What if "thriving" isn't a soft concept—but a measurable performance advantage?

In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Jon Rosemberg, Founding Partner of Anther and author of "A Guide to Thriving: The Science Behind Breaking Old Patterns, Reclaiming Your Agency, and Finding Meaning", to break down what thriving really is, what it is not, and why leaders should care right now.

Jon draws a sharp line between thriving and "success." Success can be the big house, the title, the milestones. Thriving is different. It's a state where you're calm, connected to others, and able to create. It's when you can access the best of your thinking and show up as yourself—not as a reactive version of yourself.

They explore the practical business implications. Jon frames thriving as the condition that makes proactive leadership possible. Less reactivity. More intentionality. Better decisions. He also positions "flow" as a subset of thriving—useful, but not the whole story.

Then the conversation gets strategic. Jon introduces agency as the lever that moves people from survival mode to thriving: the capacity to make intentional choices. And he connects it directly to strategy. Real strategy is not doing everything. It's making clear choices—and just as importantly, choosing what you will not do.

For leaders building teams, Jon highlights the shift from productive value to relational value. Your job stops being "do the work." Your job becomes "enable others to do their best work." When teams are thriving, performance rises. When organizations treat well-being as a KPI, it becomes a competitive advantage—not a perk.

Finally, Jon reframes thriving as a spiral, not a finish line. Markets change. Crises hit. AI reshapes work. The goal isn't to "arrive" at thriving. The goal is to build the capacity to return to it faster—and lead through uncertainty with more clarity, nuance, and adaptability.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thriving has a precise definition. It's not "success" or status; it's being calm, connected, and creative—able to access better thinking and show up authentically.

• Agency is the lever. Moving from survival mode to thriving starts with the capacity to make intentional choices—and that maps directly to strategy in business.

• Thriving changes performance at the team level. Leaders shift from their own productivity to relational value—enabling others to do their best work—which increases team performance.

If Jon's episode got you focused on thriving through agency, go next to Episode 156 with Linda Henman for the "now what?" Linda is all about making tough, high-stakes decisions—fast and well—so you can turn intentional choice into real strategy. Together, they pair thriving as the mindset with decision-making as the skill that makes it real.

What if the real leadership advantage isn't another tactic—but the way you lead yourself when nobody's watching?

In this episode, Peter talks with executive coach and facilitator Nina Urman about her core framework found in her book: "Lead From Within." She reframes "mindset" as heartset—getting crystal-clear on what you're saying yes to, what you're saying no to, and why that decision discipline matters at the top.

Nina's thought leadership lives where performance meets inner leadership. We unpack failing forward as a repeatable leadership behavior, not a motivational poster—using setbacks as data, then moving again with more precision.

We also explore how leaders can "create from the future" by defining the future-self outcome and reverse-engineering the moves that make it real.

Her work is deeply practical and designed for high-performing rooms. Nina coaches and facilitates for CEOs, executives, leadership teams, entrepreneurs, and family businesses, with a focus on time and energy management and emotional mastery—because execution breaks when energy and emotion are unmanaged.

We also get into how she built demand through trusted communities like YPO (Young Presidents' Organization) and similar peer networks—and why "belonging" and safety are not soft concepts, but performance multipliers. Nina describes her work as creating safe spaces where high-achievers can be fully themselves, which is where the real breakthroughs happen.

Finally, Nina shares a challenge every successful thought leader hits: when your calendar proves the concept, but caps the company. She's been running nearly 50 retreats a year and is now making intentional tradeoffs—saying no to 1:1 and even some retreats—so she can scale what works, especially around family leadership.

She's even developed a "Family Circle in a Box" board-game-style tool to help families moderate the experience themselves, and she's exploring how digital tools (including AI) can help her scale impact without losing the essence of the work.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Lead from "heartset," not just mindset. Clarity comes from aligning decisions to what you truly value—what you're saying yes to, what you're saying no to, and why.

• Make failure a system, not an event. "Failing forward" is a repeatable discipline: treat setbacks as data, adjust fast, and move again with more precision.

• Scale impact without losing the work. Trust-based communities and psychologically safe spaces drive breakthroughs, and scalable formats (tools, repeatable experiences, digital/AI) help move beyond a calendar-capped model.

If Nina's "Lead From Within" idea of heartset and self-leadership resonated, queue up Episode 125 with Claude Silver next. Nina focuses on inner clarity and emotional mastery as a leadership advantage.

Claude complements that by translating the inner game into culture—human-centered leadership, values, and how your emotional posture shapes the workplace.

Together, they move from who you are as a leader to how your leadership lands on others. Go listen to Claude's episode to connect personal alignment to scalable, people-first performance.

What did the best thought leaders do differently in 2025—and what can you learn for your own work in 2026?

This "Best of 2025" episode looked back at standout moments from prior conversations and pulled one clear thread through them: ideas don't scale by accident. They scaled when leaders treated communication, authorship, and development as skills to build—not traits you either "had" or didn't.

We first revisited cultural fluency with global leadership strategist Jane Hyun. She defined it simply: working effectively with people who were different from you across many kinds of human difference—not just one label. And she made the bar real: it took intentional effort, because it was a developmental skill that most people were never formally taught.

Next, we look at a candid conversation on mentorship, legacy, and the discipline of writing with Noel Massie. He argued that "legacy" showed up in what you gave—especially the investments you made in other people. Then he told the unglamorous truth behind a meaningful book: it took coaching, rewrites, and years of sustained effort—because "fast" wasn't the same as "better."

Then we look at a different kind of bridge-building with Dr. Lisa DeFrank-Cole—moving research out of academia and into the rooms where decisions got made. She shared the tension many experts faced: it was one thing to teach and publish for a specialized audience, and another to translate research into plain language for podcasts, media, and organizations. She emphasized patience—compounding work over time until it reached critical mass.

Finally, we returned to the power of curiosity and publishing with Laurence Minsky. He described how asking the right questions led to books—and how books created credibility that opened unexpected doors, including a path into academia.

If you want more great advice for 2026 we encourage you to explore the back catalog or reach out to the Thought Leadership Leverage team if you want help taking big insights to scale this year!