Commanding a floating city of 5,000 sailors, intercepting Houthi missiles in the Red Sea, and stripping rank from sailors who cross the line with Captain Chris "Chowdah" Hill, commanding officer of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. How do you stop a fighter jet in 2-seconds? And what are “midrats”?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Singing cleanup songs, tiring out kids before naptime, and battling the "babysitter" stereotype with Brenda Hawkins, a daycare owner in Maryland. How has childcare changed over the years? And what is a "dope and drop"?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Fine-tuning the perfect accent for a character, recording for hours in a sound-insulated booth, and tracking down obscure pronunciations with Sean Pratt, an audiobook narrator. What is "punch and roll"? And what kind of voice do you need to be a great narrator?

EXTRA
We spoke with Sean about his work narrating the David Foster Wallace literary behemoth Infinite Jest. That part of the interview didn’t fit into this episode, but you can listen to it here!

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

We've got something a little different and special for you this week! The day this is dropping, January 21st, is the launch day for my new book, called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. We’re running an excerpt (a whole chapter!) from the audiobook on this podcast.

You can buy the full audiobook, hardcover, or Kindle version here!

We’ll be back next week with a new episode of the show, talking with a professional audiobook narrator!

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Cracking decades-old murder cases, delivering unthinkable news to victims' families, and tracking suspects across borders with John Lamberti, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Why are cold cases harder to solve these days? And what's a "415"?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Forecasting demand for 40,000 different products, arranging for model kits to traverse the globe from Chinese factories to mom-and-pop hobby shops, and enduring random customs inspections with Alan Bass, a hobby kit and toy distributor. Why can't shops place orders directly with factories and cut out distributors? And what is it like to discover your childhood toys were actually samples given out for market research purposes?

The hobby kit and toy distributor business he runs is Stevens International. You can find his family’s brick-and-mortar hobby shop, AAA Hobbies and Crafts, in Magnolia, NJ, and an online store at MegaHobby.com.

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Hurtling down an ice track at nearly 100mph, perfecting the practice of visualization, and shaving off hundredths of a second with Kaillie Humphries, an Olympic bobsledder. What's the most feared track in the world? And how do athletes practice when there's no ice in the summer?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Shearing Christmas trees into their classic shape, fighting back weeds and blackbirds, and planting 5,000 trees a year with Sheldon Corsi, a Christmas tree farmer near Cincinnati, Ohio. What does a tree baler sound like? And what makes Christmas tree farming distinctive within the world of agriculture?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here.

Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at jobs@whatitslike.com

Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?