Podcasts about Succession

Survivor AU: Redemption Episode 12 Recap Australian Survivor: Redemption is back with another wild pre-merge ride! Host Mike Bloom is joined by special guest Omar Zaheer to break down all the strategy, twists, and chaos from the latest episode. A shocking blindside takes center stage, as alliances fracture and a top player learns just how quickly fortunes can shift in the outback. This episode dives into the unraveling of the powerful “Head Office” alliance as Faith, Mark, and Keely's partnership explodes in dramatic fashion. The Redemption Beach twist shakes up voting power, leaving returning players and newbies scrambling to adapt. The show's major twist—players returning to camp without their votes—forces contenders to think on their feet. Mike and Omar analyze Faith's brutally honest approach, Mark's pivotal decision to betray his closest ally, and the debate over whether it's ever the right time to strike first or wait for jury. There's also an in-depth look at challenge throwing, idol expiry rules, and the always-entertaining dynamic between the returnees and superfans. Key points in this episode: Mark's dilemma: Is it too soon to flip on your number one, or was Faith's honesty too much to ignore? Faith's exit—the emotional and strategic fallout of the season's biggest blindside. The chaos and calculations around the Redemption Beach twist and lost votes. Omar's take on why Australian Survivor's unpredictable challenge throws create unique gameplay moments. Hilarious asides about pet peeves, Australian nicknames, and who might just have the smallest hands in the cast. With the merge on the horizon, fractured loyalties and shifting power balance put Survivor's mantra—“outwit, outplay, outlast”—to the test. Will Mark's risky move pay off, or will new alliances endanger his game? Tune in for full analysis, deep strategy talk, and Survivor hot takes, including idol plays, alliance fractures, and what to expect now that the game—and the jury—are around the corner! Chapters: 0:00 Surprises and Major Moves Teased 6:27 Faith's Blindside and Fallout 12:12 Parallels with Succession and Betrayal 18:00 Mark's Justification for Targeting Faith 25:29 Keeley, Sally, and Alliance Fractures 32:08 Challenge Tossing and Redemption Beach 41:06 Twist Mechanics and Voting Impact 49:01 Baron's Decision: To Throw or Not 55:15 Assessing Brooke and Merge Map 1:03:26 Merge Dangers: Mark, Keely, Sally 1:09:01 Faith's Departure and Jury Predictions 1:13:12 Chizzy Points Debate and Awards 1:22:02 Post-merge Power Rankings Revealed 1:26:10 Faith's Legacy and Closing Thoughts Check out Peace Corps: https://peacecorps.gov/serve Never miss a minute of RHAP's extensive Global Survivor coverage! LISTEN: Subscribe to the Survivor Global podcast feed WATCH:  Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

5. Malcolm Hoenlein (SEG 5):Hoenlein details the chaos surrounding Iranian succession, including reports that Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded. He describes regional economic devastation from the Strait of Hormuz closure and the use of destructive cluster munitions. (6)1876 PERSIA

16. Greg Scarlatoiu (SEG 16):Scarlatoiu analyzes the public appearance of Kim Jong-un's daughter, Kim Ju-ae, and speculation regarding her being groomed for succession. He discusses the ruthless political environment within the Kim family dynasty. (17)JANUARY 1964

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Ryan Spahn is a Drama Desk Award–winning actor and writer. Select Off-Broadway: Richard II (Red Bull), Danger and Opportunity (East Village Basement), The Antiquities (Playwrights Horizons), Jordans (The Public), Merry Me (NYTW), Good Enemy (Audible), Jane Anger (New Ohio), Summer & Smoke (CSC), Daniel's Husband (Westside), Moscow x6 (MCC), Exit Strategy (Primary Stages), Gloria (Vineyard). Select TV/Film: Sub/liminal, Zero Day, Elsbeth, AHS: Delicate, Succession, Modern Love, The Bite, Chicago P.D. Ryan co-wrote the feature film He's Way More Famous Than You and wrote the play Inspired By True Events (Concord Theatricals, Theatrely's “Best of 2024.”). Juilliard graduate and the first teenaged Borg on Star Trek: Voyager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Across America, thousands of business owners are quietly approaching retirement — and many have no succession plan in place. For communities, that represents a major economic risk: lost jobs, closed storefronts, and the potential loss of locally rooted businesses. In this episode of Develop This!, host Dennis Fraise sits down with Mark Piekos, Executive Director of the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation, to explore how communities can turn the coming wave of business transitions into an economic development opportunity. Mark shares insights from Strong Transitions, an innovative program helping business owners prepare for exit while connecting them with the next generation of entrepreneurs. The initiative provides advisory support, builds a network of professional experts, and helps communities retain businesses through local ownership and thoughtful succession planning. Mark brings a unique perspective to the role. A lifelong resident of McHenry County and former small business owner, he also previously led the Illinois Small Business Development Center at McHenry County College, giving him firsthand experience helping entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses. Together, Dennis and Mark discuss why succession planning is often overlooked, the risks communities face if they ignore it, and how economic developers can build programs that protect local businesses, preserve jobs, and strengthen their economic base. If your community wants to retain businesses, build entrepreneurship pipelines, and prepare for the coming transition wave, this conversation is a must-listen. Key Topics Covered Why 73% of privately held businesses are expected to transition in the next decade The economic development risks of unplanned business exits How the Strong Transitions program connects business owners and successors The role of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Why succession planning should be a core business retention strategy Building an advisor bench to support business transitions Marketing strategies to reach business owners who rarely talk about exit plans How communities can start their own succession planning initiatives Memorable Quotes "Succession planning is one of the biggest economic development issues that no one is talking about."

My Foibles Flyer is carrying its fair share of tangents as I talk about dreams of bells and bikes and cornball machines.This episode (kind of) recaps S1 E3 (”Bring Up Buster” of Arrested Development and S1 E2 (”Sloppy Show at the Fun Factory”) of Succession.The show really needs your help right now. Keep Sleep With Me going and get hours of bonus content by joining Sleep With Me Plus! sleepwithmepodcast.com/plusGet your Sleep With Me SleepPhones. Use "sleepwithme" for $5 off!!Are you looking for Story Only versions or two more nights of Sleep With Me a week? Then check out Bedtime Stories from Sleep With MeThis episode is produced by Rusty Biscuit aka Russell Sperberg.Show Artwork by Emily TatGoing through a hard time? You can find support at the Crisis Textline and see more global helplines here.HELIX SLEEP - Take the 2-minute sleep quiz and they'll match you to a customized mattress that'll give you the best sleep of your life. Visit helixsleep.com/sleep and get a special deal exclusive for SWM listeners!ZOCDOC - With Zocdoc, you can search for local doctors who take your insurance, read verified patient reviews and book an appointment, in-person or video chat. Download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE at zocdoc.com/sleepPROGRESSIVE - With the Name Your Price tool, you tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.comCOYUCHI - Coyuchi offers luxury bedding, bath, and home products that you can feel good about. Made with natural fibers and certified to be free of toxins, they'll have you feeling great, too. Get 15% off their organic luxury bedding at coyuchi.com/sleep Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

L'image qu'elle a laissée est celle d'une étoile filante, d'un petit astre venu éclairer le règnedéclinant du Roi Soleil. Embarquez pour un voyage captivant dans les coulisses de la cour de Versailles sous le règne de Louis XIV. Franck Ferrand nous plonge au cœur d'une époque fascinante, lorsque l'arrivée d'une jeune princesse, Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, vient illuminer la vie du monarque vieillissant et de sa cour.À seulement 11 ans, cette enfant charmante et espiègle va conquérir tous les cœurs, du roi à la plus humble des servantes. Sous l'aile bienveillante de Madame de Maintenon, elle apprend les codes de la cour de Versailles, réputée pour sa cruauté et ses intrigues. Mais Marie-Adélaïde fait preuve d'une intelligence et d'une finesse qui lui permettent de s'y mouvoir avec aisance, devenant rapidement la coqueluche de tous.Cependant, derrière cette joie de vivre et ce charisme, se cache une destinée tragique. Alors que la France est en pleine guerre de Succession d'Espagne, la duchesse de Bourgogne doit faire face aux difficultés de son époque. Son mari, le duc de Bourgogne, se voit même accusé de lâcheté sur le champ de bataille, une situation que Marie-Adélaïde va s'employer à redresser avec une habileté politique remarquable.Mais le destin s'acharne sur cette jeune femme, et c'est dans la douleur que nous la verrons s'éteindre, emportée par une épidémie de rougeole à seulement 26 ans. Sa disparition plonge la cour dans un profond chagrin, marquant la fin d'une époque de joie et de légèreté à Versailles.Plongez dans l'histoire des grands personnages et des évènements marquants qui ont façonné notre monde ! Avec enthousiasme et talent, Franck Ferrand vous révèle les coulisses de l'histoire avec un grand H, entre mystères, secrets et épisodes méconnus : un cadeau pour les amoureux du passé, de la préhistoire à l'histoire contemporaine.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Kara sits down with Matthew Belloni, author of the flagship Puck newsletter What I'm Hearing and host of The Town podcast, to take the entertainment industry's temperature just a few days before the Academy Awards. They dig into the Warner Bros. Discovery/Paramount/Netflix saga and the consequences of the Ellison-backed deal for creatives and crews. Then Kara and Matt debate whether consolidation can fix Hollywood's broken economics and why legacy companies are facing a “Titanic-esque” moment as linear TV collapses. They also unpack the streaming wars, Netflix's next moves, Disney's succession questions and how AI could reshape filmmaking from visual effects to writers' rooms. Plus, they make their predictions for the Oscars. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. Paul Zorner of Locus Ag Solutions discusses the role of weeds in an ecological succession.  Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

In this episode, Dr. Paul Zorner of Locus Ag Solutions discusses the role of weeds in an ecological succession.  Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Naomi Hattaway is the founder of Leaving Well, a practice devoted to helping organizations treat leadership transitions not as crises or cleanups—but as acts of cultural maturity. She works with mission-driven teams to address board development, succession planning gaps, and workplace transition support. Through interim executive leadership and advisory services, Naomi's work lives at the intersection of trust-building, systems change, and the radical belief that how we end things matters just as much as how we begin.   Key Takeaways: Leadership changes are often treated as crises even though they are normal and predictable. Naomi reframes exits as acts of cultural maturity rather than simple HR events. Thoughtful offboarding helps organizations create healthy closure and continuity. Transitions affect not only leaders but also the team that remains. Founder departures can trigger identity questions when organizations are built around one personality. Acknowledging grief and uncertainty helps teams move forward with clarity. Succession planning should involve the whole team, not just top leadership. Documentation, relationship handoffs, and knowledge transfer strengthen organizational resilience. Sabbaticals and temporary leaves can help organizations practice navigating absence and return. People respond to change in different ways, and each style brings value. Understanding these differences helps teams balance stability with forward movement. Healthy organizations accept that transition is messy but handle it with intention and care.   “We need to normalize the reality that people leave.”   “We put so much effort and beautiful intention into the onboarding, and then the offboarding is not the same level of energy.”   “We have to start somewhere by being a little bit better to each other when it comes to goodbye.” - Naomi Hattaway   Reach out to Naomi Hattaway at: Website: https://naomihattaway.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/naomihattaway LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/naomihattaway       Let's Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence1. Group Coaching for Nonprofit LeadersWant to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward. 2. Team Coaching + TrainingI work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you're growing fast or feeling stuck, we'll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together. 3. Board Retreats + TrainingsYour board has big potential. I'll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our breaking news specials. Danny and Derek give an update on the war in Iran and the region. They discuss Israeli strikes on fuel depots outside Tehran and the growing civilian toll, the pace of Iranian missile and drone retaliation against Israel, the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new supreme leader, and the regional expansion of the conflict including ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Note: After the time of recording, ⁠CNN confirmed⁠ that Iran is placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawrence Zarian welcomes actress Justine Lupe to his podcast and they joke about prisms, John Hamm comparisons, and first meeting at The Kelly Clarkson Show. Lawrence asks Justine what she sees in the mirror, and she says she most identifies through her relationships—as a daughter, mother, sister, wife, and friend—crediting her close, codependent upbringing for prioritizing intimacy and safety over career volatility. They discuss her early creative spark (playing the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz), her New York years, and her work on Succession (choosing Shiv on a desert island) and Nobody Wants This, including Morgan's vulnerability, fearlessness, and dynamic with Sasha. Justine talks about transparency around body image and social media, advises focusing on soulfulness over aesthetics, and defines relationship essentials as mutual respect, vulnerability, and optimism. She ends by stating she is beautiful because she is soulful, kind, thoughtful, and deeply witnesses the people she loves.Timestamp Menu: 00:17 Prism Compliments00:58 John Hamm Mixup02:10 Kelly Clarkson Encounter05:33 Singing Suddenly Seymour07:06 Finding The Right Fit08:47 Mirror Question Identity11:21 Family Roots Of Closeness15:19 Midwest And New York Years16:58 Early Spark For Acting20:00 Parents And Healing23:10 Succession Breakout26:32 Desert Island Roy Pick28:57 Nobody Wants This Praise29:43 Fearlessness From Dad30:41 Embracing Goofy Humor32:56 Fearless Creative Risks33:35 Trusting the Film Crew35:56 Desert Island Character Pick36:48 Why Morgan Resonates39:25 Morgan and Sasha Chemistry41:33 Body Image and Transparency43:56 Advice for Social Media Pressure53:23 Season Two and Relationship Keys58:21 Beauty Definition and Farewell

Mojtaba Khamenei has been appointed to succeed his father as Supreme Leader of Iran. What now? Former UK Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who spent eight years as Chairman of the British–Iran Parliamentary Group, views this as a doubling down on defiance. Former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove and international journalist Rosanna Lockwood break down the rationale behind why the IRGC is vested in maintaining the status quo, the growing rift between the United States's strategy and Gulf States Allies, and whether or not the United States and Israel have a viable endgame.Plus: Already at $100 per barrel, how high will the price of oil climb? What impact will the conflict in Iran have on European security and economies? Are Russia and China giving Iran an intelligence edge? In this episode: 01:10 Succession in Tehran 02:56 The IRGC as a Business Cartel 04:10 The Gulf States' Perspective 06:55 UAE Business Backlash 10:26 Insurance and War Risk Shock 14:10 Shahi Drones and Escalation Risks 17:51 EU and UK Economic Hit 19:33 UK Politics and Social Tensions 21:38 One Decision to Watch Hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 Chief), Sir Ben Wallace (former UK Defence Secretary) and guest co-host Rosanna Lockwood (International Journalist) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Great leaders aren't born in a boardroom—they're forged in moments where stakes are high, information is messy, and people need clarity. That's the lens we bring to a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Mike Archdeacon, trauma surgeon and long-serving chair at the University of Cincinnati, on how to navigate leadership without losing the joy of clinical work.We dig into the real mechanics of leading a modern orthopaedic department: building an executive committee that actually decides, giving vice chairs ownership, and using a predictable cadence to turn hot-button issues into shared choices. Mike breaks down a major communication miss during vendor consolidation and how he'd do it differently—define decision rights early, share constraints, and close the loop with a clear rationale. From AOA's Chair Forum to intentional mentorship, we explore why peer spaces matter and how to spot and grow emerging leaders with targeted skill building in finance, conflict, philanthropy, and strategy.If you care about orthopaedic leadership, succession planning, and the balance between the scalpel and the C-suite, this conversation offers a practical, human roadmap. Subscribe, share with a colleague who's eyeing a leadership role, and leave a review telling us the one leadership habit you're working on next.

What does it actually take to build a business that lasts 25 years in Nigeria — through recessions, exchange rate crashes, COVID, counterfeit competitors, and a rapidly changing economy? Mrs. Temilola Adepetun has the answer, and it is not what most people expect.This episode of Founders Connect is one of the most layered and honest conversations about what entrepreneurship really looks like over the long term. Temilola breaks down exactly how she validated a business idea in her head before there was internet, how she dragged inventory through the streets of New York in winter with stiff hands and no nails left just to keep the business stocked, and how she survived two major competitors rising up to take her market — not by going to war with them, but by refusing to compromise on quality until her customers came back to her on their own.She talks about the real cost of growing too fast, the discipline of growing organically, and why staying focused on your lane in the early years is one of the most underrated business decisions a founder can make. She walks through what it took to go from being the sole operator of a seasonal business to building a head office, hiring a COO thirteen years in, doubling revenue within two years of that hire, and then using that momentum to attract private equity. She explains what due diligence actually looked like for a brick-and-mortar business and why the most powerful thing she ever did was bank every single naira she made and keep audited records from day one.She also shares her mental model for leaving corporate life, the Yoruba philosophy that shaped her decision to take the leap, how she read the market before anyone else saw it, and the specific mindset shift that helped her see a seasonal business not as a limitation but as a puzzle to solve. And she opens up about succession planning, the deliberate decision to pass operational control to a younger leader whose values aligned with hers, and why she believes that letting other people in — truly in — is the most important thing a founder can do to make their business outlast them.If you have ever wondered whether it is too late to start, whether a simple idea can become something serious, whether a non-tech business can scale, attract capital, and compete globally, this episode is the answer. Do not miss it.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro02:21 - Walking the Runway at Lagos Fashion Week at 6506:06 - What It Really Takes to Run a Business for 25 Years09:14 - The Solution-Oriented Mindset That Saved the Business11:23 - Was It Risky to Start a Business at 40 With a Family?20:52 - On Mistakes: The Estate That Fought Back & Lessons in Cutting Losses24:05 - Recruitment Errors, Internal Fraud & Trusting the Wrong People25:42 - Balancing a Business, Travel & Three Sons28:45 - Parenting Lessons for Female Founders: What Actually Works33:57 - On Integrity: Why Honesty Is a Business Strategy, Not Just a Value37:27 - Staying Relevant Through Recessions, COVID & Changing Technology41:52 - From Bootstrapping to Private Equity: How the Deal Happened42:56 - The Four Divisions Most People Don't Know About44:28 - UNICEF, Humanitarian Aid & the Year That Made Her First Billion50:05 - How COVID Lockdown Became Their Most Productive Period55:19 - Succession Planning1:00:13 - Two Life Lessons She Learned the Hard Way1:01:37 - What She Loves (and What Surprised Her) About Getting Older1:08:42 - One Word to Describe Her Life Journey1:10:00 - Final Thoughts: On Faith, Conviction & Minimizing Regret1:15:30 - Closing: On Legacy, Succession & What the Business Is Really ForFollow Founders Connect for more conversations with the builders, operators, and entrepreneurs shaping the African business landscape.

In this Monday's Media Confidential interview Alan and Lionel talk to Gabriel Sherman, journalist and author of Bonfire of the Murdochs, how the fight to control the last great media dynasty broke a family and the world.Gabriel has been a Murdoch-watcher for many years and scoured the thousands of documents of the Nevada trial where the succession struggles played out in the courts and all “their petty grievances and jealousies” went on the record. The three discuss the rise of Rupert, his relationship with three of his children Lachlan, James and Elizabeth and how their lives were shaped by his plans. They also discuss the news empire's ability to pivot politically and keep ahead of the curve and the impact of legal scandals across the years. Our hosts and Gabriel also reflect on the TV series Succession and how closely it reflects real life and discuss what might happen next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation, Zach sits down with acclaimed author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, the writer behind Chain-Gang All-Stars and Friday Black, to explore the uneasy relationship between violence, justice, and entertainment in modern culture. They discuss how violent spectacle, from gladiators to modern media, captures our attention and forces us to confront our own role as spectators. Nana explains how Chain-Gang All-Stars uses brutal prison death matches as a lens to examine the American carceral system, state violence, and the moral contradictions around punishment. The conversation also dives into Nana's writing process, including why he sometimes writes longhand, how Metroid Prime influenced the book's unique footnote structure, and why humor can coexist with the darkest subject matter. They also discuss Succession, the psychology of audiences misreading satire, and how growing up with a defense-attorney father shaped Nana's views on crime and compassion. Ultimately, the episode wrestles with a bigger question: what stories about violence reveal about who we are, and who we're becoming.Guest bio: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the acclaimed author of the bestselling novel Chain-Gang All-Stars and the award-winning short story collection Friday Black. A National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Esquire, exploring violence, justice, and the American imagination.NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH LINKS:Chain Gang All-Stars (Buy Local): https://bit.ly/4cqaXqzFriday Black (Buy Local): https://bit.ly/4luPKylWebsite: https://www.nanakwameadjei-brenyah.com/Spotify: https://bit.ly/4bblEuUSubstack (WISLY): https://nanakwame.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/king_nk/Stream All of Nana's Music: https://bit.ly/40MSD3GTHE ZACH SHOW LINKS: The Zach Show 2.0: https://thezachshow.supercast.com/Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3zaS6sPYouTube: https://bit.ly/3lTpJdjInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/auxoro/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zachshowpod Website: https://www.auxoro.com/Substack: https://thezachshow.substack.com/If you're not ready to subscribe to The Zach Show 2.0, rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts is free and massively helpful. It boosts visibility, helps new listeners discover the show, and keeps this chaos alive. Thank you:Rate The Zach Show on Spotify: https://bit.ly/43ZLrAtRate The Zach Show on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/458nbha

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This week on Hull on Estates, Stuart Clark and Mark Debono discuss Gebremariam v. Menghesha, 2026 ONSC 545, where the Court exercised its power under section 21.1 of theSuccession Law Reform Act to validate a testamentary document that was electronically written, unsigned, and unwitnessed, in light of the section's apparent prohibition of electronic Wills.

South Africans are facing an impending and massive R8-a-litre fuel price shock when prices are adjusted next month. This spike is a direct consequence of the prolonged war in Iran, which has driven the Rand cost of oil up by 40%, jumping from R954 to R1,328 a barrel. The higher oil price - now above $80 a barrel from below $60 a week ago - is significantly impacting global inflation expectations, triggering nervous trading on Wall Street overnight. Also in Today's Daybreak: Global and local markets are under pressure, with the JSE down 0.75%, mainly due to a 2.5% fall in resource stocks. The Rand opened at R16.60 against the US dollar. Gold and Bitcoin remain steady at $5,150 and $71,250, respectively. SA's Geopolitical Tightrope: ANC Top Seven member Nomvula Mokonyane visited the Iranian Embassy in Pretoria to sign a condolence book for the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Professor Edward Minnie discusses how this brings South Africa's delicate position on the war into sharp focus. Iranian Succession & Trump: Donald Trump is insisting on being involved in the selection of the new Iranian leader and strongly opposes a "North Korean style" succession by the Ayatollah's son. However, the FT's Tehran correspondent reveals that Mojtaba Khamenei has already emerged as the leading candidate in highly confidential initial voting. Investment Strategy Insights: Piet Viljoen discusses his worldwide flexible 'Cockroach' fund. He shares his protective strategy of holding a high exposure to previously inexpensive energy assets to guard against unpredictable global events. He also unpacks Warren Buffett's approach to geopolitics and explains his allocation to cryptocurrency.

Today on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Peggy highlights the upcoming Farm Forward Conference on Friday, March 27, at the Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center in Newton, Wisconsin. Presented in partnership with Zoetis, Menn Law, AgriGrowth Solutions, and Leading Edge Consulting, the event is designed to help farmers and advisors navigate farm transition—especially the hard conversations that often stall progress.The day includes a hands-on workshop led by farm family transition coach Elaine Froese, along with an afternoon panel featuring legal, financial, and farmer perspectives. Attendees will walk away with practical next steps, communication tools, and greater clarity around transition planning.In the podcast interview, Elaine shares her background as a farm-raised home economist and certified conflict-resolution coach. She explains her coaching process and the tools she uses to help families move through procrastination, avoid unnecessary conflict, and separate family dynamics from business decisions.She emphasizes the importance of financial transparency, regular family meetings, clearly defined expectations and timelines, and understanding that fairness does not always mean equality. The conversation also addresses retirement planning, long-term care considerations, and how to reduce anxiety around money and scarcity.Join us for the Farm Forward ConferenceFriday, March 27, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center7001 Gass Lake Rd, Manitowoc, WIRegister Here: https://pci.jotform.com/form/260474594709165For more from Elaine Froese:www.ElaineFroese.comelaine@elainefroese.comConflict Dynamics Profile: https://elainefroese.com/coaching/conflict-dynamics-profile/Farm Family Harmony Podcast: www.farmfamilyharmonypodcast.com00:00 – Farm Transition Anxiety00:27 – Farm Forward Conference Overview01:53 – Meet Elaine Froese04:39 – How Her Coaching Process Works07:44 – Addressing the “Bull in the Room”10:11 – Common Transition Misconceptions14:49 – Why Clarity and Timelines Matter20:20 – Fair vs. Equal in Farm Transitions25:48 – Retirement and Financial Realities29:51 – Effective Advisor and Family Meetings34:37 – When Change Stalls37:56 – Vulnerability and Shared Goals41:01 – Conference Details and Next Steps42:54 – Coach on Call in the Hall44:51 – Final Takeaways

Ce jeudi 5 mars, la succession qui s'organise en Iran après la mort du guide suprême, Ali Khamenei, a été abordée par Annalisa Cappellini dans sa chronique, dans l'émission Good Morning Business, présentée par Sandra Gandoin, sur BFM Business. Retrouvez l'émission du lundi au vendredi et réécoutez la en podcast.

A fortnight on from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the crisis has shifted into constitutional territory — with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying the Government is “looking at options” on the line of succession. Roya Nikkhah and Kate Mansey explain why succession is a matter for both Parliament and the Palace, what “removal” would actually involve, and what it could mean for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie — as well as the precedent it could set for a future monarchy under William.Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 89 of Durable Value, host Ryan Swehla sits down with Matt Slepin, Co-Head of Real Estate at ZRG Partners, to unpack what great leadership and succession really look like in today's real estate industry. Matt shares his fascinating 25-year journey in executive search, from lobbying for low-income housing to building and selling his own firm. We dive into the real succession challenges facing today's real estate leaders, the institutional rise of multifamily, and how AI and technology are rewriting the playbook for talent and decision-making in the industry.00:00 - Introduction 02:30 - From Lobbying to Real Estate Development05:45 - Career Interruptions & Finding the Right Fit13:20 - How Multifamily Became Institutional18:30 - The Rise of Specialty Asset Classes & REITs24:00 - Entrepreneurship & Starting Terrace Search Partners29:45 - Succession Planning Challenges in Real Estate34:15 - The Sale to ZRG Partners38:30 - Benefits of Joining a Larger Firm42:00 - Semi-Retirement & What's Next45:15 - AI, Technology & The Future of Real Estate51:30 - Advice for Real Estate Careers Beyond Deal-Making56:00 - Final Thoughts & Closing

Selling your business to a new buyer isn't the only way to exit. What if you could transition ownership to your employees, rewarding their hard work while securing your legacy?  In this episode, Chris Fredericks, CEO at Empowered Ventures, discusses Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and how they offer a powerful alternative to traditional exit strategies. Chris explores the advantages of ESOPs and other employee ownership models, such as co-ops and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). He shares examples of how these models help businesses thrive and create lasting value for both owners and their teams. If you're considering your exit options, this episode offers valuable insights into the potential of employee ownership.   In this episode, you will: Learn the nuances of ESOPs, Co-ops, and EOTs for employee ownership Understand the process of transitioning a company to employee ownership Learn how to navigate the legal and compliance aspects of ESOPs   Highlights: (00:00) Meet Chris Fredericks (02:35) ESOP vs Co-Op vs EOT (05:17) Succession and transition to ESOP (08:34) Life after the ESOP (19:34) Deal sourcing through brokers vs direct outreach (23:09) The pressure & culture shift of employee ownership (24:55) Scaling ESOPs: employee-led demand & policy momentum   Resources: For past guests, please visit https://www.defendersofbusinessvalue.com/   Follow Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederickschris/  Learn more about Empowered Ventures: https://empowered.ventures/  Follow Ed: Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmysogland/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/defendersofbusinessvalue/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bvdefenders

In this episode of The Association Insights Podcast, host OnWrd & UpWrd's Colleen Gallagher welcomes back Louise St. Germain, Interim Executive Director of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) for a powerful conversation on leadership during transition, global scale, and what it truly takes to maintain stability while building momentum.After more than a decade in senior leadership at the ISTH—and over two decades in global health communications, advocacy, and crisis response—Louise has stepped into the organization's top leadership role during a pivotal period. With 7,500 members across 120 countries and major milestones ahead—including the 2026 Congress in Paris—she shares what it means to lead with humility, curiosity, and clarity.

Show #2613 Show Notes: Historical definition of ‘Semite’: https://factually.co/fact-checks/history/historical-definition-of-semite-evolution-over-time-cbf7c4 12 Tribes of Israel: https://www.bibliaon.com/en/the_12_tribes_of_israel_and_their_meanings/ Patrilineal vs Matirineal succession: https://www.thoughtco.com/patrilineal-vs-matrilineal-succession-3529192 What happened to the 12 tribes? https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/article/what-became-lost-tribes-israel

In this deeply personal and powerful episode of Machine Shop Mastery, Paul sits down with Dave Hataj, third-generation leader of Edgerton Gear in Wisconsin. What begins as a conversation about a custom gear job shop quickly unfolds into something much larger — a story about culture change, humility, sabotage, burnout, mentorship, and the responsibility manufacturers carry in shaping the next generation. When Dave returned to his family's shop in the early 1990s, he walked into a deeply dysfunctional environment. Alcohol flowed freely in the lunchroom. Leadership was fragmented. Trust was thin. When he began making changes, the resistance was immediate and intense — including internal sabotage from senior employees and the loss of key team members. What followed was years of long hours, strained relationships, and hard-earned lessons about leadership and character. Instead of doubling down on control, Dave made a different choice. He committed to building a culture centered on humility, trust, mentorship, and service. Over time, that commitment reshaped not only Edgerton Gear but also his vision for workforce development. Out of that journey came Craftsman with Character — a program that connects high school students with real manufacturers while intentionally developing virtues like responsibility, purpose, teachability, and excellence. What started as a local experiment in one Wisconsin community has expanded across multiple states and reached hundreds of students. This episode explores how character-driven leadership can create both cultural transformation and business growth — and why manufacturing may be one of the most powerful vehicles we have to restore dignity, purpose, and opportunity in our communities. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... (0:00) Introduction to Dave Hataj and Edgerton Gear (3:52) Edgerton Gear today: custom gear capabilities and industries served (4:54) The origin story: how Dave's parents started the company in 1962 (10:09) Get a free list of opportunities in your industry from FacturMFG.com/chips (12:00) Returning to a toxic culture, beginning transformation, and rebuilding (16:01) The personal toll of leadership and lessons from burnout (19:37) Why humility became the defining hiring trait (23:25) Studying character: The doctoral work that shaped Dave's philosophy (29:14) Why you need to use Hire MFG Leaders (29:43) The launch of Craftsman with Character (35:17) How the program works: job shadowing paired with character development (39:40) Expanding the model nationally with U.S. Navy support (41:46) Transitioning from grant funding to a sustainable model (43:37) Building a mentoring culture inside Edgerton Gear (46:05) How ProShop ERP can help you achieve on-time delivery (47:01) The profitability impact of servant leadership and community investment (52:14) Radical rest, health struggles, and long-term sustainability (55:56) Why blue-collar businesses are foundational to civilization (1:00:36) Purpose and relationships as the foundation of a meaningful life (2:03:22) Succession planning and passing leadership to the next generation Resources & People Mentioned Becoming Good by David Gill 78. The Power of Being Mission Driven – Court Durkalski of Truline Industries Get a free list of opportunities in your industry from FacturMFG.com/chips Why you need to use Hire MFG Leaders How ProShop ERP can help you achieve on-time delivery Connect with Dave Hataj CWCharacter.org EdgertonGear.com DaveHataj.com Good Work: How Blue Collar Business Can Change Lives, Communities, and the World The Craftsman's Code: A Blueprint for Building a Meaningful Life and an Enduring Connect With Machine Shop Mastery The website LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Subscribe to Machine Shop Mastery on Apple, Spotify Audio Production and Show Notes by - PODCAST FAST TRACK

What did you think of todays show??Lower rates are supposed to unlock the market, so why does it feel harder than ever right now?In this episode, we unpack why things can look better without actually getting cheaper, how pricing is influenced behind the scenes, and the recurring revenue obsession that's turning everything into a subscription — from weight-loss meds to “free” HVAC inspections. Plus, hear about our real estate bottlenecks, tenant drama, and when paying a property manager actually makes sense.Topics discussed:Introduction (00:00)Rebranding the podcast (01:37)The business of GLP-1s (02:47)Recurring revenue has invaded everything (06:13)The State of the Union Address (09:38)Rates check-in: FHA, DSCR loans, and who's winning (12:34)Insider info and betting: Polymarket, “reverse Jim Cramer,” and real estate (15:42)Media manipulation and real-life Succession (20:55)The hardest part of a flip (23:41)Landlord headaches and tenant grievances (27:12)The truth about the “inventory shortage” (33:14)Sign up to join the FREE Scale Community! https://collectingkeys.com/Want deeper breakdowns like this every week? Subscribe to the Collecting Keys newsletter! https://collectingkeys.com/newsletter/Follow us on Instagram!https://www.instagram.com/collectingkeyspodcast/https://www.instagram.com/mike_invests/https://www.instagram.com/investormandan/https://www.instagram.com/dylan_does_dealsThis episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are reportedly out of this year's Royal Ascot carriage procession in what insiders describe as a devastating public blow. Sources say Beatrice feels “completely blindsided” as the sisters once again face fallout from Prince Andrew's ongoing scandal. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting to remove Andrew from the line of succession, with Prince William said to favor decisive action and public opinion overwhelmingly in support. We break down the Ascot decision, the widening succession debate, the late-night mockery, and what it all signals about the monarchy's tightening inner circle.Get episodes of Palace Intrigue by becommming a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts. Click the button that says uninterrupted listening.  Just $5 a month, and that includes many ofther shows on the Caloroga Shark network.Royal Books:William and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside StoryThe Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana

The British government has pledged to introduce legislation to remove ex-Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from line. But now questions arise about the royal succession to the throne. As the potential king of 14 Commonwealth countries, however, the process is not as easy as stripping his title. - Die britische Regierung hat zugesagt, Gesetze einzuführen, um Ex-Prinz Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor aus der Linie zu entfernen. Doch jetzt tauchen Fragen zur königlichen Thronfolge auf. Als potenzieller König von 14 Commonwealth-Ländern ist der Prozess jedoch nicht so einfach wie die Entziehung seines Titels.

When the State Writes Your WillThis episode explores the complexities of intestate succession, the default legal framework for estate distribution when no will exists. It covers key concepts like spouse rights, representation systems, family structures, and legal nuances that impact inheritance.What happens when the law's idea of family clashes with real-life bonds? If you died without a will, would your assets truly go to who you want— or just who the law presumes?This episode unpacks intestate succession, revealing how the default system can reshape your legacy based on outdated notions of family, bloodlines, and formal marriage. Discover how courts interpret complex relationships— from cohabitation and stepfamilies to non-marital kids and adoption— and the chaos that can ensue when legal assumptions meet modern realities.You'll learn:The surprising truth behind who qualifies as a spouse at death—and why legal separation might keep your ex in the will even after you divorce.How intestacy rules handle children from previous relationships, and why the “non-shared kid” can drastically cut a surviving spouse's inheritance— and how policy choices prioritize blood over bonds.The three methods of distributing property among descendants: strict per stirpes, modern per stirpes, and the more equitable UPC system of per capita at each generation— and why choosing the wrong one on exam could cost you crucial points.The significance of simultaneous death rules— including the 120-hour survival requirement— preventing double probate and ensuring assets flow properly to heirs.Deep dives into representation systems— how the law divides assets among grandchildren, half-siblings, and even “laughing heirs” (those who inherit without a second thought)— and how these rules can create paradoxical outcomes.Critical legal concepts like adoption (full, step, equitable), paternity, non-marital children, and posthumous reproduction— bringing modern family structures into the estate law frame.The deadly impact of the Slayer Rule: killers cannot inherit, and how the law applies standards of proof that are lower in civil probate courts— meaning a criminal acquittal doesn't automatically clear the way for inheritance.The importance of adjustments— advancements, disinheritance, and disclaimers— and how they ensure your estate plan aligns with your actual wishes.Why does all this matter? Because intestate succession operates quietly in the background, ready to implement a version of your estate that may be far from what you intended. If you don't craft your own will, the state's script takes over— a rigid, mechanical plan based on outdated assumptions.Perfect for estate law students, lawyers, or anyone planning for the future— mastering intestacy equips you to navigate complex family realities and protect your legacy. Will your assets go to the right people—or be left behind by default? The choice is yours, but only if you understand how the law works when no one writes the story.Get ready for a deep dive into the silent partner of all estate plans— because knowing these rules is key to ensuring your true intentions survive your passing.Key TopicsIntestate succession processSpouse and family rights under lawRepresentation systems for heirsLegal treatment of non-traditional familiesBars and adjustments to inheritanceIntestate succession, estate planning, inheritance laws, family law, probate, legal estate distribution, UPC, intestacy rules, inheritance traps, estate planning tips

About SuccessionSuccession helps founders and sales teams close more deals with biotech and pharma. We partner with our clients to run modern lead generation campaigns, up-skill their team through personalized sales training, and build AI workflows using cutting-edge tools and technology.Ready to take your go-to-market to the next level?Keith Dalyhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-daly-8377ba105/Free Insights Tool: https://insights.succession.bio/Newseletter: https://blog.succession.bio

durée : 00:10:04 - L'invité de 7h15 - Le guide suprême iranien Ali Khamenei, 86 ans, a été tué lors de frappes américaines et israéliennes samedi. Cette mort met un terme à 36 années d'un règne tyrannique et sanguinaire contre le peuple iranien. Retour sur le parcours de celui qui dirigeait l'Iran depuis 1989. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.

Pod Save the King is back, covering the trials and tribulations of the Windsors. Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers is joined by Jennifer Newton to look at how the Royal Family are looking to "keep calm and carry on" under the shadow of the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor controversy. Russell and Jennifer discuss Prince William and Kate Middleton's visit to Wales, Harry and Meghan's Jordan trip, and the UK government considering whether to remove Andrew from the line of succession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when a technology-minded New Yorker stumbles into Hollywood and ends up reshaping how the industry makes trailers, title sequences, and motion graphics for the next three decades? This week, Eric Ladd joins the show to talk about his winding path from floppy disk drives and Bank of America to running Novocom, building Pittard Sullivan into a global powerhouse, and founding Picture Mill, one of the most influential design and motion graphics companies in entertainment marketing history. Now he's doing it again with Ignite XR, creating AR and social content tools contracted by TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. Along the way, the conversation covers how Picture Mill got its name (in a single impulsive moment at a lunch meeting), the deal that fell apart and sent half of Pittard's leadership out the door to start their own companies, and how Eric pioneered digital before the industry even had a name for it. He also shares what it was like to shoot the Mandalay tiger in Hawaii, fly to Edwards Air Force Base with a first-time solo pilot to blow up a quarter-scale hotel, and pitch George Lucas on a Star Wars re-release trailer using a clip of Apocalypse Now on VHS. Key Takeaways Confidence Is a Skill Before leaving Pittard, Eric had already grown Novocom from two people to sixty. That track record gave him the credibility to walk into Aspect Ratio's Citrus lunch meeting with an $8.5M business plan he'd written in two hours — and walk out with a credit line and the name Picture Mill. The People You Work With Are the Real Portfolio When asked about favorite campaigns, Eric sidestepped the question entirely: "I have favorite people." The relationships formed in those early years, including editors, designers, producers, directors, are what he actually carries forward. Know When to Leave, and Who Should Replace You At Pittard, Eric not only knew when his time was up, he named Anne Epstein as the person who should take the job. Succession thinking and generosity with credit have been constants throughout his career. Bleeding Edge Requires a Tolerance for Uncertainty Whether it was scanning and comping an entire Spike Lee trailer in the early days of digital, pioneering AR filters on Snapchat before the platforms knew what to do with them, or landing a contract with ByteDance by simply delivering a working product without being asked, Eric's approach has always been to figure it out first and explain it later. AI Is a Tool, Not a Threat... If You Have Ideas The conversation about AI cuts to the heart of what this show is about. Eric's view: "It all comes down to ideas." AI can execute, but someone still has to direct it. The people who will struggle are those who were already functioning as tools themselves. Notable Quotes "I went over there at five o'clock and Ed and I were there till ten. We just clicked." "I said, 'You can't afford me.' He said, 'How much do you want?' Six months later my paycheck just went WHOOSH." "When we came back from lunch, we'd hired every one of those people in the waiting room." "It all comes down to ideas. AI can give you ideas, but it lacks what humans can do with them." "A lot of being successful has to do with wherewithal. If you can hang in there long enough, you can be successful doing anything." "When we're gone, those stories are gonna be gone with us." "Not anymore. They're on the record!" Connect Eric Ladd — ignitexr.com Corey Nathan — @coreysnathan on all platforms Our Sponsors Meza Wealth Management – mezawealth.com The Golden Trailer Awards – goldentrailer.com Join the Community Like what you hear? Leave us a rating and review! Connect with Corey on all platforms @coreysnathan Subscribe for new episodes every week and keep up with the world's best trailer creatives!

Episode 19 | Passing It On: Training for Succession Leadership Lesson with Trip Kimball Trip Kimball, currently a pastor on staff with Poimen Ministries, a longtime friend with roots in Calvary Chapel beginning with his baptism at Costa Mesa in 1971 and spreading across the globe in ministry, shares his experience and wisdom for passing on the role of leadership. One Piece of Advice withPastor Kaká Ricardo (Kaká) Monteiro from Calvary Curitiba, Brazil shares his advice about the importance of passing it on to others.

S6:E19 Having authority does not mean you have followers. Queue Up Episode This week on Small Business Stories, Dr. LL sits down with executive coach and M&A advisor Joseph Incrocci to explore how leadership expectations have shifted in founder-led and middle-market businesses. If people don't trust you, they won't follow you. If they don't believe you can take them somewhere better, they won't align. Joe brings decades of experience scaling companies, selling businesses, and coaching CEOs through ego resistance, succession challenges, and growth strategy.

Steadfast leadership isn't about perfection. It's about presence, purpose, and people. But how can you define it in your current leadership role? Joining me in this month's series are three steadfast leaders, Amy Gant, Jackie Ready, and Maryann Vitale Alles, sharing stories that will help you lead with greater clarity, courage, and consistency. Grab your cafécito and get ready to be inspired.   Meet The Leaders Maryann Vitale Alles is the CEO and President of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties, one of the Midwest's most respected brokerages. She began her leadership journey with a passion for real estate and helping others build their careers, earning a reputation as a thoughtful and grounded leader. Amy Gant is Senior Vice President and Regional Manager at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. She came to real estate from the media world and quickly discovered a passion for leadership and developing others.  Jackie Ready is the Broker/Owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Panoramic Properties on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. She began in economic development in Laurel, Mississippi, before moving into real estate, eventually becoming a managing broker and then purchasing and rebranding her own brokerage.   Overcoming Adversity and Self-Doubt Each leader shares their stories of overcoming career-defining challenges and moments of self-doubt.  Jackie talks about the difficult season after purchasing her brokerage, balancing staff changes and new motherhood, and how her commitment to her team kept her going. Amy shares how the sudden loss of her family's primary income pushed her into leadership, calling it the best decision of her life. Maryann reflects on building resilience while leading a company through skepticism and doubt, emphasizing the power of transparency and clear communication.  Together, they highlight how authenticity, strong relationships, and supportive teams help leaders and their organizations thrive during uncertainty.   Empowerment, Culture, and Succession  What does true empowerment look like in leadership? Each leader shares how they empower others and how you can do the same for your team. Amy notes that culture isn't surface-level; it's built by setting high standards, holding people accountable, and celebrating wins and learning from failures together. Mentorship, collaboration, and individualized support are key, and a leader's success is reflected in the growth of those they guide.  Succession planning is another focus, with Maryann stressing the importance of helping agents prepare for transitions. Jackie and Amy add that honest conversations and proactive training are essential to keep both seasoned and new talent thriving.   Personal Influences Every leader has someone who shaped their journey, and each of my guests shares who made the biggest impact. Amy expresses deep gratitude for the early guidance I gave her as a new agent, sharing a heartfelt story about how mentorship helped her grow in real estate. Jackie names her mother as her greatest influence. Her mother's immigrant journey, intentional living, and resilience inspired Jackie to prioritize meaningful choices and protect her energy. Maryann credits her father and her business partner, Deb, for guiding her leadership. Her father taught her work ethic and relationship-building from an early age. Deb has always believed in her potential, showing the power of strong, trusted support.   Favorite Books, Advice, and Quotes Amy Gant Advice to Her Younger Self: Remember, "People matter. Treat them with kindness, integrity, and respect, and that's all you'll need to know. Everything else falls into place." Jackie Ready Favorite Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear  Advice to Her Younger Self: "Protect your energy. Really keep your circle with the energy you're seeking, surrounding yourself with the right people." Maryann Vitale Alles Quotes/Beliefs: "Lead with integrity even when it's hard. Making the right decisions over time compounds, and you have to just make the decision and trust your instinct."   When you help another woman rise, we all shine. And that's how we make an impact. So, let's build each other up and shine brighter than the sun. For more great content from Teresa, connect with her on LinkedIn, join her Women Who Lead Series on Facebook, and subscribe to her YouTube channel. You can find more episodes of Women Who Lead on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else podcasts can be found.   This episode is brought to you in part by Venus et Fleur. Are you looking for a great way to show appreciation to family, friends, or even customers? Give them a floral arrangement they won't forget anytime soon. These beautiful arrangements make the perfect closing gift for any realtor to stay top of mind. Visit venusetfleur.com and use code "hsoa20" when ordering for 20% off.

In this Trawl, Jemma and Marina survey the political carnage and ask: what's Reform's problem with equality?While America wrestles with peak what-the-fuckery, back home “Trump Lite” is workshopping his strongman routine and Reform are busy torching the Equality Act, apparently “for the boys.” Because nothing says protecting young men like removing the legislation that protects them.Then, the Trawl ladies dive into the by-election showdown between Green candidate Hannah Spencer and Reform's Matt “Tax Your Womb” Goodwin, the increasingly chaotic Reform vetting process (featuring a Succession cameo), and why their big policy platform seems to be: scrap it, bin it, cut it.Plus: Vic Derbyshire wipes the floor with Zia Yusuf, Caroline Lucas delivers a masterclass and Nigel Farage clocks up air miles to the Chagos Islands instead of doing his actual job in Clacton.There's a ring doorbell, a Benny Hill soundtrack, tactical voting chat, and Under RatedsSide effects may include eye-rolling, sharp intakes of breath, and involuntary shouting at your podcast app.Thank you for sharing and please do follow us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast Patreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawl Twitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastIf you've even mildly enjoyed The Trawl, you'll love the unfiltered, no-holds-barred extras from Jemma & Marina over on Patreon, including:• Exclusive episodes of The Trawl Goss – where Jemma and Marina spill backstage gossip, dive into their personal lives, and often forget the mic is on• Early access to The Trawl Meets…• Glorious ad-free episodesPlus, there's a bell-free community of over 3,300 legends sparking brilliant chat.And it's your way to support the pod which the ladies pour their hearts, souls (and occasional anxiety) into. All for your listening pleasure and reassurance that through this geopolitical s**tstorm… you're not alone.Come join the fun:https://www.patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Questions over the British Royal line of succession are emerging after the UK government pledged to introduce laws to remove ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line. However, as the potential future King of 14 Commonwealth countries, the process to remove the former prince is not as simple as stripping his title.

Today we've got "yearning" in cravats, a major win for the Swifties, and some very cozy Beverly Hills strolls with our favorite Internet Daddy. ☕ We have a TEASER for Dolly Alderton’s Pride and Prejudice ☕ Aimee Lou Wood takes on the lead in a new Succession-penned Jane Eyre ☕ Tributes pour in for Lizzie McGuire star Robert Carradine ☕ Taylor Swift breaks a 12-year record ☕ Pedro Pascal fuels romance rumors with an affectionate outing in LA THE END BITSOnce you’ve devoured this morning’s celeb stories, get your daily news headlines from The Quicky here. Find our new Bridgerton podcast in the Watch Party feed on Apple or Spotify. Support independent women's media Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. And subscribe to our Youtube channel. Read all the latest entertainment news on Mamamia... here. Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here. CREDITS Host & Producer: Ash London Executive Producer: Monisha IswaranBecome a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says New Zealand would support the U-K government - if it decides to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession. The former prince was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office - over allegations that he'd sent confidential documents to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Christopher Luxon says government officials from NZ and the UK have been in contact over the issue in the past week. Meanwhile, Aucklanders have also weighed in, many saying that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor should be removed from succession.

Momentum is growing towards the removal of the royal formerly known as "Prince Andrew" from the British monarchy's line of succession - amid growing concern the king's brother could theoretically one day sit on the throne. Australia has today led the way, becoming the first Commonwealth nation to publicly indicate that it will support the UK government removing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's birthright. Australia correspondent Nick Grimm spoke to Lisa Owen.

What if dying is not an ending, but a moment of radical clarity? In his new novel "Vigil," George Saunders conjures a strange and often comic world of bickering angels visiting a dying, deeply flawed man—debating and waiting to see whether he can face the truth about himself before it's too late.In this conversation, Steve Paulson talks with Saunders about the evolution of his ideas about death and the possibility of an afterlife. Dying, he says, may be “the ultimate experience of wonder,” and he believes ghost stories can open powerful imaginative spaces for novelists. Saunders reflects on his own Buddhist practice as he considers these life-and-death questions, and he tells us why he thinks fiction is uniquely suited to grappling with complex moral issues and why Tolstoy and Chekhov are his personal sources of inspiration.Saunders is the author of such celebrated books as “Tenth of December,” “Pastoralia,” and the Booker Prize-winning “Lincoln in the Bardo.”  His nonfiction book about the great Russian writers is “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.”This interview was recorded at the Central Library in downtown Madison shortly before Saunders spoke at the Wisconsin Book Festival.— To the Best of Our Knowledge — On his short story collection “Tenth of December.  To the Best of Our Knowledge: Reflecting on “Lincoln in the Bardo.” Substack Story Club with George Saunders —00:00:00 Introduction and Reading from Vigil00:07:50 The Plane Crash and Death Obsession00:15:00 The Writing Process and Wonder00:24:30 Moral Accountability in Fiction00:32:20 Chekhov, Succession, and Accuracy00:40:00 Kindness, Criticism, and Final Thoughts Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.

Tom Hoffman shares the Family Private Enterprise Model for business succession. As an attorney and CPA at Knox Law Firm, Tom discusses his 30+ years of experience in business succession, complex estate planning, and asset protection, focusing on how families can successfully transition businesses across generations. He explains that while most owners want to keep their companies in the family, few heirs are truly prepared to lead, making clarity of goals, fairness (not necessarily equality), and strong communication essential to preserving family harmony. Tom outlines common pitfalls such as forcing children into roles they don't want or failing to define objectives early. He also contrasts selling versus retaining the business, highlighting tax implications, the risks of dissipating liquid wealth, the role of family offices and trusts in preserving capital, and the broader community impact of keeping businesses local. We discuss... While about 70% of owners want to keep their business in the family, only 20–25% of children are typically prepared to lead it. Succession planning should start with clearly defining the family's goals rather than jumping straight into structural decisions. Fairness in dividing assets does not always mean equality, especially when some children work in the business and others do not. Lack of communication is the primary driver of family conflict during transitions. "Self-realization" conversations help family members come to their own conclusions about what is fair, preserving harmony. Outside consultants and counselors are often necessary when emotional, mental health, or substance issues complicate planning. Forcing children into leadership roles they do not want can create long-term personal and business damage. Hiring a professional outside CEO can dramatically improve performance and free the senior generation from daily operations. Professionalized management often increases EBITDA significantly and expands the pool of qualified leadership talent. Even if the business is eventually sold, building a strong management team substantially increases valuation. Family offices and multigenerational trusts can help preserve and strategically deploy large pools of liquid wealth. The "family private enterprise model" offers an alternative to selling by keeping ownership while professionalizing operations. Succession planning is a process that requires coaching, buy-in, and intentional cultural transition rather than a one-time transaction. Today's Panelists: Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth Barbara Friedberg | Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moneytreepodcast Follow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/money-tree-investing-podcast Follow on Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTIPodcast For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/family-private-enterprise-model-tom-hoffman-792 

There's a lot of discussion of hose positions as Michael B tells a chill version of me about the Tom Wambsgans of his dreams while Greg and Buster offer up a path to dreamland.This episode (kind of) recaps S1 E1 of Succession (”Celebration”) and Arrested Development (”Pilot”).The show really needs your help right now. Keep Sleep With Me going and get hours of bonus content by joining Sleep With Me Plus! sleepwithmepodcast.com/plusGet your Sleep With Me SleepPhones. Use "sleepwithme" for $5 off!!Are you looking for Story Only versions or two more nights of Sleep With Me a week? Then check out Bedtime Stories from Sleep With MeThis episode is produced by Rusty Biscuit aka Russell Sperberg.Show Artwork by Emily TatGoing through a hard time? You can find support at the Crisis Textline and see more global helplines here.HELIX SLEEP - Take the 2-minute sleep quiz and they'll match you to a customized mattress that'll give you the best sleep of your life. Visit helixsleep.com/sleep and get a special deal exclusive for SWM listeners!ZOCDOC - With Zocdoc, you can search for local doctors who take your insurance, read verified patient reviews and book an appointment, in-person or video chat. Download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE at zocdoc.com/sleepCOYUCHI - Coyuchi offers luxury bedding, bath, and home products that you can feel good about. Made with natural fibers and certified to be free of toxins, they'll have you feeling great, too. Get 15% off their organic luxury bedding at coyuchi.com/sleep Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Guest: Jonathan Schanzer. Schanzer warns that Turkey is positioned to fill the power vacuum if Iran falls, complicating regional dynamics as Erdogan confronts his own mortality and succession.1920 TURKEY