In 1907, pioneering psychologist William James wrote this: ‘The human individual lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum.’ That insight reflects the message of my guests on this podcast…
‘It starts off as me working out what I think, and then it becomes something I’m going to share with other people… The point at which I allow myself to start imagining a reader is really important.’ Writing isn’t just a tool for communication, and your book isn’t just a…
‘We’re designed as cyclical creatures, from the most basic microcycle of breathing in and out to the annual cycle of the seasons, and if the New Year to come is our time for resolutions and purposeful action, the days before it, these Twixtmas days, are a time for gathering our…
What DO commissioning editors look for in business book proposals? Eloise Cook is the publisher responsible for Pearson’s business list, and in this conversation she reveals what makes a proposal worth pursuing (and also what makes her quietly file it under B for Bin). We also talk about the future…
What’s the magic by which the Word document you’ve been working on for so many weeks and months is transformed into a book? Jo Bottrill, head of Newgen UK, is a book production expert who’s worked with thousands of authors to perform exactly that magic, and in this conversation he…
“We sometimes forget the value, or the power, or the impact of words because, ‘Hey, we’re speaking the whole time, or we’re writing the whole time… it’s only me, how powerful can it be?’ So we say things that are the wrong things to say, or we miss our opportunities.…
‘Why would you write 28 books? To get good at some of the stuff that you’re writing about.’ As well as writing those 28 books, Jeremy Kourdi has experience of senior leadership at The Economist, Duke University and the CMI. It’s fair to say he has an all-round perspective on…
‘The individual is a research project, every time we try something new we’re being a kind of scientist in our own life.’ Megan Hayes studied the links between writing and happiness, and the first thing she discovered is that it’s both more powerful and more complex than we think. Yes,…
Humans don’t easily ‘get’ exponential growth – we’ve evolved in a linear world, and the pace of change we’re facing now can leave us wrong-footed and disoriented. But Azeem Azhar argues that we need to get to grips with it, and fast, if we’re to thrive in the modern world.…
‘Author-speakers… are often people who are true thought leaders, on a mission to share their knowledge. And yes, there are people who blog and there are people who post on social media and there are people who do podcasts. But… to really achieve that thought leadership, visionary status, there’s got…
