she learned about structure and community along the way.  In her new book 'We Need New Leaders: Mastering reputation management to reshape the C-Suite', Charlotte argues that reputation is a powerful tool of advancement too often overlooked by - or unavailable to - people from underrepresented backgrounds. Which means that communications professionals can play a key role as allies for more equitable business. Listen in for a fresh take on how we can build better business leadership, and how you can write a better business book, too.   

' I think reading a book is sometimes like... you've slowed things down. You're in this present moment, working on this very particular thing. And I think we want more of that in our lives.' What makes a business book worth reading - or publishing? If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume (and, let’s be honest, variable quality) of business books on the market, you’ll appreciate Todd Sattersten's refreshingly thoughtful approach. As the author of The 100 Best Business Books of All-Time and the upcoming 100 Best Books for Work and Life, he's done a lot of leg work on your behalf as a reader.  And as publisher and owner of Bard Press, he's doing his bit for quality over quantity with a startlingly original business model: Bard publishes just one book each year. Risky? Revolutionary? Realistic? All of those things. We also talk about the increasingly blurred lines between business and self-development books, the importance of identifying real-world problems and the route to 100,000 copies. Extraordinary Business Book Club gold. 

Discover the journey of transforming a creative spark into a blazing idea. The importance of permission, preparation, and patience in nurturing creativity takes center stage. Hear about a unique experience at a writing retreat where fire becomes a metaphor for inspiration. Learn how fostering an environment that supports creativity can lead to remarkable results. Plus, insights on how organizations can better support midlife women through transformative literature are shared.

'The foundations of how authors build visibility, build a readership... while the tools change, the principles don't.' Jane Friedman has been commentating on the business of books for many years, and her classic The Business of Being a Writer has demystified the industry for thousands of authors. So on the release of its second edition it seems a good time to ask: what has changed over the seven years since the first edition? It turns out that while the specifics of platforms and tech tools have moved on, the principles of writing and promoting a good book are pretty much as they always were: the fundamental challenge of persuading people to care about your writing still remains, and it's arguably harder than ever in the face of what Jane calls 'the tremendous fragmentation of attention across so many different channels'. And as a writer you need to engage with those channels, in fact you should even be asking if you should be focusing there instead of on a book.  But in any case, one channel that remains powerful for authors, and which Jane herself uses brilliantly, is the newsletter: we talk about how to write a good one, and how and when to migrate to paid subscription. She also shares her own systems and processes for writing, including how she's integrated AI tools. It's part reality check, part masterclass, and it's wholly worth your time.

Leslie Grandy, a seasoned global product executive and founder of the Product Guild, challenges the notion that creativity is an inherent talent. She shares her transformative journey from feeling creatively inadequate to recognizing creativity as a problem-solving skill, which anyone can develop. Discussing her book, Creative Velocity, Leslie offers practical techniques for nurturing creative confidence. She also explores the role of generative AI in enhancing creativity, while sharing lessons learned from her own book production journey. Engaging and insightful!

 'If you just want a machine to write all of this stuff and put your name on it and say it's yours, I don't know what the motivation is. I don't know what results you think it could bring.' What does it look like to use AI in creative activities practically, ethically, and in a human-centred way? One answer to that question might be Cliobooks.ai, the speak-your-book technology developed by publishing entrepreneur and business coach Georgia Kirke.  Starting and ending with humans, and rejecting the quick fix of AI-generated content, this is an attempt to develop workflows that make authorship more accessible and less soul-sucking. But there's no short cuts to the human expertise behind each book (sorry), both on the part of the author and the publishing team around them.   This is a fascinating exploration of how AI can be used for good, the difference between timeless principles and evolving workflows, and the wisdom of understanding the difference between them. 

‘It’s not a presentation or a business card. It’s a conversation.’ This Best Bits episode is a love letter to intentional conversations – the ones that unlock insight, build cohesion, shape identity and, ultimately, bring books into the world. As I looked back over the last few episodes, what stood out was how often my guests spoke about dialogue in all its forms – with ourselves, with each other,and with our readers – as the real work of writing, leading and changing the world. Hear from: Sarah Rozenthuler on the life-changing magic of energising, intentional dialogue; Claire Pedrick on the space between words and the attentiveness behind great coaching – and writing; Wendy Smith on paradox as a creative lens for thinking, leading, and writing; John Dore on the 'glue' that binds people together around ideas; Marissa Eigenbrood on publicity as a bridge into new conversations with new audiences; Petra Molthan-Hill on making complex ideas accessible and immediately useful; David Oxley and Helmut Schuster on creating a character to talk to an audience that's had enough of being talked at; Alison Jones (hello!) on how AI forces us to be more intentional than ever about the conversations we’re having – and who we’re having them with – as authors, publishers, and humans. If you’re writing a business book, or even just thinking about it, this episode is packed with insights to get you talking.