Pivot with Jenny Blake

Is pivoting just a way of rebranding failure as NYT writer Jacob Silverman would have us believe? I say no way José. In fact, pivots are often a product of our success. As I shared in the #PivotList newsletter I wrote in response to Silverman's somewhat snarky article, Silicon Valley start-ups do tend to talk about pivoting in response to their initial strategy failing. Or in the case of Ross from Friends, when a couch just won't fit around a tight corner :) But the fact is that nothing in business is as stable as it was even ten years ago, and companies (and leaders) of all shapes and sizes are required to navigate micro-changes much more frequently than in the past.📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/102 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When exploring a branch of highly evolved animal consciousness that evolved in parallel (and completely separate) from our own, Sy Montgomery is sure of one thing: “If I have a soul, an octopus does too.” If you want even the tiniest dose of confirmation, try to keep your eyes dry while watching this octopus thank its rescuer in a two-minute video that has garnered 11 million views and counting: releasing a stranded octopus. (If you have more time, Amazing Octopus: Most Intelligent Animal on Earth is a must-watch too!) I am over-the-moon to bring you this week's interview with Sy, who became an instant soul-friend the moment we started talking. I'm in awe of her career as a naturalist writing about and befriending pigs, tigers, dolphins, hyenas, and now octopuses (not octopi as many assume for plural form!) around the world. I love her passion for animals, and the heart with which she shares their beautiful stories and spirits. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/101 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks a big milestone for the Pivot Podcast, as we celebrate the 100th episode! This has been more than three years in the making, from the show's early scrappy beginnings in late 2014 when I got the book deal for Pivot, to when I started publishing weekly in earnest in 2015.Podcasting is a labor of love, but the biggest surprises for me have come from the priceless benefits: connecting more deeply with my author heroes, with all of you who are here listening, and learning every day along the way. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although many of us aspire to rewarding morning routines (and enjoy geeking out on the best of what others come up with), on some days just getting out of bed is a victory. To this end, one of my favorite quotes from Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander's new book, My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired, comes from Ana Marie Cox, a political columnist and culture critic.Cox says, "When you come up with a morning routine, understand that you’re undertaking it in order to do something good for yourself, not to meet some stranger’s standard of productivity."📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/99 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Wang knows a thing or two about being an underdog. Growing up as an only child of two immigrant parents living through poverty and abuse, he knows all too well the challenges of overcoming obstacles to transform generational legacies of poverty, crime, and violence.I had the great pleasure of meeting him earlier this year at a mentoring night for Defy Ventures, an organization that teaches entrepreneurship to men and women with criminal histories to help "transform their hustle." (Find a volunteer opportunity near you here!) Jason's radiance, joy and contagious positive energy blew me away. And then I heard his powerful comeback story and knew I had to share it with all of you. But first, a little context about what brought me to that mentoring night . . . 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/98 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although it wouldn't be like him to take much (if any) credit, Fred Kofman changed the trajectory of my life. This week I got the privilege of thanking him, live on the Pivot Podcast. A little backstory: In 2006, while working at Google on the training team under Sheryl Sandberg’s Online Sales & Operations organization, I was fortunate to participate in a three-day immersion called Conscious Business, based on a book by visionary leader, teacher, and thinker Fred Kofman.📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/97 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have always been curious about solopreneurs who choose to stay small, like me. Seven years into running my own business, I still deliberately choose not to scale in a way that requires hiring any full-time employees or buy too much added infrastructure, to support two of my biggest business values of freedom and agility.But that doesn't mean that I exclude higher earnings as a necessary byproduct. My business mantras: optimize for revenue and joy, look for ways to earn twice as much in half the time (with ease and with even greater impact), and let it be easy, let it be fun. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/96 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Swoboda believes that "courage can absolutely be cultivated,” just as we improve other skills with habit-building principles in mind. The problem is that sometimes we apply the cue-routine-reward to our fears instead. We get triggered, fall into familiar patterns, then gloss over it with a reward that's a pale replacement for what our heart really wants.What's the alternative? Listen to this week's Pivot Podcast conversation to learn Kate's four-step process for avoiding common fear routine traps—perfectionist, saboteur, martyr, or pessimist—and building your courage muscles instead. 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/95 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a sunny, spring day in 2016 doctors told Keith McArthur his kidneys were about to fail.  Over the next 12 months they continued to break down, no longer able to filter toxins. Poisons built up in his body and brain. He began to feel sick and tired and confused.After a life-saving transplant from one of his sisters, and despite being a lifelong skeptic, Keith began "ingesting every self-help resource [he] could get [his] hands on." No longer convinced they were all "written by charlatans and mansplainers," he began a journey to discover how to truly live.As he writes in his new book, 18 Steps to Own Your Life: Simple Powers for a Healthier, Happier You, “It’s not like I was unhappy before…but something was missing. Like most of us, I never really learned how to be human. No really. So, I made a decision to learn the skills I needed to finally own my life.”In this conversation, we cover Keith's powerful story and insights about life before and after almost dying from kidney failure, lessons from raising a child with severe mental and physical disabilities, how he listens to his body's signals more after the operation, and what it means to "permit the pivot."Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/podcast/keith-mcarthur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You all know how I love serendipity—well, this week's guest, Stanford professor and philanthropist Kathleen Kelly Janus, and I met in one of my favorite ways! Sitting next to each other on an airplane. Kathleen was traveling to New York City to meet with publishers to try to get a book deal, Pivot was about to come out, and I had known her agent Lisa DiMona for many years (she represented Seth Godin at the time I met him). 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/93 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices