Bite-sized insights for curious leaders & learners every other Sunday.

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🗣️ "Great stories happen to those that can tell them." -Ira Glass

🗣️ "Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom, and we're all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories." -Alan Kay

🗣️ "I've come to the conclusion that what human beings were put here to do is story-gather. We take what knowledge we gather and put it into stories." -Joy Harjo

🗣️ “Narrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone’s attention; everybody wants to be told a story. Always look for ways to convey your information in narrative form.” -William Zinsser

I love learning new things, so I read a lot of nonfiction, but I also enjoy fast-paced novels and literature. Here are my 10 favorite books from what I read this year. ​Read more​

Hate answering the same questions over and over? Me too. Here are five ways you can avoid small talk at parties, conferences, dinners, etc. in 2026. ​Read more​

​Killing Giants by Stephen Denny​ ​Nonfiction: Business, Entrepreneurship Denny shares 10 tips from startups that exploited the bureaucracy of large competitors to carve out a profitable niche. This book is for any entrepreneur or startup who wants to find their distinct advantage. ​See takeaways​

​The Authentic Swing by Steven Pressfield​ ​Nonfiction: Self-Help, Writing Advice This little-known book by the well-known author of The War of Art is full of bite-sized advice about finding and embracing your authentic self in your life and your art. ​See takeaways​

🗣️ "If your employees believe their job is to do what you tell them, you're sunk." -Susan Scott

When I first became a manager, I quickly realized that every employee had a "monkey on their back": some problem they wanted to get rid of.

And guess who they tended to ask to take on those monkeys?

Yep, you guessed it! Me, their manager.

As a young manager, I loved playing the hero and solving other people's problems. So I took on monkey after monkey:

• Donna was wondering if Bob would trade her shifts on Thursday, so I volunteered to talk to Bob for her.
• Becky was hesitant to give feedback to Tracy, so I shared the feedback on Becky’s behalf.
• Tim was stuck on a project and didn’t know what to do next, so I took over the project from Tim.

With each new task I accepted, I became more exhausted. And with each of these monkeys I took from team members, I implicitly trained them to not solve their own problems.

I gradually recognized my mistake and trained myself to help my team rather than taking over the work from them, but it took some time.

What about you...have you accidentally become a zookeeper of other people's monkeys?

​Read more​

In 2025, I read 70 books, watched 49 movies and 26 TV seasons, and listened to countless podcasts.

In my newsletter, I share a lot about what I'm reading, but I don't talk as much about which podcasts, movies, series, etc. have impacted me most.

​Here’s a wrap-up of my favorites from 2025 (regardless of when any of the content was first published).

Visit me at BobbyPowers.com for more articles and book reviews about leadership, self-improvement, and productivity.

You can also access high-res PDFs of my 1-pagers and cheat sheets here.

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