
Failing Up
How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $16.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Leslie Odom Jr.
-
By:
-
Leslie Odom Jr.
About this listen
I can tell you’re a dreamer – you’re a human. We hope, we imagine, and believe daydreams will be realized. Then lives take shape, ambitions are shelved. What does it mean to be realistic?
Leslie Odom, Jr., became a household name when he originated the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway sensation Hamilton, a performance that won him the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. But before he could perform for sold-out audiences in one of the most massively successful shows of all time, Odom had to stop playing it safe and take the risk of a lifetime. Now, with the depth and poetic power he brought to the stage, Odom shares his story in his own voice.
Listen in as Odom recounts his dynamic path to success with sincerity and vigor bound to inspire, motivate, and ultimately, help you believe in your own potential. In his intimate retelling of childhood dreams — finally fully realized — Odom shares insights to lift up listeners and offers concrete actions they can immediately apply to their own lives. Honest and thoughtful, Leslie Odom, Jr., transforms sentiment into success.
Cover photo by Christopher Boudewyns.
©2018 Leslie Odom Jr. (P)2018 Audible, Inc.Listeners also picked
-
O Sinners!
- A Novel
- By: Nicole Cuffy
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, SEVAN
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as “the nameless,” whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as “all suffering is distortion” and “see only beauty.”
-
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr
- By: Susan Holloway Scott
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugenie Bearhani (1760-1835) was born in Calcutta, raised in Haiti, and brought as a servant - a free woman of color - to America by an English officer on the eve of the American Revolution. Yet none of that prepared Eugenie for her next employer: Colonel Aaron Burr, who some whispered had made a pact with the devil. The lines between master and servant soon tangle and blur, and first attraction becomes dangerous obsession. Many historians deny she even existed, but she and the children she bore to Burr were very real - so was her little-known marriage to America's first true villain.
-
-
well worth the listen. inspiring!
- By jo Casey on 27-10-2020
-
A Challenge for the Actor
- By: Uta Hagen
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.
-
Lies and Other Love Languages
- A Novel
- By: Sonali Dev
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bestselling advice columnist Vandy Guru built her career teaching others how to live honestly and courageously, but after the loss of her husband, Vandy’s public veneer can barely conceal her grief. When her beloved daughter Mallika suddenly disappears and her estranged childhood best friend Rani returns, stirring up long-buried secrets, Vandy’s carefully crafted life feels at risk.
-
Faker
- By: Gordon Korman
- Narrated by: Christopher Gebauer
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trey knows how the trick works: His dad gets him into a school full of kids with rich parents. Trey makes friends, and his dad makes connections. Soon, there’s the con, where Trey’s dad suckers the other parents into giving him money for one of his schemes. Once the money’s in the bank, Trey, his sister, and their dad go on the run … until they set up somewhere else and start again.
-
An Actor Prepares
- By: Constantin Stanislavski
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world.
-
-
Terrible narrator
- By Anonymous on 22-05-2025
-
O Sinners!
- A Novel
- By: Nicole Cuffy
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, SEVAN
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as “the nameless,” whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as “all suffering is distortion” and “see only beauty.”
-
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr
- By: Susan Holloway Scott
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugenie Bearhani (1760-1835) was born in Calcutta, raised in Haiti, and brought as a servant - a free woman of color - to America by an English officer on the eve of the American Revolution. Yet none of that prepared Eugenie for her next employer: Colonel Aaron Burr, who some whispered had made a pact with the devil. The lines between master and servant soon tangle and blur, and first attraction becomes dangerous obsession. Many historians deny she even existed, but she and the children she bore to Burr were very real - so was her little-known marriage to America's first true villain.
-
-
well worth the listen. inspiring!
- By jo Casey on 27-10-2020
-
A Challenge for the Actor
- By: Uta Hagen
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.
-
Lies and Other Love Languages
- A Novel
- By: Sonali Dev
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bestselling advice columnist Vandy Guru built her career teaching others how to live honestly and courageously, but after the loss of her husband, Vandy’s public veneer can barely conceal her grief. When her beloved daughter Mallika suddenly disappears and her estranged childhood best friend Rani returns, stirring up long-buried secrets, Vandy’s carefully crafted life feels at risk.
-
Faker
- By: Gordon Korman
- Narrated by: Christopher Gebauer
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trey knows how the trick works: His dad gets him into a school full of kids with rich parents. Trey makes friends, and his dad makes connections. Soon, there’s the con, where Trey’s dad suckers the other parents into giving him money for one of his schemes. Once the money’s in the bank, Trey, his sister, and their dad go on the run … until they set up somewhere else and start again.
-
An Actor Prepares
- By: Constantin Stanislavski
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world.
-
-
Terrible narrator
- By Anonymous on 22-05-2025
-
A Practical Handbook for the Actor
- By: Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, and others
- Narrated by: Rose Byrne, Chris Bauer, Alison Wright, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book describes a technique developed and refined by the authors, all of them young actors, in their work with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, actor W. H. Macy, and director Gregory Mosher. A Practical Handbook for the Actor is written for any actor who has ever experienced the frustrations of acting classes that lacked clarity and objectivity, and that failed to provide a dependable set of tools.
-
A Little Bit Wicked
- Life, Love, and Faith in Stages
- By: Kristin Chenoweth
- Narrated by: Kristin Chenoweth
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this frank and funny memoir, the Tony Award-winning star of stage and screen shares her journey from small-town Oklahoma to big-time Broadway, vamping on what it takes to stand firmly on a foundation of family and faith while wearing a hot pair of Jimmy Choo platform sling-backs.
-
The Other Merlin
- By: Robyn Schneider
- Narrated by: Rosie Jones
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the great kingdom of Camelot! Prince Arthur’s a depressed botanist who would rather marry a library than a princess, Lancelot’s been demoted to castle guard after a terrible lie, and Emry Merlin has arrived at the castle disguised as her twin brother since girls can’t practice magic.
-
Vincent & Theo
- The Van Gogh Brothers
- By: Deborah Heiligman
- Narrated by: Phil Fox
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh defined both brothers' lives. As a confidant, champion, sympathizer, and friend, Theo financially and emotionally supported his older brother as the artistic but troubled Vincent struggled to find his path in life as both a painter and a man. Throughout that struggle, the brothers shared everything - swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions.
-
-
A great life well remembered
- By David Hinchliffe on 15-05-2025
-
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing
- Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice
- By: Richard Reed
- Narrated by: Richard Reed
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Reed built Innocent Drinks from a smoothie stall on a street corner to one of the biggest brands in Britain. He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most. Ever since, it has been Richard's habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be? Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world.
-
-
loved it. it was really well read and inspiring.
- By Oti Mesz on 17-11-2017
-
Unprotected
- A Memoir
- By: Billy Porter
- Narrated by: Billy Porter
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s easy to be yourself when who and what you are is in vogue. But growing up Black and gay in America has never been easy. Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s Kinky Boots; and before he was an acclaimed recording artist, actor, playwright, and all-around diva, Porter was a young boy who didn’t fit in.
-
-
A must listen!!
- By Anonymous on 23-03-2025
Join Audible today
Find a membership that's right for you.Critic Reviews
"Listening to Leslie Odom, Jr., it's clear that he approached the narration of his audiobook with the same attention to craft, preparation, and openness that he strives to bring to all of his projects.... Listeners will be glad to spend time in his company." (AudioFile)
Book Of My Life
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.