Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos doesn’t have management books stashed in his work bag, on his desk or piled on his nightstand.

Sarandos doesn’t really read management books at all, he said in an interview for an episode of CNBC’s “Leaders Playbook,” a series set to premiere on Wednesday. Instead, he reads fiction novels to learn about leadership, he said. His favorite management book: “Typhoon,” a 1902 novella by Joseph Conrad about a steamship captain and crew navigating a severe storm while at sea.

“It doesn’t sound like a management story on the surface, but I think it’s the most powerful leadership story I’ve ever read,” said Sarandos, 61. “I read it over and over again because I find … I get something different in the book every time I read it.”

When Sarandos first read the book roughly 20 years ago, he thought the captain was a reckless “hot dog” who put himself and his family in jeopardy, he said. On more recent reads, he’s come away with a more salient lesson about leading in the face of conflict and uncertainty.

“Now, what I see is that when you go through life and you go through business, you make a lot of decisions that don’t turn out the way you thought they would,” said Sarandos. “The real leadership test is: How do you manage through that?”

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Sarandos joined Netflix as its head of content operations in 2000, and further learned how to embrace uncertainty while working for Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings, he said. “I think the lesson that he’s left for me is that you pick the best people, give them the tools to do the best work of their life, and get out of their way,” said Sarandos.

He recalled a specific instance in which he acted with a lot of autonomy, taking “a big financial swing” with no guaranteed payoff. About a decade into his tenure at the streaming company, Sarandos spent $100 million of Netflix’s money to create the company’s first original television series, “House of Cards” and greenlight it for two seasons — without asking Hastings for permission, he said.

“When he asked me, ‘Why would you do that?’ I said, ‘Reed, it’s a simple risk-reward for me. If this show fails, we will have dramatically overpaid for a show. We do that all the time, but if it succeeds, we could completely transform the business as we know it,’” said Sarandos.

Sarandos isn’t the only prominent businessperson who draws inspiration from fictional stories.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ leadership style has been partially shaped by Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day,” according to author Brad Stone’s biography “The Everything Store.” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates frequently touts the value of reading fiction, noting in a Nov. 25 blog post that some novels can ”[pull] back the curtain on how something important really works.”

Anyone can glean real-life takeaways from novels if they practice summarizing the plot, analyzing the motivations of the characters and spend time drawing parallels between the conflict in the book and issues they may face at work, Northwestern University leadership professor Brooke Vuckovic told CNBC Make It in January 2023.

“Our best leaders are looking for ways to develop themselves, and fiction represents an often underused and incredibly powerful, low cost, ongoing, pleasurable way to develop ourselves — if read correctly,” said Vuckovic.

Watch Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on CNBC’s ”Leaders Playbook″ premiering Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. All new episodes Wednesdays.

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Manipulation doesn’t always look dramatic or explosive. It could be a loaded comment in a meeting, a subtle guilt trip in an email, or a casual remark that leaves you questioning yourself long after the conversation ends.

What makes manipulators effective is their ability to influence how you feel. Research on social influence and coercive control shows that manipulators aim for emotional impact: the drop in your confidence, the spike in your anxiety, the moment you start defending instead of deciding.

In my decade advising Fortune 500 companies as a behavioral researcher, I’ve seen this pattern at every level: the person who controls the emotional tone often controls the direction of the interaction.

The most powerful response to a manipulator isn’t to confront them. This often backfires, triggering gaslighting, denial, or escalation. Here’s a simple strategy I teach to help you “CUT” through manipulation.

When your nervous system spikes, your thinking narrows and your behavior becomes easier to steer. Studies on emotional regulation show that staying physiologically calm preserves decision quality under pressure. Slow your breath. Lower your voice. Buy yourself a few seconds before responding.

Instead of reacting with:

• Snapping or raising your voice: “Why are you saying that? That’s not true!”
• Over-explaining or defending yourself: “Actually, I did do [X], and here’s why…”
• Appeasing or over-committing when it’s unreasonable: “Okay, I’ll handle it.”
• Getting defensive or anxious: internal panic, self-doubt, or visible agitation.

Try responding with:

• Neutral acknowledgment: “Noted.”
• Redirect to facts or agenda: “Let’s focus on the next step.”
• Brief, calm clarification if necessary: “I understood it differently; here’s what I did.”
• Pause and buy time: a slow breath, or a moment to compose your response before engaging.

By staying neutral in your responses, you remove the emotional fuel that manipulators rely on and shift the interaction back into your control.

Even when your heart is racing, how you show up matters. A relaxed posture, relaxed facial expression, and steady verbal pace signal that there’s nothing to hook into.

Research on status dynamics and dominance signaling shows that the least reactive person is often seen as the most powerful. Staying unfazed tells the manipulator: Your tactics aren’t working on me.

This is where most people slip. They explain, defend, justify, and try to be understood. But feeding the emotional layer is exactly what keeps manipulation alive. Instead, refocus on facts, boundaries, or the task at hand. Pay attention only to what you can control.

Together, these three moves cut off the oxygen from the interaction. You’re no longer a lever that can be pulled. Over time, that shifts the power in your favor.

The most powerful response is far more destabilizing to the manipulator’s strategy: emotional non-cooperation. Calmly, neutrally, and consistently refusing to feed the emotional leverage, you take away the fuel that sustains their behavior. When emotional leverage disappears, the manipulation often stops.

Shadé Zahrai is an award-winning peak performance educator, behavioral researcher, leadership strategist, and author of “Big Trust: Rewire Self-Doubt, Find Your Confidence, and Fuel Success.” Recognized as one of LinkedIn’s Top 50 Most Impactful People, she supports leaders at some of the world’s biggest brands, including Microsoft, Deloitte, Procter & Gamble, and JPMorgan.

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No parent is perfect — and that’s for the best, according to child psychologist Becky Kennedy.

When parents make mistakes, and then make an effort to repair those missteps, they teach their kids important lessons about maturity and bonding, Kennedy told comedian Trevor Noah’s “What Now?” podcast in a Dec. 4 episode. Those lessons can help kids maintain happy and healthy relationships going forward, she said.

“We learn the most in our relationships when people take responsibility for their behavior, when people repair,” said Kennedy, a Columbia University-trained child psychologist, host of the parenting podcast “Good Inside” and a mother of three children herself. “I wouldn’t want to deprive my kids of that opportunity, and that’s such [an important] part of healthy relationships.”

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Repairing a mistake or a rift is the best way to get closer to another person, Kennedy said, calling it “the ultimate relationship strategy.” In parenting, those repairs can strengthen the parent-child bond and give your child a model for how to own up to their own mistakes, said Kennedy. They can teach kids that it’s natural to make mistakes, and how you respond to them matters.

Other parenting experts broadly agree: Parents should model to their children how to bounce back from a mistake by apologizing and then moving on. Learning that mistakes are inevitable rather than a sign of inherent flaws can help your kids avoid the stress of perfectionism, which can lead to long-term mental health issues like anxiety and low self-esteem, according to developmental psychologist Aliza Pressman.

“If our kids didn’t see [our mistakes], they would not have much hope that they get to make mistakes and grow and still be loved and be worthy,” Pressman told “The Mel Robbins Podcast” in a July 28 episode.

For her part, Kennedy said that she’s far from a perfect parent, admitting to Noah that there have been “innumerable” times where her kids threw tantrums — and all of the lessons she teaches about leading with empathy went out the window.

“I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again, and I mean it with such honesty that my kids don’t have some Dr. Becky[-type] person as a mom,” she said. She recalled an instance where one of her kids whined about what she’d cooked for dinner, and she lost her temper and yelled at the child. You shouldn’t do that, of course, she noted — but if you do, don’t be paralyzed by the shame or guilt of losing your cool.

“Every parent does that,” said Kennedy. “There’s not one parent who has not been in that situation.”

As for why you need to own up to your behavior: Consider “what happens for a kid when the person they depend on for safety becomes the person who scares them,” Kennedy said. It’s “a very frenetic experience” that can leave your child overwhelmed as they try to cope through a mixture of “self-doubt and self-blame.”

Instead of blaming your child for the frustration that caused you to lash out, say something like, “I’m sorry I yelled,” said Kennedy. “And this line really matters: ‘It’s never your fault when I yell. I’m working on staying calmer, even when I’m frustrated. I love you.’”

The apology is just a first step for parents who are prone to outbursts, Kennedy added. If that’s the case, she recommended working on catching yourself before you lose your cool by taking the time to identify what triggers your frustration. That way, you can try to take a beat and calm down with a deep breath rather than resorting to yelling, she said.

“You can’t help your kid if you’re not doing some type of internal work,” said Kennedy.

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As a personal finance consultant, I also teach money management workshops for teenagers and college students, as well as for young or soon-to-be parents.

Many of them worry about how to raise kids who won’t take their family’s hard-earned money for granted. They want to instill values of generosity, hard work, thoughtfulness and compassion.

When clients ask me about this, my initial answer is that if you’re asking the question, that’s a good start. But there’s much more to say about raising children who are grounded with money.

We all know people who have a lot of money and live a very rich life in material goods: big houses, fancy things. Parents who grew up with less often want to make sure their children have the best of everything, but that can backfire.

Just because you can afford for the family to travel first class or book the most expensive accommodations doesn’t mean it’s always the best decision. If you want to raise grounded children, display grounded values. It doesn’t make sense to spend money on things that aren’t important to you just because you have it available. And your kids will notice if you do.

At the same time, you don’t need to live a live with unnecessary deprivation just because you’re trying to convey a message. The key is to strive for that middle path and always return to your values.

Having money shouldn’t absolve your kids of their obligations to their community. You might help them get summer jobs or direct them to shovel the neighbor’s driveway after a snowfall, to show them all the ways we need and help each other in a community.

I know for sure that your kids will remember what you do much more than what you say. If community involvement matters to your family, are you showing what that looks like? If you support environmental causes, are your choices aligned with the causes you support?

Another important lesson to teach your kids is how to keep from accidentally showing off. Kids understand gradations of class and wealth better than anyone else.

Make sure to positively reinforce any sensitivity they show in social settings. Being respectful of your audience is a life skill just like any other. Teach them about status symbols: visible brand names, expensive fads, and even over-the-top generosity that may not have intrinsic value.

Help them think through what pursuing those symbols will mean for their relationships. If they want the latest status coat, ask them: “If we get you that coat, how will other people react? How will they feel?” Help them see when indulgence or ostentation may make someone else feel less than, which can strain relationships.

Kids are obsessed with the “why” in everything, including money matters. Once your children notice that different people or families have more or less money, they’ll start to ask you about it. Your job is to examine and deconstruct any assumptions they’re making about why someone might have less money than you do, especially having to do with laziness or morality.

Guide them through other possible explanations for why someone else might have less. Maybe your family has inherited wealth and this person doesn’t; maybe this person prioritized a career they love but is less lucrative; maybe this person got different money messages growing up.

Point out that your kids are probably not going to be the richest or poorest in the room wherever they go — would they want someone wealthier to judge them for having less?

Most important of all, emphasize that greater wealth is never a measure of character or values.

Sheila Schroeder is the author of ”It’s Time to Talk: A Woman’s Guide to Navigating Money Conversations″ and a business development consultant at Wealthspire Advisors. She brings more than 25 years of financial services experience and regularly leads personal finance workshops.

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If you want to live longer and feel better, stop chasing food fads.

Every few months, a new “miracle” plan — keto, intermittent fasting, carnivore, raw — promises to fix everything. Most don’t. Even those that show modest benefits rarely deliver results worth the time, effort, and mental energy they demand.

As an Harvard-trained oncologist and world leader in health policy, I’ve spent decades researching what actually improves health outcomes. The answer to a longer life is so simple: Good nutrition is about building about habits you can sustain for years, not weeks.

While you should consult your physician before changing your diet, as individual needs vary, here are six nutrition myths I wish more people would let go of.

The average adult consumes nearly 500 calories a day from snacks, much of it from ultra-processed foods like chips, cookies and packaged desserts. These foods are engineered to encourage overeating.

In one study, participants eating ultra-processed foods consumed more calories and gained two pounds in just two weeks compared with those eating whole foods, even when calories were matched. These foods are also linked to higher all-cause mortality.

Not all snacks are harmful. Research shows that healthy snacks can improve overall diet quality. Nuts, fruit, yogurt, hummus and vegetables provide fiber, protein and healthy fats that promote fullness without blood sugar spikes.

Most Americans already consume enough protein. Recommended intake is roughly 0.75 to 1.0 grams per kilogram of body weight per day (about 45 to 70 grams for most women and 55 to 90 grams for most men).

Protein powders aren’t a solution either. In one analysis, two-thirds of tested protein powders contained unsafe levels of lead. There are exceptions:

• Adults over 60, who lose muscle mass with age, may benefit from about 1.2 g/kg
• Athletes or people recovering from illness may need up to 1.5 g/kg

For everyone else, whole-food sources (beans, lentils, yogurt, fish) are safer and more beneficial than supplements or excessive red meat.

Only about 7% of American adults meet recommended fiber intake, and that’s a serious problem.

High-fiber diets are linked to lower risk of colorectal cancer, reduced rates of Type 2 diabetes, and a 31% lower risk of death from coronary heart disease.

But fiber supplements aren’t a perfect shortcut. Most contain just one type of fiber and don’t replicate the complex, diverse fibers found in whole foods. Only a small fraction show meaningful clinical benefits.

Fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains remain the most effective way to support gut health.

Dairy consumption is associated with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes and improved growth in children — regardless of fat content.

The idea that higher-fat dairy causes weight gain isn’t supported by evidence. In fact, studies show children who consume whole-fat dairy have lower odds of overweight and obesity than those consuming low-fat versions. Adults show similar trends.

Fat content alone doesn’t determine health. Whole-fat dairy can fit into a balanced diet, especially when it replaces ultra-processed “low-fat” alternatives.

Choose the version you enjoy and can sustain.

For decades, Americans were told fat makes you fat. This has been proven wrong. Yet as dietary fat intake declined, obesity and diabetes rates surged.

Healthy fats are essential. Many calorie-dense foods — nuts, olive oil, full-fat dairy, even dark chocolate — are associated with less weight gain than processed grains and sugary snacks.

Liquid plant oils, especially extra-virgin olive oil, have strong evidence behind them. Even half a tablespoon per day has been associated with a 19% lower risk of death over nearly 30 years.

Fat isn’t the enemy. It’s the ultra-processed, low-fiber, high-sugar foods that drive weight gain and metabolic disease.

Many people believe an extra workout can cancel out unhealthy eating. Unfortunately, you can’t. There’s more than a grain of truth to the saying, “you are what you eat.”

A recent study found that humans burn roughly the same number of calories per day regardless of activity level. Exercise improves health, but it doesn’t provide the calorie “bonus” people expect. What and how much you eat is what moves the needle on weight.

That said, exercise is still essential. It improves sleep, mood, cognition, bone density and social connection. Walking, especially with other people, is one of the most effective and accessible forms.

Good nutrition is simply about designing a life where healthy choices are ones that are easy and that you stick to for years: whole foods like fruits, nuts, and vegetables, modest portions and meals shared with people you like.

Skip the detoxes. Keep the olive oil. And yes, sometimes eat your ice cream. 

Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel is an oncologist, Vice Provost and Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of “Eat Your Ice Cream: 6 Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life.” Previously, he was chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Emanuel received his MD from Harvard Medical School.

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