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.

You might be caught in a trap accidentally built by yourself.

Most companies run on a default culture — nobody designed it, everybody inherited it, and nobody wants to talk about it. Jenni Catron has spent twenty years watching leaders build that trap by accident. As a leadership coach, speaker, founder and CEO of The 4Sight Group, and the author of Culture Matters, she's helped leaders put feet to vision in the music business, in megachurch executive leadership, and in boardrooms across the country.

In this episode, Jenni and Donnie dig into the gap every leader carries: the culture you think you're leading is not the culture your team is living. She explains why ambition has a ceiling, how she went from loving her job to hating it, what Seth Godin's rule — "people like us do things like this" — demands of a leader, why one company was losing nearly $400,000 a year to disengagement without noticing, and why your real job isn't to make people happy but to make them better. She closes with her free 12-question blind spot assessment — the mirror every leader should hold up.

For leaders, coaches, and anyone responsible for a team: this one will help you see what your people already feel.

Connect with Jenni: https://jennicatron.com/ · https://www.get4sight.com/ · @jennicatron
Get her book, Culture Matters: link via her website.

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.

The thing you're trying to fix about yourself was once something that kept you alive.

Dr. Tanya Lea is a Navy veteran, transformational coach, and founder of Consciously Aware, with a PhD in Organizational Leadership, a master's in Mental Health Counseling, and post-doctoral study in Mind-Body Medicine. After 27 years of managing what her body was trying to tell her — and eight major surgeries later — she stopped treating the symptoms and started reading the signals.

In this episode of The Genius Effect, Tanya joins Donnie Tuttle to talk about survival versus passion, who we have to become to survive, and the difference between being and endlessly becoming someone else. They dig into why unprocessed emotion shows up in the body, why a trigger is just an unfinished sentence, and why the pattern that made you successful in one season can quietly sabotage the next. Her message throughout: you're not broken — you're a brilliant system running outdated programming, and programming can be updated.

Tanya also shares the night she quit her job and didn't sleep for four days, the survival pattern that followed her across the country, and the first move she'd give a high-functioning leader who is quietly fracturing.

Connect with Tanya:
Take the free body assessment — https://consciouslyaware.com
Tanya on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyalea/

Follow The Genius Effect for conversations about bringing out the genius in ourselves and others. Find your Genius Quotient free at gq.donnietuttle.com.

Your best people are busy — they are just never at their best. And the reason might be you.

Shawn Vanderhoven is the author of Pause and a partner at The Wiseman Group. He measured distraction across 150 companies and found the number one thing holding people back from their very best work: "I'm not clear. I don't really know what success looks like."

In this episode of The Genius Effect, Shawn joins Donnie Tuttle to explain why successful teams go 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction — and what leaders can do about it. They dig into the difference between a bias towards action and a bias towards impact, why productivity is a social problem, and the small deliberate pauses that help teams get clearer, protect deep work, and clear out what is stealing their attention.

Shawn also shares the story of the workshop attendee who slammed his hand on the table, the 12 performance pauses his research uncovered, and a delegation habit — "tune in before you jump in" — that changes everything.

Connect with Shawn:
Take the quiz + get the book — https://pausebook.co
Shawn on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvanderhoven/

Follow The Genius Effect for conversations about bringing out the genius in ourselves and others. Find your Genius Quotient free at gq.donnietuttle.com.

You can win every battle and still be starving when you are fighting at someone else's table.

Brian Cook spent 33 years in the United States Army, graduated from West Point, completed five combat tours, rose to colonel, and helped shape military strategy. Then a medical condition brought that identity to an abrupt end and forced him to reconsider who he was and what he wanted his life to become.

In this episode of The Genius Effect, Brian joins Donnie Tuttle to discuss the ideas behind his book, Set Your Table.

They explore how high achievers can accomplish impressive goals while drifting away from their values, why our digital environment constantly competes to shape us, and how to build a life that nourishes our personal lives, relationships, professional work, and communities.

Brian also shares lessons from four near-death experiences, explains why winning individual battles can cost you the larger war, and offers encouragement for anyone whose current struggle is making them question their worth.

Connect with Brian:
Set Your Table on Substack — https://setyourtable.substack.com/
Join Brian's weekly newsletter — https://setyourtable.kit.com/
Get the book — https://books.manuscripts.com/product/set-your-table/

Follow The Genius Effect for conversations about bringing out the genius in ourselves and others. Find your Genius Quotient free at gq.donnietuttle.com.

School of Professional Design Audio Experiences

Take the ⁠Peak Personality Quiz
Episode Type: Guided Experience
Duration: ~27 minutes

Power Couple Re-Imaging Vision Field Trip
Ready to build a shared vision with the most important person in your life? In this guided audio field trip, Donnie Tuttle from the School of Professional Design invites you and your partner into a dynamic experience designed to awaken hidden desires, align your goals, and reignite your vision—together.

This isn't just a podcast—it's an assignment. A co-creative journey that begins with a trip to a bookstore and ends with deeper connection and clarity. Whether you're newly married or decades deep, this practice can reveal what truly matters to you both—and how to move toward it in unity.

You’ll learn:

• How to get unstuck from invisible “tug-of-wars”

• Why imagery reveals what language hides

• How to recognize the Venn Diagram of your dreams

• A powerful practice to spark momentum in your shared future

📍 This episode includes music for a 10-minute self-guided magazine photo walk — perfect with headphones and an open heart.

00:00 – Introduction to the Power Couple Vision Field Trip
01:45 – Why Unity Creates Acceleration
03:30 – The Invisible Tug of War (and How to Stop It)
05:00 – Vision Activation Through Imagery
07:00 – Field Trip Instructions: Go to the Bookstore
09:00 – Start the Photo Discovery Experience (10 min Music)
20:00 – Debrief: Discover What Your Photos Reveal About You
22:30 – Explore Your Partner’s Vision
24:00 – The Overlap: Where Dreams Align
25:30 – The Vision Date Night Challenge
26:30 – Closing Thoughts + Vision Playlist

• Unity creates momentum. Division creates drag.

• Imagery can reveal desires buried beneath language or daily routine.

• Shared vision begins with curiosity and ends in communication.

• You don’t have to agree on everything—but you must understand each other.

• Vision is a gift you give to your future selves.

"The resistance we bring into a moment often creates the resistance we fear."
"You are more powerful united than divided."
"Look through your partner’s eyes, and you’ll find new clarity in your own."
"Desire hides in plain sight—sometimes we just need to shift the lighting."
"Your overlap is your on-ramp to acceleration."

💿 Power Couple Playlist – A curated soundtrack to accompany your vision journey. (Add Spotify/Apple Music link)

💡 Want to go deeper? Take the Peak Personality Quiz to understand your professional design and how to build better with your unique strengths.

📲 Share your bookstore photo journey on Instagram with the hashtag #VisionFieldTrip and tag @schoolofprofessionaldesign