Is Anything Real? is a podcast about questioning the things we've collectively decided are true.

Each week, executive coach and author Adam W. Barney sits down with founders, executives, authors, creators and other interesting humans to get underneath the assumptions, conventional wisdom and occasionally ridiculous rules we use to make sense of work, leadership, success and our lives.

The conversations are prepared but unscripted. No rehearsed talking points. No pretending there's a neat answer when there isn't one. Just curiosity, honest disagreement, lived experience and the occasional detour that turns out to be more interesting than the question Adam planned to ask.

Because sometimes the most useful question is the simplest one:
Is any of this actually real?

New episodes every Wednesday.

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Latest Episodes

Age Is Not a Cage: Positive Aging, Reinvention, and Purpose After 65 | Ep. 85 w/ Ande Lyons

Age is not a cage. In this episode of Is Anything Real?, Adam W. Barney sits down with Ande Lyons, host of Don’t Be Caged By Your Ageand founder of The New England Pod...

Lead the Room: Women in Sports, Outsider Advantage, and Real Leadership | Ep. 84 w/ Toni Will

Women in sports leadership are still way too rare, especially in men’s professional hockey. Toni Will is one of the only women in the country leading a men’s professio...

12 Hours Left. One Quick Ask. | Bonus Drop

A very quick bonus episode and an unusual ask from me. 👉 Vote here: https://tophost.org/2026/adam-w-barney Is Anything Real? is currently #3 in the Top Host competiti...

Your Money Is Building Something: Sustainable Investing Isn’t Soft | Ep. 83 w/ Pete Krull

Investing is not neutral. Your money is not sitting in some ethical waiting room. It is building something, financing something, and rewarding something. Whether you m...

Success Isn’t Additive: Subtraction, Pro-zilience, and High Performance | Ep. 82 w/ Nell Derick Debevoise

Success is not always additive. Add more effort. Add more output. Add more commitments. Add more you. That's the high-performer trap. But what if the real unlock is su...

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