The Someone To Tell It To Podcast

Eric Maddox joins us in this episode of the podcast. He was a member of a Delta Force Special Operations team in Tikrit, Iraq that was part of the Command responsible for tracking down Saddam Hussein, who was found and captured on December 13, 2003. Eric shares his story as an interrogator working in top-secret conditions to find Hussein using a process called empathy-based listening.  Empath...

In a rebroadcast of a January 2019 episode with our dear friend Benjamin Mathes, founder of Los Angeles-based Urban Confessional, we have a conversation about how profound and innate to our human need is the act of intentional listening and presence with one another. We reshare this episode because Benjamin will be our special guest on December 2, at 7:00p.m. Eastern Standard Time, when he will jo...

We play a game in this very special episode - during our conversation with Jed and Sophia Lazar, curators of the game COZY JUICY REAL. It was a lot of fun, but also serious and intimate, deep and vulnerable. That’s the point of the game - to create the context for conversations that go well beyond the superficial and shallow, helping one another to grow quickly to know one another better and to fo...

One of the things that drew us to our guest, Shola Richards, is his level of vulnerability in his speaking and writing. He talks openly about his mental health challenges, his suicidal thoughts, his feelings of inadequacy at times, essentially, the deeper matters of the heart. That’s especially important to us as men. In our conversation with Shola, he speaks of “ubuntu”, the Southern African word...

Professor, author, psychologist, and community collaborator, Dr. Tania Israel’s goal is to help promote understanding by developing greater connection to one another. Connection is the most important thing, she says. Our conversation with her explores how to engage in dialogue by building skills for listening, managing emotions, and perspective taking. It is by this way, that understanding leads t...

John Noltner set out on a road trip across the United States to rediscover the common humanity that connects us by asking people the simple question “What does peace mean to you?”  Traveling with the foundational belief that “connection...listening deeply...and challenging our own expectations so we can hear something new...and to keep showing up” are the basic building blocks of relationship...

What makes Reza Marvasti come alive is being in service to others.  Reza founded a mission called The Power of Play - to support every child’s right to learn and develop through the power of play.  He has been to some of the most distressed and dangerous places in the world, but has found that laughter and joy, through play, is truly the greatest medicine.  He says: “Children are th...

We are kicking off Season Four with a conversation between our co-founders Michael Gingerich and Tom Kaden.  As Someone To Tell It To approaches it’s 10-year anniversary this coming January, Michael and Tom reflect on how the mission began, the ebbs and flows of non-profit work, why STTIT is so needed, and why it has had such a profound global impact.  They believe that everyone needs so...

Timothy Shriver, who leads the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, is the co-founder of UNITE, who co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and President of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, has a wide-ranging conversation with us about what ultimately matters the most....

Back in June 2019, in our first season of the Someone To Tell It To Podcast, we interviewed best-selling author and leadership expert Jon Gordon.  In our conversation, we talked about trust, how it is one of the essential ingredients to building great relationships.  We’re looking back at that episode today because we believe strongly that for the very best relationships trust is absolut...

On the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death, we feature a compilation of podcast conversations we have had over the past year or so with black Americans, as they talk about their experiences as minorities in the United States. Support the show

Living authentically matters to Paul Colaianni.  A lot.  He says taking the risk to be who we really are can ultimately be a very good thing.  He says we must not allow others to dishonor us because they won’t allow us to be our authentic selves.  He says bringing out our fears into the light makes our fears weaker, not stronger.  His story has led him to these discoveries...

With over twenty years of experience developing and delivering curricula, Kelly Waltman has a passion for helping individuals learn and grow.  In this episode, Kelly helps us see someone else’s strength as a complement to our weakness and not a threat to our position or authority, why we tend to keep putting off difficult conversations and how to overcome those fears, and how to foster deeper...

Anthony Johnson has a passion for helping others. Based on his military experience, parenting two children, coaching, as well as his many life experiences, he helps others overcome their challenges by facing fears, expressing vulnerability, leaning into discomfort, and practicing discipline. “My goal is to continue to grow personally, while helping as many people as I can thrive along the way.” Ou...

Today, we have a dialogue about how every voice can be heard, every voice can be expressed, with Max Masure (they/them).  Max is an Ethical UX (User Experience) Researcher,  DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Consultant, author, and public speaker.  Thanks to people such as  Max, our culture is growing in the understanding that traditionally not every voice has been heard...

The International Listening Association was established in 1979 with a mission to advance the practice, teaching, and research of listening throughout the world.  The ILA’s vision is to be the international leader of listening practices, teaching, and research - as a network listening professionals who exchange information and methods for more effective listening, who pursue research on liste...

His gentle and calming manner is exactly what we need in this turbulent and unsettled time.  Dr. Krishna Naineni, a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and on the training faculty at The Brighton and Sussex Medical School, in southeast England, reminds us in this conversation about the need for healthcare professionals to see patients as human beings, above all else.  He...

Kat Vellos is a prolific writer and speaker on the topic of friendships.  Intimate friends share each other’s experiences and in some ways, they inhabit each other’s lives. They often have similar viewpoints and values, and they may share similar backgrounds and traditions. They witness the milestones and unexpected changes of life, the highs and lows, celebrations and sadness.  In this...

Rishita Jones, of Amsterdam, Netherlands, has a belief that if we learn to accept the things we can’t ultimately control - and that means just about everything - we would be much more content and would have much more joy.  She also says that in this new reality brought by COVID-19, if we would strive to “…be kind, spread joy, love unconditionally and take care of your neighbour“, we might cre...

Sarah Judd Welch believes that “belonging is more necessary now than ever”. She points to our current culture moment - with its significant polarization, disconnection, and loneliness - in stressing the imperative to “belong”. With COVID-19, a massive shift to working remotely, and a continuous fracture of our social infrastructure, we need to understand and rethink how we define what belonging is...

“Listening is being able to be changed by the other person”, says Corine Jansen, of The Netherlands.  What a unique and invaluable gift we are presented when we listen and are listened to by others!  In listening we grow in understanding and we grow in being understood.  As we begin this new year, we hope this gift can be given and received through all of our lives. Support the show

Marc Wong of Hong Kong and New York City, first learned about listening when he volunteered at a telephone crisis center more than 20 years ago.  Since then he has been passionate about the subject.  He decided a few years ago to give up his financially secure job configuring firewalls, for the privilege of speaking and writing about listening.  His passion for listening quickly tur...

Victor Pierau, who is from Hilversum, North Holland, the Netherlands, is fascinated by human interaction and has studied the science of listening.  He says that he “…connects people in organizations with their essence in order to be able to achieve their goals."  Support the show

Oscar Trimboli is an author, speaker, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening . He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces and cultures around the world. One of the ways he does this is to discuss some of the costs, as there are many, of not listening.  Support the show

On this historic Election Day, and as we begin the third season of "The Someone To Tell It To Podcast", we explore what brings us HOPE in turbulent times - through a dialogue about listening to understand, empathy, and our human need to be heard.  Our guests are Ben Rehki and Susan Bro, of the documentary "The Reunited States", and John Wood, Jr., of Braver Angels.  Each of them is stepp...