The Extraordinary Business Book Club

Episode 487 - Measuring Inclusion with Paolo Gaudiano

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'Inclusion is what you do and diversity is what you get.' Paolo Gaudiano's expertise ranges from rocket science through computational neuroscience to ...

Episode 486 - Going All In at the London Book Fair

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'If you're into it, read into it.' Fresh (sic) from the London Book Fair, this week's episode brings together perspectives from across the industry on...

Episode 485 - People Glue with Helen Beedham

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'If you love somebody, set them free,' advised Sting back in 1985. Little did he know he was setting out a core principle of leadership for the 21st c...

Episoded 484 - Hope is a Strategy with Ian Pettigrew

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'We don't understand much about hope, and yet people are crying out for it from leaders.' If you ever hear someone dismissively say 'hope is not a str...

Episode 483 - Relentless with Chris Lovett

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'O nce you know that you can't do it all, it becomes a little bit easier.' Why do so many of us feel like we're drowning in endless demands and to-d...

Episode 482 - Giving writers a voice with Kevin Anderson

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'The crux of our whole business is just really finding talented people to help others do what they can't do themselves as well.' Kevin Anderson never...

Episode 481 - Social anxiety at work with Becky Westwood

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"Love feedback, hate feedback, feel sort of somewhere in the middle, it still creates this sense of anxiety for everyone around." Organizational psych...

Episode 480 - Under pressure

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"We need to think carefully about whether it's going to be the kind of pressure that creates energy and joy and diamond-style transformation, or the s...

Episode 484 - Hope is a Strategy with Ian Pettigrew

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'We don't understand much about hope, and yet people are crying out for it from leaders.' If you ever hear someone dismissively say 'hope is not a str...

Episode 479 - Startup Different with David Sinkinson

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

' An author might be thinking, I can't wait till the book is out on a bookshelf... I would suggest focus on the experience of the writing and the pl...

Episode 478 - Bridging the Gap with Catherine Xiang

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

  'I think that flow is quite important. It's almost like a cultural logic.' Intercultural communication is always complex, but for Western leaders ...

Episode 477 - Autonomous with Henry King

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

 'Our businesses have been designed for us by us, for humans by humans, and that's what the big change is now.' What's the real promise and transfor...

Episode 476 - A New Year invitation: explore more

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'You have a choice about how you put content out into the world in 2026, and that choice isn't just a business choice, it's about who you are and wha...

Episode 475 - A Christmas pause

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'Christmas is so many things, but it is also quite simply a moment of pause between the year that's ending and the year ahead. And as every writer kno...

Episode 474 - It's Not Magic with John Amaechi

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'Almost every experience that I have is a story that I'm going to tell.' We often think of great leadership as 'magic,' but the truth is that's a conv...

Episode 473 - Story-Centred Leadership with Zoë Arden

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'The research shows that it's stories that are the most powerful mobilizers of change.' What does 'story' mean to you? Zoe Arden asked that question o...

Episode 472 - Cut-Through with Dominic Colenso

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'When you read a book... it's like when you watch a TV show or go to the theatre; you don't think about all of the work that went in behind the sce...

Episode 471 - AI in publishing with George Walkley

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

' This technology isn't going to go away. We need to figure out what role it has.' George Walkley is a legend in the publishing world. Over the last...

Episode 470 - The emotional labour of writing a book

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When we talk about writing business books, we usually focus on concepts, models, clarity, structure, impact. But alongside the head work is a whole in...

Episode 469 - Rebrand Right with Rachel Fairley & Sarah Robb

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'If you haven't diagnosed where the problem lies in the first place, how do you know which lever to pull?' If your idea of a rebrand is a new colou...

Episode 468 - Another Door with Eleanor Tweddell

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'That's all we've got as well in this age of AI… we have to put heart and soul into what we create.' When someone cheerfully tells you that when ...

Episode 467 - Smart Conflict with Alice Driscoll & Louise van Haarst

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'The absence of healthy conflict is a large part of why people will leave jobs, because it's not where the growth happens.' How do you feel about hard...

Episode 466 - Behind the scenes at the Frankfurt Book Fair

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fresh (if you can call it that) from the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025, I'm here this week with a candid look at what we and other publishers were talkin...

Episode 465 - Don't Be Yourself with Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'At some point, the right to be you ends and your obligation to others begins.' 'Just be yourself.' It's the most uncontroversial advice in the world,...

Episode 464 - Writing and community with Parul Bavishi

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'At the lowest end of what a business book could be is, yes, it's a calling card... [But] what if your book was transformational?' Parul Bavishi - ...

Ep 463 - Getting booked as a speaker with Maria Franzoni

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

' Nobody cares about you until you show that you understand their problem, their situation, and you care about them.' As a former international spea...

Episode 462 - Perfecting your pitch with James Spackman

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'You need to kind of kick off this persuasive chain reaction and enlist people to the cause of your book.' In the book trade, James Spackman is kno...

Episode 461 - The Disruptors with Sally Percy

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When she started her first job reporting on farming, trying to work out how to move into interior design, Sally Percy had no idea she'd forge such an ...

Episode 460 - Shaking things up

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People who write business books - at least, business books worth reading - tend to think a little differently. This 'Best Bits' episode features a for...

Episode 459 - Beyond Belief with Mike Porteous

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'I see confidence as something that's rooted in how we feel before any words, something which touches on sensations.' What do you think of when you th...

Episode 458 - Healing-Centred book launch with Kerry Tottingham

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 "How do you want your book to make people feel? Start with the feeling and then work your way backwards." When you're all about creativity, social ...

Episode 457 - The Work We Need with Hilary Cottam

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does a good working life look like in the 21st century? Dr Hilary Cottam, OBE has spent the last five years exploring this question through colla...

Episode 456 - We Need New Leaders with Charlotte Otter

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'Every time I interviewed somebody, I said, is there anyone you think I should talk to? And so it had a network effect for me. My network grew wit...

Episode 455 - Best business books with Todd Sattersten

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

' I think reading a book is sometimes like... you've slowed things down. You're in this present moment, working on this very particular thing. And I...

Episode 454 - From spark to flame

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'Creativity needs oxygen just as much as fire does.' What does it take to turn a spark of inspiration into a sustained creative fire? This week's epis...

Episode 453 - The business of being a writer with Jane Friedman

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'The foundations of how authors build visibility, build a readership... while the tools change, the principles don't.' Jane Friedman has been commenta...

Episode 452 - Creative Velocity with Leslie Grandy

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Leslie Grandy always wanted to be 'creative', but after discovering that she 'sucked' as a child at piano, painting, drama, dancing and so on she deci...

Episode 451 - Collaborating with AI with Georgia Kirke

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'If you just want a machine to write all of this stuff and put your name on it and say it's yours, I don't know what the motivation is. I don't kno...

Episode 450 - The one about conversations

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'It's not a presentation or a business card. It's a conversation.' This Best Bits episode is a love letter to intentional conversations – the ones t...

Episode 449 - The origin of the series

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'I didn't just want to do a sort of 'me-too' series just for the sake of it. I wanted to have a series concept that I could really get excited about a...

Episode 448 - Gen Z career tales with Drs Schuster & Oxley

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

' We've invented a new genre, at least that's very modestly what we would like to believe. We're calling it Professional Advice Narrative Tales, and...

Episode 447 - The 2025 LBF edit

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'[Olympia's] gorgeous vaulted glass roof feels kind of like a metaphor for the fair itself. Rooted in history, but always looking upwards and outwards...

Episode 446 - Book publicity with Marissa Eigenbrood

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'This is all a web that's woven together, and how it all works is really important. You can't just do one piece of it. And a great partner is someo...

Episode 445 - Both/And Thinking with Wendy Smith

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'When I first started, people were like, "Don't say the word paradox... don't say it because they won't get it." And now people are like, "Oh my g...

Episode 444 - Writing as a team sport with Petra Molthan-Hill

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

' I really like to read other people's ideas and then add my own ideas... you start with the brainstorming together and say, so what could be in her...

Episode 443 - Now We're Talking with Sarah Rozenthuler

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'I have learned to have a different relationship with resistance... when we're actually really on track with things, resistance comes up.' Sarah Rozen...

Episode 442 - Creating Glue with John Dore

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'How do you make a strategy a story? The best leaders and the best communicators do that. They turn something that's functional and rational into some...

Episode 441 - Building on answers with Claire Pedrick

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you know anything at all about coaching, you know that it's all about asking questions, right? Well, yes, and also: that's not the full story.  Cl...

Episode 440 - Self-discovery, clarity and growth

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'Writing isn't just about creating content; it's about creating ourselves.' It's another Best Bits episode, and the theme that really stood out to ...

Episode 439 - The Sky is No Limit with Per Wimmer

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

 'That's my goal here is to hopefully provide an inspirational story that can be a catalyst for the reader to go out and do amazing things.' Per Wim...

Episode 438 - The truth about passive income with Kate Toon

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

"I used to say, wouldn't it be great if I could work like a normal person and do 40 hours a week? And the realization comes that you do have 40 hours,...

Episode 437 - Design not decisions: new New Year thinking

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'Don't let AI set your vision. But harness AI to help you execute your vision.' For me, the start of a new year always brings a sense of potential. It...

Episode 436 - Marketing for Introverts with Jenny Procter

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

 'It's that place of, you know, because it's your business and your livelihood, having to say, "Come and buy my thing because I'm great. I'm great a...

Episode 435 - Double Your Price with David Falzani

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'[And this is} the rationale and the motivation for the book. It's about, well, how do we spread this? How do we do some good with it? How do we impro...

Episode 434 - Learning to promote a book with Lucy Ryan

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'The writing is joyful, more or less. It's painful, but it's also joyful. The marketing of it is much harder.' Dr Lucy Ryan's book Revolting Women tou...

Episode 433 - Writing for Busy Readers with Todd Rogers

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'The TLDR, the too-long-didn't-read of the whole thing, is that everybody's skimming. So we need to write in a way that makes it easy for skimmers if ...

Episode 432 - Ruthlessly Caring with Amy Walters Cohen

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'Ruthlessness exists on a continuum, caring exists on a continuum, and it's about being in the sweet spots of both of those, not overplaying either on...

Episode 431 - The Power of Culture with Laura Hamill

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'Mom, why don't you just write it like you talk to me?' When Laura Hamill set out to write a book about the subject she knew best - the subject she'd ...

Episode 430 - Human & artificial intelligence in writing

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'As we lean into artificial intelligence across every sector of business and life, how do we ensure that we're delegating the right things and keeping...

Episode 429 - Do Start with Dan Kieran

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'They think the goal is to have the book, but no, the goal is to become the person it takes to write your book.' Dan Kieran is a publishing legend: as...

Episode 428 - getAbstract at the Frankfurt Book Fair

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'I think we are living in a renaissance of the book... AI is changing how we are looking at trusted knowledge.' getAbstract is one of the leading corp...

Episode 427 - Coaching for Performance with Tiffany Gaskell

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"As she was coached during a 15-minutes conversation, she put down each of those worries and at the end of it she was standing there in her full poten...

Episode 426 - Kind with Graham Allcott

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'Nice is about telling people what they want to hear. Kind is about telling people what they need to hear.' Graham Allcott's back on the podcast and a...

Episode 425 - A Year of Creativity with Sue Unerman & Kathryn Jacob

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'The majority of people think their life would be better if they were more creative, but they don't know how.' There are lots of books on creativity o...

Episode 424 - How AI will change your life with Patrick Dixon

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'We're on the edge of really very exciting things, but also tremendous risks at the same time.' Whether you're an AI enthusiast or it fills you with e...

Episode 423 - Nonfiction stories with Anna Faherty

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'We have this image of a reader being someone who's giving time and attention to our words... but online that doesn't happen.' Anna Faherty found out ...

Episode 422 - Detox Your Culture with Colin D. Ellis

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'I'm going to tell you how you should be doing it, but it's up to you to do it. But I'm going to dress it up in a way where the message might land 15 ...

Episode 421 - The Audacity Spectrum with Alina Addison

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'It's that little extra something that makes the ordinary into extraordinary and the impossible into the why not?' When her son was diagnosed with aut...

Episode 420 - The Road Less Traveled

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a world that celebrates speed and working smart, adopting AI solutions and smashing simple success metrics, it can feel not just challenging but un...

Episode 419 - Add Then Multiply with David B. Horne

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David B. Horne, creative accountant and author of the award-winning Add Then Multiply: How small businesses can think like big businesses and achieve ...

Episode 418 - Thoughts on winning with Cath Bishop

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our definition of success has led us to a place that's actually constrained us from exploring what we're capable of. We're not getting the innovation ...

Episode 417 - How to get a book deal with Hasan Kubba

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'It's an unfair advantage to have a platform, it massively helps, don't get me wrong. But it's totally possible to do it without one.' When Hasan Kubb...

Episode 416 - Your AI Survival Guide with Sol Rashidi

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'Embrace AI, but also make sure that you evolve as an individual and you understand the art of the possible while still staying grounded in the art of...

Episode 415 - Strategy and writing with Henry Mintzberg

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Mintzberg is quite simply a legend, and my personal business thinking hero. When I was studying his writings for my MBA I could only have dreame...

Episode 414 - CEO Secrets with Dougal Shaw

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Journalism is changing, which means journalists have to change too. And a great example of this is the way that BBC reporter Dougal Shaw has reinvente...

Episode 413 - The Neurodiversity Edge with Maureen Dunne

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'This is the moment to embrace authentic neurodiversity inclusion as a core organizational value. It isn't the whole solution to anything, but it is p...

Episode 412 - Success Frames with Rob Hatch

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'We can't really understand what failure teaches us until we achieve success after failure. So it's the success actually, that is more instructive.' I...

Episode 411 - How to get on podcasts with Michelle Glogovac

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At this risk of going a bit meta, this is a brilliant conversation podcast about how brilliant podcast conversations are… Michelle Glogovac is an au...

Episode 410 - The ethics of business & writing

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'That last pillar before you go make your decision: is it ethical? What's the effect it's going to have? The feedback I've got from a lot of people wa...

Episode 409 - First-Time CEO with David Roche

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'So they go, "Hang on, I've got to look confident… I have to have all the answers," which is the worst place to come from.' Becoming a first-time CE...

Episode 408 - Higher Ground with Alison Taylor

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'We basically treated legal compliance as a proxy for ethics, which has never really been a particularly good fit.' I think we can all agree the world...

Episode 407 - Languishing less with Corey Keyes

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Do what you can in the circumstances you are given right now. And don't wait for the systems in the world around you to change in order to get some l...

Episode 406 - Talking business books with Meredith Norwich

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'For an academic book, you are looking to demonstrate that you stand on the shoulders of giants. For a practitioner book, you ARE the giant... But you...

Episode 405 - The insider's guide to London Book Fair

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I'm just back from an exhausting, exhilarating few days at London Book Fair. My ears are still ringing slightly, my feet hurt, I need to spend a few d...

Episode 404 - LinkedIn mastery with Louise Brogan

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Louise Brogan helps entrepreneurs and professionals elevate their LinkedIn game. In this week's conversation she explains why LinkedIn is so important...

Episode 403 - Disrupting HR with Lucy Adams

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"It was fantastic, just as a sheer exercise in putting something out there and being brave and saying, these are my thoughts, what does everyone else ...

Episode 402 - The BRAVE Leader with David McQueen

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'The beautiful part of it, which is also the hardest and the most painful part, is the editing... [if] you put a book out into the world which will be...

Episode 401 - Pushing through discomfort

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following last week's quadricentennial episode, a slightly belated but still brilliant best bits episode, showcasing the shiniest gems from the last f...

Episode 400 - Ask me anything!

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How can I start running when I absolutely hate running? What's your one big, albeit lesser known, tip for writing your first book? Have you tried smo...

Episode 399 - Ice Cold Leader with Errol Doebler

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"You have to get in front of what you're writing. You have to look at it and you have to type a key. If you don't, it's just not going to happen." Err...

Episode 398 - AI and book publishing with Sara Lloyd

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"We've been innovating forever, before digital formats came along... in a way we have some of the natural abilities we need. We need to remember that ...

Episode 397 - The Life Brief with Bonnie Wan

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'It's an uncomfortable struggle to land that title of the book, land that sharp, sticky center of the life brief, but it is so worth it.' As a brand s...

Episode 396 - More Sales Please with Sara Dalrymple

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"The vast majority of business owners would happily spend 99% of their time creating and recreating and tweaking and iterating on the product side of ...

Episode 395 - Bright sparks & damp squibs with Sir John Tusa

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

'It's the stories we respond to in life. It's people's stories we respond to, and then... you can tease out the lessons. You don't go for the theory h...

Episode 394 - New Year thinking for business book writers

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"If you're thinking about writing a book... that's a gorgeous, sexy goal, but it's very unlikely to happen as long as it stays an outcome, a goal, in ...

Episode 393 - The Emotional Overdraft with Andy Brown

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

'Sometimes it's just writing to get it out... you can almost interrogate it more. You can hold it in your hand and you can explore it and you can look...

Episode 392 - Board Talk with Kathryn Bishop & Gillian Camm

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kathryn Bishop, CBE and Gillian Camm are seasoned members of both private and public sector boards. And they've learned that effective governance come...

Episode 391 - Publishing for Business with Naren Aryal

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

'That book that's for everyone is for no one, right?' Naren Aryal is laser-focused on the business of publishing for business. In this week's episode ...

Episode 390 - Writing = Business

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Business books are unique because they are in that sweet spot between business activity and creative endeavour, that's why I love them so much, that'...

Episode 389 - Social media strategies with Luan Wise

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"I started where I think a good marketer should start, by asking some people to read the book and give me their feedback." Luan Wise, a fellow of the ...