Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Passion Struck® with John R. Miles is the #1 alternative health podcast about human flourishing: strengthening your brain, body, and spirit so you can live like you matter and become who you’re meant to be. Each week, bestselling author, former Fortune 50 leader, and human performance expert John R. Miles brings real, raw conversations with leading experts and people who’ve lived what they teach about growing with purpose and building a meaningful life you’re proud of. New episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Episodes
What if the key to thriving in 2026 isn't expanding your network or chasing global impact, but intentionally shrinking your world to the size your brain was built for?
In this first solo episode of 2026, Episode 711 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles explores the profound mismatch between our hunter-gatherer brains (evolved for tribes of under 150 people) and the demands of an 8-billion-person world. Drawing on Dunbar's numbe...
What if one of the most personal decisions a woman can make (when and whether to become a mother) became a public act of courage that shifted the conversation for an entire generation?
In Episode 710 of Passion Struck, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA) joins John R. Miles for a deeply human conversation that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with agency, worth, and vulnerability.
At 31, newly sworn into Con...
What if entering "the zone" wasn't a rare accident reserved for elite athletes, but a repeatable skill anyone could train, just like strength or focus?
In Episode 709 of Passion Struck, NBA mindset coach, bestselling author, and peak performance expert David Nurse joins John R. Miles to reveal why flow state has been misunderstood as elusive when a science-backed, step-by-step system actually governs it he calls The Flow Co...
What if the real reason most teams fail has nothing to do with talent, effort, or motivation?
In Episode 708 of Passion Struck, New York Times bestselling author and Leadership IQ founder Mark Murphy joins John R. Miles to reveal why even the most innovative, most driven teams quietly fall apart. Drawing on decades of research and his latest work on high-performance teams, Mark explains why misalignment, unclear roles,...
What if real transformation does not begin with what we add, but with what we finally allow to end?
In this deeply reflective Christmas Day solo episode of Passion Struck, Episode 707, John R. Miles invites listeners into the quiet, liminal space between the year that is closing and the life that is still taking shape. Rather than rushing toward resolutions, this episode explores the power of gentle endings and the release ...
What if creativity were just the spark, and the real power lay in turning ideas into unbreakable solutions?
In Episode 706 of Passion Struck, innovation expert Nir Bashan returns (his first appearance was Episode 36) to unveil the repeatable framework behind his new book The Solution Mindset. He reveals why brilliant ideas alone leave most people stuck, and how activating 10 innate problem-solving superpowers can transform ...
What if the most profound regret we carry isn’t about what we did, but about the quiet ways we slowly drifted from the people we love most?
In this heartfelt solo episode of Passion Struck, Episode 705, John R. Miles explores why the greatest gift we can give those who matter most isn’t more time, more gifts, or even more love, but simple, undivided presence.
Drawing from personal holiday memories and the psychology of “rela...
What if the most significant leadership challenge of our time isn’t strategy, speed, or scale but our shrinking capacity to care for one another?
In an era of deepening polarization and quiet loneliness, this special episode of Passion Struck confronts the root of division: our brain's ancient "us vs. them" wiring that once ensured tribal survival but now fragments society.
Host John R. Miles joins Harvard cognitive scientis...
What if the leadership answers you’ve been searching for can’t be found in another keynote, framework, or performance review but only by stepping completely out of the world you know?
In Episode 703 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles is joined by Oli Raison and Boris Maguire, founders of Safarini Leadership, for a conversation that challenges everything we think we know about growth, leadership, and belonging.
At a time when w...
What if the only thing standing between you and the person you’re meant to become isn’t talent, time, or even confidence, but one small, uncomfortable decision you haven’t made yet?
In this powerful solo episode, Episode 702 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles closes the Season of Becoming by distilling the single most consistent lesson from hundreds of world-class performers, Navy SEALs, near-death survivors, and everyday cou...
What if the very thing you’ve been trying to hide, your awkwardness, was actually the key to deeper connection, stronger leadership, and unbreakable confidence?
In Episode 701 of Passion Struck, workplace performance expert and bestselling author Henna Pryor joins John R. Miles to unpack her groundbreaking book Good Awkward and expose the hidden crisis she calls Social Muscle Atrophy, the slow erosion of our ability to hand...
What if becoming who you are meant to be depends less on adding more and more… and more on eliminating the things holding you back?
In this special EPISODE 700 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with fellow veteran and former Navy SEAL combat operator Brent Gleeson, bestselling author of Embrace the Suck and All In.
This milestone conversation goes deep into identity transformation under real pressure: military servi...
There is a moment when you look at your life and realize something important. You have been waiting. You have been giving your energy away. You have been putting everyone else first. And somewhere along the line, you started disappearing from your own story.
This solo episode is about that moment.
The moment you choose yourself again.
John R. Miles explores why so many of us learn to shrink to fit other people’s expectations,...
What if becoming who you want to be has less to do with control and more to do with letting go?
In this insightful episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with Anne Libera, longtime Second City director, educator, and author of Funnier: A New Theory for the Practice of Comedy. Together, they explore how improvisation offers a powerful model for personal growth, creativity, and identity transformation.
Anne’s work ...
What if intuition isn’t mystical, but a form of deep perception we’ve forgotten how to trust?
In this transformative episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with internationally respected intuitive and spiritual teacher Susan Grau, host of Infinite Life, Infinite Wisdom, to explore one of the most profound capacities of the human mind: our ability to sense truth, meaning, and connection far beneath the surface of...
What if revenge is not a moral failure, but a biological addiction?
In this gripping episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with Yale psychiatrist James Kimmel Jr., author of The Science of Revenge, to unravel one of the most dangerous and misunderstood forces shaping our lives, our politics, our relationships, and our inner worlds.
This episode continues our acclaimed series The Irreplaceables, which explores th...
What if loneliness isn’t a personal failure, but a biological signal that you’re built for connection?
In this powerful Thanksgiving Day episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with author, researcher, and longtime podcaster Don Martin, whose upcoming book, Where Did Everybody Go? unpacks one of the most misunderstood challenges of modern life: the loneliness crisis.
This conversation continues our acclaimed serie...
What if the moment your life collapses is not the end of your story, but the beginning of your becoming?
In this intimate, live-recorded episode of Passion Struck, host John R. Miles sits down with Jane Marie Chen, global humanitarian, cofounder of Embrace (the infant warmer that has saved more than 1 million premature babies), and author of the stunning new memoir Like a Wave We Break.
Filmed in front of an audience at the ...
What if the future belonged not to the fastest, the smartest, or the most optimized, but to the most human?
In this milestone 200th solo episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles reveals why your humanity — your creativity, your emotional depth, your intentionality — is the sharpest competitive edge you have in an AI-accelerated world.
Drawing from insights across our Irreplaceables series and weaving in lessons from guests l...
What if the biggest barrier to your potential is not a lack of skill or opportunity but the quiet voice inside whispering, “You are not enough”?
In this powerful episode of Passion Struck, host John R. Miles sits down with former national news anchor Lynn Smith, who spent 15 years at NBC, TODAY Online, and CNN Headline News before making the courageous decision to walk away from a life the world told her was perfect.
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