EP 323: Senator Ben Sasse on Political Division and America's Loneliness Epidemic
Senator Ben Sasse does a deep dive into the societal shifts affecting modern American life and the roots of our political divisiveness. He talk about the outsized role politics plays in our daily lives, how "polititainment" celebrities like Sean Hannity are fueling dangerous tribalism in America, and how to build a healthier tribe of family and friends instead of political outrage. He shares recent data that indicates that Americans are feeling increasingly lonely, and expl
EP 322: Anthony Atamanuik Opens Up the Trump Presidential Archives
Anthony Atamanuik, host of Comedy Central's The President Show returns to the podcast to talk about his new book American Tantrum: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Archives, why the President wants to open his Presidential Library while he's still in office, and what kind of secrets we might find in there. He shares the reason why he stopped doing field pieces in public as Donald Trump, he delves into the strange psyche of the man, and theorizes that Trump might actually wel
EP 321: Julian Castro Is Always Looking Ahead
Julian Castro graduated high school a year early, won election to city council while he was still in law school, and became San Antonio's youngest mayor at age 27, before eventually serving as President Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and making Hillary Clinton's short-list for VP in 2016. He talks about his family's American dream including the remarkable story of how his Grandmother fled the violence of the Mexican Civil War for America and the values th
EP 320: Legendary Sports Announcer Verne Lundquist
Legendary sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist recalls some of his favorite moments in sports and some of his favorite calls from Jack Nicklaus's final victory at the 1986 Masters and Tonya Harding's attack on Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 Olympics to Christian Laettner's buzzer beater in the NCAA tournament and the Auburn-Alabama shocker of 2013. Verne shares why one radio station owner wanted him to change his name to "Jerry Lund," why he hated his short lived stint as a local
EP 319: Doris Kearns Goodwin on Presidential Leadership
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin revisits four of her favorite U.S. Presidents for her new book Leadership: In Turbulent Times. Today she discusses the ideological family tree shared by Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, how their character was shaped by their setbacks, and how their destinies were forged in times of crisis. She shares how Abraham Lincoln gave purpose to the Civil War, how Teddy Roosevelt averte
EP 318: Founder of "The Onion" Scott Dikkers
As the founder of The Onion, Scott Dikkers practically invented "fake news." He discusses the origins of the satirical news site as a print newspaper on college campuses, how they drew inspiration from National Lampoon and Spy Magazine, and the article about Bill Clinton and the War in Bosnia that prompted The Onion to finally go online. He recalls creating cable news parodies with a young Stephen Colbert on the Dana Carvey Show, how The Onion fooled Mahmud Ahmadenijad, and
EP 317: Mitch Albom on Life, Death, and Morrie
7Mitch Albom is the author the all time best-selling memoir Tuesday's with Morrie and six #1 Bestsellers that have sold over a million copies worldwide. He talks about his new novel The Next Person You Meet in Heaven, how losing his adopted daughter to cancer inspired his latest book, and what the book has to say about mistakes and forgiveness. He reveals how difficult it was to get Tuesdays with Morrie published, some of the lessons from Morrie Schwartz that have come to m
EP 316: Jeff Bridges Gets Zen About Art, Acting, and the Environment
Jeff Bridges discusses his 6 decades in Hollywood and what he learned about acting from dad Lloyd Bridges. He recalls the "Little Rascals" version of Tucker that he and Francis Ford Coppola made prior to filming, laughing it up with Robin Williams and Terry Gilliam on the set of The Fisher King, and how he and his brother Beau tested each other in The Fabulous Baker Boys. He shares stories about making The Last Picture Show, King Kong, Heaven's Gate, The Contender, and True
EP 315: Cisco's John Chambers on Leadership in a Startup World
John Chambers is widely considered one of the world’s greatest business leaders, and today he discusses how he turned Cisco into a global tech giant with $47 billion in revenues and 70,000 employees. He talks about his early years working at IBM and Wang Laboratories and how those experiences led to his lifelong mantra “disrupt or be disrupted.” He opens up about his struggle with dyslexia, how it helped him see the big picture as a CEO, and why he encourages other business
