Best Seller Podcast

On this episode of Best Seller TV, Steve Lishansky, author of Leadership Starts Here, sits down with host Taryn Winter Brill to discuss the topic of leadership. As someone who has spent almost three decades coaching others on what it takes to be a great leader, Lishansky says he’s often met with silence when he asks the following question: “where does leadership start?” He explains that “leadership starts with the decisions we make.” Another question he often asks that is met with silence is, “What is your decision-making process?”

Lishansky states that it’s crucial that people understand the decision-making process from an early stage and that every leader needs to have a full grasp, control, and understanding of that process to use it effectively. He defines leadership as “creating a powerful future that’s compelling in the present and utilizes our greatest talents, capabilities, and resources to produce meaningful and valuable results.” Lishansky also cautions that if people are unable to define what leadership means to them, then it becomes difficult to develop.

The book’s title is meant to be a starting point for the type of leadership you’re looking to achieve. Lishansky says that “where you start is a predisposition of where you end up.” While he also describes leadership as a “fundamental human capacity,” great leadership is what maintains a company’s velocity, acceleration, and elevation. Great leadership is what sustains success.

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The episode of Best Seller TV features David Black, author of Ripped Apart: Living Misdiagnosed. Gary and Carol Stern’s Epic Fight Against Malpractice in the American Healthcare System as well as Carol Stern, one of the book’s protagonists, and her story of perseverance.

We all understand the U.S. healthcare system is a complicated, bureaucratic institution. While there are plenty of good stories to tell, this one isn’t. Ripped Apart: Living Misdiagnosed is a four-year journey where Black goes into excruciating detail telling the story of Gary and Carol Stern and the abject failure of the healthcare system. Gary Stern spent three years with his internal organs outside of his body – however, Black thinks of the book as a love story. A story of a dedicated wife who advocated for her husband, fought one of the largest industries and even the White House.

Black states that the “healthcare system is incoherent” and “schizophrenic.” On the one hand, it’s meant to heal the sick, while on the other hand, it’s a highly bureaucratic entity and those two things don’t go together. He says one-way patients (and their loved ones) can better protect themselves from medical errors is to ask questions. “Keep asking questions until you get an answer you can understand,” he urges. Once patients do that, they will be better equipped to make better judgments about their own healthcare.

This book is for everyone, or anyone, who has had to navigate the healthcare system and become an advocate to those who need one. Stern emphasizes that notoriety is not the ultimate goal for her, but she hopes that her story changes what patients go through that could lead to malpractice and for medical professionals to admit their mistakes sooner too and; hopefully, offer better treatment options.

As a long-time writer for television, and other books, Black says there are only three types of stories in the world: writer against something larger (fate, God, nature), people and other people, and person up (or against) his/herself. This story touched all three categories, making it an incredibly descriptive project, rather than merely a superficial one. Stern advises people to push the envelope if they don’t feel they’re getting the right answer and listen to what the patient is saying as no one knows their bodies better.

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Dave Ferguson, author of Boss or Leader: Are You Leading for a Living or Living to Lead?, feels corporate America has always been full of ‘bosses,’ partly because society has elevated them as something we should all achieve as professionals. While there’s nothing wrong with being a boss, and there are plenty of good bosses, there’s a distinct difference between being a boss and being a leader. According to Ferguson, the main difference is that bosses value productivity, accomplishments, and tasks; whereas leaders value people. The latter believe that if the people feel valued, the results will come. The main focus of a boss is the productivity, or the bottom line, Ferguson says that, “When you work for someone like that, every day’s a Monday.” He argues that while most people go to work for a paycheck, being mentored by a leader opens things up – the vision gets bigger, we see ourselves doing bigger things, we’re not being micromanaged, and there’s freedom to ‘mess up.’

Ferguson says the book is for everyone – from seasoned leaders to teens, and anyone looking to make a transition between the two roles. He adds, “If you value people, leadership should be your thing.” The book is an easy-to-read resource guide meant to make us ask difficult questions once we’re done reading it. Ferguson indicates that, “A leader’s main job is to develop more leaders, not producing results.” He also adds that people can become bossy when they have a lot of responsibility, don’t know how to handle it, and don’t allow themselves to be humbled by it. Ferguson cautions that while bosses value winning more, sometimes the people pay the price and that can lead to high turnover rates. He adds, “Not everyone wants to be driven, they want to be led.”

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We all have meetings; in fact, it seems that sometimes we have meetings just to have meetings. Jon Petz, author of Boring Meetings Suck: Get More Out Of Your Meetings, or Get Out Of More Meetings, wrote the book to empower both organizers and attendees on how to run meetings effectively without them become “soul-sucking” and tedious. As a resource book, Petz tackles the functionality of hybrid meetings – currently taking place all over the world. He says, “Hybrid is what everything is about now today. How do we have a truly functional, hybrid meeting?” Petz is an advocate of getting people engaged and gaining time back, but how can we get that accomplished? He says by getting people in and out of meetings quicker by running them efficiently and effectively, with clear outcomes. When everyone comes out with a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished, that can be categorized as a productive meeting. This is one way where people can get their ‘real job’ done – not at night or on weekends.

The book aims to put the power in the hands of meeting participants – those who don’t control or set up the meeting, with what he calls SRDs: Suckification Reduction Devices. Those are quick tips and nuggets designed to run meetings differently where people feel empowered to excuse themselves and go about their business without being disrespectful or disruptive. He says the biggest mistake meeting organizers make is that there’s no outcome statement, despite having an agenda. People often say they don’t know what they’re coming in to, what they’re hoping to accomplish and what they’re walking out with. Petz goes on to discuss the different types of meetings, but his favorite is “Two and out” meetings. He states that concept derives from the popular ESPN show, “Pardon The Interruption” (PTI) where participants have two minutes to explain their point, while another person keeps time. With ground rules set beforehand, everyone’s on an even playing field, this method teaches people to be succinct when they share data, keeps them focused on the task at hand, and away from tangents.

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Human trafficking happens everywhere. Here in the United States, it is most prevalent in states like Texas, California, Florida, and New York. As Mitzi Perdue, author of How Can I Make A Difference? 52 Tips for Combating Human Trafficking, says, it happens in big cities “where the money is.” This problem has garnered the attention of leaders worldwide, even involving the United Nations as it’s a $150 billion industry. The United Nations estimates 40 million people around the world are enslaved and their goal is eliminate this problem by 2030. While that is an ambitious goal, Perdue wrote the book for the purpose of not only highlighting the gravity of the problem, but to let people know there is hope and that anyone can make a difference. She is a writer by trade, having published over two dozen books and multiple articles. For this book, she interviewed heads of anti-trafficking organizations and collected personal narratives from trafficking survivors. The book is a quick, easy read to capture the readers’ interest and fit shorter attention spans. There are 52 tips, one for each week of the year. Perdue says that we all have the ability to recognize the signs of human trafficking, she cautions people not to interfere directly as it’s a dangerous endeavor. She encourages everyone to dial 911 if there’s immediate danger or the Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888.

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Ron Karr, author of The Velocity Mindset: How Leaders Eliminate Resistance, Gain Buy-in, and Achieve Better Results – Faster, encourages the reader to examine what “velocity” means to them. While the word that comes to mind for many is “speed,” he cautions that “If that’s all we have, then we get burned out.” Velocity is, as defined by physics, ‘speed with direction.’ In business terms, this relates to when people aren’t really grounded on the purpose they’re trying to achieve. As a result, they get involved in tasks that don’t make sense and are not purpose-driven. Karr warns that it’s critical to have a clear vision of what our purpose is in order to succeed.

The book also examines the premise that anyone who sells or influences needs to be a leader. He adds, “People want to deal with people who are leading through a difficult decision. They don’t want to be sold to.” Karr points out that one of the biggest mistakes leaders make is they focus solely on speed and not necessarily in the direction. In the book, he introduces the concept of a “clean piece of paper,” which refers to people concentrating on what needs to happen in the future without clearing their own biases of things that happened in the past. Karr states, when people “allow the past to dictate what they think is possible, and not possible, all they do is recreate the past.” Those past experiences are what hold us back, he adds.

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People have a fascination with magic, often asking ‘how did you do that?’ That is one reason Jon Petz, author of Significance in Simple Moments, incorporates a magic trick or two into all his presentations. This key engagement tactic helps tell a story and illustrate a point. It also plays into the sales leadership concept he tries to convey, culminating in ROI – return on investment. Petz includes magic in his events and it’s what he calls, “the perfect trifecta.” He adds, there’s always the business strategy of it, there’s always the inspirational aspect, but we can laugh and have a good time at the same time. People are fascinated by the surprise element of magic, by the delight and the unexpected. That translated to business with two simple questions: ‘how did you do it?’ and ‘how can we get people to say that about what you do?’

This is Petz’s fourth book that didn’t start out as a business book. It’s an unintentional journey into becoming a ‘customer service, business, and leadership’ category began as a passion project for him. This book takes strides in impacting people on how they look at what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. The book focuses on human connections and the importance of learning to recognize the many significant moments that happen all around us. Petz says the book pays close attention to the word, “just.” Often times people think they’re “just” something – an accountant, a worker, a manager; however, they fail to realize the impact they have on others.

In business, leaders often seek out relationships to conquer in order to succeed. But, mutually beneficial long-term relationships are not something to be conquered. In fact, they are a cluster of simple moments that are significant to the people we serve. How can we identify those moments and deliver them as leaders? By being aware. We learn to recognize those key moments by taking a step back and look at specific situations from a different perspective, relieving ourselves from old habits and thoughts and processes. Despite the many realizations we may encounter along the way, Petz believes that significance is never personally achieved, it is gifted to you – which serves as the book’s mantra. Everyone wants to be the best at what they do, but the reality is that with title comes authority, not leadership or significance. He emphasizes to never belittle what we do as “just” something, because in the end, we are integral parts of the bigger picture and have the ability to create

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What does the airline industry have in common with the business world? Communication. This key element can have disastrous consequences in our everyday lives, but more so when you’re a pilot. Octavian Pantis and Captain Emil Dobrovolschi, authors of Dark Cockpit: How to Communicate, Lead, and Be in Control at All Times Like an Airline Captain, wrote the book to showcase the parallels of how communication can affect our respective professional industries. Pantis says the book is about leadership and being a better professional, regardless of what we do for a living. In his capacity as a professional airline pilot, Captain Dobrovolschi is very familiar with the term “dark cockpit.” In layman’s terms, it refers to the concept of the cockpit being dark, with only environmental lights on. Basically, everything is going as it should. Right now, Pantis adds, people are feeling overwhelmed and facing many uncertainties making it “easy to see the ‘lights’ going on in our lives.” He emphasizes the importance of having leaders communicate effectively with their own teams to help alleviate the warning lights going off around them. That sense of constant communication is an important element to run their teams productively without additional distractions.

They equated pilots flying with different crews all the time; therefore, having to navigate different communication styles every single time while managing to perform successfully. It’s the same in business — and even though we don’t change co-workers every day, we still have to engage with everyone around us, including clients and vendors just as effectively. The book also focuses on fomenting the right attitude, how to make better decisions, and enhance our situational awareness. Captain Dobrovolschi says the most important skill pilots can develop is non-technical skills and strongly believes pilots are expert communicators. In fact, Pantis reiterates that a pilot’s main responsibility is to notice what is going on in the aircraft, to assess everything and take into account all the information from all possible sources. It’s what they call building their decision. In business, he adds, entrepreneurs tend to rush into things instead of taking their time to assess the situation. Instead, they should be more selective about rushing into a situation and spend more time analyzing it thoroughly because a bad decision can sometimes cost lives.

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John Lee Dumas, author of The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment is best known for building a successful podcast empire where he shares value with his more than 1.4 million listeners each month, wrote the book, because he wants to help everyone – not just his audience, achieve financial freedom. He said, “I want everybody who has a dream of finding their version of uncommon success. Everybody who has a dream of achieving financial freedom and fulfillment. This book will get you there.”

Dumas says that so “many people out there live in their comfort zone,” including himself and that’s why he decided to write a book. However, he knew he had to have the right team in place to ensure the book was successful and help as many as possible. Deciding what to include was a thoughtful process that Dumas describes as painstaking process boiling down over 3,000 interviews into 17 core principles. The book is a roadmap to achieve success and financial freedom. Dumas adds, “The path to uncommon success is not a secret, it’s not complicated, it’s not hidden. It’s a common path but it takes hard flipping work.”

After chasing success for over three decades, he kept coming up short. Whether it was law school, commercial real estate, or other ventures, it was an Einstein quote that launched his future. That’s when he decided to stop chasing success and become a person that adds value. Dumas has been able to build a successful empire but that didn’t come without 6 years of struggle. Throughout his journey he has learned plenty from his guests and from the process of building a business. He offers the following advice, “Listen to your audience’s biggest struggle. That will lead you to create the product, the service, the community….to offer them as a solution. When you create the best solution to their problem, you will always win.”

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Gregg Greenberg, author of F*cking Argentina and 10 More Tales of Exasperation, is an accomplished playwright and screenplay writer, but this time ventured into writing a compilation of vignettes based on daily life events and the exasperation levels we all reach from time to time. Even the book’s title is immersed in surreal humor of a story he once read in the Wall Street Journal about Argentina defaulting on a loan.

As someone who spent years as the lead anchor on Jim Cramer’s TheStreet.com, Greenberg’s financial background and his exasperation with the Argentina story is what catapulted him to write the short stories in the book. He recounts that during the last year, peoples’ fuses were shorter than normal due to the pandemic and lockdowns. His attempt at injecting humor throughout each story is a reminder that while we get mad at situations, none of those are world-ending.

During the pandemic, many people found themselves exploring their creative sides being cooped up at home. In fact, Greenberg wants to encourage everyone, regardless of the industry they happen to be in, to dust off that novel, screenplay, or masterpiece from their drawer and have the courage to put it out to the universe. He adds, “You shouldn’t let your dreams and your creative side die.” With this book, Greenberg’s goal was to make exasperation a little louder. Mission accomplished.

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