Smart People Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Andrew Yang Apr 14, 2014

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Andrew Yang - Author of Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America. Andrew is the Founder and CEO of Venture for America, an organization dedicated to connecting promising recent graduates with startups with the hope of fostering a generation of entrepreneurs who can create economic value. Venture for America will recruit the best and brightest college grads to work for two years at emerging start-ups and early-stage companies in lower-cost cities (e.g., Detroit, Providence, New Orleans). Modeled after Teach for America, Venture for America will provide a path for entrepreneurship to college grads who want to learn how to build companies and create jobs.The goal is that a substantial proportion of VFA Fellows will become successful entrepreneurs, preferably rooted in the communities to which they are assigned. Andrew was recently named one of the "Top 100 Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company. Quotes from Andrew: What we learn in this episode: How do we encourage innovation and creativity as opposed to comfort and stability for recent graduates? How do you transition from a career you don't like to a brand new field at any age? What is the hardest part about starting a company and how do you overcome that? Resources: Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America http://ventureforamerica.org/

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Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz Apr 06, 2014

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Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz - President of the Charles Schwab Foundation, Senior Vice President at Charles Schwab & Co., and the daughter of Charles Schwab! Her newest book is The Charles Schwab Guide to Finance After Fifty: Answers to Your Most Important Money Questions. This week we discuss what it was like for Carrie growing up, how finance was in her blood, her deep understanding of the tough financial questions and what you can do to tackle your toughest money issues at any age. Through Carrie’s popular “Ask Carrie” columns, her leadership of the Charles Schwab Foundation, and her work across party lines through two White House administrations and with the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, she has become one of America’s most trusted sources for financial advice. Quotes from Carrie: What we learn in this episode: How Carrie deals with work, life balance? What was it like watching Charles Schwab & Co. grow from a one man company to the financial massive company that it is today? What is the single most important financial advice you give people on a daily basis? What does Carrie personally believe is the future of Social Security? Resources: www.schwab.com/book http://www.schwabmoneywise.com/public/moneywise/home

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Dr. Michio Kaku Mar 31, 2014

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Dr. Michio Kaku - He is the face (and mind) of science! Dr. Kaku is a theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers: Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the Future. His most recent book was released in February and is titled, The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind. Additionally, Dr. Kaku is the host of the weekly, one-hour radio program Exploration. You probably recognize Dr. Kaku from TV - he's basically been in every science related show that was released in the past 20 years! Quotes from Dr. Kaku: What we learn in this episode: Did you know we can photograph a dream? Yeah, we talk about that! What is telekinesis and will we ever have the capability to move objects with our minds? Soon, we will be able to record our memories and then upload them to help people with diseases such as Alzheimer's. Is it true that we only use a small portion of our brain? Why do we remember scary dreams much more often than pleasant dreams? Resources: http://mkaku.org/home/ http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/6zj4ki/michio-kaku

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Corinne Woods Mar 24, 2014

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Corinne Woods - Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, which supports citizens’ efforts to hold their governments accountable for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and leads the outreach to citizens and stakeholders to get their voices and concerns to feed into the Post-2015 global development agenda. Previously, she served in a variety of roles at UNICEF, including as Senior Adviser on the HIV/AIDS Global Campaign Coordination and as Chief of Advocacy and Partnerships in India, the agency’s largest country operation. Quotes from Corinne: What we learn in this episode: The 4 H's: Humility, Honesty, Hopeful, Help. These are very key with Corinne. What's it like to work alongside Nelson Mandela and Bill Gates?? How has the UN convinced over 100 countries to work together to tackle our most difficult global issues? What has the WORLD voted on as being the number one challenge today? How do you convince people all over the world to take a "global survey"? How do you get people without internet, computers, or even simple infrastructure (roads) to participate in this incredible survey? Resources: http://www.myworld2015.org/ http://data.myworld2015.org/

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Olof Dallner Mar 17, 2014

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Olof Dallner - WINNER of the Quintuple Ironman. The 12 mile swim, 560 mile bike, and 131 mile run is the distance of 5 Ironmans! WTF? Olof explains what it is like to sleep 6 hours over 4 days while completing (and winning) the worlds toughest endurance event. Olof also has his PhD in Molecular Physiology and is currently a postdoctoral scientist at Rockefeller University, researching the genetics of the hormone Leptin and its role in obesity and metabolism. What we learn in this episode: How do you deal with fear of failure? Can the average person compete in long distance events? How does the hormone Leptin affect body weight and body composition? What are some scientific advances we are making now and what do we expect will happen soon regarding the fight against obesity? Resources: Twitter: @olofdallner http://empiretriclub.com/blog/olof-dallner-wins-quintuple-ironman-2/

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Carmine Gallo Mar 10, 2014

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Carmine Gallo - "Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds", Former anchor and correspondent for CNN and CBS, communications coach for the world's most admired brands, best-selling author, columnist for Forbes and Monster.com. Carmine has worked with Coca-Cola, Intel, LinkedIn, Stanford, Cisco, and many more. Learn the secrets of how these companies communicate! What we learn in this episode: • How to stand out as a communicator. • What are the most common problems that brands face when trying to communicate with their customers? • What is the best way to land a sales job? • Did you know that passion is contagious? It's science! • What is Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks most passionate about? • All great presentations have 3 key components: They are emotional They are novel They are memorable Resources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/ http://gallocommunications.com/

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Bill Shannon Mar 03, 2014

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Bill Shannon - Vice President of Post and Carrier Solutions at Pitney Bowes. Bill is on the front lines of a long forgotten staple of communication, the mail. That's right - not email, or vmail, but actual, physical mail. Bill has been an integral part of the juggernaut that is Pitney Bowes for over 30 years. Pitney Bowes is a fortune 500 company that is nearly a century old and has managed to navigate through a world of change. There is a lot we can learn from a company with such longevity! What we learn in this episode: • What really caused the decline in mail? It's not just technology and email! • Have you ever asked yourself, exactly what is mail? You may not have realized but there are a number of different types of mail. Not just the letter you send your grandmother, or the junk mail you put straight in the trashcan. There is a world of mail out there that is actually really interesting...we promise! • What type of mail has actually been growing in popularity? • What types of technology are used behind the scenes that help get mail where it needs to go? • How does a big company like Pitney Bowes, or any company for that matter, succeed in this rapidly changing environment?

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Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen Feb 24, 2014

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Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen - The Moment of Clarity: Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems, Co-Founders at ReD Associates where they employ social sciences to study human behavior. Christian Madsbjerg has been leading projects and client programs since ReD’s foundation. He writes, teaches, and speaks about the kinds of methods and reasoning needed for fact-based investigations of human activity, emotions, and decision-making processes. He is the author of books on social theory, discourse analysis, and politics. Mikkel B. Rasmussen, a specialist in innovation strategy, is the Director of ReD’s European division. Mikkel founded Mindlab, the first innovation lab for the public sector in Denmark. His work focuses on helping companies create and implement a direction for the future and figure out where and how to focus innovation. He’s on the board of Copenhagen Clean Tech, numerous startups, and several design policy and management firms. What we learn in this episode: • What are the 3 most common types of problems a business can face and which ones are best solved with human sciences? Problems that are known (algorithmic problems). These can be solved with numerical analysis and spreadsheets. Hypothetical problem. You have seen the problem before and you can create a hypothesis and calculate your way back. Unknown problems. Problems that you aren’t sure even exist, but you tend to know something is wrong. These can only be found out using human sciences and observation. • Is yoga a sport? Well, that decision is up to you. But fitness is now 50% of the sporting industry and women are the largest consumer of sporting apparel. • Why do consumers lie in focus groups? Most people answer questions the way they would like to believe they act. They would like to think they make rational decisions based on analysis. However, science has shown us that the majority of the time this is not true. • ReD makes sense of the culture outside a company utilizing 5 phases: Ask the right question Study consumers in their natural environment Pattern recognition and analysis Insight – what to do with the information gained Make sure that the company can understand the recommendations and be ready to act on it. • If you are a business, stop phrasing your question in business terms – phrase it in personal terms. Turn it into a human question, something that people can experience. Notable Quotables from Christian and Mikkel:

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Eswar Prasad Feb 16, 2014

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Eswar Prasad - Author of The Dollar Trap: How the U.S. Dollar Tightened Its Grip on Global Finance. Eswar is a Senior Professor at Cornell University, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the New Century Chair in International Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was previously chief of the Financial Studies Division in the International Monetary Fund's Research Department and, before that, was the head of the IMF's China Division. What we discuss in this episode: • Is the dollar still the world’s safest currency, even after the financial crisis? • What does it mean that the US is $17 trillion in debt? Is debt bad? • At what point does the United States have to pay back its debt? • How does the euro compare to the dollar? • Is China a safe place to invest? Notable quotes from Eswar:

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Larry Downes Feb 09, 2014

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Larry Downes - Author of Big Bang Disruption and Unleashing the Killer App (named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 5 most important books ever published on business and technology). Larry is an internet industry analyst and speaker, having held faculty appointments at Univ. of Chicago, Northwestern, Berkeley, and Stanford and he is a columnist for Forbes and CNET. What we discuss in this episode • What industries are PRIMED for innovation? The answer may surprise you. • The nature of innovation has changed dramatically, in even the last 10 years. • What industries should younger people consider working in to take advantage of the upcoming innovation? • What can existing companies do to fend off new, more agile start-up companies? Quotes we liked from Larry Resources for you • www.larrydownes.com • Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation • Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance

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