The Most Fascinating Podcast in the World

In this episode, Pat sits down with acclaimed author Ross King, whose book Brunelleschi's Dome has captivated readers for over two decades (and inspired Pat to give away more than 100 copies to friends). Ross opens up about his childhood in a tiny Saskatchewan border town, his winding academic path through three universities and a failed bid at a professorship, and how a novel-in-progress abou...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Sam Mushaw - President of Dimension Fabricators, Navy Seabee veteran, and a leader who built his career the hard way: through responsibility, consistency, and respect for people. From growing up in Clifton Park to serving in the U.S. Navy - building in some of the toughest conditions in the world - Sam brought that same mindset into business. Starting in a small, struggl...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Larry Kittelberger - former top executive, corporate fixer, and one of the rare leaders who has operated at the highest levels of American industry during moments of real crisis. From growing up in small-town Pennsylvania to helping reshape companies like Honeywell and Lucent Technologies, Larry’s career wasn’t planned - it evolved through adaptability, pressure, and a r...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Robert “Max” Maxfield for a wide-ranging conversation about curiosity, confidence, storytelling, travel, creativity, and learning how to fully show up in life. Max grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, shaped by a veterinarian father, an interior designer mother, sports, golf, fraternity life, travel, and a lifelong pull toward adventure. From Mexico to Shanghai, from film se...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Hugh Rice, who spent nearly five decades with FMI helping shape the modern construction industry. Hugh shares how a kid from rural Alabama—originally planning to be a farmer or Air Force officer—found his way into consulting and never left. What started as “a couple years before a real job” turned into a career advising contractors across the country on strategy, success...

In this episode, Pat DiCerbo sits down with Alexandra Phillips for a wide-ranging conversation on purpose, change, and what it really means to do work that matters. Alexandra shares her journey from growing up on the Upper West Side, to Brown University, to a career in the performing arts—and ultimately walking away from it all after becoming a mother to pursue a more aligned path. Today, she lead...

In this episode, Pat DiCerbo sits down with Rob Tortorella for a conversation about resilience, family, friendship, faith, business, and purpose. Rob shares memories of growing up in Camillus, New York in a tight-knit Italian family, the influence of his parents, and the role sports played in shaping his character. He talks about playing lacrosse at Holy Cross, the life-changing car accident that...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Frank Famiano - Schenectady native, Olympian, NCAA Division I All-American, and one of the toughest competitors to come out of Section 2 wrestling. Frank opens up about being adopted and raised by his grandfather, getting cut from basketball and pushed into wrestling, and the coaches who shaped his mindset. He talks about making the leap from Division III to Division I,...

Pat DiCerbo sits down with Adrian Comstock, founder and CEO of Comstock Realty Partners, for a fast‑moving conversation covering Adrian’s path from Southern California to Russia in the 1990s, his pivot into real estate, navigating the 2008 financial crisis, and building a development business through challenge and uncertainty. They also explore how strategy, endurance, and mindset shape everything...

Gene Bolger is one of those people who doesn’t fit neatly into a single label - and that’s exactly what makes his story compelling. In this episode, Pat DiCerbo reconnects with a longtime friend whose life has unfolded across countries, cultures, and careers. From studying abroad together in Mexico to traveling through Spain decades later, their conversation weaves through childhood memories in Ne...

Rodney Schultz has lived multiple careers inside one remarkable life - contractor, executive, operator, author, and quiet industry transformer. In this wide-ranging conversation, Rodney reflects on growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri, in a fourth-generation electrical contracting family shaped by grit, discipline, and Depression-era work ethic. He shares how a promising football career ended abrupt...

Jeffrey Zorn and Pat DiCerbo go way back...Union College rugby days, decades of friendship, and a whole lot of life lived in between. Jeff opens up about growing up in the Bronx and Long Island, including an early childhood incident rooted in anti-Semitism that helped push his family out of the city. He shares the complicated story of his biological father, being adopted by his stepfather, and the...

Simon Balint is an entrepreneur, world traveler, and builder...of companies, experiences, and second chances for old places. In this conversation, Simon shares how a childhood spent on a rundown farm outside Albany shaped his independence, curiosity, and work ethic. At 17, with $3,000 in his pocket, he deferred college and took a one-way ticket to Europe, backpacking through Scandinavia, Eastern E...

Daniel Byrne is a Johns Hopkins professor and one of the earliest pioneers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, with more than 40 years of experience inside the medical system. In this conversation, Daniel shares how his early work helped make surgery safer for older patients long before AI was a buzzword…and why today’s AI moment risks being driven more by hype t...

John Robinson was born a quadruple congenital amputee, and from the start his life required problem-solving most of us never think about. But this conversation isn’t about limitation...it’s about the way he built a full, grounded, meaningful life in a world not designed for him. John talks about growing up in a small New York town, summers on his grandparents’ dairy farm, and the role his parents...

Rosannah Harding is a New York City architect who started college at 12, entered architecture school at 14, and never really took her foot off the gas. In this episode, she talks about growing up in a big military family, getting homeschooled, testing into college early, and fighting her way into Auburn’s architecture program and later Cooper Union. She walks through working at Diller Scofidio + R...

In this episode of The Most Fascinating Podcast in the World, host Pat DiCerbo sits down with Kevin Riley — a powerhouse executive, athlete, hunter, and lifelong learner whose story spans decades of leadership and personal growth. From his early football days in Albany to climbing the corporate ranks at KeyBank and ultimately leading First Interstate Bank in Montana, Kevin shares the grit and mind...

In this deeply moving and inspiring episode, Lenee Koch, Business Development Leader at Hensel Phelps, shares her extraordinary journey through sport, family, loss, and leadership. A Colorado native and the first gymnast at the University of Denver to ever score a perfect 10, Lenee reflects on how the discipline of gymnastics shaped her mindset and career in construction - a field she was drawn to...

Mark Walsh’s path reads like a roadmap of modern media and entrepreneurship: an idyllic childhood outside Baltimore, early TV work in West Virginia, a formative stint at HBO (helping launch Cinemax), founding one of the first database marketing firms for cable operators, taking early e-commerce bets, and later joining AOL during the internet’s explosive growth. He went on to Harvard Business Schoo...

Professor Stephen Berk of Union College sits down with host Pat DiCerbo to trace a life in history… from Bensonhurst childhood memories of FDR’s death to a career spent teaching Russian, Jewish, Holocaust, Middle Eastern, and European history. Berk shares the Madison High School culture that produced Nobel laureates, senators, and a young Bernie Sanders… his path through Penn, Chicago, and Columbi...

Billionaire investor and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sits down with host Pat DiCerbo to talk grit, gratitude, and building things that last. Born in Marrakesh, Morocco, Marc immigrated to Hartford, CT at age 7, grew up in a tiny apartment, and earned academic scholarships to Clark University (where he met his wife and played basketball) and New York Law School. An internship with th...

Meet Andrea Robinson - Montreal-born adventurer, nurse, private pilot, and long-distance hiker chasing the Triple Crown (AT, PCT, CDT).Andrea grew up roaming the Adirondacks, joined the Air Cadets as a teen, and never lost the itch to fly. Decades later - while working extra nursing shifts during the pandemic - she used those earnings to finally learn: Private Pilot (2022), tailwheel endorsement,...

In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Nido Qubein shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings in Jordan to leading one of the most distinctive universities in America. He reflects on losing his father at age six, learning English one word at a time on 3x5 cards, and starting his first business through sheer determination. You’ll hear how he built multiple successful companies, served on ban...

Join Pat DiCerbo for an inspiring conversation with Paul Glynn Sr., a senior executive at Stryker and former standout Iowa wrestler. Paul shares his journey from growing up in a huge Irish Catholic family in Iowa, to wrestling under legendary coach Dan Gable, and how the lessons from wrestling were foundational in forging a successful career in the medical device industry. Paul reveals how early l...

In this episode of The Most Fascinating Podcast in the World, Pat DiCerbo sits down with Rick Bennett — a hockey lifer who went from backyard rinks in Springfield, Massachusetts, to the NHL, and later built a coaching legacy that culminated in a historic national championship at Union College. Rick shares stories from his childhood, the decision that took him to prep school, and his unexpected lea...