What's the value?

Understanding where you came from, how you became the person you are, and why you value the things you value--those are all reasons my guest Patrica would say it is important to understand your family history. The concept of history is so fickle in a world that changes so rapidly. Perspectives disappear and it is usually a subjective decision on what stories are told. That is the exact reason Patr...

Rich wants to make the world a better place for his family and for society at large. He was a philosophy major, has a masters in psychology, spent years as a futures broker/floor trader, and now has developed a program to help business leaders increase their personal effectiveness. He believes his experiences, including his time as a child when he was constantly seeking ways to make his depressive...

In this episode I go solo to "play with philosophy." As you will hear me to talk about, I think playing in philosophy is super important. We have to be willing to explore some of these big, messy topics with a mindset of play. We need to be open, free flowing, curious, and willing to look at things from all different angles. That freedom and openness allows us to explore these topics in...

Byron came to the show saying one of the most provocative and intriguing things someone can say to me. He said he knew the real answer to one life's important questions. More specifically, he said he could tell me "the real reason negative emotions exist." I geek out on those type of statements, because firstly, negative emotions often suck. Fear, anger, sadness, shame, guilt--they do not feel nic...

Roifield is originally from the UK but spends much of his time traveling, most notably in the west coast of the US. He originally did this because of his fascination with American history and its politics and the contrast with his English and Jamaican heritage. Roifield still remembers the first time he saw a globe when he was a young child and being completely mesmerized with all of the countries...

Lauren is a NYC based entertainment journalist and host, who knew she wanted to write about gossip and entertainment for much of her life. She loves to investigate and write about Hollywood crime and has been featured on Fox News, Sky News Arabia, Elle, Page Six, and many other places. As she stated with her value, she has a deep passion for sharing people's stories and has committed herself to th...

This episode was a really interesting conversation for a couple of reasons. Firstly and most notably, this was the first episode where I had two guests on at the same time (apologies, at times it caused some minor bandwidth issues you might notice). Jon, my original guest, asked Tyler to join as they are both very committed to the same value and movement to help bring equality to all classes of pe...

I have been talking a lot lately about the way I want to expand the concept of this podcast to work with leaders and those in positions of power. At the root of it is trying to help leaders better understand and control their own ego. That is a trendy phrase these days, so I wanted to really dig into what I mean when I say it, why it seems so impossible to do, and even spend some trying to see if...

I had the fortune of sitting next to Danelle for most of my first year of business school. It was an interesting time, because I remember being a bit overwhelmed by the experience of business school and trying to figure out who I was and what my place was at the school. I didn't know Danelle that well yet, but I did notice the contrast in how confident and comfortable she seemed to be. Not at all...

There was so much of what Bill said that resonated with me. His value was "always coming from a place of loving energy", which can sound abstract but I think is really profound. The idea is that we can't really control anything in our lives and so much of what we experience can be beyond our understanding, but you don't have to worry about all of that. The only thing you have to worry about is the...

This one was an interesting clash of styles. I think both Ash and I see the value of trying to understand the world around us. We both really enjoy philosophy and both have a podcast designed to talk about deep, life topics (his is called Frame of Reference). However, Ash is a naturally optimistic person (vs. me who loves to play the cynic). He looks at the world and acknowledges there is still su...

Mary is a transformational leader and an internationally recognized personal branding & online business specialist. Mary helps service industry experts systemize, digitalize and commercialize their knowledge, wisdom and skills into a scalable & profitable online business. Mary has 20+ years of experience building 7 & 8 figure businesses & building high-performance sales teams in th...

My guest, J.V. (Joe), is best known for his work as the epic/dark fantasy author of The Warminster Series (https://www.jvhilliard.com/), but he has also worked in Washington D.C. as a lobbyist. I thought this was a super interesting background because to write novels and create characters/entire worlds from scratch, you have to really observe and understand the nuances of human nature. When you pa...

Sue is a parent mentor, child behavioral specialist, household harmony transformer, and author (Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck). She's worked with parents for 20+ years helping them end tantrums, sidestep power struggles, eliminate back-talk, neutralize sibling fights, and build a lifelong relationship of trust with their kids. For anyone who has kids or has interacted with kids you kn...

I say often on this show, that life is complex and full of nuance. It is full of these paradoxes, contradictions, and dualities that we need to try to manage. It is messy and hard to get a grasp on. Sometimes we find ourselves scratching our heads trying to make sense of it all. In many ways that encompasses the conversation I had with my guest, Lincoln. Usually within 10-20 minutes I can get a de...

My guest, Julie, says that after 45 years of living the secretive, out of control life of a binge eater and a food addict, she finally became free from the insanity of yo-yo dieting and food obsession. She believes her most important value, "the power in the pause" is what allowed her to overcome such an enormous challenge. As if that wasn't fascinating enough, Julie claims it actually happened pr...

Community, family, connection--all of these are beautiful aspects of the human experience. As my guest Matt articulated with this most important value, there is something so powerful about community. The ability to connect with other humans, find your tribe, form deep bonds, exhibit love and compassion for them--these are all amazing things. But in the spirit of this show, we have to explore and c...

We are all one. We should love every human because we are all connected. Love is everything. Psychedelics are crucial to open our minds to understand the universe and ourselves.  There was a time not too long ago where I would've heard ideas like this and thought "what the f*ck kind of hippy nonsense are we talking about?" I am sure there are some people reading this who might be thinking tha...

Why? That is the question I find myself asking more than anything else. It's the question I teach my son is most important-- you should always know "why" you do something or you believe something. It is rooted in the Socrates quote "the unexamined life isn't worth living", because if we don't ask why, I worry we are guessing our way through life. But that's why I do this show, to be challenged to...

Should we be optimistic that we all have the capability to do the, hard but necessary, work of healing from our past trauma? Or should we be pessimistic that the world requires such healing, because pain, suffering, and trauma are so common place? Should we view ourselves as good people because we are willing to do the work to be better each day? Or should we view ourselves as bad people who are j...

The more I learn about life the more I learn that almost everything is a paradox. Most of life is constantly trying to balance the duality and tension that exists. If we go too far in one direction that causes problems and if in our efforts to correct that we go too far in the other direction--more problems. The conversation I had with Michelle highlighted this tension in a very real and meaningfu...

Pastor Ken, as he is known by his members, is a pastor, best-selling author, business executive, husband, father, and community leader, whose entire life has been dedicated to the service of others. That sounds like just a line from a bio, but as you will hear in this conversation it is quite real for him--dedicating himself to the service of others. Here is the cool part though, he fully acknowle...

Simply put, my guest Alex is trying to fix the internet and social media. He believes that the consumption of too much "junk information" is the at the root of most of the problems we face in society. When so much of the information available to us is "junk" is causes inefficiencies. It is harder to make good decisions because you can’t extract useful information and/or you end up spending an inor...

My guest today, Andy, is a mindset coach and human behavior specialist who teaches people how to understand their own behavior and to use their mind to create a life that inspires them (https://www.andycampbell.com.au/). If you're like me, you hear something like that and you wonder what exactly it means. The words sound a little abstract and there are so many "self help coaches" out there selling...

I find the concept of "power" fascinating because, like my guest Hesha, I think power dynamics are at the root of most, if not all, of the conflict in the world. As Hesha stated with her own value, it does not feel good to be powerless. When we feel like we aren't in control or are helpless; we lash out, we get depressed, we shut down--all things that significantly reduce the quality of our lives....