A New Direction

Interviewing Best Selling Authors from around the world for success and leadership in business, life and career.

A New Direction is a business podcast hosted by Jay Izso, with 300 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jay Izso hosts A New Direction, a business show with 300 episodes published.

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  A New Direction

  Servant Leadership: The Secret Great Leaders Know

  Aug 19, 202657 min

  Servant Leadership: Are You Avoiding It? What if the biggest leadership breakthrough of your career isn’t a new strategy, a new title, or a new set of KPIs — but a philosophy you’ve been overlooking your whole career? That’s the question at the heart of today’s show. At 5pm Eastern on “ A New Direction with Coach Jay ,” I’m sitting down live with Mark Miller — co-author, alongside legendary leadership expert Ken Blanchard, of the newly revised and expanded 4th edition of “The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do.” Blanchard and Miller say 82 percent of managers struggle to lead effectively, and their answer to why is deceptively simple: servant leadership . If that number makes you uncomfortable, good — that’s exactly why this conversation matters. “The Secret” isn’t your typical leadership book stacked with theory and jargon. It’s a business fable — the story of Debbie Brewster, a newly promoted executive who’s drowning in low morale, high turnover, and a team that’s losing faith in her. Her mentor hands her one deceptively simple truth: great leaders serve. That’s servant leadership in action, and it plays out through the five practices of the SERVE model — seeing the future, engaging and developing others, reinventing continuously, valuing both results and relationships, and embodying the values you claim to hold. What makes this conversation especially powerful is who’s sitting across from me. Mark Miller didn’t study servant leadership from a distance — he lived it. He walked into Chick-fil-A as the company’s 16th employee, starting out in the warehouse and mailroom, and spent the next 45 years working his way up through Corporate Communications, Field Operations, and Training and Development before retiring as Vice President of High-Performance Leadership. That’s a quarter century spent directing research and initiatives worth tens of millions of dollars to figure out, test, and validate what actually works when you’re trying to lead people well. This is a man who has been in the trenches — which means today’s conversation isn’t theory, it’s tested truth. So here’s what we’ll be digging into together: why so many capable, hardworking managers still fail to lead effectively — and what the small percentage who practice true servant leadership are doing differently. We’ll talk about what it really means to “see the future” as a leader, why reinventing yourself never stops being optional, and how you rebuild trust and credibility once it’s been damaged. Whether you’re leading a team of two or two thousand, this episode is going to hand you a servant leadership framework you can start using before the day is over. If you would like engage Mark’s services you can call him on his cell phone directly: 678-612-8441 or email Mark, mark@leadeveryday.com Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller ‘s book, “ The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do, , 4th Edition, Revised and Expanded ” is what I would refer to as a timeless guide for those seeking to be great leaders. Why do I say timeless? Because the principles in this book would work in the first century and will work any time in the future. I had never read the previous versions of the book, so I do not know what to compare it to, but I can tell you that was fundamental mind shifts in every single chapter. The book is counter-intuitive for those leaders that believe they must be in control. Yes, you need to be valuing results, but if you want your leadership to translate into great results you need to value those relationships both inside and outside of your organization or business. You have probably heard the term “servant leadership”. But you may have not really thought how a leader actually serves others. Well, this is where the book sets itself apart from other books. It doesn’t just talk about it as a philosophical ideal, but puts into practical terms that translate into greater profits, and truly having a great team. I truly enjoyed reading every page of this book. What I pulled from The Secret was more than a great story that surrounded the main principles of SERVE, but also the valuable practical nuggets that made me think, and that I could apply to my own leadership immediately. Do yourself and your business a huge favor and get it. You can get your copy of The Secret by clicking here . Please reach out and thank the sponsors of A New Direction and bringing you great guests like these: L inda Craft Team Realtors . So what can you say about a real estate company that has spent more than 40 years at the top of their game? Well the first thing is you have to admit that their customers and clients continue to drive their business…but why? That’s because the Linda Craft Team continue to believe that every person and every relationship is important, not just now, but even in the future. It is why she is devoted to continually adding value to her clients and community by serving them in ways that matter…it is also why their clients say, “The Linda Craft Team have legendary customer service!” When it comes to real estate start with the legends start with Linda Craft & Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do! ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach | Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction , I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis —in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

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  A New Direction

  The Hidden Barriers to Authentic Leadership

  Aug 12, 202658 min

  You May Think You have Authentic Leadership… But Reality is You and I are Hiding Things We Don’t Want to Look At What are you hiding — and what is it actually costing you? Not just in your business, but in your marriage, your friendships, the relationship with your own kids. That’s the question at the center of my conversation tomorrow at 5pm Eastern, LIVE on A New Direction , with Tyler Dickerhoof , author of the brand-new book The Things We Hide . If you’ve ever wondered why so many high performers still feel alone at the top, this is a conversation about the hidden barriers to authentic leadership — and how to finally tear them down. Tyler isn’t theorizing about authentic leadership from the sidelines. He built businesses generating over $500 million in combined sales, and sat on John Maxwell’s Network Marketing Advisory Council. But he’ll tell you the whole time he was doing it, he was hiding — behind the results, behind the intensity, behind the belief that his worth was tied to how much he knew and how hard he could push. It took losing his younger brother Joel as a teenager, and decades of pushing people away while pushing through everything alone, before Tyler finally turned around and faced what he’d spent 25 years running from. That turn is exactly what separates performance from authentic leadership. Shorten with AI That’s the real subject of The Things We Hide : the hidden barriers that keep capable, driven people from ever leading — or living — authentically. Tyler breaks it down into what he calls the Four Walls of Insecurity: Intensity, Inactivity, Insensitivity, and Isolation. These are the defense mechanisms so many high achievers mistake for strengths. We’re going to talk about why “intensity is a bulldozer” that clears a path for success but leaves relationships in the wreckage. We’re going to talk about the lie that leadership has to be lonely. And we’re going to unpack his core message, one every leader chasing authentic leadership needs to hear: what you hide controls you, what you face transforms you. So clear your schedule, and join us for a real conversation about hidden barriers, vulnerability, and what authentic leadership actually looks like once the performance drops away. Bring your questions, bring your comments, and bring whatever wall you’ve been hiding behind — because Tyler and I are going to talk about how to tear it down without tearing yourself apart in the process. This isn’t just another leadership interview. Tyler Dickerhoof’s book, “ The Things We Hide: A Guide to Identifying Hidden Barriers and Leading with Authenticity ” is a deep, insightful view into ourselves that most of us do not want to look at. And yet, is fundamentally required if we want to achieve both true significance and success. We all have walls. We all have fears and insecurities. For most of us we will never admit them throughout our lifetime. Instead, when our insecurities are triggered, we become intense, maybe we become inactive hoping this will just go away, perhaps it we resort to becoming insensitive because the more calluses that we have we don’t have to feel others’ pain, or maybe we just isolate and disappear. Maybe it is some combination of all of these. The point is…our insecurities will show up. So what do we do about it? Well this is where this book separates itself from so many others. Tyler includes exercises and free assessments in the book that if you choose to take on the mission can start moving you onto the path of true significance, success, and real authentic leadership. This book is not going to be easy. It is going to challenge you. It is going to make you uncomfortable, but growth comes from being comfortable getting uncomfortable. This book will make you think and help you grow if you choose to follow his guidelines. I loved every page! Get your copy of The Things We Hide by clicking here! Please reach out to our sponsors and LIKE their social media pages as their financial contributions help keep A New Direction on the air and bring us great guests. Lind a Craft Team, REALTORs for more than 40 years their clients and friends have said when it comes to real estate they have “legendary customer service”. Locally owned, and independent of any national brand, they have literally helped people all over the world by finding the best real estate professional in your area. And because they are independent they are unbiased who they choose because they have relationships with the best agents regardless of company. So, if you live somewhere else, or you live in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Research Triangle Park, before you sell or buy your home, start with the “legends” that know the local market, and stay on the bleeding edge of technology at Linda Craft Team, REALTORS…you can learn more by going to www.LindaCraft.com ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach | Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction , I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis —in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

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  A New Direction

  3 Hard Truths Every Promoted Leader Must Face

  Jul 29, 202654 min

  3 Hard Truths for a Leadership Mindset Shift Are you struggling to transition from a high-performing technical expert to an effective people manager? On the next live episode of A New Direction , best-selling author Steven Riddle joins us for Part 2 of our deep dive into his book, Falling into Leadership . Join us as we tackle the critical leadership mindset shift required when stepping into executive roles. Many new managers fall into the trap of leading through the exact technical skills that got them promoted, failing to realize that team management and executive growth require an entirely different playbook. One of the biggest hurdles in leadership development is mastering difficult conversations in leadership . Why do founders and executives endlessly rehearse tough performance reviews or confrontational talks in their head, only to avoid having them altogether? Steven exposes how surface-level communication erodes trust and why moving toward active listening and practical empathy is essential for creating psychological safety . By understanding the nuance between empathy, sympathy, and apathy, leaders can stop micromanaging and start asking powerful questions that build real engagement and clarity . As you climb the organizational ladder, executive loneliness becomes an unmistakable reality. The higher you advance, the more isolated decision-making feels, making emotional intelligence and self-awareness non-negotiable tools for survival . We discuss how resilient leadership helps senior executives navigate uncertainty, adapt to constant workplace change, and lead with steady character rather than relying on sheer force of personality . True adaptability isn’t about avoiding stress; it’s about maintaining presence under pressure so you can guide your team through disruption without getting knocked off center . Ultimately, the leadership mindset shift is from task-based management to sustainable leadership requires mastering effective delegation and structuring high-impact 1-on-1 meetings that foster team accountability . Strong organizational culture isn’t built top-down through rigid policy; it is forged daily through authentic connection, shared values, and mutual respect . Tune in to New Direction , to learn how to focus on the human inputs that drive high performance and leave behind a lasting leadership legacy . Steve Riddle’s book, “ Falling Into Leadership: How Leaders Emerge, Grow and Lead With Purpose ” is a play by play guide into coaching a new leader. In Steve Riddle’s approach we are introduced to a new emerging leader in Sally who is open and willing to change as a leader, but is uncertain of the steps. In 8 sessions Steve Riddle walks us through his process of coaching that helps you have a Leadership Mindset Shift to help you go from promoted to great. Steve Riddle has a very organized approach that starts with focusing on the leader’s own self-awareness. His big push is if that self-awareness is only the beginning, but without it, you will never get to the next steps of growth. His methodology of using questions to push the client are both refreshing and eye opening for all of us. And that leadership mindset shift is fundamentally necessary for growth. Behind the curtain he takes through the importance of emotional intelligence, communication, adaptability, resilience, and what true accountability looks like. He emphasizes the importance of the leaders role of empowering, inspiring, and influencing those the leader leads, and helps us recognize that as a leader our responsibility is to leave a legacy of leaders in our employees. Packed with tons of insights and thought provoking questions, and leadership mindset shifts, the book, in my opinion is using the case of Sally to take a closer look at ourself. Some of our dysfunctional mindsets, becoming more self-aware and becoming the leader we had always hoped we would become. Please reach out and thank the awesome sponsors of A New Direction: Every real estate agent is asking the same question right now: is AI going to help me, or leave me behind? Here’s the honest answer — the agents who’ve learned to use it are already pulling ahead. They’re writing listings in minutes, answering every lead the second it comes in, and following up until customers become clients, all without adding hours to their week. And if you’re not using AI yet — because you’re not sure how, or it honestly feels a little intimidating — you’re not behind. You’re exactly who this was built for. You don’t need to be technical or “good with computers.” You just need a clear, plain‑English path to putting these tools to work in your business. That’s what AIREpro Certification is: a step‑by‑step course, built by real estate coaches for real estate agents, that teaches you to use AI to grow your business and make more money. Convert and close more of the leads you already have. Improve your marketing while saving marketing dollars. Get the work of a marketing assistant and a personal assistant for about the price of one lunch a month — not a salary. It’s twelve self‑paced modules, zero jargon, and a certificate that shows clients you’re AI‑ready. Best of all, you can try Module One completely free — no signup, no credit card — and decide for yourself. If it’s a fit, the full certification is just $99 Linda Craft Team, Realtors when you are looking to sell your home or buy a new home start with what their clients refer to as “the legends of customer service”. Whether you are in the Greater Raleigh Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina or any where in the world they can help you with your home dreams. Contact our friends Linda Craft Team at www.LindaCraft.com ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach | Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction , I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis —in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.  

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  A New Direction

  Game On! Sportify Your Business

  Jul 8, 202657 min

  Sportify Your Business What separates a championship-winning franchise from a team that can’t even make the playoffs? It’s a locker room culture rooted in a higher standard of fair play, integrity, and a relentless drive to win the right way. In this episode of A New Direction with Coach Jay , we are huddling up to completely redraw your corporate playbook. Join me as I sit down with performance strategist and author Jake Shannon to discuss his groundbreaking book, Sportify: Beyond Business Ethics . We are tossing out the dusty, uninspired compliance manuals and mapping out a radical new game plan where high-level moral codes meet elite athletic execution. In this hard-hitting episode, we are diving deep into the powerful, unexpected intersection of elite sportsmanship and bioethical principlism. Shannon argues that traditional business ethics are fundamentally broken, relying on lazy, defensive legal box-checking that inspires absolutely no one. Instead, he borrows the rigorous, high-stakes ethical frameworks typically used in modern medicine—Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, and Justice—and fuses them with the unyielding spirit of athletic fair play. We’ll discuss how this unique ethical ecosystem creates a transparent, high-trust workplace where your team doesn’t just follow rules out of fear, but actively plays hard for the brand because they respect the game. Sportify isn’t just philosophical theory; it’s about the practical ethics of daily leadership. As coaches and managers, we’ve all dealt with the frustrating drain of “Zombie Labor”—that exhausting scenario where a company pays for full-time salaries but only gets a fraction of the actual effort due to poor morale and toxic corporate governance. Shannon’s Sportify framework tackles this head-on, proving that running an ethical organization is actually the ultimate productivity hack. We will break down how transitioning from an obsolete supervisor model to a dynamic “Head Coach” framework changes everything, allowing you to stop running an “adult daycare” and start engineering a self-governing competitive dynasty. Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to protect your bottom line or a manager ready to revitalize a disengaged locker room, this episode is your ultimate pre-game brief on how doing the right thing drives winning results. It’s time to stop settling for mediocrity and take your leadership in a bold, new direction. Get ready to upgrade your corporate code of conduct for good. See you on the field and Sportify your business! Jake Shannon’s book, “ Sportify: Beyond Business Ethics ” is a quick read filled with no nonsense guidance to run your business like a sports team. Let’s be honest, sports require competition and sportsmanship. Your business should really run on the same principles. In Sportify, Jake Shannon makes a strong case that you can run a successful and profitable business by applying the same sports and ethical principles that we find in sports. In today’s business world it can feel very difficult to have a winning edge and still play ethically, but Jake Shannon uses examples throughout Sportify to demonstrate that when you play the ethical game, you reduce problems, build trust with customers, obtain the best talent and create a legacy that goes beyond you. The problem for most companies is the question of leadership. If leadership demonstrates ethical behavior and you make it part of your core values and mission your business will be holding up the championship trophy at the end of the day. Is it a one time fix? No, it will require practice. Practice in your daily routines. Practice with each other. Practice with your clients and customers and practice in the business and outside of it. Sportify while a quick read is the new way to do business, and do it successfully! Loved this book. I highly recommend it. You can get your copy of Sportify by clicking here ! We are so grateful for the financial support of the sponsors of A New Directio n. They really do help us secure great authors, books, and distribute the show. Please go to their websites and thank them. Even going to their social media pages and giving them a LIKE would be awesome! L inda Craft Team, Realtors , their clients say that their customer service is “legendary” and the reason for that is because for more than 39 years they build and maintain personal relationships with their clients. Why? Because buying and selling of a house is a great deal more than a business transaction, it is a life altering experience. That’s because we don’t just live in a home, some of our most significant memories will be made in that home. Linda and her team are dedicated to taking care of your memory maker as if it were their own. Whether you are about to purchase a new home, or sell your current home, start with the relationship legends. Start with Linda Craft Team, Realtors – www.LindaCraft.com ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach | Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction , I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis —in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  A New Direction

  It’s Alone at the Top and 3 Ways to Change It

  Jun 24, 202657 min

  Being Alone Isn’t Helping Your Business or You We live in the most connected era in human history, and somehow, we have never been more alone. That paradox is the beating heart of Unknown: Finding Connection in a Disconnected World, the USA Today bestseller from leadership coach and New Hope Church founder Keith Spurgin . After years of advising leaders across North America, Europe, and Africa, Spurgin kept hearing the same quiet confession over and over: “I’m surrounded by people, but I feel completely alone.” Today on A New Direction , he joins us live to talk about why that ache of aloneness shows up everywhere — in marriages, in friendships, and especially in the lives of the leaders we assume have it all figured out. We can have great success and still be totally alone. And What makes this conversation different is that Spurgin isn’t speaking from a podium. He’s speaking from the night his wife told him it felt like he had “a mistress” — not another person, but his work, his calling, and his reputation, all of which had quietly crowded her out. It rocked his world, and it took years to rebuild. Thirty-eight years of marriage later, he’s living proof that disconnection doesn’t have to be the end of the story. That honesty is exactly why readers keep saying this book “reflects my own life” and “is going to change my life” — and it’s why this episode is going to hit closer to home than you expect. For leaders, the stakes are even higher. You can build a brilliant strategy, hit every number, and still be running a team of people who don’t actually know each other — or you. You feel everything falls on you…and you are alone at the top. Spurgin argues that healthy culture isn’t built on performance; it’s built on genuine connection, and most of us were never taught how to create it. In this conversation he lays out the practical road map at the core of Unknown: how to move relationships from lifeless and transactional to vibrant and real, and how the leaders who master this end up building teams people never want to leave. If you’ve ever wondered why your organization feels busy but hollow, this is the missing piece. Keith Spurgin ‘s book, “ U nknown: Finding Connection in a Disconnected World ” is an honest, insightful look into the epidemic that is growing around the world. Being alone and being “unknown”. The fact of the matter is that being alone and loneliness is growing and no one is talking about it. Yes are we more technologically connected…sure. But what we are truly build and designed for is 3-dimensional human connection, and without it according to research comes a number of physical problems with a shorter life span. Keith Spurgin, doesn’t pull any punches in Unknown. He is vulnerable with his own shortcomings. He is honest with where he has missed the mark and how in some cases he recovered and others, he did not. He helps us to understand that having these truly connected deep relationships enhances our lives as not only leaders, but as people. The problem that most of us face is that we are all broken people and relationships are not easy. Many people believe that they don’t need people. They have convinced themselves of the lie that they are independent, and life is safer without the complications. However, what we learn is that even the most independent of us still will try to have relationships, but we bounce from one to another, so we don’t get hurt. We ultimately fall into the relationship pain cycle. For leaders it is more difficult. Many have made the choice that being alone is the price to pay for being on top. Spurgin explains that it’s not the best we to lead. We are only mediocre at best when we go it alone. And you can’t go from good to great when you are satisfied with mediocrity. The book takes through some practical steps we all need to consider, because it is not just having great relationships we must choose wisely. Because you should know that the deeper relationships you have, have your back. They are the ones who can listen without judgement and yet can call you out when you have gone off the rails. Does it take time? Of course it does. You may say you don’t have the time. But who’s choice is that? At the end of the day, we come to learn a couple of important factors from Unknown: First, we need relationships to make us better. Second, love (not in the movie version) of your closest friends changes the landscape of being alone. And three, we are all broken people, and so relationships require work, vulnerability, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It’s not easy, but as with anything else, it is the hard things that are worth it. I highly recommend “ Unknown “ Get your copy of Unknown by clicking here. Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so this one lands in your feed. Whether you lead a company, a team, an organization, a church, or a household, you’ll walk away with language for something you’ve felt for years but couldn’t name, and a real path toward changing it. Some episodes inform you. This one might just reconnect you. Don’t watch it alone — share it with the person who needs to hear it most. We really would like to ask you to thank our sponsors. Their financial support of A New Direction is so critical to helping us provide quality guests, books, and great sounding show. “You tune in to A New Direction to grow your business and your mindset. But you can’t move forward if you’re worried about what’s lurking in your inbox. That’s where Data443 Cyren comes in. It’s the industry standard for real-time email security and URL filtering. They stop phishing and malware before they strike, so you can focus on your success, not your safety. Don’t let a cyberattack derail your journey. Go to Data443.com today and secure your future . “ Linda Craft Team, Realtors they literally are a locally owned independent real estate company, that serves the world. How can a small company serve the world? They have created relationships with the best real estate experts in the world to help you regardless of where you live get the best person possible. And because they are independent of any national brand, they have relationships with other professionals from all the companies, not just the ones that are part of a national branded network. For more than 39 years they continue to build relationships because that is how Linda started the business and continues to do so today. Head on over to www.LindaCraft.com Hey…do me a favor and please tell your friends to subscribe to A New Direction on their favorite podcast platform and give us a 5 star rating we are so grateful when you do! ABOUT YOUR HOST Meet Jay Izso Executive Performance Coach | Host of A New Direction Every week on A New Direction , I sit down with CEOs, founders, and the researchers behind the science of leadership performance. The conversations go deep. We talk about the decisions that built companies, the mistakes that nearly destroyed them, and the personal breakthroughs that changed everything. But here’s what most people don’t know about me: the show is an extension of the work I do every day with executives behind closed doors. Who I Am I’m an Executive Performance Coach. I work with CEOs and founders of $5M-$50M companies who have hit a wall they can’t explain. The marketing looks fine. The team is capable. The market is there. But the business won’t move. The problem, almost every time, is the person running it. I find the personal behavioral patterns that are driving the business dysfunction. Then I help the CEO disrupt those patterns so the company can grow. That’s it. No motivational platitudes. No vision boards. Diagnostics, intervention, results. Where This Comes From My approach comes from two places most coaches never set foot in. The farm. I grew up as a farmhand in Ithaca, Nebraska—population 100. I started working at nine years old. By the time I left for college, I’d spent a decade learning that you can’t cheat the harvest, pain is part of the job, and the work has to get done whether you feel like it or not. I was fourteen the first time I had to castrate boars. Nobody was going to do it for me. That lesson never left: sometimes you have to do things afraid. The forensic psychology unit. In graduate school at Washington State University, I trained under Dr. Thomas Brigham—co-author of the Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis —in a human behavior lab focused on real-world problems. I then served in a Clinical Psych II role at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a forensic setting where I conducted psychological evaluations of individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses. Sixteen months assessing human behavior at its most extreme taught me how to cut through defenses, identify what’s really driving someone’s decisions, and see what they can’t see in themselves.

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