How do you get the job, or position, or career, where the work that you do matters - and not just to your employer -  but to you? Few experiences in life are as awful as the feeling of being trapped in the wrong career. But how do you find a job that truly resonates with you? And once you’ve found it, how do you develop the confidence to take the necessary steps to arrive at the career of your dreams? Or how do you recover from a career setback and seize new opportunities? Or, what if you are...

At the intersection of architecture is art, creativity, design, engineering, sociology, psychology, and inspiration, not to mention survival, sustainability, and comfort. It’s been said that architecture is the art we live in. We’re all impacted by the communities in which we live, the spaces in which we work, along with the places we visit and experience throughout our lives.  So what is it that makes for good architectural design? How does a space become iconic? How does an architect go...

To succeed in a fast-changing world, individuals and companies know they must create a culture of growth, where experimentation and feedback are encouraged, and learning is integrated into the everyday. Yet we often get stuck in a well-worn pattern of habits that don’t move us forward. Why? How do you get better at something? You do a lot of it. The 10,000 hour rule. Practice makes perfect, right? Maybe not. What if our focus only on performing doesn’t lead to the hoped for improvements, and...

How do you become an innovator? What sparks creativity? What goes into creating something that becomes iconic? Instead of predicting the future, what if you could create it? Well, that is pretty much what Hussain Almossawi does. He easily walks between digital and physical worlds as he creates futuristic concepts, experiences and objects. Hussain is an award-winning industrial designer, CGI/Visual Effects Artist, and best-selling author of The Innovator's Handbook. He has worked...

Leaders come in a variety of types and approaches. There are the proverbial Chainsaw Al’s - those tough-talking executives who are aggressive in their turning around troubled companies by laying off workers and closing factories.  There are the Jack Welch types who at first seem like geniuses, but are later found to not have created sustainable change. There is a litany of heroes and scoundrels, crooks and kings of all stripe, throughout various areas of work-life and the world.  But what...

On July 6, 2003, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's historic op-ed, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," appeared in The New York Times. A week later, Robert Novak revealed in his Washington Post column that Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative.  It ended her covert career and set off a political scandal that rocked the Bush/Cheney White House. The public disclosure of that secret information spurred a federal investigation and led to the trial and conviction of Vice...

“I collaborate with the music.” Composer Tina Davidson explores in her memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken: Life and Music from a Classical Composer, described as “a lyrical reckoning with what it takes to compose a life of cohesion and beauty, out of shattered bits and broken stories.”  In Let Your Heart Be Broken, Tina juxtaposes memories, journal entries, and insight into the life of an artist—and a mother—at work. Along the way, she meets Ernest Hemingway and Carl Sandburg, survives an...

Investment research created by large banks, mid-sized banks, and even smaller boutiques is frequently muddled by conflicts of interest, and its value diminished by over-distribution. Analysts often feel pressure to have positive ratings to support bankers or to generate corporate access.  And the time horizon of most research is typically very short, causing analysts to miss long-term winners due to near-term considerations. But the biggest issue is that most analysts have no proprietary...

Have you ever had the experience of working with someone and they just didn't “get” you? They do all the things that wind you up, put you off, and drive you nuts. And, have you ever worked with someone, and you just didn't “get” them? You couldn't figure out what made them tick, and you know that you were underwhelming, as a manager and leader for them.   Of course you have. We all have.   So why do those situations keep happening? Particularly when we’ve also experienced the opposite –...

Death might seem to render pointless all of our attempts to create a meaningful life. But Professor Dean Rickles argues that only constraints―and death is the ultimate constraint―make our actions meaningful. In order for us to live full lives, Dean believes it is the finiteness and shortness of life that brings meaning. In this episode we explore how this insight is the key to making the most of the time that we do have. Dr. Dean Rickles is a Professor of History and Philosophy of Modern...

Is loneliness the new smoking? A number of studies and polls have recently come out that indicate Americans of all ages, socioeconomic, and geographic locations are more isolated and alone that in any other time in recent history. Some postulate this has been spurred by people isolating themselves via increased screen time, alienating and divisive social media posts, remote working, and perhaps augmented by living in a post-Covid era.  Regardless of the causes, Nick Gray is wielding name...

Freemasons, Skull and Bones, Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, 5 Hertford Street, the Bohemian Club, and more, are all so-called secret societies. Not so much because no one knows about them, but more so the question as to what do they do, who belongs to them, and how do you join? Is membership in the Soho House the modern day variant of such societies? What’s the psychology behind their creation and their intrigue? Well, Michael F. Schein, author, and CEO of MicroFame Media, knows a lot...

Quiet quitting has become quite topical in the media as of late. But perhaps the real story is quiet FIRING. That refers to an employer who doesn't give raises, or doesn’t provide promotion opportunities. Or they slight team members and actually diminish or stall their employees’ professional growth. Everyone, both personally and professionally, wants to feel seen, and heard. Some employers struggle to listen in order to learn, and inadvertently cause their staff to shut down. And this can...

A great idea presents as a well-formulated thought or plan of action that spurs growth, change, advancement, adaptation, or new insight. Worthwhile ideas move the needle; they can change the playing field altogether. One of the most innovative thinkers in this area is Professor Robin Landa, author of The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential, which is designed to help readers consistently produce worthwhile ideas by becoming nimble, and imaginative thinkers. Robin holds the...

In this episode, Brad Stulberg shares a healthier, more sustainable model for success. At the heart of this model is groundedness--a practice that values presence over rote productivity, accepts that progress is nonlinear, and prioritizes long-term values and fulfillment over short-term gain. To be grounded is to possess a firm and unwavering foundation, a resolute sense of self from which deep and enduring, not shallow and superficial, success can be found. Groundedness does not eliminate...

What is the journey like to move from enlisting in the Navy at age 17, being recruited into the SEALs instead of going to law school, then serving as a SEAL Team member for twenty years, leading combat missions and helping to design and test new special operations capabilities while becoming a combat-decorated officer and later instructor, to next becoming an entrepreneur, novelist and nonfiction author, CEO and Chief Strategy Officer, Portfolio Manager, sought-after media expert and keynote...

Tim Ferriss says that Derek Sivers is one of his “all-time favorite humans... a philosopher-king, programmer, master teacher, and merry prankster.” Derek is an international man of mystery, or maybe contradiction. He’s known and loved by millions, done three super-popular TED talks, but he prefers to be alone, certainly when he’s working and creating, or “playing” as he’d more likely call it. Derek graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston and has worked as a professional...

Healthcare and medicine have long served as a hotbed of innovation. Perhaps the leading edge these days requires a paradigm shift – think digital therapeutics, Web3, the metaverse, CRISPR, Software as a Medical Device – this is the domain of Neil Littman, Founder & CEO of Bioverge, a highly curated impact-investment venture platform exclusively dedicated to healthcare and to democratizing access to investing in early stage companies and startups. The Bioverge platform serves as a...

I bet you are an Amazon Prime member, not because I’m clairvoyant, but because half of the US is. Half! Did you know that three-quarters of all product searches begin on Amazon, not Google, or a search engine? Or, did you know Amazon is valued at $1.6 trillion, and has become one of the fastest growing B2B companies in history, with Amazon Web Services. Or, that Amazon’s projected 2023 revenue is $780 Billion – with a B. My guest on this episode is the expert on the Amazon Way. He literally...

Millions of people dream of living a more fulfilling life, yet many settle for a life of comfortable complacency, allowing excuses and negative thoughts to invade their minds. I don’t have enough time…I don’t have enough money…I’m afraid to fail...I don’t have what it takes—we allow these limiting beliefs to control us. Colin O’Brady has an empowered way of thinking that can help with that. So who is Colin O’Brady? He’s a guy that knows a lot about mindset. He is a 10-time world record...

Extreme poverty has devastating effects on over 700 million people globally. Every year 5.3 million children, under the age of five, die, and more than half of these deaths could have been easily prevented if they would have been fortunate enough to have been born in the United States. Peter Singer has famously noted that “we have an ethical obligation to use some portion of our wealth and privilege to save lives and reduce the unnecessary suffering associated with extreme poverty—defined as...

With a practice of more than 20,000 patients, Dr. Jordan Metzl is widely known for his passion for sports medicine and fitness. His academic appointments are as an Associate Attending Physician and Associate Attending Pediatrician at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Which I consider to be the premier orthopedic surgery center in the United States. In addition to his busy medical practices in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, Dr. Metzl is the author of the bestselling titles Running...

Dr. Hassan Tetteh is a decorated Navy captain and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, and adjunct faculty at Howard University College of Medicine. As a cardiothoracic surgeon, he was deployed in Afghanistan and on warships in the Persian Gulf. He’s also an unabashed medical “nerd,” part of a cadre of physicians board-certified in clinical informatics. Dr. Tetteh is the founder and principal of Tetteh Consulting Group, creator of The Art of...

As disruption impacts many industries, mid-career professionals must navigate change and consider its future impact. Likewise, the post-career population faces transformation, and needs to prepare financially, logistically, or emotionally for the next phase of their lives. Michael urges us to view this transition through a progressive lens: don’t retire, but rather rewire or re-fire toward a happier, more productive next chapter. And end self-imposed ageism; focus instead on self-driven...