If you've had a successful career and you're looking for the next chapter — have you ever thought about writing a book?

Jake Kelfer's first job out of college was with the Los Angeles Lakers, during Kobe Bryant's final season. At 22, sleeping on a friend's couch, he asked himself two questions: What do I know, and how can I help? The answer became Elevate Beyond, published when he was 23 — and the start of a trajectory that made him a four-time bestselling author.

In this conversation, Jake lays out the whole playbook: why you only need to be one or two steps ahead of your reader, the loose routine that replaced guru-style habit-stacking, the ROI trifecta of purpose, platform, and profit, the biggest mistake authors make (waiting until the book is done to talk about it), and Project Bestseller — the challenge to write and publish a book in under 90 days, documented daily on about an hour a day. He explains why he'd rather give his book away than sell it, what books actually earn versus what they open, and why human-generated, AI-assisted books — built on personality, experience, and expertise — will stand out in a flood of AI slop.

For leaders, coaches, and speakers carrying a message they've been meaning to put into a book — this one is your nudge.

Connect with Jake: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakekelfer/

Curious where your own genius is leaking? Take the free 5-minute GQ quiz: https://gq.donnietuttle.com

Follow The Genius Effect for a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday. Find your genius. Live your genius. Free others to do the same.

When you're stuck, do you ask people to give you the answer — or invite them to help you think?

Mary Messner spent years climbing inside healthcare, doing exactly what a successful executive is supposed to do. Then something shifted, and she made a U-turn. Today she's a keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, founder of Highline Creative Group, and the author of Help Me Think Through This.

Her premise is simple and disruptive: "Tell me what to do" does us a disservice. "Help me think through this" communicates trust, invites contribution, and creates possibilities that didn't appear before. In this conversation, Mary redefines creativity as courage — the courage to keep going in a new and different way — and walks through leaving an executive identity behind, the motherhood chapter that reshaped her priorities, the night she took her hair extensions off on stage, and why your reinvention quietly gives everyone watching permission to change their own life. She closes with the circle: conformity's circle is comfortable, but it isn't yours. Draw your own, and step onto it.

For authors, speakers, coaches, and leaders who are successful but not excited about what they wake up to — this one will give you plenty to think through.

Get Mary's book, Help Me Think Through This: https://marymessner.com/
Connect with Mary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marymessner · https://www.instagram.com/themarymessner/

Curious where your own genius is leaking? Take the free 5-minute GQ quiz: https://gq.donnietuttle.com

Follow The Genius Effect for a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Find your genius. Live your genius. Free others to do the same.

Clarity does not come before commitment. Commitment comes — clarity comes second.

John Ulsh survived a 125 mph head-on collision that gave him a 3% chance to live. After an 18-day coma, he woke up paralyzed from the waist down and spent eight weeks in a nursing home unable to feed himself — then rebuilt his body and his life one step at a time, all the way back to Spartan obstacle races. Today he coaches leaders on the eight pillars that carried him, starting with commitment. He's the author of The Upside of Down.

In this episode, John and Donnie dig into the personal board of directors he built when he couldn't do anything alone, why falling in love with the process beats chasing outcomes, the difference between the pain you can't control and the pain you can choose, the Christmas Eve permission he got to "be positive and still be pissed off," and the obituary exercise that reset his priorities as a father and a leader.

For leaders carrying a setback that feels final: this one will get you moving again.

Connect with John: https://www.johnulsh.com
Get his book, The Upside of Down: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and audio.

Curious where your own genius is leaking? Take the free 5-minute GQ quiz: https://gq.donnietuttle.com

Follow The Genius Effect for a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Find your genius. Live your genius. Free others to do the same.