Smart People Podcast

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Josh Shenk Aug 31, 2014

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Josh Shenk - Want to be great? Then don't go at it alone. Throughout history teams of exactly 2 people have made the biggest impact - think Lennon and McCartney, Wozniak and Jobs, Orville and Wilbur Wright...the list goes on and on. But why? This week we crush the myth of the "lone genius" and learn how the best creations of all time came from people who worked in pairs. Josh Shenk, author of Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs, tells us not only why 2 is the magic number, but also how you can find your creative pair and start making history. Josh is a curator, essayist, and author. His magazine pieces include cover stories in Harper’s, Time, and The Atlantic, where his essay "What Makes Us Happy?" was the most read article in the history of that magazine’s website. His work has also appeared in Slate, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first book, Lincoln’s Melancholy, was named one of the best books of 2005 byThe New York Times, The Washington Post,and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.. He is a curator, storyteller and advisor to The Moth; vice-chair emeritus of the board of directors, he currently serves on the general council. He is also a past director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College, where he curated programs and festivals and directed a small literary press. Shenk consults to the Erikson Institute for Education and Research at the Austen Riggs Center, where he directs the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media and Arts in Mind, a conversation series on the creative arts and psychology, co-hosted by the New School in New York City. "Creativity is not about being comfortable. It's about moving from where you are to something bigger. It's all about the encounter of disparate things." - Josh Shenk Quotes from Josh: What we learn in this episode: What characteristics make two people compatible? Why is tension good for partners creative abilities? How does conversation play a key role in creativity? Why is a pair better than a trio? Resources: Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs www.shenk.net Twitter @joshuawolfshenk -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! ting: mobile that makes sense. For $25 off your first device or a $25 credit, use smartpeople.ting.com and save money on your cell phone bill today!

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Karan Girotra Aug 24, 2014

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Karan Girotra - Any system that we use to accomplish a task can be made better with some simple improvements. If you're talking about the system you use to brush your teeth, this might not be a big deal. But what about the way in which a company builds a product, or the way a doctor analyzes a patient? These systems can have enormous effects on society, and it is imperative that we understand how to innovate on these systems to continually create a better society. This week we speak with Karan Girotra who is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD and author of the new book, The Risk-Driven Business Model: Four Questions That Will Define Your Company. Karan earned a doctorate from the Wharton School for his examination of innovation processes and the early stage startups. He took some time off from his doctoral work to help start up TerraPass, a profitable firm that has helped individuals and businesses reduce over a billion pounds of carbon dioxide. At INSEAD, Karan researches and teaches issues related to business model innovation. His research has appeared in top academic journals and has been featured by the Financial Times, Businessweek, the Sloan Management Review and the Harvard Business Review. "Too often, students are narrowly focused on their immediate career goal and they underestimate the power of each one of us. One you start believing you can make great change, once you give it some conscious effort, most of us can accomplish far more than we can imagine." - Karan Girotra Quotes from Karan: What we learn in this episode: We blend innovation and education to see what is going on and what may be next. How can one individual actually change the world? What is business model innovation and why is it perhaps more important than product innovation? What are the two main ways you can innovate your creative process? Many of the problems we see in business today is due to a misalignment between the producer and the consumer. Resources: The Risk-Driven Business Model: Four Questions That Will Define Your Company http://renaissanceinnovator.com/ Karan in the Harvard Business Review www.girotra.com Twitter @girotrak -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! Personal Capital: With Personal Capital, you’ll finally be able to see all your accounts in one place and get a clear view of everything you own. To sign up for free go to personalcapital.com/smartpeople.

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McKenzie Funk Aug 18, 2014

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McKenzie Funk - Almost everyone is aware that climate change is slowly but surely destroying our planet, however very few know that you can get rich off of it! Want to know how? Or at least know what kind of individual would profit from the destruction of our planet? McKenzie Funk has spent the last six years reporting around the world on how we are preparing for a warmer planet. Funk shows us that the best way to understand the catastrophe of global warming is to see it through the eyes of those who see it most clearly—as a market opportunity. Global warming’s physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see in each of these forces a potential windfall. McKenzie is the author of Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming. A National Magazine Award finalist and former Knight-Wallace Fellow, he won the Oakes Prize for Environmental Journalism for a story about the melting Arctic and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for his interview in Tajikistan with one of the first prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, National Geographic, Outside, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The New York Times. Mac is a founding member of Deca, a global journalism cooperative. "People are looking at climate change and saying, 'What's in it for me?"' - McKenzie Funk Quotes from McKenzie: What we learn in this episode: Why are their wars over the northern regions of the globe? How do you profit from climate change? Is it evil to profit from destruction? Resources: Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming http://www.mckenziefunk.com/ Twitter @McKenzieFunk -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! Squarespace: Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website, portfolio, and online store. For a free trial and 10% off your first purchase, go to squarespace.com/smartpeople and use promo code expert.

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Joe Navarro Aug 11, 2014

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Joe Navarro - Not many can say they were personally approached to join the FBI, but this is exactly what happened to Joe Navarro while he was working as a police officer at the tender age of 23. He accepted their offer and became one of the youngest agents ever to join the renowned investigative agency. Joe is quite literally a human lie detector. Having spent over 25 years as a counterintelligence officer with the FBI, Joe has mastered the art of reading non-verbal communication in order to catch spies, convict felons, and thwart terrorist attacks. In this episode we will learn what to look for in a liar, which body parts "give away the secret", and how you can use your body language to get people to like you, hire you, and trust you. Joe is the author of What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People. "Neck covering is one of the most accurate behaviors that lets you know when someone is worried." - Joe Navarro Quotes from Joe: What we learn in this episode: What is the truth behind recognizing non-verbal cues? Is there a silver bullet to detect lying? What is the science behind human non-verbal communication? Did you know our fear response is freeze, flight, and fight, in that order? How should you stand with someone during an intimate conversation? Resources: What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People http://joenavarro.net/ Forbes Interview with Joe Navarro Twitter @navarrotells -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! Personal Capital: With Personal Capital, you’ll finally be able to see all your accounts in one place and get a clear view of everything you own. To sign up for free go to personalcapital.com/smartpeople.

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Roger Hamilton Aug 03, 2014

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Roger Hamilton - We promise you will be buzzing with excitement after this episode. Roger is perhaps best known as 'Asia's leading wealth consultant', but in our opinion, he is more of a career and life mentor with a talent for story telling. Roger is the Founder of Entrepreneurs Institute and creator of the Wealth Dynamics, Talent Dynamics & Genius Test profiling systems, used by over 250,000 entrepreneurs and leaders around the world. His newest book, The Millionaire Master Plan: Your Personalized Path to Financial Success takes you on an amazing journey to help you make a living doing what comes most naturally to you. Roger has designed nine steps - from barely surviving - all the way to the highest level of ultimate wealth for life - and he lays out his nine steps in an easy-to-understand color-coded manner that ranges from red (barely living paycheck-to-paycheck) all the way to ultra-violet (where generating income is simply no longer a worry). Along the way, the reader first takes a quick test to determine where one is on the financial spectrum, and then Hamilton provides key insights and practical tips as to how one can progress to the next level. You track your progress by ascending from one color to the next. "Even Superman has to be Clark Kent some of the time." - Roger Hamilton Quotes from Roger: What we learn in this episode: How to nurture your natural talents and focus less on what is difficult and more on what comes easy to you. What is your natural question? Who, What, When, or How. What is a learning cycle and why is it the most important part of mastering any skill? Resources: The Millionaire Master Plan: Your Personalized Path to Financial Success www.rogerjameshamilton.com www.millionairemasterplan.com www.geniusu.com Twitter: @rogerhamilton Other Resources: The I Ching, or, Book of Changes (as mentioned by Roger) The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! ting: mobile that makes sense. For $25 off your first device or a $25 credit, use smartpeople.ting.com and save money on your cell phone bill today!

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James Nestor Jul 28, 2014

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James Nestor - The ocean is the final, unseen, untouched, and undiscovered wilderness. In fact, we know more about other planets and stars lightyears away than we do about our oceans, which cover more than 2/3 of our planet. Join us this week as we follow author James Nestor on an amazing journey to the depths of the ocean. James is the author of Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves which is ranked as one of Amazon's best non-fiction books of 2014. The book follows clans of extreme athletes, adventurers, and scientists as they plumb the limits of the ocean's depths and uncover weird and wondrous new discoveries that, in many cases, redefine our understanding of the ocean and ourselves. James has written for Outside Magazine, Dwell Magazine, National Public Radio,The New York Times, Men's Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, and more. Nestor’s first book, Get High Now (without drugs) humorously explores the worlds of neurology, biology, and physiology through meditations, illusions, household herbs, and some bizarre anthropological discoveries. The accompanying website, gethighnow.com, was awarded in Time Magazine’s Top 50 Websites of 2009 and receives about 200,000 hits per month. "Our bodies are equipped with reflexes that allow us to withstand the incredible pressures of a deep dive - our bodies completely transform. It is the most profound transformation that we can naturally experience." - James Nestor Quotes from James: What we learn in this episode: How does someone make a living as an author? What is the "Master Switch of Life"? What is the sport of freediving? How can the human body withstand the pressure imposed on it at 300+ feet below sea level where lungs shrink down to the size of baseballs? Resources: Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves http://mrjamesnestor.com/index.html Performance Freediving International Twitter: @MrJamesNestor -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today! Personal Capital: With Personal Capital, you’ll finally be able to see all your accounts in one place and get a clear view of everything you own. To sign up for free go to personalcapital.com/smartpeople.

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Simon Sinek Jul 21, 2014

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Simon Sinek - This week we talk to one of our favorite speakers and personalities, Simon Sinek. Simon is a popular author who is best known for his book, “Start with Why”. Not only is he an amazing speaker, but he has one of the most popular TEDx videos ever released (How great leaders inspire action). The video is so popular, it ranks in the top 3 TED list with over 17 million views! Simon’s latest book is Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, which focuses on the idea that leaders who are willing to “eat last” are rewarded with loyal colleagues. “I did what anybody who finds something beautiful does. We share it with our friends and the people we love.” - Simon Sinek Quotes from Simon: What we learn in this episode: What went wrong in Simon's TEDx video How to move people and organizations A quick and FREE way to discover your why Resources: Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action https://www.startwithwhy.com/ http://www.ted.com/speakers/simon_sinek Twitter: @simonsinek -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today!

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Russ Roberts Jul 14, 2014

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Russ Roberts - Our guest this week is the host of the extremely popular EconTalk podcast. In this episode talk economics, education, passion, and more! Although sometimes Economics can seem dry and boring, Russ has made a living out of making it understandable and bringing it to the masses. Russell Roberts is the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He tries to make economics understandable to a general audience. Roberts hosts the weekly podcast EconTalk--hour-long conversations with authors, economists, and business leaders. Past guests include Milton Friedman, Nassim Taleb, Christopher Hitchens, Jimmy Wales, Joseph Stiglitz, and John Bogle. EconTalk was named podcast of the year in the 2008 Weblog Awards. His latest book is The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity. " I believe the power of Economics is to help provide a unique lens for looking at the world." - Russ Roberts Quotes from Russ: What we learn in this episode: How does economics play a role in our daily lives? What is spontaneous order? How is it explained by traffic? What does Russ believe is the problem with the modern American university? How did Russ get one of the coolest jobs on the planet? Resources: http://www.econtalk.org/ http://www.invisibleheart.com/ http://cafehayek.com/ http://www.hoover.org/fellows/russell-roberts Twitter: @econtalker -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today!

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Shamus Khan Jul 06, 2014

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Shamus Khan - What is it really like to be the 1%? The income gap is a hot topic these days, but rarely do we learn what it is truly like to grow up in a world where money is no object. This week we get a behind the scenes look at how the American elite are raised and what it's like to be part of 'high society'. Shamus Khan teaches in the sociology department at Columbia University. He writes on elites and inequality in America. He is the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School. He recently served as an opinion columnist for Time Magazine and continues to write about sociology in popular press. With Dorian Warren, he is the director of a Russell Sage Foundation working group on “The Political Influence of Economic Elites” (which is very cool!). " The reality of the American condition is that we are one of the most unequal of the developed nations." - Shamus Khan Quotes from Shamus: What we learn in this episode: What exactly is inequality? What is the tie between money, value, and self worth? How do wealthy people think through the experience of wealth? Do the rich truly earn their money, or is it often just a set of lucky circumstances? Resources: Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School http://shamuskhan.wordpress.com/ The Political Influence of Economic Elites (Russell Sage Foundation) Twitter: @shamuskhan -- This episode is brought to you by: 99Designs: Go to 99designs.com/SMART to get a $99 Power Pack of services for FREE today!

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Dan Buettner Jun 29, 2014

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Dan Buettner - Do you want to live to 100+? Of course you do, as long as you don't have to wear a diaper! Our guest this week has figured out the key to living to the ripe old age of 100 and beyond and he's here to share it with you. National Geographic writer and explorer Dan Buettner studies the world's longest-lived peoples, distilling their secrets into a single plan for health and long life. He is the author of the New York Times best selling book, The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. His TED Talk “How to live to be 100+” has been viewed over 2 million times and his New York Times Sunday Magazine article, “The Island Where People Forget to Die” was the second most popular article of 2012. Dan has Keynoted speeches for Bill Clinton’s Health Matters Initiative, Google Zeitgeist, TEDMED and many more nationally renowned conferences. He has been featured twice on Oprah and has received an Emmy award for television production. "Money does buy happiness to a certain extent. You need to be able to buy the necessities. However, after you obtain a certain amount, the effect of an added dollar does not buy you an added dollar of happiness. - Dan Buettner Quotes from Dan: What we learn in this episode: One of the keys to fitness and health is moderate exercise throughout the day, not spurts of intense activity. What are the secrets to living a long and healthy life? What factors play the biggest role of someone being truly happy? Resources: The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest http://www.bluezones.com/speaking/dan-buettner/ Dan Buettner - Ted Talk: How to live to be 100+ Twitter: @BlueZones

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