Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club

MINI EPISODE: Grit = Passion + Perseverance | Angela Duckworth's TED Talk | Discussion & Summary

Episode Summary
In this mini episode, Vanessa and Yanet step away from the big, complex books for a lighter but no less meaningful conversation — built around Angela Duckworth's classic 2013 TED Talk on grit. Yanet found the talk right as she headed back to school in her late 30s, and it named something she'd been living: grit as passion plus perseverance, a better predictor of success than IQ or raw talent. The hosts trade the story of how "Grit got me through it" ended up on Yanet's graduation cap, dig into how grit actually gets built, and trace the idea back to the research that came before it.

In This Episode

• A first for the show: stepping into TED Talk territory with a six-minute talk that hits above its weight
• The equation: grit = passion + perseverance — and why it can outweigh IQ or physical ability
• "Grit got me through it": Yanet going back to school near 40, the dining-table-turned-library, and the graduating class that called her Grit
• The hosts' origin story: passion plus perseverance as the bond between them — and why "she doesn't know how to fail" is the highest compliment
• How you build grit: a growth mindset, tying perseverance to purpose, normalizing setbacks as part of the process — and balancing it all with rest
• Marathons, not sprints: grit as effort sustained over the long haul
• The research beneath the buzzword: the Big Five (OCEAN) and how conscientiousness — discipline applied over time — is grit in a different package
• Lost in translation: is grit ganas? Yanet takes on the challenge of carrying the idea into Spanish
• A teaser: the hosts promise to come back for a deeper dive into Duckworth's work

Watch the Talk

Angela Duckworth's "Grit" TED Talk (2013):

https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8?si=hI1hmS4WqT9cxgP0

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club
SPOTLIGHT: A conversation with Harve A. Mogul - Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership

Episode Summary

This one is personal. Vanessa and Yanet sit down with Harve Mogul — retired President & CEO of United Way Miami and the leader who shaped some of their most formative career years. From the Peace Corps to a fifth-grade classroom to 27 years leading United Way Miami through hurricanes, growth, and reinvention, Harve shares the philosophy behind a lifetime of leadership: leading with people, requiring failure, getting out of the way, and making the call when the answer isn't clear.

In This Episode

• Where leadership starts: Harve's mother's activism, JFK, the Peace Corps, and the simple bus tour that first taught him people will follow if you step up
• Learning from bad bosses: Building an inventory of what not to do from leaders who won campaigns but lost their people
• Spotting a good leader: Empowerment over image, and why a good leader can lose an argument as well as win one
• The requirement to fail: The Theodore Roosevelt-inspired staff culture where "Have you failed?" was a question you wanted to answer yes to
• Push or step away: Why the best leaders empower people and then get out of the way
• Harvisms: "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway" and "If you wait until you have all the information, you're too late"
• Making the hard call: Trust your people, listen, and make the call — there is no perfect decision
• Hurricane Andrew, the Skunk Works, and women's leadership: Being "totally wrong and totally pleased" to get out of the way
• On leadership books: Why Harve reaches for Fast Company, podcasts, and conversations over books
• The legacy that matters most: Caring about people and their families — and the moments of "pure leadership" that made him better

About Our Guest

Harve Mogul served in the Peace Corps, taught fifth grade, worked in community planning, and helped plan the national campaign for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum before joining United Way. After leadership roles across Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Winston-Salem, he came to Miami in 1991 and led United Way Miami for 27 years through extraordinary growth and transformation.

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club
📖 No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

Episode Summary

Vanessa and Yanet take on No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer — the strangest leadership book they've read yet. Netflix built a culture on radical trust: high talent density, top-of-market pay, freedom and responsibility, and radical candor. The hosts unpack what's genuinely inspiring, what's a little cutthroat, and what an average leader can actually take from a philosophy built for the 1%.

In This Episode

• Freedom or structure? The central tension — and why our gut says freedom until we hear how it actually works
• Talent density: How a painful layoff of most of the staff accidentally revealed Hastings' whole framework
• "We're a team, not a family": Why every player has to bring their A-game — and the culture memo that says mediocre gets a package
• The Keeper Test: "Would I fight to keep you?" — and the stress that comes with it
• Radical candor: The structured, trained feedback system, live candor meetings, and why it has to flex across cultures
• Context, not control: Leadership as a tree, not a pyramid — the leader at the root, subject-matter experts making million-dollar calls at the top
• What didn't hit: Why this culture isn't replicable for nonprofits, hospitals, or the average company
• What we're implementing: Building a Netflix-style culture memo and setting context project-by-project
• Billboard quotes: "We're not a family, we're a team" and "Freedom isn't free"

Gas Tank Rating: 2/4 ⛽⛽

A powerhouse book with powerhouse ideas — but the half-tank reflects that so much of the Netflix model just isn't replicable for most teams. Worth the read for what you can apply.

Get the Book

• 🎧 Audiobook: https://tidd.ly/4wCNZCV
• 📖 Print/eBook: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub
• Also available via Amazon

Affiliate & Community Disclosure
This episode contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps support the show and keep us driving. Thank you for being part of the Daily Drive community.

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

Multipliers REMIX: Conversation with Dr. Selen Turner

Episode Summary

We told you Multipliers was too rich to leave alone — so we brought it back. In this REMIX, we sit down with Dr. Selen Turner, an HR executive, I/O Psychologist, and partner at Advantage Performance Group, who has put this framework to work across Fortune 500 companies and around the world. From spotting your own accidental diminisher tendencies to leading with kindness, this conversation is where the theory meets real life.

In This Episode

• What it really means to be a Multiplier vs. a Diminisher — and why nobody sets out to be one
• The "accidental diminisher" and how awareness (not perfection) is the goal
• The Rescuer trap: how jumping in to save the day quietly takes away your team's power
• Why your title makes your ideas land as orders — and how that blocks innovation
• Identifying your native genius by paying attention to the feedback you get most
• Leading up: what to do when your boss is a diminisher, and the risks of shielding your team
• The one Monday-morning move that changes everything — small gestures and kindness
• A first look at Selen's upcoming book, Unique Belonging, out this fall

Free Assessment

Want to discover your own native genius and spot your accidental diminisher tendencies? Take the free assessment mentioned in this episode:

Start your Multipliers learning journey: https://info.advantageperformance.com/your-multipliers-learning-journey-starts-here?submissionGuid=a226cd92-e80b-4d09-95a0-9bdf53a50736

New dashboard version (see your tendencies at a glance): https://www.advantageperformance.com/multipliers-mini-learning-journey/

Explore Further

See all the ways Multipliers comes to life — from the book to the simulation: https://www.advantageperformance.com/solution/multipliers/

Get the Book

Get the audiobook here: https://tidd.ly/4cnFaWb

Get your print or ebooks here: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub

Affiliate & Community Disclosure

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you.

We partner with Bookshop.org for print and ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks because both platforms are designed to protect and financially support local, independent bookstores. Every time you buy a book or start a membership through these links, you are putting money directly back into the pockets of community booksellers.

Your support helps keep this podcast running and ensures your favorite local bookshops continue to thrive. Thank you!

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club

📖 The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Episode Summary

Every once in a while, you have to step out of the heavy leadership books and just eat some cake. In this mini episode, Yanet leads us through a children's book handed to her by a CEO mentor during a hospital leadership program — a book that turned out to hold more leadership wisdom than either of us expected. Hand-illustrated and handwritten by the author, it's a story about kindness, optimism, and love. And on the second read, with a leadership lens, the themes started jumping off the page: circle of safety, asking questions instead of having answers, self-compassion, and building trust with people you're not used to trusting.

In This Episode

• Why we do "mini episodes" — keeping it light between the big, heavy books
• The backstory: a CEO mentor who gave Yanet a children's book instead of a business book — and what it taught her about leadership
• The four characters: the boy (the glue), the mole (the cake lover), the fox (quiet trust), and the horse (the optimist)
• Reading it twice — how the leadership themes only emerged on the second pass
• Circle of safety: the fox is freed and welcomed into the group, even after admitting he could've eaten the mole
• "Don't have the answers, ask the questions" — the same theme that surfaced in Multipliers
• Self-compassion and "the greatest illusion is that life should be perfect"
• "The greatest thing I've discovered is that I'm enough" — and why that one hits home
• Keeping it light: "If at first you don't succeed, have some cake"
• Kindness isn't the same as nice — leading with truth AND love, and why one without the other doesn't work
• The adult timeout: emotional maturity and stepping away before you bring baggage to your team
• Working your algorithm — feeding yourself (and putting out) love instead of hate
• Our billboards: "I am enough" and "When in doubt, eat some cake"
• Our Gas Tank rating for the book

Our Rating
⛽ Gas Tank: 4/4 — A full tank from both of us. A children's book that makes you stop, think, and give yourself (and everyone around you) a little grace. And it has cake.

Get the Book
Get your print or ebooks here: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub
Get the audiobooks here: [Libro.fm link]

Affiliate & Community Disclosure

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you.

We partner with Bookshop.org for print and ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks because both platforms are designed to protect and financially support local, independent bookstores. Every time you buy a book or start a membership through these links, you are putting money directly back into the pockets of community booksellers.

Your support helps keep this podcast running and ensures your favorite local bookshops continue to thrive. Thank you!

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club
📖 Good to Great REMIX: Conversation with Gladys Reed

Episode Summary
What makes a leader worth following — and how do you build a team that gets the right things done, day after day? In this REMIX episode — The Conversation After the Book — we revisit Good to Great with our friend and fellow leader Gladys Reed, the career banker who first put this book in our hands. Recorded from the usual commute (I-95 doing its thing), we get into why Jim Collins' principles still land decades later, and where we still respectfully disagree with him.

In This Episode

• Why Good to Great still holds up: the right people on the bus, confronting the brutal facts, the hedgehog concept, and the flywheel
• The debate we can't let go of: can you find the right people before you have a strategy? Yanet pushes back, Vanessa and Gladys make their case
• Hiring for the intangibles — spark, chispa, ganas — and the soft skills you just can't train
• Gladys' "would I buy from this person?" test for anyone in a client-facing role
• The free-ice-cream interview story — and why authenticity wins in the room
• Three interview questions worth stealing: "Paint your perfect job," "What drives you?" and "What have I not asked that you want me to know?"
• The biggest struggle in leadership: complainers vs. solution-owners — and why the same rule works at home
• Venting vs. problem-solving — and knowing the difference
• Monday-morning advice: lead by example, treat people how you'd want to be treated, and embrace that great people do it differently
• The one thing in life with no solution (Gladys' mother was right)

Get the Book
Get the audiobooks here: https://tidd.ly/4pdnG4j

Get your print or ebooks here: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub

Affiliate & Community Disclosure
Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you.

We partner with Bookshop.org for print and ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks because both platforms are designed to protect and financially support local, independent bookstores. Every time you buy a book or start a membership through these links, you are putting money directly back into the pockets of community booksellers.

Your support helps keep this podcast running and ensures your favorite local bookshops continue to thrive. Thank you!

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club
📖 Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

Episode Summary

What's the difference between a leader who makes everyone around them smarter — and one who, often without even realizing it, makes people feel smaller? In this episode, we dig into Liz Wiseman's Multipliers, and we'll be honest: this one hit differently. It's the most concrete, actionable leadership book we've covered so far, and we're already putting it to work.

In This Episode

• The core idea: Multipliers unlock genius in others — Diminishers shrink it — and the difference in output can be 2x
• The five disciplines of a Multiplier: Talent Magnet, Liberator, Challenger, Debate Maker, and Investor
• The neuroscience behind it all — what happens to your brain under a fear-based leader vs. a challenging one
• The Accidental Diminisher: the idea generator, the rescuer, the optimist, the pace setter — and why good intentions can still shrink a room
• The waterline concept: when to step back and when to step in
• The 51% rule — giving your people real ownership, and why it works
• The five chips: a practical tool for big talkers (we're not naming names)
• Henry Kissinger's "Is this your best work?" — and why he never read it the first three times
• The rugby coach who asked "What do you see?" instead of telling his team what to fix
• Philippe Petit and the high-wire: why greatness requires shifting your weight to the uncertain foot
• Our Gas Tank rating for the book

Our Rating

⛽ Gas Tank: 4/4 — Full tank, and the gas is pouring out of the car. We're already revisiting this one.

Get the Book

Get the audiobooks here: https://tidd.ly/4g8QYOO
Get your print or ebooks here: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub

Affiliate & Community Disclosure

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you.

We partner with Bookshop.org for print and ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks because both platforms are designed to protect and financially support local, independent bookstores. Every time you buy a book or start a membership through these links, you are putting money directly back into the pockets of community booksellers.

Your support helps keep this podcast running and ensures your favorite local bookshops continue to thrive. Thank you!

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

The Daily Drive Book Club | Episode 2

📖 Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins

Episode Summary

What separates companies that stay good from the ones that become truly great — and stay that way? In this episode, we dig into Jim Collins' Good to Great, unpacking five years of research, 11 companies, and the surprisingly humble, disciplined, and intentional patterns behind lasting greatness. Spoiler: it's not charisma, and it's not luck.

In This Episode

• Why the best leaders are humble, not flashy — and what Level 5 Leadership really means
• Getting the right people on the bus (and off it, and maybe into a different seat)
• The Stockdale Paradox: holding brutal honesty and unwavering optimism at the same time
• The Hedgehog Concept — finding your one big idea at the intersection of passion, excellence, and economic engine
• Why technology accelerates greatness but can't create it
• The Flywheel vs. the Doom Loop: slow, steady momentum vs. chasing the next big win
• Our Gas Tank rating for the book

Our Rating

⛽ Gas Tank: 3/4 (both hosts) Same rating as our last book — but for completely different reasons. More nuggets, fewer stories, and we both wanted more on the how.

Get the Book

Get the audiobook here: https://tidd.ly/4olcW3i

Get the next book here: https://tidd.ly/4g8QYOO

Get your print or ebooks here: https://bookshop.org/shop/thedailydrivebookclub

Affiliate & Community Disclosure

Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at absolutely no extra cost to you.

We partner with Bookshop.org for print and ebooks and Libro.fm for audiobooks because both platforms are designed to protect and financially support local, independent bookstores. Every time you buy a book or start a membership through these links, you are putting money directly back into the pockets of community booksellers.

Your support helps keep this podcast running and ensures your favorite local bookshops continue to thrive. Thank you!

Support the show

Support the show

Got a book suggestion or something on your mind? Email us at thedailydrivebookclub@gmail.com