[November 29th is Giving Tuesday, a day for lending your support to worthy non-profits. This week’s podcast opens with a brief interview with Lisa Weyer, executive director of the All Kids Bike campaign and its parent, the Strider Education Foundation. All Kids Bike is on a mission to teach every child in America how to ride a bike in kindergarten PE class.]

Michael Beckley, an author and professor of political science, has briefed high-level policymakers, military leaders, and members of the U.S. intelligence services on his judgment that China is a nation on the descent, and that is likely to lead America into a direct conflict with the People’s Republic much sooner than anyone expects.

Beckley is the co-author — along with Hal Brands — of Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China.

This week, Beckley explains the thinking behind his assessment and why business owners and entrepreneurs, not just policy wonks and the political class, would be wise to recognize the threat China poses and take steps now to prepare for the coming clash.

Beckley is interviewed by Dean Rotbart, host and award-winning journalist.

Photo: Michael Beckley, Danger Zone
Posted: November 28, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 52:40

Forty days remain in 2022. Forty days to wrap up unfinished business and set course for the New Year.

What can you accomplish between now and year-end to further your goals and check worrisome tasks off your to-do list?

Dr. Sarah Reiff-Hekking answers, “Plenty.” 

Dr. Sarah, a psychologist with more than 20 years of experience, is one of the nation’s preeminent experts on coaching entrepreneurs and professionals on how to get past their sense of being overwhelmed and the procrastination that often results. She is the founder of True Focus Coaching, which offers a variety of time management programs and consulting designed to get even the most time-challenged procrastinators unstuck.

In working with clients over the years, Dr. Sarah has zeroed in on five steps that can bulldoze through the obstacles that undermine our productivity, keep us from achieving our goals, and set us on a negative emotional spiral.

This week, Dr. Sarah shares with host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart the proprietary system she relies on to get things done when there are simply too many things to do.

Photo: Dr. Sarah Reiff-Hekking, True Focus Coaching
Posted: November 21, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:01

In the third season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, B-List actor Robert Kerbeck played a Cardassian soldier, unrecognizable under facial prosthetics and heavy makeup.

But the alien disguise was child’s play compared to the many real-life guises Robert adopted over his long career as a highly paid corporate spy, absconding with invaluable, private intelligence so detailed it would make the CIA proud.

Business-on-business spying is a huge industry — full of deceit and lies. No company is too small or unimportant to be confident that its competitors aren’t deploying snoops to extract valuable, actionable, proprietary information. 

Robert is the author of RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street. In the book, he regales readers with his adventures as a corporate spy - pretending to be someone he wasn’t to coax people inside giant corporations to reveal information and secrets that could lead to their downfall - and land Robert in jail for a long, long time.

This week Robert shares the secrets of the dark art of corporate spying with host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart. If, that is, you can believe Robert isn’t just running some kind of grand con on us.

Photo: Robert Kerbeck, RUSE
Posted: November 14, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 49:56

As a veteran manager of hundreds of employees, London-based author Jim Edwards would grade himself only a solid “B” as a supervisor.

So why do business owners and entrepreneurs on both sides of the Atlantic turn to Jim in impressive numbers for his recommendations on how they can perform better in leadership roles?

The reason, says Jim, the author of Say Thank You For Everything, is that you don’t have to be a management superstar to be good enough to outperform your peers and competitors.

Jim, a talented reporter and writer, gleaned his insights in his previous supervisory roles, including managing editor at Adweek, founding editor-in-chief at Business Insider UK, and editor-in-chief at Insider.

Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief of FORTUNE, describes Jim’s book as “equal parts smart, funny, blunt and helpful.” Adds Eric Schurenberg, former editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine: “Jim knows how the leadership game is played and, better yet, he knows how to coach his readers to play it as well.”

Monday Morning Radio host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart promises that Jim’s organizational insights will leave you nodding your head and asking, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Photo: Jim Edwards, Say Thank You for Everything
Posted: November 7, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 53:34