What Got You There with Sean DeLaney

As 2020 comes to a close, I can't help but reflect on the incredible episodes from the past year and all that I've learned from each conversation. To wrap up this year, I have compiled my Top 10 Takeaways of 2020. Thank you to all the guests, listeners, and supporters for making this the best year yet for What Got You There. -Sean  Episode Notes  Checkout my Newsletter Connect with us!  Whatgotyou...

Geoffrey West is a physicist turned complexity theorist. He is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, where he served as President from 2005 to 2009. West has been listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. He is the author of  Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economie...

Rory Sutherland is Vice Chairman of one of the world's most respected advertising agencies Ogilvy & Mather. He is the author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life which is one of Sean's highly recommended books. On this episode Rory will shake your way of thinking by peeling back the curtain to what it's like inside one of the greatest minds i...

Frank Slootman currently serves as Chairman and CEO at Snowflake . Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. Slootman served as CEO and President of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017, taking the organization from around $100M in revenue, through an IPO, to $1.4B. Prior to that, Frank served as President of the Backup Recovery Systems Div...

Bill Tierney is the head men's lacrosse coach at the University of Denver and one of collegiate lacrosse's legendary coaches. In 2015 Tierney was named USILA Division I National Coach of the Year while capturing his NCAA-record seventh National Championship, becoming the first coach to win National Championships in charge of two different programs. In his 36 years of coaching, Tierney has amassed...

Dr. Jim Loehr is the Bestselling author, world-renowned performance psychologist, and Co-Founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. He has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement, including Fortune 100 executives, FBI Hostage Rescue Teams, and military Special Forces.  On this episode Dr. Loehr lays out a sy...

Robert Greene is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Laws of Human Nature, The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, and Mastery . Robert was originally a guest on Episode #123 . This episode dives deep on many of the key lessons Robert learned throughout all of his writings and what he's focusing on now. Episode Notes Checkout my Newsletter C...

Ed Sim is the founder of Boldstart Ventures, a first check investor for bold founders reinventing the enterprise! Ed loves to work with engineering driven founders with a laser sharp focus on product. On this episode Ed goes over his investing principles, where he developed his tenacious drive and what he sees in the most successful entrepreneurs. This is a masterclass   you won't want to miss fro...

Seth Godin Is the bestselling author of  Linchpin ,  Tribes , Sean's favorite marketing book of all time, This is Marketing and his latest work The Practice: Shipping Creative Work .  On this episode Seth uncovers what will inspire artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to stretch and commit to putting their best work out into the world. Creative work doesn't come with a guarantee. But there is a pat...

David Dunning is the social psychologist best known for his study into why people have problems recognizing their own incompetence which is know as the - " Dunning-Kruger effect ". His research focuses on the psychology underlying human misbelief.   In his most widely-cited work, he showed that people tend to hold flattering opinions of their competence, character, and prospects that cannot be jus...

James Carse is the author of Finite and Infinite Games and was a Professor and Director at NYU for 30 years. James recently passed away so we wanted to repost his episode which was originally episode #182. In his book Finite and Infinite Games , James discusses the two types of games- "One could be called finite; the other infinite." Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life; they ar...

Author. Speaker. Decision Strategist.  Annie Duke is one of the world leaders in the decision-making space. As a former professional poker player, Annie won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring from the game in 2012. Prior to that, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Annie is the co-founder...

Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University's popular "Genius Course," explores what we can learn from brilliant minds that have changed the world. Einstein. Beethoven. Picasso. Jobs. The word genius evokes these iconic figures, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society. Yet Beethoven could not multiply. Picasso couldn't pass a 4th grade math test. And Jobs left high sch...

Robert Rosenberg was the CEO of Dunkin' Donuts for over 35 years and author of Around The Corner To Around The World: A Dozen Lessons I Learned Running Dunkin' Donuts . Under his leadership, Dunkin' Donuts grew from a regional family business to one of America's best known and loved brands. Rosenberg received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and just weeks after graduating at the age of 25, h...

Blas Moros is writer, thinker, entrepreneur and so much more. He's the man behind Sean's favorite website The Rabbit Hole that is filled with book recaps, thought provoking essays and other amazing content. Blas is at it again with his latest project The Latticework . If you're into lifelong learning, mental models, and multidisciplinary approaches to life then you will love the latticework. It's...

Josh Kaufman is the bestselling author of books on business, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity, applied psychology, and practical wisdom. His unique, multidisciplinary approach to business mastery and rapid skill acquisition has helped millions of readers around the world learn essential concepts and skills on their own terms. His bestselling book THE PERSONAL MBA: 10 T...

Morgan Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund and a former columnist at The Motley Fool and The Wall Street Journal. He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Morgan is out with his first book   The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed and happiness , which Sean thought was exceptional. In it   Housel s...

Yen Liow is the Managing Partner at Aravt Global LLC, which is a fundamental global equity investment firm based out of New York. Yen previously was a Principal of Ziff Brothers Investments, and prior to ZBI, Yen was a Consultant at Bain & Company in its San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore and Beijing offices. Yen received his MBA from Harvard Business School, is a former Adjunct Professor at Columbi...

Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence --the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged as the best business book ever. Almost 20 books and thirty plus years later, he's still at the forefront of the "management guru industry" he single-handedly invented.  In those 35 years since writing In Search of Excellence , Tom has never stopped studying what's new and ma...

Vanessa Van Edwards is a national bestselling author and founder of Science of People. Vanessa is renowned for teaching science-backed people skills to audiences around the world. On this episode Vanessa shares tangible skills to improve interpersonal communication and leadership, including her insights on how people work. Get ready for Vanessa to go over   her methods for turning "soft skills" in...

Safi Bahcall is one of the few 2nd time guests on What Got You There which should tell you how much Sean respects him! Safi was first featured on episode #126 , if you have not heard that pause this and checkout that episode! Safi was a former physicist turned biotech CEO where he went on to lead his company to IPO and serve as the CEO for 13 years. Safi is also author of the bestselling book Loon...

Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning professor and author of the new book Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life.  A native of Istanbul, he studied astrophysics at Cornell University and served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. Varol later became a law professor at Lewis & Clark College. On this...

François Rochon, is the president and portfolio manager of Giverny Capital. François founded Giverny on his investment philosophy of owning outstanding companies for the long term and that philosophy has helped him in having one of the best investing track records there is. If you invested $100,000 with François in 1993 that same $100,000 would be worth about $4.5 million today. But if you investe...

Michael Mauboussin is the author of The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition , and More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places . Michael is currently Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global. Michael has also held roles as Director of Research at BlueMountain Capital...

A Special Agent for the United States Secret Service for over 12 years, Evy Poumpouras was on the Presidential Protective Division for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has also protected presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush. During her career, she was a criminal investigator, worked undercover, and was an interrogator for the Secret Service's elite...