What's on Your Bookshelf?

About What's on Your Bookshelf?

This is a life and leadership podcast where we live out loud the pages of books on our bookshelves. Hosted by Denise Russo, Sam Powell, and produced by Zach Elliott woyb.substack.com (https://woyb.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

What's On Your Bookshelf

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Mar 2023

Latest episode

28 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

189 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Oct 2026

   181 The Let Them Theory: Why Some Friendships Naturally Fade

   When a friendship starts to fade, why does it feel so personal? In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue exploring Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory with Chapter 12: Why Some Friendships Naturally Fade. We’ve all experienced it. The friend who stops reaching out. The invitation we didn’t get. The relationship that suddenly feels like we’re the only one putting in the effort. And even when we understand that friendships change as life changes, that doesn’t make the feelings of rejection, jealousy, or hurt any easier. This week, we’re talking about what happens when friendships shift, why we tend to take those changes personally, and how to find peace without necessarily closing the door. In this episode we discuss: * Why feeling excluded by friends can bring out a version of ourselves we don’t particularly like. * How anger often protects us from a much more uncomfortable emotion underneath. * The surprising difference between a friendship that’s truly one-sided and one that’s simply going through a different season. * Why assuming good intent can completely change how we interpret someone’s distance. * What it really means to show up for a friend who’s struggling—and why our best intentions sometimes create more work for them. One Big Takeaway Just because a friendship changes doesn’t mean someone did something wrong. Let Them have their own priorities, struggles, and seasons of life. Let Me decide how I want to show up, where to invest my energy, and which relationships I’m willing to give room to grow, change, or fade. Why This Episode Matters When a friend pulls away, it’s easy to fill in the blanks. They must not care. I must have done something wrong. Maybe we’re not really friends anymore. But the truth is, we rarely know everything happening in someone else’s life. Sometimes a friendship needs more effort. Sometimes it needs more grace. And sometimes it simply needs to become something different. Learning to recognize the difference can save us a lot of unnecessary hurt—and help us become better friends in the process. A Question to Consider Is there a friendship you’ve been interpreting as rejection when it might simply be a change in season? And what would happen if you stopped trying to control the relationship and started deciding what you want your part in it to look like? Coming Next We’ve spent two episodes talking about why adult friendships are hard and why some naturally fade. But what about making new ones? Next week, we’re shifting from letting go to looking forward. How do you actually make new friends as an adult? 📖 Buy the book (https://amzn.to/4uNsoGZ) and come along on the adventure with us. We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you. How to reach us: Denise: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniserusso1/) | Substack (https://substack.com/@woyb) | School of Thoughts LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/school-of-thoughts-inc./) Sam: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthapowell13) | Substack (https://substack.com/@sampowellwoyb) | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room (https://leadthegame.substack.com/) | Website (https://leadthegame.org/) Subscribe and Review on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/whats-on-your-bookshelf/id1688553668) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/55Bvm2EfXsAIScP4l1fDfc).Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@woybpodcast). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit woyb.substack.com (https://woyb.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   21 Oct 2026

   180 The Let Them Theory: The Truth No One Told You about Adult Friendships

   Why does making friends feel so much harder as an adult? In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo dive into Chapter 11 of Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory: The Truth No One Told You about Adult Friendships. Remember when friendships just seemed to happen? You went to school together, played on the same team, or saw each other every day. Then adulthood happened. People moved, careers changed, families grew, and suddenly maintaining friendships required a whole lot more effort. This week, we’re exploring why that happens, what actually makes friendships work, and why sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is allow a friendship to change without feeling like we’ve lost something. In this episode we discuss: * Why adulthood brings a “great scattering” of friendships—and why so many of us feel unprepared for it. * The three invisible pillars of friendship: proximity, timing, and energy. * Why even the strongest friendships require flexibility as our lives and priorities change. * How to recognize when a friendship is worth investing more energy into—and when it’s okay to loosen your grip. * Why a friendship doesn’t have to last forever to have been incredibly meaningful. One Big Takeaway Friendships aren’t meant to stay exactly the same as our lives change. Let Them move through their own seasons, priorities, and experiences. Let Me invest in the relationships that matter, appreciate what we’ve shared, and give friendships room to evolve. Why This Episode Matters We often measure friendships by how frequently we talk, how often we see each other, or whether things still feel the way they used to. But adult friendships don’t operate under the same conditions they did when we were younger. Sometimes the distance grows. Sometimes the timing isn’t right. Sometimes the energy that brought two people together changes. And none of that automatically means something went wrong. Understanding what makes friendships work can help us become more intentional about the relationships we want to nurture—and more gracious about the ones that naturally change. A Question to Consider Is there a friendship you’ve been holding onto because of what it used to be, rather than appreciating it for what it is today? What might change if you allowed that relationship to look different without seeing it as a loss? Coming Next Next week, we continue exploring adult friendships with a question many of us have struggled with: Why do some friendships naturally fade? 📖 Buy the book (https://amzn.to/4uNsoGZ) and come along on the adventure with us. We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you. How to reach us: Denise: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniserusso1/) | Substack (https://substack.com/@woyb) | School of Thoughts LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/school-of-thoughts-inc./) Sam: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthapowell13) | Substack (https://substack.com/@sampowellwoyb) | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room (https://leadthegame.substack.com/) | Website (https://leadthegame.org/) Subscribe and Review on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/whats-on-your-bookshelf/id1688553668) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/55Bvm2EfXsAIScP4l1fDfc).Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@woybpodcast). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit woyb.substack.com (https://woyb.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   14 Oct 2026

   179 The Let Them Theory: How to Make Comparison Your Teacher

   In this episode of What’s on Your Bookshelf, Sam Powell and Denise Russo continue through Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory with Chapter 10: How to Make Comparison Your Teacher. We all compare ourselves to other people. Their careers, their businesses, their accomplishments, their relationships, their success. But what if the problem isn’t that we compare?What if the problem is what we do with the comparison? This week, we explore how to turn jealousy into curiosity, someone else’s success into a roadmap, and the things we wish we had into actions we’re willing to take. In this episode we discuss: * Why comparison doesn’t have to make you feel behind—it can show you what’s possible. * How someone else’s success can become a roadmap rather than a reason to question your own progress. * Why we often admire the results without considering the sacrifices, habits, and work behind them. * The difference between wanting something and being willing to consistently do what it takes to pursue it. * How jealousy can reveal something important about what your future self wants. One Big Takeaway Someone else’s success can show you the way. But you still have to walk the path. Let Them accomplish what you’re dreaming about.Let Me learn from how they did it, decide what I’m willing to do, and start putting in the work. A Question to Consider Think about someone whose success makes you a little jealous. If you could ask them one question about how they got there, what would you want to know? And perhaps more importantly, what are you willing to start doing with the answer? Coming Next We’ve reached the halfway point of The Let Them Theory, and the next section takes us into a different kind of challenge: relationships. Next week, we’re talking about adult friendships — why they’re sometimes so difficult to build and maintain, and how letting people be who they are might help us create stronger, more fulfilling connections. One line that captures this episode: Don’t just admire the destination. Get curious about the road—and decide whether you’re willing to travel it. 📖 Buy the book (https://amzn.to/4uNsoGZ) and come along on the adventure with us. We’re so excited you’re here and would love to hear from you. How to reach us: Denise: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniserusso1/) | Substack (https://substack.com/@woyb) | School of Thoughts LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/school-of-thoughts-inc./) Sam: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthapowell13) | Substack (https://substack.com/@sampowellwoyb) | LeadtheGame’s Locker Room (https://leadthegame.substack.com/) | Website (https://leadthegame.org/) Subscribe and Review on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/whats-on-your-bookshelf/id1688553668) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/55Bvm2EfXsAIScP4l1fDfc).Subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@woybpodcast). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit woyb.substack.com (https://woyb.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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