Smart People Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Bob Sutton Feb 02, 2014

Show notes

Bob Sutton - Author of Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less and The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, Professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School, IDEO Fellow, ranked one of the "50 Best B School Professors". What we discuss in this episode: • What makes a great professor? What makes a great boss? • Can leadership be taught? Learned? • How do you maintain a good corporate culture as a company grows? How does a company grow/scale effectively? • As a company grows, how does it maintain it's fundamentals, while also allowing individuals to be creative and unique? Quotes we liked from Bob: Resources for you: Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't http://bobsutton.typepad.com/ -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code SPP. • Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. • 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. • Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website. -- This episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. – Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point. Go to warbyparker.com/smartpeople to get choose your 5, free Home Try On frames! By visiting, you will get FREE 3 day shipping! • Warby Parker believes glasses should be viewed as a fashion accessory—just like a bag, a shoe, a necktie, a hat. At $95, Warby Parker makes it easy to accessorize with glasses. • Warby Parker makes buying glasses fun, easy, and pain-free. • With the Home Try-On Program, you can order 5 pairs of glasses to be shipped directly to you (free). You can try all the frames on, get a feel for them and get feedback from others! (5 pairs, for 5 days). Mail back to Warby Parker in a prepaid package.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lance Fortnow Jan 27, 2014

Show notes

Lance Fortnow, PhD - Author of The Golden Ticket: P, NP, and the Search for the Impossible, professor and chair of the School of Computer Science of the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, served as the founding editor-in-chief of the ACM Transaction on Computation Theory, served as chair of ACM SIGACT and currently sits on the Computing Research Association board of directors. He served as chair of the IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity from 2000-2006. It's time to bend your brain and mess with your mind with one of Smart People Podcast's most intellectual and in-depth interviews EVER! Did you know that there is a problem known as the "P versus NP problem" that, if solved, could cure cancer, predict the weather, rid us over poverty, and pretty much change the entirety of our world? Our guest this week goes so far as to say, "What we would gain from P = NP will make the whole Internet look like a footnote in history!" But there is one pretty big problem. We have had the best and brightest people in the world (including this week's guest) working on this problem for decades and they still can't even decide IF it can be solved! Due to the complexity and positive implications that a solution would have on our society, the "P versus NP problem" is one of the seven Millennium Problems for which the Clay Mathematics Institute will give you one million dollars if you can prove it. We are going to leave the heavy lifting to Lance, but as a primer, P versus NP basically states that if these two variables are equal, we would be able to solve every complex issue with a very simple equation. Oh, you want more than that? Ok fine. P stands for "Polynomial Time" and represents the entire class of problems with efficient solutions. NP stands for "Nondeterministic Polynomial-Time" and represents the entire class of the very hardest, most difficult problems. Therefore if the 2 were equal, we would be able to apply this algorithm to all of our most difficult, complex problems and come up with a simple solution. Believe us, even those that aren't math or computer savvy will love to hear the way that Lance breaks down such a complicated idea into a real life scenario. Imagine the possibilities if P = NP! (I never thought I would write that in my life) Lance Fortnow is professor and chair of the School of Computer Science of the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on computational complexity and its applications to economic theory. Fortnow received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at MIT in 1989 under the supervision of Michael Sipser. Before he joined Georgia Tech in 2012, Fortnow was a professor at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, a senior research scientist at the NEC Research Institute and a one-year visitor at CWI and the University of Amsterdam. Since 2007, Fortnow holds an adjoint professorship at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago. Fortnow's research spans computational complexity and its applications, most recently to micro-economic theory. Fortnow's survey The Status of the P versus NP Problem is CACM's most downloaded article. Fortnow has written a popular science book The Golden Ticket: P, NP and the Search for the Impossible loosely based on that article.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christine Montross Jan 20, 2014

Show notes

Christine Montross - Author of Falling Into the Fire: A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Brown University, staff psychiatrist at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. When you really get down to it, the entirety of our life is a function of our perception. The way we interact with the world is completely dependent on the way in which our brain deals with stimulus... that is our existence. I'd say that's a pretty heavy task for one organ. However, unlike the heart, which will circulate blood through the body the same way for you as it does for me, your brain will perceive these stimuli differently than mine will. This difference forms our being, our identity. For example, you and I could have a conversation and both of us could walk away with two completely different understandings. We could eat the same food, watch the same movie, and work the same job - yet the way we experience these sensations will be only ours to understand. We tend to forget this simple fact on a daily basis for two main reasons. First, all of us tend to deal with stimulus in relatively similar manners. Second, humans are magnificent at placing themselves at the center of the universe, assuming that everyone else is interpreting things the same way that they are. However, we are abruptly made aware of our individuality when someone acts in a way that is extremely out of the ordinary - and this is where it get's really interesting. For example, what would cause a woman to purposefully ingest lightbulbs, a box of nails, and a steak knife, just to then admit herself to the emergency room? Why would an otherwise normal man attempt to amputate a fully functional limb? These are just some of the individuals that our guest this week, psychiatrist Christine Montross, sees on a daily basis in her profession working with the mentally ill. This week we learn more about the devastation that can be caused when our brain malfunctions. Dr. Christine Montross is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Co-director of the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Scholarly Concentration at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is also a staff psychiatrist at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Dr. Montross has been named a 2010 MacColl Johnson fellow in Poetry, and the winner of the 2009 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Emerging Indiana Authors Award. She has had several poems published in literary journals, and her manuscript Embouchure was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. She has also written for many national publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post Book World, Good Housekeeping and O, The Oprah Magazine. Dr. Montross's first book, Body of Work, was named an Editors' Choice by The New York Times and one of The Washington Post's best nonfiction books of 2007. Her second book, Falling Into the Fire was named a New Yorker Book to Watch Out For. She and her partner, the playwright Deborah Salem Smith, live in Rhode Island with their two young children.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colonel (Ret.) Peter Mansoor Jan 13, 2014

Show notes

Colonel (Retired) Peter Mansoor - Author of Surge: My Journey With General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War, professor of military history at Ohio State University, served as Executive Officer to General David Patraeus. On September 11, 2001, the United States was the target of the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the world. It was a day that would lead to over a decade of war, economic instability, and global confusion. And although nearly every nation was united in the quest to bring the guilty parties to justice, the events that have transpired from that day, including the resulting war in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the subject of much debate and scrutiny. Perhaps no decision has been more heavily scrutinized than the United States actions to use military force in Iraq. Were we going after terrorists, Saddam Hussein, weapons of mass destruction, oil? The answer remains unclear to this day, and many people, including our guest this week believe the move into Iraq was done for strategic reasons that were not well defined. However, going into Iraq was just part of the problem. After Saddam was captured, there was a huge power vacuum in Iraq and the United States with tasked with the difficult and confusing job of bringing stability to the region. It was at this moment that the "Surge" went into effect and over 20,000 additional troops were sent to Iraq. The surge was one of the largest counterinsurgency efforts in United States history and is still the topic of many military discussions. This week on the show we have Retired Colonel, Dr. Peter Mansoor. Colonel Mansoor served as the Executive Officer to General David Patraeus in the midst of the surge. There are few people in the world that have a better understanding of the United States military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan than Colonel Mansoor. In his most recent book, Surge: My Journey With General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War, Colonel Mansoor combines newly declassified documents, unpublished manuscripts, interviews, personal notes, and published sources to provide us with a remarkable account of the counterinsurgency. Dr. Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is currently the professor of Military History at Ohio State University. He assumed this position in September 2008 after a 26 year career in the U.S. Army that culminated in his service in Iraq as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, the Commanding General of Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the period of the surge in 2007-2008. A 1982 distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy, Colonel Mansoor served in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East during his military career. Colonel Mansoor commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division from 2003 to 2005, to include 13 months in combat in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from July 2003 to July 2004 - service for which his brigade was awarded a President Unit Citation for collective valor in combat. He has captured the essence of the experience of his brigade’s deployment and the difficulties of the U.S. war in Iraq during the crucial first year of conflict in a personal memoir, Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander’s War in Iraq. -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code SMARTS. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean,

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best Of – Episode 2 Jan 05, 2014

Show notes

Another “Best Of" episode is in the books! This week, we bring you a “Best of technology” episode. While it was tough selecting some of my favorite technology episodes, I finally picked the ones that made me truly geek out. Sit back, relax, and listen to some of the best clips regarding various aspects of technology. If you want a cheat sheet of what is in this week’s episode, here you go! Part 1 - Clips from Episode 110 - Alexis Ohanian. Alexis discusses Reddit, original (or lack thereof) ideas, and learning to code. Part 2 - Clips from Episode 99 - Nicco Mele. Nicco discusses computer advancements, web content creation, and privacy. Part 3 - Clips from Episode 53 - David-Michel Davies. DMD discusses The Webbys, where technology trends are heading, and the age-old question of, 'Are we really doing more work than previous generations?" Part 4 - Clips from Episode 115 - Scott Sklar. Scott discusses the return on investment of renewable energy and explains solar energy and other types of clean energy to Jon and Chris. Part 5 - Clips from Episode 48 - Josh Klein. Josh discusses the importance of sharing your ideas and the effect of piracy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maddy Dychtwald Dec 30, 2013

Show notes

Maddy Dychtwald - Author of Influence: How Women's Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better, co-founder of Age Wave, world renowned speaker, leading expert on the changing demographic trends—both generation- and gender-related—shaping the marketplace, the workplace and our lives. The aging of the workforce has been well publicized. The baby-boom generation is reaching retirement and there is a supposed "talent gap" that is going to be problematic to our economy. Talent gap? What about awesome young people! Well, let's hope these young people are awesome, because we are all going to be relying on them to fill some big shoes. And as we have covered in previous episode, the younger generations are technologically savvy and very motivated; however, they also lack experience, and insist that things are done on their schedule, in their way. Lucky for us all, we have a secret weapon that is helping us fill this talent gap and change the working landscape...women! The increase in women in the work place and in positions of power has really helped off-set the increase in retirees. This shift has not only helped fill the gaps, but has also greatly improved productivity and innovation - and Maddy is going to tell you how! Maddy co-founded Age Wave, the nation’s foremost thought-leader on population aging trends and their profound business, lifestyle and cultural implications. The company provides breakthrough research, award-winning communications, and results-driven marketing and consulting initiatives to more than half of the Fortune 500. She has spent more than 25 years investigating and forecasting lifestyle and market trends of older adults and the 79 million baby boomers. Building on this knowledge, she has recently emerged as a renowned authority on the rising economic influence of women and their impact on industries, ranging from financial services and healthcare to consumer marketing. Her newest book, INFLUENCE: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better explores how women are the major change agent of the decade to come. A graduate of New York University, Maddy has been married for more than 25 years and has been a working mom living in the San Francisco Bay Area for much of her adult life.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Best Of – Episode 1 Dec 23, 2013

Show notes

This week we bring you a special "best of psychology and human behavior" episode. Travel back to the beginning of Smart People Podcast with us and enjoy some of the best clips regarding psychology, the human brain, the decision making process, passion and more. This is a can't miss episode packed full of great information with none of the fluff. Here is a brief overview of what this episode entails, what order it's in, who are guests are, and where you can find the whole episode. Enjoy! Part 1 - Clips from Episode 58 with Jesse Prinz. Jesse gets us started by telling us how awesome and unique humans are! Part 2 - Clips from Episode 51 with Srini Pillay. Srini gives some of the best advice I've EVER heard about how to live an exceptional life. He also dives into what passion is and how to utilize it properly. Don't miss this! Part 3 - Quick clip from Episode 13 with Kathryn Schulz. Kathryn explains why we need to make mistakes and learn from them. Part 4 - Clips from Episode 41 with David McRaney. Listen and then go pick up his book if you like psychology! Part 5 - Clips from Episode 83 with Venkatesh Rao. What can robots teach us about how we make decisions? Part 6 - Clips from Episode 43 with Barry Schwartz. Are you a maximizer or a satisficer?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Sostrin Dec 16, 2013

Show notes

Jesse Sostrin, PhD - Author of Beyond the Job Description: How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job, consultant, speaker, and expert on the hidden world of work. As you are well aware by now, we here at Smart People Podcast do not believe that you have to work for the man, and put all of your own happiness aside just to achieve financial freedom. We are all given unique talents that are truly beneficial to the world - the key is understanding how to best utilize them. Often times, when seeking out companies or careers that we believe will allow us to be our best self, the only thing we have to go off of is a job description; however, they are almost always misleading. This isn't done on purpose, but managers often fail to recognize what they truly want out of their employees. They don't take the time to understand how to create environments that bring out the best in people and create mutually beneficial opportunities. From the day you start your first job you quickly realize that your job is much more than what you thought it would be. You have to understand office politics, identify hidden opportunities, and appease those above you - it's a lot to handle. But if you can realize where your true potential lies and how to thrive in the environment, you can quickly excel and live a life of happiness, wealth, and meaning. Our guest this week has spent his entire career (and a lot of time in school!) understanding how both employer and employee can be better off by just having a better understanding of what brings out the best in individuals. Jesse Sostrin, PhD is a sought-after consultant and speaker working at the intersection of individual and business success. The results of his innovative research and practice on the hidden challenges of work have helped countless organizations and their leaders navigate a unique path to success through the complex changes of our time. Jesse is best known for translating complex ideas about the workplace into simple language and useful tools that drive learning and performance for individuals and teams. In addition to his writing, speaking, and consulting, Jesse previously served as Vice President—Workforce, Leadership, and Organization Development at Wilshire Health and Community Services. He was the executive in charge of all human resources programs and services, and was responsible for company-wide strategic planning, leadership development, and cultural change.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Whitcomb Dec 09, 2013

Show notes

Joe Whitcomb - Author of Reboot Your Relationship: Restoring Love Through Real Connection in a Disconnected World - Relationship coach and therapist. Episode Transcript: Episode 119 - Joe Whitcomb Connection is a human necessity. We need to feel loved and accepted by others, it is a driving force behind much of what we do. Perhaps no connection is stronger than the one we build with a significant other. In these monogamous, intimate relationships, we share our deepest selves and connect on levels never before experienced. This type of relationship can be one of the most exciting, enlightening, spine-tingling, adventures we embark on in our lives. It can provide us with a lifelong friend, confidant, and partner. But as we all know, these relationship require an incredible amount of work and dedication. They take empathy, compassion, understanding, and communication - all the building blocks of a strong bond. And over time, these building blocks can crumble and that bond can weaken. Throughout almost all relationships, each of us will at some point experience negative emotions such as resentment, jealousy, anger, and frustration. When these emotions emerge, it's hard to work through them and they can force us to disengage and give up. There are a number of ways you can get your relationship back on track and continue to thrive as a couple, but you have to have the right tools. Well open up your toolbox, because this week, we are going to give them to you. It only takes one person to change a dance. - Joe Whitcomb Joe Whitcomb brings more than 20 years of relevant experience to his work as a relationship coach and therapist. With a focus on helping couples connect and communicate at deeper levels, Joe provides effective tools for putting the fun and excitement back into relationships using his proven multidisciplinary approach. Joe earned a B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland College Park. He holds a M.A. in Clinical Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University and a Doctoral Candidate in Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Joe is the CEO of The Relationship Society and author of the new book, Reboot Your Relationship: Restoring Love Through Real Connection in a Disconnected World. www.facebook.com/therelationshipsociety -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code smart12. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Cowan Part 2 Dec 01, 2013

Show notes

Dr. Stephen Cowan (Part 2) - Author of Fire Child, Water Child: How Understanding the Five Types of ADHD Can Help You Improve Your Child's Self Esteem and Attention, Board Certified pediatrician with over 25 years of experience specializing in ADD, ADHD, Autism and the like. Dr. Cowan uses a holistic approach incorporating both Western and Eastern medicine to treat these difficult issues. This is an EPIC first for Smart People Podcast. On consecutive Sundays we are airing episodes with the same guest! What is happening? Well, frankly, this guy kicks ass. He's smart, fun, energizing, conversational, and kind - all of the attributes that lead to an interview that lasted over an hour - so we decided to break it up into 2 separate shows. In case you missed it, you can check out our previous episode with Dr. Stephen Cowan: Episode 117 - Stephen Cowan Part 1

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected