Podcasts about redesign

Technology and policy is one of the core research areas at the Watson School. We are committed to better understanding not only how to govern emerging technologies but also how these technologies will affect international and public affairs.On this episode, Watson School Dean John Friedman spoke with two leading experts about the emerging technology that's on everyone's mind today: artificial intelligence.Serena Booth and Suresh Venkatasubramanian are Watson faculty fellows and members of Brown's Department of Computer Science, with Venkatasubramanian also holding an appointment in the Data Science Institute. Both are nationally recognized voices on the intersection of AI and public policy.They spoke with Dean Friedman about the opportunities and risks posed by AI today, what to make of the growing concern over the “existential risks” these technologies pose, and what steps we should take to govern such a powerful, fast-moving technology effectively.Learn more about Brown's Data Science InstituteLearn more about Watson and Brown's Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination and Redesign's the AI Policy Summer SchoolWatch the conversation on our YouTube channelTranscript coming soon to our website

Sorry this is late! I (Nathaniel) scheduled it for Thursday, not Wednesday!We're back for another headlines episode! So much has happened this month, so today we jump into upcoming strikes, airport closures, the upcoming redesign of Sorrento's coastline (hello, new free beaches!), and Esquilino being named the world's 10th coolest neighborhood! If you have any questions about your trip or if you have tips for fellow listeners, you can join our chat on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free or contact us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠onlyabag.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Want to support the podcast? You can join our Patreon! Check out all of our tiers—free and paid—here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/cw/theitalytravelpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For articles written by us about Italy, check out our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠onlyabag.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you'd like to support us by using affiliate links, but don't have the time to hunt them down, we have put them all in one place! Head over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.onlyabag.com/affiliate-links⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and you can see all of the companies we have partnerships with and you can use them to support Only A Bag (which we deeply appreciate). Thanks for listening! xDarcy and Nathaniel

It's nine at night and you're answering the email that could have waited. Nobody asked you to. That isn't a boundaries problem. By the end you'll know which of the four engines is running hottest in you, and you'll have one change to make this week that your system can't talk you out of. Somewhere early in your career, usually for very good reasons, you built yourself an operating system for achievement. Deliver more than asked. Own everything you touch. Never be the reason something drops. Prove yourself in every room, every time. That system worked, and it's why you're where you are. Notice what it doesn't contain. No off switch. No definition of enough. No mechanism at all for protecting the person running it. It was built to produce output, and it will keep producing output until the machine it runs on breaks. Which is why burnout at this level isn't a workload problem and isn't a personal failure. One client arrived convinced she'd lost her resilience. When we mapped what she was actually carrying, she was running roughly two and a half jobs on one human, using an operating system she designed in her twenties when the stakes were far lower. Her resilience was extraordinary. Six months later she wasn't working less hard, because she didn't want to. She was working on one job, deliberately chosen, with the absorption named and redistributed. Her performance went up. This episode maps the four engines driving ambition burnout in high-achieving women, gives you five changes that rebuild the system rather than layering self-care on top of it, and ends with the argument that moves high achievers when nothing else does: your team inherits your pace, and the women watching you are doing arithmetic on what your job appears to cost. WHAT'S COVERED → Why "just get better at switching off" treats the symptom as the cause → The two stories, denial and shame, that keep capable women stuck → Four engines: proving, over-functioning, the invisible load, and success escalation → Why the fourth engine is only dangerous when it sits alongside another → Five changes that rebuild the system, starting with a written definition of enough → Why your calendar is your team's curriculum, and where the pipeline actually leaks RELATED EPISODES Part one, why this is so hard to see in yourself: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/318-quiet-burnout-high-achievers What burnout-proof leadership actually requires: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/294-burnout-proof-leadership-women-tech/ Boundaries for women in leadership: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/268-boundaries-for-women-in-leadership-how-to-lead-without-burning-out The invisible load and what leadership shouldn't cost you: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/254-the-invisible-load-leadership-shouldnt-cost-your-wellbeing Bravery, grit and confidence, the leadership energy model: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/312-bravery-grit-confidence-leadership-energy-model/ Leader as coach, the skill behind delegating capability: https://tonicollis.com/leading-women-tech/314-leader-as-coach-coaching-skills-transform-leadership/ RESOURCES The Burnout to Balance Toolkit: https://tonicollis.com/burnout-to-balance Book a complimentary strategy call: https://tonicollis.com/lets-chat/ #WomenInTech #SustainableLeadership #TechLeadership #Leadership #WomenInLeadership  

How can digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence transform Nigeria's tourism sector? Join us on the NESG Radio Podcast as we commemorate World Tourism Day 2026 with a timely conversation on"Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism." Discussions will explore how technology can boost destination visibility, improve visitor experiences, strengthen tourism data systems, and drive competitiveness across the sector. Panelists: Alhaji Gbenga Sumonu, Managing Consultant, Complete Hospitality Services Ltd TPL. Jennifer Abanukam, Volunteer, NESG Moderator: ️ Oghenekevwe Noah-Olatoye, Project Management Officer, NESG #WorldTourismDay2026 #Tourism

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings is joined by Dan Bernoske, Founder and CEO of Cortado Group, to explore how private equity firms and portfolio companies can strengthen go-to-market performance while effectively leveraging AI.Dan explains why speed matters after an acquisition, particularly when assessing commercial talent, and why firms need to separate emotional attachment to legacy teams from objective performance data. He also explores the importance of treating CRM systems as strategic infrastructure rather than simply another piece of technology.The conversation then turns to AI. Dan shares practical applications for using call transcripts to coach sales teams at scale, improve qualification, identify performance trends, and ultimately increase win rates. He explains why successful AI adoption starts with the business problem—not the technology—and why portfolio companies should build a strong proprietary “context engine” around their CRM data, call transcripts, buyer personas, and historical wins and losses.Dan and Alex also discuss how AI is changing organizational design, allowing salespeople to spend more time building relationships with buyers while technology handles lower-value tasks. Crucially, Dan warns against viewing AI as a replacement for human salespeople: poorly deployed automation can damage relationships and even burn entire territories.Key Takeaways• Move quickly when evaluating commercial talent, but understand where founder-led strengths still create value.• Build the sales process first and configure the CRM around it—not the other way around.• CRM data integrity is essential for reliable pipeline visibility and forecasting.• Use AI to analyze sales calls, improve qualification, and deliver coaching at scale.• Create a proprietary context engine before becoming overly dependent on any single AI model.• Redesign roles by identifying tasks AI can handle while allowing people to focus on empathy, listening, trust, and relationships.• Don't automate bad processes. Strong sales fundamentals remain essential regardless of the technology.Timestamps00:00 – Introduction to Dan Bernoske and Cortado Group00:57 – Where PE firms and portfolio companies move too slowly02:54 – Warning signs that commercial talent needs replacing04:37 – Three fundamentals of an effective CRM06:34 – How AI can transform go-to-market strategy08:21 – Using AI to analyze sales calls and coach teams09:46 – Measuring qualification frameworks such as BANT11:45 – ChatGPT, Claude and choosing AI technology13:14 – The three foundations for successful AI implementation13:40 – Building a proprietary AI context engine15:03 – How AI is reshaping organizational design16:34 – Why empathy and relationships remain human advantages17:24 – The biggest mistakes companies make with AI18:20 – Why replacing sales reps with AI can burn territories19:18 – Freeing sales teams to spend more time with buyers21:14 – Dan's recommended AI and professional-services resources23:13 – Why portfolio companies may need an AI innovation advisor23:42 – How to connect with DanRaw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.

Is Jev actually a leap forward for classification or just hype and fake demos? We dig in, plus Claude Code's new AGENTS.md support, TinyCast (the free, open-source Raycast alternative), an iPhone Fold simulator in Xcode, and a stack of dev tools you'll want to try Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:17 The iPhone Fold Simulator and Foldable Web APIs Features behind a flag Syntax Meetup in San Francisco 07:03 Claude Code Finally Supports agents.md Changelog 11:42 Using Your Claude Subscription Inside PI 13:07 Raycast Pricing Changes and the Rise of Tinycast 18:24 Our Most Used Raycast Features 21:22 Browser Hopping: Back on Helium After Ditching Dia 22:12 1Password's Redesign and Reliability Problems 23:11 Jev Explained: A Model That Only Answers Questions 31:59 CJ's Jev Chat Bot Demo With MCP Tools 36:09 The Kevs in the Room: Open Source Jev Alternatives Cloudflare's Kev Jared Palmer's Kev 45:39 What We've Actually Built With Jev So Far Jev Benchmarks 51:59 Brought to you by Sentry.io 52:55 GPUI Kit: Building Native Rust Desktop Apps 58:07 Antfu's DevFrame: A Framework for Building Dev Tools 59:45 Where Is the Line on Using AI in Video Editing? Runwayml Upscaling 01:06:00 AI Upscaled Security Photos and Internet Detectives 01:08:07 Qwen Image 2.1 and Real Transparent Backgrounds 01:10:18 AI Generated Posters Don't Have to Be Horrible 01:13:28 Orca: A GUI for Wrangling Your Fleet of Agents 01:15:37 Grok 4.7 First Impressions and Its Pricing 01:18:58 Waiting on Google and Microsoft's Big Models Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

A school in Singapore just spent over $600 million reimagining what a classroom should be, and it's not what you'd expect. Mike Posthumus, learning design principal at Fielding International, walks through how Singapore American School rebuilt its campus around a real learning model instead of the traditional "cells and bells" classroom design, and why that distinction changes everything about how kids actually learn. He also shares how a much smaller, budget-friendly version of the same idea transformed a public school district in Cranston.

Seven years of planning have not produced a version of Boston's Blue Hill Avenue redesign that everyone can live with. In the Boston Globe article “More Parking, Fewer Bike Lanes: City of Boston and MBTA Release New Blue Hill Avenue Redesign,” the latest proposal restores parking and traffic space while reducing parts of the planned bike network. Norm Van Eeden Petersman talks with transportation historian Peter Norton and Ann Arbor transportation manager Malisa McCreedy about what happens when a street is expected to satisfy every demand, even when those priorities conflict. As each revision absorbs another concern, the challenge is whether the city can keep its focus on what will actually work best there instead of reopening the same choices again and again. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES "More parking, fewer bike lanes: City of Boston, T release new Blue Hill Avenue redesign" by Diti Kohli, Bostonglobe.com (Without paywall here, from September 2026) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Peter Norton (LinkedIn) Malisa McCreedy (LinkedIn) Downzone: Ballot Babes (Podcast) The Ark (Site) Andy Boenau (X) The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (Site) Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

A volunteer can still care deeply about the ministry while the role no longer fits the season they are in.In this episode of the Lead Ministry Podcast, Josh Denhart and Bill Van Kirk unpack the volunteer role half-life: the reality that a once-good role can drift as a person's gifting, capacity, or clarity changes. They show how role creep happens, why a larger assignment deserves a new agreement, and how to review the role before defaulting to replacement.The practical path is simple but intentional: look at the role with the person in mind, ask whether it still fits, and test one role change through a 90-, 60-, or 30-day experiment.Key Topics CoveredWhen a once-good volunteer role stops fittingGift for the work, capacity for the load, clarity for the winWhy a larger assignment deserves a new agreementReviewing the role before replacing the personTrying a 90-, 60-, or 30-day experimentKey Quote“Keep the person. But now you're going to question the shape and you're going to maybe even redesign the agreement.”TakeawayReview the role with the person in mind, then test one clearly defined change through a time-bound experiment.Call to ActionWe hope this episode encourages and equips you. Share it with a friend and stay tuned for more resources each week.Stay Connected for More ResourcesVisit our website: http://leadministry.comFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeadVolunteersFind us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadvolunteers

Episode #1454: Automakers are putting new limits on advertised prices, Ricart Automotive is developing technicians to handle increasingly complex vehicles, and Target is turning its signature red employee wardrobe into an associate-only fashion collect...

The conversation with Kim Costa explores the concept of the 'Wheelhouse Method' and its application to personal growth and fulfillment. Kim shares her journey and insights on living authentically, mastering one's potential, and creating a supportive environment. The discussion delves into the significance of self-awareness, purpose, and the impact of one's environment on overall well-being.TakeawaysAuthentic livingMastery of potentialChapters00:00 Introduction to the Wheelhouse Method02:03 Living Authentically and Maximizing Potential04:54 The Impact of Environment on Well-being07:54 Recognizing Intuition and Inner Voice11:03 The Role of Faith and Spirituality13:58 Personality Tests and Self-Reflection20:03 Purpose, Passion, and Mission28:01 Conclusion and TakeawaysKim Costa's Website - https://kimcostabooks.comWheelhouse Method Book - https://kimcostabooks.com/wheelhouseMyers Briggs Personality Test - https://www.myersbriggs.orgEnneagram Personality Test - https://www.enneagraminstitute.comWebsite - https://kimcostabooks.comInstagram - https://instagram.com/kim.e.costaFor support with hormones, metabolism, breast health, digestion, and whole-body wellness, visit DanaIrvine.com and book a Health Clarity Call.Subscribe to the Wise Divine Women Podcast, leave a review, and share this episode with a woman who is ready to stop fighting her body and start understanding it. 

Episode 169. The guys have been wondering about how they might redesign some popular games based on the imagined brief they might be based on. Next up, Judge Dredd!===If you enjoy hearing our game design advice, why not read it also in our book about designing miniatures games, available here: www.routledge.com/9781032324012===Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.comCheck out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.gamesThe Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4aK7uEChIf you want to support the channel financially you can join...Mike's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/planetsmashergamesor Glenn's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/manokentgames

Is your clinic website actually outdated, or does it just need better SEO, content, and conversion strategy?  Many clinics spend thousands redesigning websites when the real problem was SEO all along. Here's how to tell what your clinic actually needs. Episode webpage, blog & show notes: https://propelyourcompany.com/redesign-your-website-or-seo/Book a FREE discovery call: https://calendly.com/propelyourcompany/discovery-callSend in your questions. ❤ We'd love to hear from you!NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients.>> Save your spot 

You can have every fact, every plan, and still quit by Thursday, because the story underneath never changed.Dr. Kim Foster, a family physician who practiced for twenty years, sat down with Lewis after a patient with rising blood pressure told her, “I'm just not an exercise person.” That one line reframed everything: behavior change is an identity problem wearing an information costume. Her book, Redesigning You, turns that into a three-step method of recognizing the old story, redesigning it, and then going out to collect proof.She talks about the bridge identity, the small believable stretch your brain will actually accept instead of a mirror affirmation it answers with, “Interesting. Based on what?” Habit stacking is the app. Identity is the operating system, and glitchy apps on an old system crash on the hard days.Then she tells on herself. She walked into the woods behind her clinic after stitching a patient's hand, realized she never wanted to go back, wrote her resignation letter, and then stayed through an entire pandemic wave anyway rather than leave at the worst moment. Her last day came in her birthday month, and she sat in her car and cried for fifteen minutes before driving home with the windows down, free.Listen for the moment a senior resident nodded at her to keep going while ribs cracked under her hands, and for what that taught her about self-doubt. You'll start catching your own identity statement, about money, sleep, confidence, relationships, the ones you say like they're just facts. Then you get to argue back.Redesigning You: Change Your Inner Story, Transform Your HealthDr. Kim's WebsiteDr. Kim's YouTubeDr. Kim's InstagramIn this episode you will:Discover with Dr. Kim Foster why lasting change fails as an identity problem rather than an information problemApply the Recognize, Redesign, Ritualize framework to build an identity your brain actually believesBuild a bridge identity that gives your mind proof instead of forcing affirmations you secretly rejectOvercome the fear that keeps you loyal to a role you have outgrown, even a prestigious oneReframe self doubt as useful data and stop letting shame drive your attempts to improveBecome genuinely magnetic in conversation without slipping into performanceFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1981More SOG episodes we think you'll love! Get More From Lewis! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme sit down with Mike Cocking - the "C" in OCM Golf, the "O" belonging to International Team Captain Geoff Ogilvy - days before the OCM redesign of Medinah #3 takes the stage as the host of the Presidents Cup.Mike explains how the closing stretch of the storied American venue was reimagined to better bring natural features into play, and what that means for strategy and entertainment as the world's best prepare to take it on.Plus: OCM's origin story (including the "M" - Ashley Mead), inspiration from a childhood spent playing golf on Melbourne's Sand Belt, the Kingston Heath and Shady Oaks projects (including a Ben Hogan keepsake story), the agronomy issue that drove the Medinah rebuild, whether Ogilvy has a built-in edge as International Team captain, and Cocking's prediction for who wins at Medinah.Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and follow us on socials @thesmylieshow!Chapters0:00 Intro & OCM's origin story3:47 Sand Belt & UK inspirations6:34 Strategy over penal golf9:04 Kingston Heath project11:21 Width over narrow fairways14:04 Shady Oaks & Ben Hogan17:03 Favorite Hogan story19:23 Landing the Medinah job22:39 Medinah's pedigree & old bunkers26:41 Rebuilding holes 13-1830:40 New short par-4 16th32:56 Another standout short par-434:52 New routing for Presidents Cup39:06 Ogilvy's captain's edge43:45 Agronomy problems drove renovation47:42 Cocking's Presidents Cup prediction50:09 Next up & sign-off#golf #presidentscup #Medinah #pgatour #smylieshow

Christine, host of the Girl Out of Order podcast, joins The Happy Whole You podcast for a candid five-question conversation about what happens when the version of you that built your success no longer fits. They explore shedding old identities, the Wheel of Life as a diagnostic tool, the freedom of stopping the argument with reality, how to curate the roles and labels you carry, and how to tell a hard season apart from an identity you've genuinely outgrown. Christine also shares her own story of navigating infidelity in her marriage, growing up in a dysfunctional home, and signing a new book deal.   Hear more about: Shedding the "good girl" identity from childhood The Wheel of Life tool for finding what's missing Stopping the argument with reality, "now what?" Choosing who you bring to hard situations "Who am I now?" and dancing with your roles Ripping off labels that no longer fit Fixed values vs. seasonal values (Tony Robbins' Date With Destiny) Life rules: family first, always tell the truth, become the friend you want Christine's new book deal announcement The True Legacy Collective mastermind group Connect with Anna: Email: annamarie@happywholeyou.com / info@HappyWholeYou.com Website: www.happywholeyou.com / https://linktr.ee/happywholeyou Personal Website: www.DrAnnaMarie.com Instagram: @happywholeyou Personal Instagram: @Dr.Anna.Marie Facebook: Happy Whole You LinkedIn: Anna Marie Frank Venmo: @happywholeyou

A Monday Mini today and we start with 'fashion chat'. Apparently Mark is considering applying for an extra role in Devil Wears Prada 3, so he's getting up to speed on fashion, colours etc....or so it appears.Onto the Mini ! Message from golf pro Pete Townsend who firstly, asks after Marks health given his challenges with cancer over recent years (it's in a good place btw), and then asks a few questions about golf course architecture. Specifically, what are some of the great course redesigns in Australia, and what are some that are less so - and why. Further, Pete goes on to as whether when a course is being redesigned is there a responsibility to remain true to the original architects vision for that course, or is a complete overhaul warranted at times.Excellent questions, and Nick and Mark discuss multiple courses that have had redesigns: Victoria, Huntingdale, NSW, Royal Queensland, The Lakes, Mount Lawley, Commonwealth.Then....similar to fashion-gate from earlier in the show, Mark talks us down a rabbit hole by comparing golf course redesigns to Hollywood movie stars....we kid you not. There is no link too tenuous for Mark Allen to make sometimes.And then Nick, wisely, gets us back on track by noting the role of golf course committees in protecting and nurturing the legacy of their course.Happy Monday !We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partnerBMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;And Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Dirk Knemeyer and co-host David Heron dive deep into their hands-on workflows with artificial intelligence in game design and software development. Moving past high-level theories, both hosts describe how they are actively getting their "hands filthy" with these tools. David shares his progress in setting up an automated dev environment using Claude to run headless unit tests. He also explains his process of scoping out a simple tower defense and Tetris hybrid prototype. Meanwhile, Dirk discusses his extensive redesign of his bestselling tabletop game, Tesla versus Edison, demonstrating how AI acts as an incredibly fast historical research assistant. Together, they explore the historical parallel between AI and the emergence of computer compilers, which similarly abstracted complex layers of programming without divorcing creators from their ultimate output. They also tackle the core challenges of AI in creative work, including the tool's tendency to force game design decisions toward a homogenized consensus, how to program out AI "sycophancy," and why good "document hygiene" is the key to successfully managing AI as "the hands" while you remain "the brains".

Michel Kripalani worked 360 days a year for over two decades building video game and app companies. Then his father got sick and the surgery was moved up. Michel rebooked his flight — but it landed too late. His wife Karen named the truth that changed everything: there are moments that are negotiable, and moments that are not. So Michel rebuilt the company into a passive-income engine and became an owner, not an operator. "If you want to know your values, don't check your mission statement. Check your Tuesday."Links: busyisbroken.com | scalingcoach.com/Q20Mentioned in this episode:PhD Research on CEOsQuick favor: I'm in the middle of my doctoral research, and I need CEOs Here's the question: is there a point where working more hours actually indicates a worse leader? Nobody has measured it. I'm measuring it. If you're a CEO or president with at least ten people in the business and three direct reports, it takes just a few minutes. And Your team answers a few anonymous questions. What you get back is a report comparing how you rate yourself to how your team rates you. That gap is usually the interesting part. ScalingCoach.com/study

Summary In this episode, Andy sits down with Dr. Maggie Sass and Dr. Ross Blankenship, consulting psychologists and authors of Friction: How Tension, Emotion and Change Reveal Better Leaders. Project managers are trained to remove blockers, and much of the time that's exactly right. But Maggie and Ross draw a distinction that's easy to miss: some friction is simply waste, and some friction is information. You'll hear how the unwritten rules we learned about emotion early in life still shape how we lead, what starts happening in a room before an irritated leader says a word, and the four words Ross thinks can rescue a team meeting. We also dig into why burnout is often a system design problem instead of a self-care problem, what a project leader can actually do about structural friction when they can't redesign the whole system, and which human capabilities are worth protecting as AI makes more of our work faster and easier. If you're looking for a more practical way to read the tension on your team and use what it's telling you, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "But I think the unwritten rule at home was that talking about emotions and living through them safely were two distinct things." "Humans need things, and sometimes they don't even know what they need until you are together in a space or in a call." "You don't ask questions. You don't bring up creative ideas because you have no idea how that's really gonna go given what you're watching a leader do." "But I think the older I've gotten, the more convinced I am that our job as adults inside organizations is not necessarily to be perfect, but it's to repair as fast as possible when you make a mistake, and that's the thing that doesn't happen when people are scared." "I've found that these four words can save your team (and marriage): 'I'm experiencing some friction'." "It helps me remember that between the stimulus and the response, I have space, and the more that I give myself, the better." "There is no real way to separate task and relationship because the humans are doing the tasks." "Being the hero may allow you to solve massive problems or create really compelling products in the short term, but it's not a sustainable way to run a business because businesses are run by people and people have limits." "It's a good example where AI makes you more productive, like, you got 'em done faster, and almost entirely strips the meaning out of it." "And we need to take seriously that our kids need to learn to fail so that they develop resilience." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:14 Start of Interview 02:23 The Unwritten Rules Maggie Learned About Emotion 04:06 Growing Up in Ross's House 05:41 Why Ross Was Skeptical of EQ 08:22 What Ross's Pushback Changed for Maggie 11:01 Do You Have EQ, or Do You Do EQ? 13:06 Can We Get Too Good at Smoothing the Path? 16:56 Where Ross Deliberately Leaves Friction in Place 18:46 What AI Missed When They Tried Using It on the Book 20:35 Leadership as Emotional Intelligence in Action 20:50 What Happens When an Irritated Leader Walks In 24:39 Four Words That Can Change the Room 27:00 When Your Body Writes the Story First 29:28 Maggie's Physical Cue and How She Creates Space 32:55 Burnout as a System Design Problem 35:28 Patterns, Hero Ball, and Structural Friction 37:00 A First Move When You Can't Redesign the System 38:39 Which Human Capabilities Should We Protect From AI? 42:11 What Maggie Refuses to Outsource 43:27 Parenting: When to Remove Friction, When to Allow It 46:22 The Tin Can Phone and a Kid Who Made Her Own Plans 48:44 End of Interview 49:18 Andy Comments After the Interview 53:13 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Maggie, Ross, and their book at TalentSmartEQ.com/friction. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 397 with Dr. Julia DiGangi. It's a discussion about emotions that has stuck with Andy for years, and it's a great supplement to today's conversation. Episode 394 with Joshua Freedman. Joshua is a leading voice on emotional intelligence, making this a really good follow-up to Friction. Episode 446 with Adam Galinsky. Helpful insights on how to inspire those around us instead of sucking the life out of them. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa, the podcast's AI persona, to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Leadership, Project Management, Emotional Intelligence, Friction, Conflict, Psychological Safety, Burnout, Team Culture, Artificial Intelligence, Parenting, Self-Awareness, Communication The following music was used for this episode: Music: Ignotus by Agnese Valmaggia License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Synthiemania by Frank Schroter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

WBZ NewsRadio's Kyle Bray reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can you redesign your author business for the publishing environment that actually exists, rather than the one you wish you had? And how do you decide which marketing efforts will still bring readers to your books in ten years' time? Tracy Cooper-Posey shares her solar sail theory after more than 25 years as an author. In the intro, reviving your backlist [The Indy Author]; AI as a medium [Tim O'Reilly]; How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories – Joanna Penn. ProWritingAid Storyteller sale: Thursday, 3rd September until September 13th 2026 — 25% off all annual licenses as well as Story Critique credits. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Tracy Cooper-Posey is the multi-award-winning author of over 200 novels and works of nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and historical fiction under three pen names. Her books for authors include The Indie Author Survival Guide and The Productive Indie Fiction Writer. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Learning to write again after chemo, one sentence at a time What enshittification means, and why it is the environment rather than you The hallmarks of an indie author business that persists over time The solar sail theory of long-term discoverability Why social media and paid ads have such a short half-life How to find and reduce the operational drag on your business You can find Tracy at ProductiveIndieFictionWriter.com or StoriesRulePress.com. Transcript of the interview with Tracy Cooper-Posey Jo: Tracy Cooper-Posey is the multi-award-winning author of over 200 novels and works of nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and historical fiction under three pen names. Her books for authors include The Indie Author Survival Guide and The Productive Indie Fiction Writer. So welcome back to the show, Tracy. Tracy: Hi, Jo. It's great to be back. Jo: Yes. So you were last on the show in October 2023 talking about The Productive Indie Fiction Writer, and we went into depth then. So give us a bit of an update on your author business and also your life. Because it has been a bit of an up and down. Tracy: Yes, it's been a very interesting three years, because I had just gone into remission with cancer when we were talking last. Now I'm out of remission again and facing treatment in the next few weeks. My husband got cancer and went through treatment, and he's cured. So life has been pretty interesting. All that has made me do a lot of deep thinking about the indie author business and my own business and writing in general. So I'm still here. I'm still publishing, 200 plus books now. I had to learn how to write again. But the writing has shifted a lot towards science fiction and fantasy, including cosy science fiction now, which is the new genre that's just creeping in. All three pen names have been Aurealis Award finalists, which is nice. I'm still continuing the nonfiction work, which is something that you said the last time that we spoke. You said, “Now that you've written one, it's likely you'll write more nonfiction.” And I did. Jo: You did. They're excellent books. Just on that, you mentioned cosy sci-fi. For anyone who might not know, where is that genre? What's in that genre of cosy sci-fi? Tracy: It's not really officially a genre yet. It started off with cosy fantasy, which was where the cosy started. Actually, technically it started with cosy mystery, and everyone understands cosy mystery. The body and the murder are off stage. There's a lot of tea drinking. There's lots of friends, and it's all very polite and mannered. You're focusing more on the emotions and the feel, and they've picked up that cosy aspect of mystery and put it on fantasy. So you get books like, I think the primary one is Legends and Lattes. It's about an orc that's running a coffee shop because they got sick of fighting, and the adventures that they have trying to run their coffee shop. So if you pick up that same cosy sensation and put it on science fiction, that's cosy science fiction. But it's so new that it doesn't have a category on Amazon or anything like that. Cosy fantasy does now. Amazon just created a cosy fantasy category a while ago. But cosy science fiction is so new that people are still arguing over which books are cosy science fiction and which are not. Jo: Oh, that's interesting. You're incredibly prolific. You always have been. You mentioned there that you had to learn how to write again after cancer. What do you think happened, and how did you relearn? Because there are people listening who go through these similar things. Tracy: I think a lot of what happened was, well, life just became incredibly complex and challenging, and just getting through a day of pain took a lot of the energy, what they call the spoons. I didn't have the spoons to write anymore. Also you get chemo brain, which is the really interesting one. When I was going through chemo, I would look at a spreadsheet and just couldn't figure out how it worked. It just didn't make sense to me, so I had to hand over the finances and everything to Mark, which was rather interesting. The way I got myself back into writing again was, it was such an alien idea that writing wasn't even on my radar from day to day. I just didn't have the energy or the concentration to do it. So I started off really, really small. The first thing I did was read a lot of favourite books from other authors just to remember why I loved reading. Then I started reading my own books that I had written, just to remind myself of what I used to love about my own work. Then I just cracked the manuscript one day and read as far as I had written and thought, “Okay, what's the next sentence?” And that's the only thing that I would let myself do, was just write the next sentence. That's it. So I wrote the next sentence, and sat there and thought, “Do I want to write the next sentence?” On that particular day, no, I didn't. But I just kept opening the manuscript and looking and thinking about the next sentence, and eventually I wrote a few more. I think it was that coming back to the manuscript over and over with no pressure, just look at it, can you get the next sentence written? Very slowly I started building up, and now I'm pretty much back to the speed that I was at before the diagnosis. Jo: So I guess we could think about it in the same way that your body is physically recovering, your mind is also recovering. It almost feels like people want to disconnect the two. If you get a physical injury, that shouldn't affect your brain. But as you mentioned, having chemo, that in itself is difficult and has impacts on your brain. So if people think about it more as an injury you have to come back from, rather than day one you're back in, I guess. Tracy: Yes. It's really a rehabilitation-style process, and I think the key is you've got to take all pressure off yourself. I know that, for me in particular, because I was such a workhorse, I could feel this stress because I just wasn't getting things done. Once I gave myself permission to just take as long as it takes and just keep coming back to it, that helped enormously. It still took time for that rehabilitation process to actually work. There's a lot of forgiving yourself, and it has to be a gentle process, I think, because situations like cancer and chemo and whatever the situation is that's pulled you away from your manuscript, they're big life events, and there is a lot of stress involved with them both physically and mentally. So you have to give yourself time. Jo: Yes, it's so important. Okay, well, also in these last three years, as you said, you've got back to writing, and one of the books you have also written is The Anti-Enshittification Field Manual for Indie Authors. You also use Cory Doctorow's enshittification concept around the mature indie author industry. So just talk about what that term [enshittification] means? We think it is now established in the industry, in terms of what is going on there. How do we recognise it and adjust? Tracy: It's a very interesting term. The first time I heard it I raised my brows a bit. I was thinking, “Well, that's a bit cheeky.” The more you think about it, the more appropriate the name is. Basically, Cory Doctorow's idea is that any platform, so for the sake of this discussion, let's say Amazon, starts out serving its users extremely well because it needs them. When everyone first got into indie publishing, Amazon was open doors and you could just publish a book and it would sell, because they would push the book and they would do everything they could to make sure that readers saw your book. Then slowly and increasingly, the platform extracts value from those users for somebody else's benefit, usually shareholders, and ultimately for itself. You can track this process where it starts off really great for the users and then slowly shifts so that it becomes a less than stellar experience for the users. For indie authors, we're particularly exposed because our business sits on top of these platforms. So recognising that a lot of the platforms that we use now have enshittified, excuse me, or are in the process of doing that, that really helps. Because I think for years we were treating everything as a separate problem. We were worrying about organic reach, we were worrying about advertising becoming more expensive. There's subscription creep, there's deteriorating customer service, algorithm changes. Visibility was increasingly pay to play, and it's so much more than that now. The platforms keep removing features or changing the terms. Individually it just looks like a mess, but as soon as you put them together and say, “Oh, I understand now. The platform is enshittifying,” you can see the structural pattern. It actually applies to so many platforms and services. Once you see it, well, for me in particular, that was an enormously positive realisation, because until I saw the pattern, I thought I was failing, and nothing I was doing seemed to work anymore. Once I understood the environment itself had changed, I could stop trying to fix myself and start redesigning the business for the environment that actually exists. Jo: Yes, and that is the point. Redesigning your business for the environment that exists. Because what you mentioned there, I feel like some people still think that organic reach exists. I guess some people will say, “Oh, well, at the moment you can still put a video on, say, TikTok, and it might find an audience there.” Are people still building an audience in these newer platforms? But I think that's the point, isn't it? I guess Substack would be another one. Although we already see that heading in the same direction, with various things. As soon as you go in there thinking, “Yes, I'm going to get organic reach,” even if there is any, it follows this way, doesn't it? Tracy: It does. And this is what's so great about it, is once you recognise this pattern, you see it everywhere, and you can actually track a new platform through that process, and you can anticipate that, okay, maybe we're going to get organic discovery right now, but that's going to diminish. That way you're not disappointed, and you're all set up for when that happens. That means that you can reduce your dependency on these platforms and not expect them to behave like they did in 2011. Jo: It's interesting, though, with Amazon, for example, we've definitely seen that as authors. But on the other side, as a customer, as a reader particularly, I used to find a lot of books on Amazon directly. I'm almost entirely now finding books elsewhere, often through AI, actually, often through Claude. Tracy: Yes, exactly. Jo: And then going on Amazon to maybe get the book. It feels like for readers it's changed too, right? Tracy: Exactly. I mean, indie authors are particularly vulnerable because their entire business is built on these platforms, but this applies to everyone. It's not just indie authors. As you say, it's readers. They're noticing too that the decay of these platforms is starting to impact them as users. I'm exactly like you. I tend to buy my books from Kobo, but I will buy my books from anywhere, and I learn about those books from a dozen different places. I don't rely on just one platform anymore. It's really great once you understand this because then you can build an independent mindset that lets you flex around issues. Jo: Yes, and obviously we like to dwell on the positives here. So given that this is just a reality of the market and various platforms— What are the hallmarks of an indie author business that is more likely to persist over time given the reality of this? Tracy: Okay. Well, I think that the biggest part of it is, as I mentioned before, it's the mindset. Recognising these patterns is really a big one, recognising where a platform is in the process. Also developing a very independent mindset. I mean, we've been saying we're indie authors since 2011, but we were still really relying on those platforms to provide most of our business. I think these days the new indie author is much more independently minded. Even though you're using the platforms, and we're all using them, you develop a flexibility. You understand the industry, and you're making plans ahead of it, so you've got the flexibility there, and the business thinking, which really helps. You deal with any problems that come up. Every time there's an algorithm change, you're not going to wake up in the morning and just go through mourning because half your income has disappeared. You're ready with alternatives, and you've got different things that you can try. So that mindset, that thinking about and recognising patterns and how the industry is going, is critical. Once you've got that in place, then there's a huge number of strategies that you might want to incorporate. This is the thing, every indie author's business is different. We're all in different situations. I have health challenges, someone else may have a day job. I write a lot of books. Someone may be only able to produce a couple of books a year. We're writing in different genres. If you're writing literature, that's different from the sort of science fiction that I write. So the business and how it responds to the conditions out there is going to be different as well. So what you do as an author and for your business will be different. There's a lot of strategies that you can try and see which are most effective for you. One of the biggest, for instance, is something that you say a lot too, diversify your income. Have a durable backlist. Work to get your backlist built up. Direct sales is another strategy that I would say is almost mandatory for every indie author these days. I know a lot of indie authors are going, “Oh, but I've only got two books.” Doesn't matter. If you can sell from your site using just a PayPal link, that's direct sales, and that works. That gives you a lot more independence and agency. Owning your reader relationships, making sure that you keep the readers close, I think that's another critical one. Making sure that you're resilient for the platform so you can adjust when there's changes. And on and on. There's a lot of things that you can do to adapt. Jo: Yes. I think it's interesting just thinking about when you said, for example, direct sales is good for every indie author. I would say every indie author who wants to have a long-term business—and I think that's a really key thing. Because I feel like it's still important to have a difference between people who are writing primarily as a hobby or are not looking for the financial income that you and I think about. So I think that's one thing. I totally agree with you that just having a PayPal button or even selling some physical copies at a local fair or something, that all counts. I think it almost proves something and gives you that more independent mindset. It's like, “Yes, I can actually do this.” That is such a powerful reframe rather than, “I cannot do anything except upload my book on Amazon.” Tracy: Yes. And actually, funny you should mention the live markets, because we experimented over the last year with attending a few live markets and selling books, and there is a genuine power, a little thrill that you get when you sell a book, and you can sign it on the spot for them, and the reader is right there and you're face to face. That process is suddenly not this anonymous process, where you find that you've sold a book overnight and you've got no idea who it is that bought it. That person's right there in front of you, so you can sign the book for them and you have a little exchange. It's really empowering to build that independence into your business. Jo: Yes, and then you also mentioned the durable backlist. Do you think that having books in multiple genres, including nonfiction, is part of how you can make a living? As in, I think people often think, “Oh, maybe if I just write 20 books in one series.” I mean, maybe that works in some genres. I guess thrillers, actually, that can sometimes work, but you do so many things. Is it the 80/20 rule, that 20% of your books make 80% of the income, or does it literally vary from year to year? Tracy: Well, it does swing from year to year. But yes, generally the 80/20 rule holds. It's different from year to year, which 20% is making the 80% of the money. As I mentioned, I'm moving into science fiction and fantasy more, because that's actually more successful for me right now than the romance is. The other thing is, I think it really comes down to the individual author too. Some authors do very well just doing the one genre or even just the one series, and for them it's great. I always worry that that's putting all your eggs in one basket. I think, though, to counter that vulnerability, if you're just doing one series or one genre, go wide. Sell as wide as you can, and that gives you a bit of a hedge against vulnerability. It's a different situation for every author, and it's very hard for me to say, “Well, here's a 15-step list that'll give you all the answers,” because that 15-step list doesn't exist anymore, if it ever did. Just because everyone's business is so different. You need to do a lot of experimenting, I think, and find what works for you. That sounds like I'm waving off the answer, but I'm really not. You really do have to figure it out for yourself. If you do adopt that experimental mindset and say, “Okay, I'm going to do this for six months and track my statistics and see if there's any results there worth pursuing.” Jo: See what happens. Yes, and it's interesting you've also moved more into the nonfiction. Let's get into your solar sail theory, because I've followed you on and off since we met, like a decade ago. Tracy: It was 10 years ago. Jo: I know. It's crazy. It's really crazy. For those listening, we met in Oregon, at the Oregon Workshops with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I've been reading your blog pretty avidly around this solar sail theory, which I love, and now you're talking about writing science fiction, I can appreciate it more. What is your solar sail theory and some of the ways to build it? Tracy: Okay, so solar sail theory is a theory in science. Well, I was going to say science fiction, but there's solid science behind it. Solar sails are a way, they think, because it's never been proven yet, of propelling a spacecraft. You have this huge sail, like kilometres wide, and what it does is it captures photons. Photons are basically light. So when the light hits the solar sail, it gives it a minuscule amount of push, but there's no friction in space, so that push just keeps the ship going and going. So when you've got kilometres of sail, all the photons hitting that can bring a ship up to enormous speeds, like a fraction of light speed, which sounds small if you're not used to science, but a fraction of light speed is enormously fast, and these solar sails can bring a ship up to those sorts of speeds. So you can cross to the next star without needing faster-than-light travel or warp speed or something like that. Put that theory over the top of the indie publishing industry and you suddenly get a very interesting way of thinking about the industry, and it helps you make decisions. So it's not a prescription. Again, it's not a 15-step, here's how to conquer the universe. It's a decision matrix. It helps you figure out what's going to work for you. Whatever strategy or tactic it is that you're thinking about doing, you can ask the question, does this extend my sail? So does it leave something behind that can continue to make me discoverable? So for instance, a 30-second radio advertisement probably is not going to leave anything behind that'll let readers discover you, because once it's aired, it's gone. On the other hand, a podcast interview like this. The podcast interview that I did with you three years ago, I'm still getting people finding me and finding The Productive Indie Fiction Writer three years later because of that. So that's extending the sail, and it's just a little tiny push, like a photon. Blog posts also, they surface indefinitely, so readers can find them 10 years later. And because you're the host of your own podcast, all your podcast interviews and the website, they're also creating surface area, so people keep finding you years later. Also guest articles, and a book in a library. Your entire back catalogue is all part of the solar sail. Jo: I know people listening are going, “But what about social media?” Tracy: Yes. Social media is a tricky one because it's such a short half-life. I think on Facebook, if anyone sees your post at all, after two hours it's basically gone. They never see it unless they actually go to your account, and they need to have heard of you in order to go to your account and see the post. So that makes social media not really a good solar sail builder. It has other uses, and as long as you understand that it does have this very short half-life, then you can use it for the things that it's good at. Jo: Yes, the same with paid ads, for example. Paid ads are the same as social media. Perhaps a quicker push, but as you say, the half-life is quicker. Tracy: Yes. Exactly. Paid ads come and go. There's nothing out there that'll let the reader find you in a couple of years' time. So they're very short term. A lot of people can build their business on these short-term things. They spend thousands of dollars on paid ads each month, and that works for them, but if they stop doing it, then their business halts. It comes to a grinding halt. Whereas if you're building your solar sail, it's a long-term way of setting up your business, so it just keeps ticking on. Jo: Your series of posts on the solar sail, which are also in The Indie Author Survival Guide, they are nonfiction, useful things. So what about for the fiction side? What do you suggest people do around content marketing? Tracy: Well, it all applies to both fiction and nonfiction. I usually write, because The Productive Indie Fiction Writer is addressing fiction authors, this does all apply to fiction as well. As I was saying, your book catalogue, because you're on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, and Apple, and maybe Google as well, all of those pages are part of your sail. Your own site, all the book pages on your own site are part of the sail. There's different ways to do it, but the common one is you have this standard sail out there that helps readers find you. You coax them to come to your site, and there you try to capture them as readers. So that usually means your email list. Some people use Substack now. There are other alternatives I'm sure I haven't thought of, but email seems to be the principal one. Then you can build that relationship with the readers over the long term. The solar sail just brings all those readers to you so that you can develop that relationship and keep the readers close. For fiction authors, I think this is critical. This helps you build independence from the retail platforms. Jo: Yes, it is interesting. I would put podcasting and YouTube in particular. So I had someone, they were in my Patreon, and they said, “I'm no longer subscribed to your email list because I hear from you in Patreon and on the podcast.” I was thinking about my own behaviour, and for the podcast that I am a hardcore fan of, I'm not on their email list. I was thinking it is because my relationship with those people is more auditory, I guess. The same with YouTubers. People end up subscribing to your YouTube channel. Then the problem still is, if I stop podcasting today, then I can't contact those people again. Except that I know lots of podcasters who stop podcasting and then maybe two years later they just pop on with an update episode. And people are like, “Oh, I never unsubscribed from you on my feed.” So that can appear years later. I definitely still agree that the email list is primary. But if you're somebody listening and you're a more audio or video person, I think we can probably think about the relationship with people on these different dimensions. Tracy: Yes, and some people definitely prefer the audio. I'm utterly text-based myself. I prefer to read. But yes, podcasting, apart from anything else, is a way of keeping contact with the readers, and they can email you in return. So it is a two-way process, so you can develop that relationship. So if that works for you, that is a good alternative. The other thing is too, of course, every episode that you've recorded and put on a webpage is also building your sail. So more and more people are finding you. So podcasting is interesting. If you're guest posting on someone else's blog, that's a somewhat time-consuming way, but it does build up your sail as well. Jo: The only problem with that, I would say, as someone who used to have guest posts, is it's still my website. When it came to auditing my website, about five years ago—and the thing is, because my website's been around since 2008, I had some people guest posting in the early days—and I was like, “This should not be here anymore.” So I am able to get rid of people's things when they're on my site, in the same way that Amazon can take down your book or whatever. Tracy: Yes, and that's where the anti-enshittification process comes in. That's where developing that independent mindset comes in. One of the questions that you need to ask is, how permanent is this? What happens if it goes away? Tat's why blogging on your own site is probably a stronger and better decision than guest blogging on other people's sites, because they have control of that. Jo: Yes, absolutely. So there's so much in these books. These are all excellent books. I feel like you know so much after decades in the trenches, and I love that you're putting out everything in these books. I did want to ask you one specific thing, because obviously we're increasing the size of our sail. But if we have massive amounts of drag, so we have sea anchors or whatever we want to call it in our metaphor, we have to sort that out too. So in The Indie Author Survival Guide, you have a section on protecting the margins. So I wondered if you would talk about the specific ways to think about what is operational drag and how can we reduce it? Tracy: Well, we just actually hit the perfect example. Guest blogging has more drag than blogging on your own site does, because you don't have control over it, so it can disappear. It requires maintenance. It takes your time. So drag is basically anything that is going to slow you down once you've built up speed, coming back to the solar sail theory. The sail will keep you moving, but because we're not working in a vacuum anymore, we're not in space, there are things that can slow you down. Particularly for mature author businesses, we accumulate all this cruft. For instance, Barnes & Noble recently changed their website so that all the URLs for a book changed, and that doesn't sound like a big deal, but I've got 200 books. So suddenly the links didn't work pointing to Barnes & Noble for every book. So the Books2Read universal book links had to be changed for all 200 books. Jo: Oh, I did know that and I haven't done it. Tracy: This is the thing, is when you've only got five books, it's like 10 minutes' worth of work, no problems, and you just move on. When you've got 200 books, that's suddenly a big deal. I only found out accidentally that they had changed them, and once I had confirmed that every single link no longer worked, it was suddenly a massive project. There's also the money drag. Everything these days is software as a subscription. Even Microsoft Office, you've got to pay the fee every year. It works well in theory, because you're getting updated software all the time, but you have a dozen of those or two dozen, suddenly you're spending a lot of money every year for software that once upon a time we used to pay a flat fee for and that was it. So it pays to go through and figure out what expenses you can get rid of or diminish, or can you find a cheaper version. There's advertising. Some advertising just isn't worth spending the money on. If you're doing pay-per-click advertising, you need to monitor it all the time, so that's a time sink that you're blowing money on, technically, because your time is money. There's also, you may not be managing it quite as well as you could, so you're actually burning more money because the ads are not working as effectively as they could. More drag. You need to go through every aspect. There's time drag, repetitive tasks. For instance, Mark and I have, for about, I think we're coming up on 11 years now, we track our sales. Every morning we sit down and go through every platform and record the sales for that day in a spreadsheet so that we can do analysis. It's a good way to spend time because it's got extreme uses. There's a lot of little tasks that you might do, especially if you've been working in the business as long as I have. All these little tasks will build up, and suddenly you forget why you're doing them. Or the conditions have changed and it's not worth doing them anymore. They may not be providing the value that they once used to. So you have to go through and make sure that you're reducing the drag on your business as much as possible so that you can keep moving. Jo: Yes. I had two more extra ones there. You mentioned the things that we do that perhaps we don't need to do anymore. If people are outsourcing, if you have virtual assistants, if you are paying for some kind of service outside your own time, sometimes you can have that going and then when you think, do I need that anymore? So I know some people still do pay for turning posts into social media or making book trailers. That's a good one. Or there's things that people are paying for, and then you might realise that you don't need that service anymore, or you don't need everything that that social media manager is doing anymore. So realistically looking at the benefits of what you're getting. Tracy: Yes, constant review. Jo: Yes. Constant review. Then the other thing I was thinking is a mindset drag. So right now, as we're recording this, in the author community, there's this witch hunting going on around AI usage. Tracy: Yes. Jo: It's the latest thing that's causing massive drama. I feel like it's almost mindset drag to get dragged into some of this drama, and it saps the energy. That can really pull on your boat, on your solar boat. Tracy: Well, actually, I've found that, and this is all part of the indie author mindset, and it's also part of the anti-enshittification process too. I did a lot of research on AI. I did a lot of reading. I listened to a lot of different discussions about it, and then I formed my own policy. What's my policy for AI? What's my policy around AI and its use and so forth? I find that once I had developed that policy for myself, suddenly there's not as much mental drag with all the AI discussions and the witch hunts and all the drama that's going on around it, because I know where I'm sitting and I'm quite comfortable with my position. So I think for a lot of people, it can become very emotional and draining if you still haven't figured out where you sit on the spectrum of AI use. But that's actually how I tackled it, because I was getting very tired of all the dramas. It is draining, and it worries you. So I deliberately went out and did a lot of research and reading, and figured out where I stood, and that made a huge difference for me. Jo: Yes. And again, that's something to look at on your schedule. So maybe in a year's time you re-look at things again and change your decision. I think the same thing with the traditional versus self-publishing versus wide versus KU, and you could just go on. There are pros and cons in every single direction, right? At the end of the day, it's almost the decision fatigue that's stopping you. Or you could say, again, our solar boat has to go in a particular direction. You can't go in every direction at the same time. You just have to make a decision, right? Tracy: Yes. I think being as informed as possible about the industry is one of the big ones. I've spent a lot of time doing a lot of reading, not just about indie publishing over the last few years, but everything to do with publishing and also everything to do with business, because we are in business. That's a bit of a cliché, that a lot of indie authors, their eyes just glaze over when they hear that you're in business. There are aspects of running a business that we just don't get taught as indie authors or as creatives that I think we should be teaching each other or getting each other to learn, because it's basic business survival. Things like pricing, that is an enormously complex business topic, pricing. Most of us are, “Well, what's everyone else doing? Okay, I'll do that.” That's how they make their decisions. There's a lot more to it than that, and it's very complex. We don't have to get a PhD in business management, but I think a little bit more awareness about basic business principles would serve all of us much better. Jo: Yes, there's always so much to learn, but I actually think you've done a really good job with your books. I mean, The Indie Author Survival Guide is a great place to start. They're super, super useful. I do want to talk about—as we come to an end—you've been doing this a long time, as have I, and we've both got some battle scars along the way. You do end your books with hopeful realism, which I like. Now, I'm definitely more of an optimist than you, but I feel like hopeful realism is a good place. So how can people cultivate that feeling of hopeful realism around the business? Tracy: I don't know. Are you more of an optimist than me? Anyway. Well, let's see, because for me, all the book writing and all the research and all the reading that I've been doing over the last few years have given me back a lot of optimism that I didn't have. As I was saying, it was feeling as though I couldn't do anything right. So learning that it wasn't just me that's the problem gave me back my confidence. So that's where the hopeful realism and the optimism came in. So hopeful realism, okay, it comes from understanding, from agency, and from choice. If you understand the industry as it actually exists, not the way you wish it did, and you understand the forces acting on your business and where you sit within them, that helps enormously. Just having that knowledge there, you can see what's going on, you understand what's going on. It's not all a mystery, and you're not scratching your head wondering what to do next. Because of that understanding, you get agency. You're not helpless. When circumstances change, you can respond. You can make decisions instead of simply having things happen to you, and all of that gives you choice. You can go out and research and find out what your options are, and you can choose the best option for you. If that doesn't work, you can go and try something else. So you've got a lot of choices, and you've got things that you can do. You're not helpless. So hopeful realism, I think, is pretty optimistic. Jo: Brilliant. So where can people find you and your books online? Tracy: If you're interested in my nonfiction, the best place to find me is at The Productive Indie Fiction Writer. If you want to find out more about my fiction, the best place to find that is to go to StoriesRulePress.com. My three pen names are there, and also Mark, my husband, who is a writer as well. And shortly, I think, another member of the family's going to be joining us as well. So it's a very family affair on Stories Rule Press. Jo: Well, thanks so much for your time, Tracy. That was great. Tracy: Thank you very much. I'm thrilled I was able to come back and talk again. Thanks, Joanna. The post How To Redesign Your Author Business For The Environment That Actually Exists, With Tracy Cooper-Posey first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Let's chat—send me a text! What if creating more meaningful learning experiences in your math classroom didn't require completely changing the way you teach?Because when teachers hear “project-based learning,” it can feel like a complete classroom makeover.Rewrite every unit. Redesign your curriculum. Stop giving direct instruction. Turn everything into a project.Nope.In this episode of The Modern Math Teacher, we're talking about why meaningful change happens one intentional decision at a time—and why you're probably much closer to creating the classroom you want than you think.I'm sharing how my own classroom evolved through years of small changes in questioning, discussion, assessment, collaboration, relevance, and instructional design before project-based learning became one powerful piece of that bigger picture.And most importantly, we're taking the pressure off becoming a “PBL teacher.”You don't need projects everywhere.You need to find one place where students could move from knowing how to DO the mathematics to actually USING the mathematics.In this episode:Why meaningful teaching doesn't require a complete classroom makeoverHow small instructional decisions transform classrooms over timeWhy I became an intentional instructional designer before I became a PBL teacherWhy you don't have to become a “project-based learning teacher” to use projectsHow PBL can create real, relevant, rigorous mathematical experiencesWhy projects are one tool—not the goalThe pieces of PBL you may already be using in your classroomWhy your first project shouldn't be your giant dream projectHow to identify one realistic place to startReady to Take Your First Step into PBL?If you love the idea of project-based learning but don't want to completely overhaul your classroom, PBL Kickstart was created for you.Inside this $17 on-demand workshop, I'll help you take mathematics you're already teaching and begin turning it into a real, relevant, rigorous project-based learning experience.Sign Up for PBL KickstartYou don't need to redesign your entire curriculum.You need one good place to start.Your Reflection QuestionWhere in your curriculum are students currently learning how to DO the math—but could have an opportunity to actually USE it?This podcast is a member of the Teach Better Podcast Network. Better Today. Better Tomorrow. And the Podcasts to Help You Get There.Connect with Kristen:Follow on Instagram @moorethanjustxJoin the Facebook Community: The Modern Math Teachers MovementMore About the Modern Math Teacher PodcastKristen Moore, classroom teacher and instructional coach at Moore Than Just X, empowers modern secondary math teachers to transform the student experience with the strategies and the confidence to implement project-based learning, mastery-based assessment, and student engagement strategies in their classrooms.Whether you're a math education newbie or a seasoned veteran, you'll find something new and inspiring in every episode. You're already a listener, why not join the Movement inside ✨The Modern Math Teachers Movement Facebook group. Join the community of math teachers who are not afraid to shake things up and make math class the best part of the day for our students. So tune in each Tuesday, have some fun, and let's elevate our math teaching game together!*Amazon orders may provide a small affiliate payout at no extra cost to you. These payouts help keep the podcast free for all!

August 28, 2026: I break down what redesigning work with AI actually means and share a practical framework for removing human glue, handoffs, waits, and routine work while creating new value. Then I get into Jensen Huang and Bill Gates disagreeing over whether robots and AI tokens should be taxed. Finally, I unpack the government's new 10-year jobs forecast and why the fastest-growing jobs in America still require something AI does not have: a human body in the room.

 If the following blurb from this week’s podcast doesn’t hook you, the fact that Betsy closes with an easy exercise that could help you make the change you have been waiting for will. Here it is…’You don’t have to have it all sorted out before you’re allowed to claim it as yours. You can be in the middle of the mess and still build something with an intention and a purpose. You already know what your habit list is, so say it out loud.’ See?? Take a listen and enjoy. Transcript:  Welcome to The Art of Living Big, where we explore how to live intentionally and with more joy. I’m Betsy Pake, your host, master, coach, and creator of the Navigate Method. Here to help you listen in to your true desires, elevate your standards, and live life to the fullest. Now, let’s go live big. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show today. All right, so, so today’s episode is, is sort of, I don’t know, specific, I’m gonna say. Aren’t all the episodes specific? But I got a message on Instagram, and, you know, sometimes I’ll get messages, and they are like other messages that I’ve gotten. So it’s easy to do, like, a podcast episode on them because it’s a really common question or a common thing people are going through, or it’s something that I know from my own life, right? And so when I got this question, though, I was like, “Oh, that’s actually a really good question, and I don’t know if anybody’s actually asked me that before.” And so what it was, it, it wasn’t like a coaching question. It was more like a logistics question. So what she wanted to know was she wanted to know how I did it. So she said, “It seems like you’ve rebuilt your life, and it seems really happy. But it also seems like you’ve rebuilt your whole life. How did you know what to build?” I was like, I mean, I didn’t even know what to say, ’cause how do you answer that? How do you… H- how did you know what to build? So, I kept thinking about it, and I thought, you know what? That likely deserves its own episode because the, the honest answer is that I, I did not know. Like, there was no plan. I think sometimes people look at my life now, and they assume that there was some kind of blueprint, and there was not. But there was about a year of me getting it wrong, I say wrong with air quotes, in a bunch of different directions, and so that’s what today is. So today I wanna name you a couple things. Three things I picked, even though I could come up with, like, 15 things, but three things seems like a good amount for a podcast. I wanna give you three things that I wish somebody had said to me at the very beginning of all that, because I think they would have saved me a little bit of time. And honestly, this is the work that I do, right? I went through something, and I wanna save everybody a bit of time by explaining it. And so, you know, I think that when we make a decision, I remember when I made my decision to leave my husband, I gotta tell you, e- every day over the past couple weeks, I’ve been like, “I’m so glad I did that. I’m so glad I did that.” But I think when we get to that place where we make that decision, at least for me it was not this. Like, I don’t even care what happens. I mean, of course I cared, but I don’t even care. It’s just not this. I was fully, fully 100% on board with just living my own life as a single woman, like, happily forever, and that is great for me. You know, will I be single forever? I, I don’t know, but I… That’s the way I wanted to build my life, right? So it wasn’t like, “I’m gonna leave this big hole here for somebody to fill. I’m gonna do everything but this thing and hope somebody else h-” Like, uh-uh. Like, I was gonna f- build my life. I was gonna make my health the way I wanted. I was gonna make my financial life the way I wanted. I was gonna make my home the way I wanted. I was gonna make my friendships the way I wanted. I was gonna make my activities the way I wanted. Like, I was gonna build my life for me. And so here’s the thing If you are sitting somewhere in your house or in your car, I know you’re in your car. You’re sitting in your car in the driveway, but a lot of you do a lot of thinking in your car, and you may have had this feeling that the life that you’re living was designed by somebody that was a, a younger version of you, somebody that you don’t totally recognize anymore. And maybe it’s not a bad life, you know? That sometimes is the part that can get really confusing, because it might not be that anything is, like, wildly on fire. It’s just that when you look around and you look at your calendar and you look at your house and you look at your weekend plans and your friendships, you can trace every single piece of it back to a decision that you made a long time ago for reasons that were probably good reasons, probably good reasons at the time. But now you’re standing in the middle of this, like, midlife, which I kinda hate when we’re, like, midlife. Ugh, like it’s this big thing, but it is. It is. So now you’re standing here, and in the middle of all of this saying, “Would I choose this again?” Right? Would I choose this again? And I know some of you are listening to this from inside a marriage where you have not decided anything, and you are not sure if you want to. You know, redesigning your life is not the same thing as leaving your life. Those are two really different projects, and I don’t think we have to get them all tangled up together. Some of the biggest redesigns that I have ever had in my own life and that I’ve watched other people have happened inside marriages, inside relationships, even inside marriages where people stayed. You know, the- the woman that- that changed everything about how she was living, and she did it without moving out of her house, is a possible, is, it, that is a real thing. So take these three things and put them, like, wherever they fit in your life because I’m not pointing you in any specific direction. Stay, leave, maybe you’re single, like, all the things. Okay. That is my disclaimer ’cause I never tell you what to do. Okay. All right. So the first thing that everybody tells you when your life comes apart or when you decide to take it apart, you know, on purpose, is to get clear on what you want. I had this conversation with somebody the other day, like, being really clear and having a clear vision. You know? Making the list. Do the vision boarding thing. Like, what do you want your life to actually look like? And I sat down with a blank page and that question, and I could not answer it, and I don’t mean, like, I struggled with it, and I don’t mean, like, I wrote a couple things and they weren’t quite right. I mean nothing. Nothing came I just sat there, and there was no big idea, no big yearning or pulling. I just remember thinking, “Ugh.” Like, I just… I’m, I’m getting out of something I knew was a no. No. Hell no. I knew that, but I didn’t know what was next, and I remember thinking, “Oh, is this a problem? Like, is this the problem?” Because I had been answering that question on behalf of other people for so long that I did not have my own answer anymore, and every time I tried to write something down, I could hear how it would sound to somebody else. I could hear my ex, I could hear my family, I could hear the version of me that was supposed to be handling all these things. And so the list that came out started sounding like a woman being really reasonable. It did not come out sounding like me. And, you know, I think a lot of you have had this exact experience, where you thought, “I don’t know what I want, , and, and I can’t get to the core of it, and that must mean something’s wrong. Must mean something’s wrong with me.” You know, like, you’re the woman who can’t figure out what she wants, but that is not it. I don’t think that’s it. If you have spent any amount of time, you know, 20 years, whatever, being the person who gets to make sure that everybody else is okay, of course you cannot produce your want list on demand. Like, that is a skill, to be able to imagine something different. I mean, imagine something different. Like, it’s not just imagining something you’ve seen other people do, okay? So hang with me. You can imagine things that you’ve seen other people do, and you could be like, “Sure, I could see that as being a thing.” But what about imagining something different? Something you’ve never seen anybody do, in the way that you wanna do it. And that skill is a skill, and it’s probably got really quiet ’cause you stopped using it. And so here’s what actually worked, and it, it was the opposite of, like, direction. I stopped asking myself, “What do I want?” And I started asking, “What am I saying yes to out of habit?” Because that was a question that I could answer. I could answer that one immediately. I knew, like, immediately. I was like, “Oh, well that’s a habit. This is a habit. That’s a habit.” And I had a whole list of habits in, like, just a couple minutes. ‘Cause you always know. You know, you know that one. You know the thing on your calendar that you dread, but it’s always there. You know the friendship that you have that you keep just out of loyalty or ’cause you’ve had them for so long, even though you feel like the version of the friendship that actually felt good was gone a long time ago. You notice the way you spend your Sunday afternoons, the things you wanna participate in, the way you keep your house, right? Nobody asked you to keep your kitchen or your bathroom or any of those things the way that they are. So you know exactly what those things are. And I think this is why this works a little bit better, is because you can’t design a new life while the old one is fully running. You know, I, I, I wanna… I don’t wanna get too far down a rabbit hole of how our brains work. If you’ve been listening here for a while, you’ve heard me talk about this, but, but you can’t fit anything else in when the old program is, like, fully installed. There’s no room. So the wanting shows up in the space, but if there’s no space, there’s nothing to want with. I hope that makes sense. You gotta have space. So the first thing, I don’t think is the vision. The first thing is noticing. Noticing what are you still doing, only because you’ve always done it. And so don’t do anything about any of that yet. Don’t quit anything, don’t cancel anything, don’t have some big conversation with anybody. Just write down what’s on that list, and then notice it, ’cause that list is actually the starting point. It would be great if we could have some big delulu vision. I know we talk about that all the time, but I think the starting point is actually noticing where you are and everything about what leads into that Okay, so the second thing, the second thing that I did to redesign my life, and this is one that, I don’t know, I think this is probably the most useful thing that I’m gonna share if I had to look at the list. But you can want something. Like, you can want something, you can choose it, you can be totally right about it, and you can be absolutely flattened with sadness about what it costs you. Now, when I left my marriage, I was not sad about the marriage ending. I was thrilled. I, I n- I don’t… I honest to God, by the time I’d made that decision, I did not shed a tear, like not once. And I don’t say that… Uh, uh, that’s sad to me, like that’s sad to me, but I was so absolutely done, and the fact that I stayed so long was the sadness that I had to deal with You know, uh, uh, when I started noticing that, like, my first thought every single time was like, “Oh, my God, w- why did I wait so long? I made such a mistake in delaying. I wasted years.” And I could be having a completely good day, like a good day, and then I would be somewhere and I would think, “Why the heck didn’t I leave a long time ago?” Now I’m 52, 53 years old and doing this, starting over. Like, I gave up so much to get out, and I walked away from so much to choose myself, and that’s what I chose. I chose myself. And so I had to go to the place where I was sad that I didn’t do it with hindsight. Like, we get to the place where we have hindsight. W- what do they say? Hindsight’s 20/20, right? And then you look back and you’re like, “Oh, my God, I coulda done it here, I coulda done it here. When I left the first time, why didn’t I stay go- gone?” I knew. Like, I knew. When I came back, I knew. I, I, I just came back ’cause I was tired. It was easier. And so, you know, I, when I would feel that, like, sadness, I would just be like, “This is just a, a grief that I have to deal with.” It’s not a review of my decision. I didn’t leave when I didn’t leave because I couldn’t leave. I left when I could. I wasn’t ready. And I think some of you might need to hear that. Like, it’s not because I didn’t want to, it’s because I wasn’t ready, and we can’t do things until we’re ready, and that’s okay. And grief just means you recognize what that cost you. That’s all it means. I was sad because something real I felt was taken from me, time, and that means that I think my life is important, and that means that I am so happy I chose when I did and I didn’t take any more time That’s the grief. That’s what I had to come to grips with. But I think we have this thing where we feel like there’s this, like, pros and cons list. Like, we think if we can just get our feelings to settle down, right? We’ll know we did the right thing. You know, we’ll know this was the choice. Uh, like, it’s never gonna be right, wh- whatever right is in our minds. Like, it’s never, you’re never gonna score a perfect 10 on the exiting at the exact moment you were supposed to. If I had left five years before when I had left the first time, I probably would have thought I should have left five years before that. I knew right away that something was wrong. So my grief, my, my feelings, my mood, if you will, was telling me that it mattered It wasn’t telling me anything else. And I think once I understood that things can matter, and I can still move forward, and I’m learning about myself, and that the timing was when I could, then I think that grief started to integrate and lessen, and instead I started to become appreciative of where I was and who I was. You guys might remember in a earlier episode, and I won’t tell the whole story, but I got up on New Year’s Day and I was mad at my ex, and I had to sit with that and recognize I wasn’t really mad at him. Why would I even be thinking about him still? Like, I was mad at me, and I had to reckon with that. I had to reckon with those earlier versions of me who were l- God, she was hanging on by her toenails, doing the best she could. And I think honoring her and, everything she went through was to release her from some expectation that this version of me has, ’cause this version of me w- would not tolerate it. Do you know what I mean? But I wasn’t this version. But I had to be that version to get to here. Okay, so my next one, the third one. Okay, so let’s say you le- you cleared some space, you stopped treating your feelings like they’re wrong, and now you actually get to the place where you’re like, “I get to build something.” And here’s what I think made me, I don’t know, I, I wanna say, like, lost the most time. But for about a year, I think every decision that I made, I was really only asking one question: is this safe? Like, that’s it. That was the filter. Is this safe? Can I afford it? What happens if it goes wrong? What’s the smallest version of this I could do? Maybe not quite. We could try that. I don’t know. And I’m an entrepreneur, and I’m, not risk-averse. I’m not. But I noticed I was leaning into safety. I needed to feel a certain level of safety. And I, I, I think that can be a valid question, but I also think if it’s your only question, then you start to build a very small life. And then you will sit inside it a year later going, “Why does this not feel big enough?” Right? I did the hard thing. I got out, I rebuilt. Why does this feel like nothing? And I think- That, you know, when I look back, I, I left, well, I left in August. It took forever to sell my house. Moved into my apartment at the end of December, I think, and then it was probably the summer before I was like, “Oh, I’m doing this safety thing.” And it made a lot of sense ’cause a survivor builds a shelter. She doesn’t build a life. Those are two different projects. And I don’t wanna say go be reckless. I’m not saying, like, spend money that you don’t have, or blow up your life, or take a leap. Like, that’s not what I’m saying. The point is that the question I was using was too small, and maybe it’s the question I had to have for several months just until I could feel that stability for myself. I remember being so anxious all the time. I was anxious I would see him, like, walking the dog. He doesn’t live terribly far from me, I think maybe a mile or two. I was afraid I would run into him on the street. , I was afraid, and I noticed, like, I was trying to build a whole bunch of safety mechanisms around me in order to avoid that fear so that when I came back home I knew that it was safe. Now, I wanna be clear. He wasn’t beating me or anything like that, , but it was not emotionally safe place to be. So What changed for me was switching to a different question, and this is one that I still use and I still like it for big things and small things. Here’s the question, and I’ve talked about this in another episode in another way, , when I went to Vermont, that episode. But it’s who is the kind of person that I want to be? Not what do I want, ’cause we’ve already established that I couldn’t answer that one for a little while. It’s not what’s the safest, because I had been living inside that one. But who is the kind of person I wanna be? And then, would she do this? Because there is a version of you that chooses much differently. She just does. You know, ask a scared woman whether to take the trip, and she’ll turn into the calculator in her phone and run the numbers and figure it all out and see if it makes sense and Google and ask ChatGPT, but ask the woman that you want to be whether to take the trip, and you’ll get an answer just like that. And it’s not that she’s reckless, by the way. That’s not it, and that’s not what surprised me. The woman that I want to be says no to a lot of things. She says no faster than the scared version does, because the scared version negotiates things and explains and tries to weigh options and tries to be nice about it. The woman that I want to be just doesn’t have that much interest. So you have to notice which version of you you’re living inside, because if, if it’s the one who just came through something hard, she’s going to design for protection. I think that’s normal. And protection is not the same. It’s not the same as a life. It’s the first thing you need, but it’s also a terrible thing to organize the rest of your life around. Okay So if you wanna have actually something to do this week, here’s what I would do, and I’ve made it really small on purpose. I want you to write down three things that you are doing purely out of habit. Not big stuff, just regular stuff, just ordinary stuff. And then look at each one and ask, “Who is the kind of person I want to be, and does she keep doing this thing?” You don’t have to change any of those things. This isn’t, like, a homework assignment where you have to have a life overhaul this week. I just want you to find out how much of your week belongs to a woman who made decisions about things, like, a long time ago for reasons that might not even be true anymore. And I’ll tell you what usually happens when people do this, ’cause I’ve watched women do this, is that one of them is gonna seem really like, oh, my God. T- there’s always one where you go, “Oh, I already knew about that one.” That’s your first one to just really pay attention to, . So all right, one more thing that I wanna say before I go. People assume that the story of the last few years of my life is a story that you can see online. It’s a story of me sharing nights out with my friends. It’s a story of me going on trips. It’s a story of me really discovering, like, what I like to wear and how I like to show up as myself. It’s a story of me helping women and building my business. It’s, like, a beautiful story, but it’s not a story about how life got easier. My life is not easy. I’m renting. I got a cat that won’t shut up. I have a business and a whole lot of ordinary days, and there is a lot of things that I am still figuring out. It’s not that things got easy. It’s that I stopped needing it to be easy before I made it mine, and that’s the thing that’s available to you way, way, way earlier than you think it is. You don’t have to have it all sorted out before you’re allowed to claim it as yours. You can be in the middle of the mess and still build something with an intention and a purpose. You already know what your habit list is, so say it out loud. Figure out your one thing. And I think when you can do that, I think that is how you live a big life. All right, everyone, I love you guys so much. I will see you guys next week. Thanks for joining me on The Art of Living Big. I hope today’s episode sparked something within you, maybe pushed you to dream a little bit bigger and live a little larger. Don’t forget to subscribe. Leave us a review and share this podcast with someone you know who might need a little inspiration today. You can find me over on Instagram at Betsy Pake and on my YouTube channel. Remember, the world is vast. Your potential is endless, and your life, it’s yours to shape. Until next time, keep reaching, keep exploring, and keep living big.

What if the thing exhausting you isn't your workload… but the fact that your business still depends on you for every decision?Because let's be honest there's a very specific kind of founder exhaustion that comes from realizing you built yourself into the bottleneck.In this Thursday quick-hit episode, Dawn Andrews shares the brutally honest story of the day a canceled meeting turned into a complete business redesign. What started as a quiet spiral of “Do I grow this? Burn it down? Start over?” became a 6-hour AI-powered breakthrough that helped her uncover the frameworks hidden inside years of bespoke client work.But this episode isn't another “AI will save your business” TED Talk in a blazer.It's about how to use AI as a strategic thinking partner without handing over your leadership, your judgment, or your brain. If you've been drowning in decisions, over-customizing your offers, or secretly wondering if your business still fits your life… this one is going to hit home.If you're tired of trying to solve every business problem alone, come join the conversation.The AI for Founders Community is where ambitious founders test ideas, ask messy questions, explore AI tools, and figure out how to scale without losing themselves in the process.Bring your half-formed ideas. Your weird prompts. Your “I think I'm doing too much” realizations. That's literally what it's for.In This Episode, You'll Learn:Why founders become the bottleneck without realizing itThe hidden cost of rebuilding your services from scratch every timeHow AI can help you identify scalable frameworks inside your existing workThe difference between using AI for clarity vs. abdicating leadershipA simple shift that makes AI dramatically more useful: letting it interview YOUWhy “AI informs, you decide” needs to become your new leadership mantraResources & LinksAI for Founders CommunityRelated Episodes You'll Love169 | Why “Just Delegate” Is a Lie in Leadership (And How AI Changes the Game)128 | How Female Founders Use AI to Stop Being December's Bottleneck122 | The 4-Stage AI Process Female Founders Use to Stop Losing 10 Hours Each Week079 | Your Attachment to the Founder Struggle is ExpensiveSend us Fan MailWant to increase revenue and impact? Listen to “She's That Founder” for insights on business strategy and female leadership to scale your business. Each episode offers advice on effective communication, team building, and management. Learn to master routines and systems to boost productivity and prevent burnout. Our delegation tips and business consulting will advance your executive leadership skills and presence.

What happens when you mix civic activism, urban design, and a lot of love? In this episode of Stay By Plan, we sit down with Ama and Kabiru, the creative minds behind Big Fat African Development (BFAD).We dive into how BFAD transforms complex infrastructural questions into viral visual stories, how they navigate running a high-impact media initiative as a married couple, and what it truly takes to push citizen-led urban change in West Africa.If you're curious about the future of African cities, creative collaboration with a partner, or a sneak peek into their TEDx stage message, this conversation is for you!Upgrade your look this week! Head over to Studio 623 in East Legon! Book your appointment now! https://www.studio623gh.com/Sending money from abroad? Use Tap Tap Send — it's fast, simple, and you don't pay extra charges. — https://www.taptapsend.com/ Use our discount code: STAYBYPLAN for the best rates!

The Human Factors EpisodeIn this episode, Amanda talks with Laura Barg-Walkow, PhD, a Human Factors Engineer on the Patient Safety Team at Children's Hospital Colorado, about designing healthcare systems around how people actually work—not how we wish they would work.Laura shares why errors and workarounds are often signs of system design problems, not individual failure. Together, she and Amanda explore the connection between human factors engineering and Coleman Associates' DPI™ approach, including the importance of observing real work, understanding why decisions make sense in the moment, and removing the friction that affects patients and staff.They discuss:Why “try harder” and “retrain” rarely solve underlying problemsWhat workarounds reveal about broken processesThe difference between work as imagined and work as actually performedHow observation can uncover challenges that interviews alone may missHow to balance standardization with flexibilityWhy better flow is about removing friction—not making people work fasterIt's a conversation about replacing blame with curiosity and creating safer, more efficient, and more person-centered healthcare systems.Guest: Dr. Laura Barg-WalkowHost: Amanda LaramieThanks for listening!  Check us out on: FacebookInstagramLinkedInOur WebsiteTikTokTwitterYouTube 

If you're a woman ready to redesign your life, step into your next best self, and finish 2026 strong, you are going to love the coaches I'm introducing you to today. They're our speakers from the Design, Live, Thrive Summit, and each one gives you a real taste of what she'll be teaching live.⭐️ Grab your spot at the September 2026 Design, Live, Thrive Summit here: https://www.designlivethrive.com/If you're new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I'm a Business Growth and Life Coach and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I've helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.The Design, Live, Thrive Summit for Women runs twice per year, and in this video you'll hear from the speakers who will be speaking on in our upcoming September 2026 Summit on Septmber 9-11. Here's who you'll meet in this episode:• Emily Terry, Mile High Money Mama. Her talk, "The Money Mindset Reset," helps high-earning women stop wondering where their money went and start making it work for them, without restrictive budgets.• Sol Garcia, executive function consultant. She helps high performers who feel foggy and forgetful tell the glass priorities from the plastic ones, and finally bridge the gap between knowing what to do and getting it done.• Dr. Michelle Alden, parent coach. Her talk, "Stop Reassuring Your Anxious Child and Build the Confidence They Need," helps parents recognize anxiety hiding behind big behaviors and respond in a way that actually calms everyone.• Victoria Herczek, body-mind wellbeing coach. Her talk, "What Your Nervous System Has to Do With the Pain You're Suffering," helps women who've tried everything finally understand and release chronic pain.• Thais Glenn, co-host and speaker at the Design, Live, Thrive Summit for Women. She teaches how to use your future self as a point of reference, so your frustrations become a compass toward what you actually value.When you save your seat, you get instant access to the Design Live Thrive toolkit, a gift from each speaker with a strategy you can start using right away: https://designlivethrive.comConnect with the coaches:• Emily Terry: https://milehighmoneymomma.com• Dr. Michelle Alden: https://www.parentingchallengingkids.com• Victoria Herczek: https://www.victoriaherczek.comAre you a coach, or thinking about becoming one? Book a call with me here:https://debbieshadid.com/scheduleConnect with me, Debbie Shadid:Website: https://www.debbieshadid.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbieshadid/Chapters: 0:00 Redesigning Your Life for 20260:45 Mastering Your Personal Finances1:27 Executive Function for Busy Professionals1:39 Supporting Children Through Big Emotions2:04 Living in a Pain-Free Body3:03 Using Your Future Self as a GPS30:59 The Reality of Building a Coaching Business42:15 Data-Driven Growth and IterationTired of spinning in indecision about what to post, how to sell your coaching, or explain what you do? This is your moment!Join me for a live edition of Fast Track + VIP coaching experiences where you'll get real-time feedback on your niche, offers, and marketing, plus the clarity and support you've been looking for.Spots are limited and enrollment closes soon.Let's connect → DebbieShadid.com/schedule

We've got our resident M&E expert back on the podcast to talk with us about the value and function of DMEAL in working on grants and of course in program development. In this episode, Brandon Stiver is joined by Jeremy Macias to discuss the importance of monitoring and evaluation in nonprofit work, including the differences in international and domestic contexts. They explore how data-driven practices enhance program effectiveness, build donor trust, and foster continuous improvement in serving vulnerable populations. Lastly, they talk about the role of grad programs in developing humanitarian professionals suited to the needs of the global poor. Podcast Sponsors Are you ready to take your impact to the next level? Then join this year's OneAccord conference October 13th-15th in Washington, D.C.! Use Code "Global" for Discount Register for OneAccord 2026 The MA in Global Development and Justice at Multnomah Seminary (part of Jessup University) is a fully online, accredited graduate program designed for practitioners and advocates seeking meaningful, sustainable change in today's world. Learn More About MAGDJ Resources and Links From The Show Check out the Earthkeepers Podcast Conversation Notes (AI Generated) 02:23 Funding Streams for Nonprofits: Grants, Donations, and Earned Income 04:19 The Role of Monitoring in Grant Proposals and Program Impact 07:13 Building Robust Monitoring Systems in Domestic and International Contexts 12:18 Differences Between US Domestic and International Development Monitoring 17:16 Integrating Monitoring and Evaluation into Program Design 21:09 Using Data to Redesign and Improve Programs 25:20 Case Study: Hopewalks and Clubfoot Program Evaluation 30:05 The Impact of Faith and Theology on Development Practice 34:10 The Value of Continuous Learning and Professional Development Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

What if getting “back to normal” means returning to a routine that no longer fits your life? Before you fall back into familiar patterns this season, it may be time to reconsider which ones still deserve a place in your life.In episode #1208, George and Mary-Lynn explore how familiar routines can lead to default living. You'll learn how to decide what still deserves your time, use the “fresh start effect” to rethink your priorities, and make one small change instead of overhauling everything at once.They also share a simple Routine Reset: Resume, Reevaluate, Redesign - a practical way to make sure your schedule reflects the life you're trying to create.BIGG Takeaways:As summer ends, it's crucial to not just fall back into old routines without reconsideration.We often mistake familiarity for alignment; just because it was once part of our life doesn't mean it still fits.Before resuming your routine, ask yourself what truly supports the life you're creating today.Taking advantage of a fresh start doesn't just happen in January; every season offers a chance for renewal.One small change can re-energize your routine; focus on removing one commitment and adding something supportive.BIGG Chapters[00:14] Welcome to Champaign: A College Town[01:29] Reevaluating Routines and Familiarity[04:04] Embracing New Beginnings[06:10] Rethinking Your Routine[08:29] Transitioning to New PrioritiesLinks referenced in this episode:BIGG Success NewsletterBIGG Success Life Map CourseResearch: The fresh start effect

Institutions recruiting adult learners are inserting them into schedules, deadline policies, and course structures designed for 19-year-olds, then treating the resulting attrition as a student problem. The barriers doing the damage are recent design decisions, not fixed features of higher education, and several of them cost almost nothing to remove. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Evan Kropp, executive director of distance education at the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. The conversation covers what has to change structurally when adult learners stop being an enrollment contingency and become a population the institution designs for. Kropp oversees UF CJC Online and its Master of Arts in Mass Communication, a 36-credit online degree enrolling roughly 650 students. His operational focus areas include course design standardization, cost transparency, transfer and prior learning credit, and the translation of academic learning outcomes into professional language students can use. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, boards, provosts, and enrollment executives evaluating whether to build degree completion and adult learner pathways at their institutions. Topics Covered Why the "I'm too old for a classroom" objection comes from 25-year-olds as often as from 65-year-olds, and what that means for online positioning How course learning outcomes can be reissued to students as resume language at the end of every course What lifelong learning costs an institution that treats it as an operating commitment rather than a slogan Why transfer and prior learning credit decisions are traditionally financial decisions, and what a competitive response time looks like The recurring time cost created when faculty design online courses independently Why deadline policies written to teach 19-year-olds accountability misfire on working adults How to build an AI curriculum by asking employers where they are deliberately not using AI Real-World Examples Discussed UF CJC Online converts course learning outcomes into resume bullet points, producing 100 to 120 curated items across the 12-course Master of Arts in Mass Communication sequence Master Access, which lets graduates of that degree audit unlimited courses from an 80-course catalog for $500 per year Standardized navigation across every online course in the program, eliminating the semester-start relearning cost created by 40 faculty designing independently Franklin University's transfer database of roughly 1,800 institutions, returning a transfer decision in five minutes instead of a week A rebuilt program financial page showing cost per class and cost by credit load for students paying as they go Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leadership Adult learners cannot serve as an enrollment patch for demographic decline. An institution that wants them has to redesign schedules, advising, onboarding, and technology support rather than recruiting into the existing structure. The value proposition has to be explicit at the course level, connecting the program to the credential, the specific skills, and the student's professional aspirations, rather than leaving that chain implied across a degree. Insufficient support is a primary reason adults quit the first time. Advising, financial aid, career services, technology support, and faculty training all need to be reconsidered for this population rather than inherited from the traditional model. Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/redesign-an-institution-for-adult-learners/ #HigherEducation #AdultLearners #DegreeCompletion

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest Apple Watch rumors, including the return of the white ceramic Apple Watch, modest upgrades coming to the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and Apple's plans for longer battery life.Looking further ahead, rumors point to a major Apple Watch redesign in 2027 or 2028 that could introduce a new band attachment system, larger battery, new display technology, and a significant redesign of the hardware. We also discuss Apple's broader plans for the Apple Watch lineup, including potential new form factors, display-less wearables, more premium models, AI-focused features, and the company's long-term health ambitions.Start your business with Shopify and get everything you need to sell online and in person. Start today at https://www.shopify.com/mac

In Episode 164 The guys have been wondering about how they might redesign some popular games based on the imagined brief they might be based on. Next up, Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game.===If you enjoy hearing our game design advice, why not read it also in our book about designing miniatures games, available here: www.routledge.com/9781032324012===Check out Man O' Kent Games here: https://www.manokentgames.comCheck out Planet Smasher Games here: http://planetsmasher.gamesThe Rule of Carnage discord server: https://discord.gg/Gb4aK7uEChIf you want to support the channel financially you can join...Mike's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/planetsmashergamesor Glenn's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/manokentgames

A missed delivery in a public health supply chain is never just a logistics problem. It can mean a child misses a vaccine, a patient goes without treatment, or an entire community loses trust in its healthcare system. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton welcomes Don Hicks, CEO of Optilogic, and Taylor Wilkerson, Executive Director of Design for Life, for a powerful conversation about using supply chain design to help more people access essential medicines. Don and Taylor explain why many public health supply chains face the same complexity as the world's largest commercial networks, but must operate with far fewer resources, limited infrastructure, and consequences measured in human lives rather than profit. Taylor shares how outdated systems, manual processes, and limited visibility can prevent medicine from reaching the communities that need it most, while Don explains why managing the existing network is not enough. Meaningful progress requires redesigning the system itself. The conversation explores why resilient supply chains must be built before a crisis hits. Taylor explains how better data, flexible networks, and stronger design can help healthcare systems respond to outbreaks and demand surges. He also shows how a single stockout can lead to missed care, greater health risks, and lost trust. The medicine may cost pennies. The real challenge is getting it to the right people at the right time. Don and Taylor also talk about how AI can make advanced supply chain tools more accessible. Local health leaders could ask questions in plain language, test scenarios, and make faster decisions without relying on outside consultants. By putting planning and optimization tools in the hands of the people closest to the problem, Design for Life aims to improve healthcare access and save lives. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro (02:31) Meet Don Hicks and Taylor Wilkerson (07:25) Taylor's path into public health supply chains (09:27) Don's experience with global healthcare delivery (13:06) The mission behind Design for Life (17:57) Why resilient supply chains must come before crisis (20:04) How public healthcare networks really operate (22:02) Why managing the current system is not enough (24:23) Turning supply chain studies into action (27:48) Two forces reshaping global health supply chains (30:17) How AI can democratize supply chain design (33:15) The human cost of medicine stockouts (37:46) Making advanced planning tools easier to use (40:38) Why the best user interface may be none (44:40) Empowering local experts to make decisions (48:42) How to support Design for Life (51:13) Finding purpose through supply chain work Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Taylor Wilkerson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-wilkerson-21477a/ Learn more about Design for Life: https://designforlife.org/ Connect with Don Hicks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-hicks-35575b/ Learn more about Optilogic: https://optilogic.com/ Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now's NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- From Volume to Resilience: How Automotive Supply Chains Are Adapting to a New Market Reality: https://bit.ly/4f6SUGA WEBINAR- From Disruption to Stability: Building Resilient Logistics Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Global Market: https://bit.ly/3TguZMt WEBINAR- SAP AI Inside the Supply Chain: From Silo to Orchestration: https://bit.ly/4bvpz6K This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/public-health-supply-chain-redesign-bigger-band-aids-will-not-work-1621 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at production@supplychainnow.com© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is your morning All Local update for August 12th, 2026.

Nach der kleinen Serie zu Expertise im Fokus wird es jetzt konkreter. In dieser Folge nehme ich dich mit in eine Case Study aus meiner Arbeit mit einer Kundin, die ein eigentlich sehr gutes Online Programm hatte. Das Angebot war fachlich richtig gut und trotzdem hat es sich im Laufe der Zeit schlechter verkauft und die "falschen" Menschen angezogen. Ich zeige dir in der Case Study ganz konkret, wie Anna (Name geändert) und ich mithilfe des Expertise im Fokus-Modells die echte Ursache und passende Lösungen gefunden haben. Darüber spreche ich in der Folge:• warum Anna zuerst dachte, ihre KundInnen bräuchten noch mehr Inspiration, obwohl genau das nicht das eigentliche Problem war. • weshalb ein Angebot durch immer mehr Inhalte, Beispiele, Boni, Videos und Vorlagen nicht automatisch wirksamer wird. • warum der erste Blick bei der Ursachensuche nicht auf Format, Website oder neue Inhalte gehen sollte. • wie sichtbar wurde, wo Annas eigentliche Expertise lag und warum das alles leichter gemacht hat. • weshalb ihr Programm ursprünglich eher ihre Wissensstruktur abgebildet hat und zu wenig ihre Denkstruktur. • wie wir das Angebot nicht komplett neu aufgebaut haben, sondern die Navigation durch das vorhandene Wissen verändert haben. • warum ein klarer Diagnoseeinstieg und typische Ausgangssituationen ihren KundInnen geholfen haben, schneller zu erkennen, was für sie wirklich relevant ist. • was sich für Anna verändert hat, als sie nicht mehr einen großen Wissenskurs verwalten musste, sondern wieder stärker in ihrer eigentlichen Expertise gearbeitet hat. Enjoy the journey & create your own adventure.

Count the tabs it takes to move one renewal. Management system, carrier portal, the other carrier portal, quoting platform, email, Teams, back to the CRM, then a spreadsheet. That is eight, and not one of them is the conversation with the client. Nobody designed it that way. Nobody approved it. And you are paying your most expensive person to do it. In this solo episode, Mike Allton makes the case that the most expensive piece of integration software in your agency is a licensed producer, and that the AI you bought last year did not shorten that list. It lengthened it, and the new switches cost more than the old ones, because every one of them makes you rebuild your context out loud. Then he gives you the fix, in three steps you can run Monday morning without spending a dollar: Count, Name, Seat. Count the switches in one recurring job. Name the one where the most context has to get rebuilt from nothing, which is almost never the one that annoys you. Then give that context a seat to live in, using the three shapes of a Digital Crew: Scout, Scribe, and Coach. Also in this episode: why memory features do not solve this, the switchboard operator who kept getting better boards instead of a better question, how one benefits manager in Utah stopped being the cable between his carriers, the three rails to set before any client data goes near an AI tool, and the four objections Mike hears in every room. The wedge is the same as always. Redesign the work before you deploy AI. Take the AI Adoption Reality Check: https://theaihat.com/reality-check/ Read the companion piece on the Toggle Tax: https://theaihat.com/what-is-the-toggle-tax/ Show notes: https://theaihat.com/how-to-increase-insurance-agent-productivity-without-buying-another-tool/ Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeallton/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skip the interior designer. AI gives your living room a free makeover. Plus, Steven the school bus driver collected 242 jokes from my newsletter. He shares them with his co-workers everyday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can independent publishers achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace? In this episode of “Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA),” AdventureKEEN Publisher and COO Molly Merkle shares advice about the power of niche publishing and the strategies publishers can use to build loyal readers, stronger sales, and resilient businesses. You'll learn practical tactics about: - growing your backlist through publisher acquisitions and mergers - revitalizing older titles through redesign and repackaging - how to build strong relationships with specialty retailers and distribution partners - and more! Whether you're looking to grow your publishing company, strengthen your backlist, increase profitability, or better understand your target audience, this episode is packed with real-world insights and proven publishing strategies you can put into action right away. GUEST BIO Molly Merkle began her career in book publishing nearly 40 years ago as an intern during college, then moved to full-time work for Menasha Ridge Press, one of AdventureKEEN Publishing's now seven imprints. In early 2023, she was named AdventureKEEN's publisher and continues to serve as its COO. Merkle has been key to executing the company's vision for growth, including the acquisition and integration of several independent presses over the years. She's also helped lead the company through hardship and challenges, which are a fact of life for entrepreneurial publishers. Merkle serves on the board of The Publishers Cooperative, a group of established and emerging independent publishers committed to creating a strong, diverse, equitable, and inclusive publishing industry together. Independent Book Publishers Association is the largest trade association for independent publishers in the United States. As the IBPA Director of Membership & Member Services, Christopher Locke assists the 3,900 members as they travel along their publishing journeys. Major projects include managing the member benefits to curate the most advantageous services for independent publishers and author publishers; managing the Innovative Voices Program that supports publishers from marginalized communities; and hosting the IBPA podcast, “Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA).” He's also passionate about indie publishing, because he's an author publisher himself, having published two novels so far in his YA trilogy, The Enlightenment Adventures. LINKS Learn more about the many benefits of becoming a member of Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) here: https://www.ibpa-online.org/ Learn more about the AdventureKEEN at https://adventurewithkeen.com/ Follow IBPA on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IBPAonline Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ibpalovesindies/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/independent-book-publishers-association Follow the AdventureKEEN on: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/adventurekeen/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/adventurewithkeen/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@adventurekeen LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/adventurekeen/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@adventurekeen Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/adventurekeen.bsky.social Blog - https://adventurewithkeen.com/blog/ Learn more about The Publishers Cooperative at https://thepublisherscooperative.com/ Learn more about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation at https://bincfoundation.org/ This episode is presented by Total Printing Systems. Learn more at https://www.tps1.com/

 In episode 263, Coffey talks with Jimmy Taylor about the state of return-to-office, AI's real impact on workforce participation and HR practice, and why proactive networking and skills-based hiring matter more than ever.  They discuss CBRE data showing peak office utilization reaching 80% and the factors driving successful return-to-office adoption; the hidden financial costs employees bear when returning to the office and how employers should account for that in compensation and goodwill; why early-career professionals stand to benefit most from in-person work through mentorship, visibility, and relationship-building; June jobs report softness, a 50-year-low labor participation rate, and competing explanations from immigration enforcement changes and AI displacement; AI as a net job creator over time, drawing parallels to fears about the internet eliminating insurance agents, real estate agents, and recruiters in the 1990s; the organizational opportunity and challenge of assessing AI skill gaps and reskilling loyal existing employees rather than replacing them with outside talent; Gen Z's surprising gaps in desktop computing and interpersonal skills despite their reputation for tech fluency; the case for replacing traditional resumes with tailored application processes and front-end skills assessments to filter out AI-generated candidate slop; professional association involvement as a proactive career resilience and network-building strategy before a job loss forces it; and Dallas HR's hands-on AI skills day designed to move HR professionals from AI curiosity to practical daily application.  For listeners of Good Morning HR podcast, use 2026-CoffeyGMHR-100 promo code and take $100 off a HRSouthwest full conference registration at https://hrsouthwest.com.   For HR teams who discuss this podcast in their team meetings, we've created a discussion starter PDF to help guide your conversation. Download it here https://goodmorninghr.com/EP263  Good Morning, HR is brought to you by Imperative—Bulletproof Background Checks. For more information about our commitment to quality and excellent customer service, visit us at https://imperativeinfo.com.   If you are an HRCI or SHRM-certified professional, this episode of Good Morning, HR has been pre-approved for half a recertification credit. To obtain the recertification information for this episode, visit https://goodmorninghr.com.   About our Guest:  Jimmy Taylor brings more than 20 years of business and HR leadership to DallasHR and the HR Southwest Conference. As Executive Director, Jimmy is responsible for leading strategic initiatives and overseeing the operations of the organization in the mission to advance and connect the regional HR community.  Jimmy Taylor can be reached at   Website: https://www.dallashr.org/  Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-taylor-sphr-25b230/   About Mike Coffey:  Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, licensed private investigator, business strategist, HR consultant, and registered yoga teacher. In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations and due diligence firm helping risk-averse clients make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business. Imperative delivers in-depth employment background investigations, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance, and due diligence investigations to more than 300 risk-averse corporate clients across the US, and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies. Imperative has been named a Best Places to Work, the Texas Association of Business' small business of the year, and is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association.  Mike shares his insight from 25+ years of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for all stakeholders. Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence by FW, Inc. and has twice been recognized as the North Texas HR Professional of the Year.  Mike serves as a board member of a number of organizations, including the Texas State Council, where he serves Texas' 30 SHRM chapters as State Director-Elect; Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; the Texas Association of Business; and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he is chair of the Talent Committee. Mike is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) and teaches multiple times each week. Mike and his very patient wife of 29 years are empty nesters in Fort Worth.  Learning Objectives: Evaluate the real costs — financial, cultural, and competitive — that employees and employers each absorb when transitioning back to in-person or hybrid work arrangements. Assess an organization's current AI skill gaps and identify practical reskilling strategies that retain institutional knowledge while closing the gap with external market demands. Redesign the candidate screening process to replace resume-based review with structured application workflows and skills assessments that resist AI-generated submissions and reduce bias. 

Send us Fan MailJulie Young is the Founding CEO of Florida Virtual School (FLVS), where she helped pioneer online public education and expand access to millions of learners. She later founded ASU Prep Digital and is the author of Say Yes: How Virtual Became Reality, continuing to shape the future of student-centered learning.

In this fascinating and deeply empowering episode of The Midlife Makeover Show, Wendy Valentine sits down with Dr. Kim Foster — MD turned reinvention expert, TEDx speaker, and author of Redesigning You — for a conversation about the real reason most of us struggle to change. It's not willpower. It's not motivation. It's the inner blueprint we've been operating from our entire lives — the subconscious beliefs and identity stories that quietly run the show. Kim shares the exact tools she's developed for redesigning that blueprint from the inside out, so you can create change that actually sticks and step into the next version of yourself with clarity, confidence, and a whole lot less resistance. What You'll Learn•       Why knowing what to do is never enough — and what your "inner blueprint" has to do with why habits fail•       How to uncover the disempowering identity stories you've been telling yourself (often without even realizing it)•       The "identity ladder" technique for making change feel believable — not forced or fake•       How to use neuroplasticity to build new neural pathways through morning anchoring statements and tiny daily actions•       The Yellow Brick Road Rule — and why embracing the journey (not just the destination) is the secret to lasting transformation

This is the All Local afternoon update for July 22, 2026.

Embarrassed to send people your website link? Putting off that redesign because you have no idea where to start? You're not alone — and the problem probably isn't your fonts, your colors, or your template. In this episode, Sydney sits down with website redesign expert Carolyn of Maypop Creative Studio to break down the unsexy-but-essential website prep that makes your site actually bring in clients instead of just sitting there looking pretty.You'll learn the five foundational things to nail down before you hire a designer or buy a template — like giving your website one clear job, defining who it's really for, and organizing your offers and testimonials so visitors know exactly how to work with you. Carolyn explains why skipping this prep is the number one reason business owners end up redoing their sites a year later, how gathering it all is what finally gives you clarity in your business (not the other way around), and when AI-built websites are worth it — and when they'll cost you. If your website has been the thing you avoid instead of the thing that sells for you, this episode gives you a clear, doable starting point.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Carolyn's free 5-day website prep challenge (August 3–7): https://maypopcreativestudio.com/website-project-planTrail Mix site prep kit + "what's your best website approach" quiz: https://maypopcreativestudio.com/quizGrab Sydney's Content Chaos Reset for 2 weeks of custom content: https://www.sydneyobrien.com/content-planning-system

Home with Dean Sharp Hour 2 (07/18) - At the top of the second hour, our first caller lives in a ranch home, and his medium oak kitchen cabinets are giving him a mid-’80s scream. They need updating, although they are in good condition. What should he do to modernize and give them more of a mid-century feel? Do you need a new sprinkler system for your front lawn that won’t break the bank — or is there a better way for you to run your sprinkler system? Dean’s got you refreshingly covered. Lastly, our caller from Idaho needs a good, durable floor for her enclosed outdoor porch, because the present one is warped and pulling up due to the harsh winters up there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The operating model implication is clear: AI deployment is now fundamentally an organizational redesign challenge, not a software procurement exercise. Companies winning with AI are restructuring workflows, flattening management, embedding engineering into operations, and accelerating decision cycles. The largest leadership execution risk is cognitive overload at the executive layer. Teams are shrinking while ambiguity, pace, and strategic complexity are increasing simultaneously. Highest leverage focus area today: Redesign decision systems before scaling AI systems. https://www.breakfastleadership.com/  

Fewer than 100 companies have scaled enterprise AI from pilots to production to capture great value. Alexander Sukharevsky, who leads QuantumBlack, McKinsey's AI practice, joins Michael Krigsman to lay out the repeatable recipe behind those results and why the winners earn roughly three dollars back for every dollar invested. The conversation covers what capturing AI value really requires, why the CEO and board must own the transformation, and how to lead a hybrid workforce where agents work as colleagues, not tools.======This episode brought to you by Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™: https://cxo.news/KGg8XY======YOU'LL DISCOVER✅ Why fewer than 100 companies captured two-thirds of AI's value, and what they did differently✅ The repeatable recipe: focus a few domains, ready your data, rewire architecture, and fix the economics✅ Why AI transformation must be led by the CEO and board, not handed to the CTO or chief digital officer✅ How to treat AI agents as accountable colleagues, and who stays accountable for the outcomes✅ Why reinventing a domain beats bolting AI onto an existing process✅ How the winners pursue cost savings and top-line reinvention at the same time✅ Why governance and digital trust belong in from day one, with adults in the room on ethics✅ How expertise and judgment become more valuable as agents speed up the work⏱️ TIMESTAMPS0:00 The repeatable recipe for AI value8:27 Treat agents as colleagues, not tools13:42 Why the CEO must own the transformation18:05 From token maxing to value maxing22:01 Managing a hybrid team of agents23:30 A flexible architecture for changing models26:25 Governance and digital trust from day one30:59 Cost savings versus reinventing the top line34:46 Human focus, judgment, and accountability44:12 Redesign workflows instead of bolting on AI46:24 Careers and apprenticeship in an agent world50:47 What real CEO ownership looks like

July 16, 2026: New JLL research shows most executives expect AI to grow their teams instead of shrink them, even as layoffs continue in AI-exposed industries. Then I get into New York becoming the first state to freeze new large AI data centers, why I think that is a mistake, and what it could mean for American AI infrastructure. Finally, I unpack Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI and make my prediction that Sam Altman will not be CEO of OpenAI within the next year unless the company makes major changes.  

Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.Deltek's CCO Margo Martin and newly-appointed VP Customer Strategy & Services at Deltek Jason Goldsmith reveal how Claude turned three siloed post-sale teams into one AI-first machine and why they built a brand new executive role just to keep up.Deltek didn't just adopt AI. They restructured around it. After Claude and Claude Code cut documentation timelines by 80% and dev cycles by 50-60%, CCO Margo Martin realized her three post-sale orgs (implementation, CS, and support) were quietly duplicating AI work. Her fix? A brand-new "AI convergence" role . And she picked an internal boomerang employee to run it.In this episode, you'll hear exactly how they built the business case, picked the right leader, and what's next on the roadmap.---What You'll Learn- The tradeoff between touchless implementation and long-term customer stickiness- How Claude Code cut custom implementation timelines by 50-60%- Why Deltek reduced customer documentation & training time by 80%- How to spot "AI silos" forming across your org before they cost you- What it takes to build (and pitch) a brand-new AI strategy role internally- Deltek's build-vs-buy framework for AI tools- How CX leaders are using personal AI "chiefs of staff" day-to-day- Why Deltek is rebuilding its entire customer journey around AI- How to balance automation speed with customer stickiness ---Timestamps0:00 - Preview & Intro1:50 - Meet Margo Martin & Jason Goldsmith (Deltek)2:45 - What Deltek does & org structure6:40 - How Claude Code changed everything 10:23 - Duplicate AI efforts & the new VP of AI strategy role14:45 - Why Jason was the pick19:10 - Jason's 30/60/90 day plan24:10 - Predicting the first team to join Jason's org26:45 - Personal AI chiefs of staff28:28 - Build vs. buy: Deltek's AI tooling philosophy32:56 - KPIs and metrics for AI transformation---Josh is writing a book on building customer relationships. Follow his journey and insights at www.joshschachter.com---Where to Find the GuestMargo Martin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margomartin-/Jason Goldsmith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwgoldsmith/---Where to Find the Hosts: Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/