Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 41

February 26, 2021

Steven Pressfield on The Artist’s Journey, the Wisdom of Little Successes, Shadow Careers, and Overcoming Resistance (#501)

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Resistance with a capital R, that force of self-sabotage, will try to stop you as a writer or an artist or anybody from achieving your best work, from following your calling, will try to distract you, undermine your self-confidence, make you procrastinate, make you quit, make you give into fear, or, on the other hand, make you such a perfectionist that you spend all day on one paragraph and you accomplish nothing. The concept of little successes, or of a routine, is to help you overcome that Resistance.
— Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield (@SPressfield), a former Marine and graduate of Duke University, became an overnight success as a writer after 30 years of abject failure. Identifying the omnipresence of “Resistance,” the interior force of self-sabotage he described in The War of Art, has saved his own artistic life and has helped many others struggling to find their creative calling. Steven’s novels of the ancient world, including the nonfiction The Warrior Ethos, are required reading at West Point, Annapolis, and in the Marine Corps. He lives in Los Angeles.

His new book is A Man at Arms, an epic saga about a reluctant hero, the Roman Empire, and the rise of a new faith.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

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Want to hear an episode with another prolific wordsmith? Lend an ear to my conversation with Joyce Carol Oates in which we discuss creative processes and obstacles, the joy of revision, the truth about “final” drafts, the relationship between quantity and enduring quality of one’s work, writing for contemporaries over posterity, and much more.

#497: Joyce Carol Oates — A Writing Icon on Creative Process and Creative Livinghttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/b76b957b-8387-4dc3-903e-cdfb9b6170ce.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Steven Pressfield:

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Published on February 26, 2021 07:08

February 23, 2021

KevKev TimTim TalkTalk on Dragon Slaying, Lessons Learned, Viagra, and Assorted Nonsense (#500)

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Kevin Rose (@KevinRose)—technologist, serial entrepreneur, world-class investor, self-experimenter, and all-around wild and crazy guy—was the first guest on the podcast nearly seven years ago. We were in San Francisco, sitting at this huge wooden table, and I remember being very nervous. I didn’t know what to expect, but if people liked the idea, I promised to do at least six total episodes.

600M+ downloads and hundreds of guests later, Kevin is taking the reins and interviewing me for episode #500!

Hard to believe it all started off as a lark. It’s arguably the biggest thing I’ve ever done, and without you all—my dear listeners—it wouldn’t be possible.

Thank you for allowing me to do this work. I love it.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Literati Kids, a try-before-you-buy subscription book club,, and Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement. More on all three below.

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

Want to hear the episode where this thing all began? Give episode one with Kevin Rose a listen, in which we discuss what makes a good wine bar, why Kevin seems to be so good at predicting what’s next, the characteristics of winners, the story of Odeo (the company that birthed Twitter), tips on choosing angel investments, and more.

#1: Kevin Rosehttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/65722195-ea0e-4436-8c0e-078e3663aa6d.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Kevin Rose:

The Kevin Rose Show | Oak Meditation | Zero | Instagram | Twitter

Note from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.

Reminiscing over accidentally copious quantities of wine about the time Kevin told me doing a podcast would be “stupid.” But then he helped me with the first episode of TimTim TalkTalk, anyway.What one thing do I eat that I’ve never wanted to admit to the 4-Hour Body tribe?After years of experimenting with so-called life hacks, have I found peace outside of having things or knowing things?As I’m constantly trying new things, how do I ensure I don’t become buried under a mountain of stuff?How do high performers know when to course correct (e.g., abandon faulty notions)?When was the last time a blood or urine sample was stored in my fridge?How did I meet and fall in love with my girlfriend?Have I ever made a mistake in one of my books that I wish I could take back?What supplements am I taking these days?Do I still practice the 4-Hour Body regimen? What’s my approach to longevity, and what is my overall level of fitness like these days?Best movie to watch on mushrooms?A failure I haven’t talked about.When it happens, what type of dad do I want to be? What attributes from my own father would I hope to carry over, and what tweaks might I make?What would my billboard say these days?Would I get a hair transplant?While it’s impossible to pick a favorite episode out of the 500 so far, here are a few that stand out.Do I believe in UFOs?A harder question: have I ever tried Viagra?Are there any more 4-Hour books on the horizon?Where do I see myself in the next 10-20 years? Is retirement in the cards, or is there another path for Tim-Tim+?What substances soothe my weary soul on an especially trying day?Is there anything that makes me feel old? Is there anything that makes me feel young?For what do I hope to be remembered when I shuffle off this mortal coil?At 500, how many more episodes do I think I have left in me?Parting thoughts.PEOPLE MENTIONEDDarya Rose Chris Sacca Bill Richards Mary Cosimano Warren Buffett Donald Knuth Tony Conrad David Blaine Glenn McElhose Peter Attia Kid ‘n Play Agent Clay Jean-Luc Picard Hugh Jackman Arnold Schwarzenegger Jamie Foxx Jerry Seinfeld BJ Miller Mary Karr Elon Musk Tony Stark

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Published on February 23, 2021 15:19

February 21, 2021

An Urgent Plea to Users of Psychedelics: Let’s Consider a More Ethical Menu of Plants and Compounds

Extraction of Kambo frog poison near Iquitos, Peru. (Photo: / )

“Do as little as needed, not as much as possible.”
— Henk Kraaijenhof
Coach of Merlene Joyce “Queen of the Track” Ottey, who won 23 combined medals at the Olympic games and world championships.

This is a blog post I wish I didn’t need to write.

I have personally invested years and millions of dollars into non-profit psychedelic research around the world (one example in the UK, one in the US, and one in NZ) because A) I believe it has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of mental health and addiction, which the results of studies seem to thus far confirm, and B) I’m a case study. Psychedelics have saved my life several times over, including helping me to heal from childhood abuse.

So, it’s with a very heavy heart that I’ve come to accept several sad truths.

Chief among them is this: Most natural sources of psychedelics simply cannot withstand ever-increasing global demand. Many plant and animal species are already endangered or near extinction.

To have a hope of stemming the tide, we need to revise our psychedelic “menu,” and that’s what this post is about. It aims to offer options that are eco-friendly instead of eco-destructive, and ethical instead of inadvertently abusive. If enough people make a few simple switches, I believe we can mitigate and possibly reverse the trend of ecological damage.

Given the slope of popularity growth, if we don’t reconsider our sources, I’d wager that we extinguish at least a handful of critical species within the next 3-5 years. There are also questions of animal abuse, and while some practices are ethically justifiable for small indigenous populations, they are catastrophic if expanded to even tens of thousands of people. It is inviting disaster to copy and paste from a tribe in the Amazon—as just one example—to NYC, LA, London, Sydney, or any other large city. It’s very easy to go from taking one tree to taking a forest, or to go from grabbing one toad to extirpating an entire species.

So, let’s make some changes.

Over the last decade, I’ve acquired enough familiarity with these medicines, and spent enough time (i.e., many hundreds of hours, if not thousands) with both scientists and indigenous practitioners to feel that I can speak with decent confidence to their therapeutic applications and interchangeability (or lack thereof).

That said, I am by no means the world’s top expert. Even though drafts of this piece were proofread by biochemists, ethnobotanists, and guides/facilitators with hundreds of sessions with different compounds, this post will no doubt contain typos and mistakes. Those are mine alone, as I also made final edits after receiving revisions. I will aim to improve this post over time as I get feedback.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: These plants and compounds are illegal in many countries, and even possession can carry severe criminal penalties. None of this post constitutes medical advice or should be construed as a recommendation to use psychedelics. There are serious legal, psychological, and physical risks. Psychedelics are not for everyone—they can exacerbate certain emotional problems and there have been, in very rare cases, fatalities. This article is simply an attempt at harm-reduction through education, as I know many people will use psychedelics, regardless.

AND ONE MORE NOTE: Please don’t make the all-too-common mistake of assuming that “all-natural” means safer; the deadly poisons strychnine and hemlock are derived from plants, and some psychedelic plants (e.g., datura, brugmansia) and animals are well-respected among indigenous peoples for their ability to kill. Similarly, don’t assume that synthetic psychoactive agents are automatically less effective or therapeutic than natural products. Many of us—present company included—wouldn’t have survived childbirth or childhood without synthetics. There are pros and cons to both, places for both, and responsible and irresponsible ways to use both.

Now, on to the list…

– Peyote. Instead of peyote, which is nearly extinct and can take decades to regrow, consider using huachuma/San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi), which is more easily regenerated, faster growing, and more widespread in distribution. In my opinion, unless you are a long-standing member of the Native American Church (NAC) or indigenous groups that have used peyote for generations, you shouldn’t consider peyote as an option. Leave the few remaining plants for the native populations who revere and need it most.

To more fully understand the plight of the indigenous who treat this as a sacrament, please read this piece from the LA Times: “Why are some Native Americans fighting efforts to decriminalize peyote?”

Options like San Pedro largely avoid the ecological, ethical, and cultural challenges of peyote. Synthetic mescaline is also an outstanding substitute. It’s easy to forget that, in some respects, the psychedelic movement in the English-speaking world was catalyzed by The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, who eloquently wrote about his experience of beauty on synthetic mescaline.

– Iboga/ibogaine. Unless you are an opiate addict, please consider other compounds and treatments. As is the case with peyote, wild-harvested and farmed iboga are both at the breaking point. For the chemically inclined, ibogaine can be extracted and semi-synthesized from the far less threatened Voacanga africana tree, as I learned in Hamilton Morris’ excellent episode on Iboga/Ibogaine in Season Three of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia.

Iboga/ibogaine is also one of the few psychedelics with real cardiac risk and associated fatalities, so you should always have a cardiac screening, a cardiac specialist, cardiac monitoring, and related meds on site. Iboga can be a life-saver, but I think of it as a last resort for those who are otherwise likely to die of overdose.

– 5-MeO-DMT (aka “Toad”). Request synthetic instead of animal-sourced. 5-MeO-DMT is commonly extracted from the venom glands of the Sonoran Desert toad, a species now under multiple threats. One solution is straightforward: synthetic 5-MeO-DMT, the chemistry of which is both affordable and scalable. Why put an at-risk species in the gristmill?

From the Wikipedia page for the Sonoran Desert toad (aka Colorado River toad):

In California, I. alvarius has been designated as “endangered” and possession of this toad is illegal. “It is unlawful to capture, collect, intentionally kill or injure, possess, purchase, propagate, sell, transport, import or export any native reptile or amphibian, or part thereof…”

In New Mexico, this toad is listed as “threatened” and taking I. alvarius is unlawful in that state.

For those who would like to more visually understand why toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT is a bad idea, I highly recommend watching A Brief History of 5-MeO-DMT by Hamilton Morris (@HamiltonMorris). For me, the most important part of this presentation begins at 12:45 (click here to begin at 12:45). For the main points I want to underscore, I suggest watching 60 seconds here, then watching another three minutes starting around 17:00.

There are many other ethical options for consciousness expansion besides toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT.

A few additional factors to consider:

– ~20-30% of people who inhale “toad” appear to be “thrashers” and thrash about uncontrollably. For video footage of one such person, see the first two minutes of this. It is not rare.

– For many people, I believe the 5-MeO-DMT experience of ~5-20 minutes provides less “workspace” for therapeutic exploration, and recall of insight, than other options like psilocybin (as found in psilocybe or “magic” mushrooms), LSD, etc.. Granted, there are counter-examples, but that’s my general perspective, as well as my personal experience.

– I’ve seen experienced psychonauts (e.g., 50+ ayahuasca experiences) get knocked loose by 5-MeO-DMT, and it’s taken them significant time, in some cases weeks, to return to some semblance of baseline. Even if you choose synthetic, know that you cannot predict which card you’re going to pull from the deck.

– From a seasoned guide: “The vast majority of experienced practitioners (not that I can speak for them all) would say 5-MeO is actually contra-indicated for people struggling with anxiety and trauma… In most cases, it is used more for spiritual growth and consciousness expansion, which is valuable but could be considered a luxury.”

Now, to be clear: there are very interesting and valuable applications of 5-MeO-DMT, perhaps for another post. That said, I consider it required in close to zero cases. In the rare cases where it is required, synthetic would still be the ethical choice.

Post-script addition — Below is a note from a draft proofreader and friend, who is also a facilitator in Peru with vast experience across compounds and hundreds of people:

“THANK YOU, I feel the same way and advise against the experience 90% of the time. Little lasting value for most, high-risk. Many close friends who are more experienced than I have become unhinged for weeks or months. If you think you can assert your opinion even more strongly without sounding like a preacher, please do.”

– Kambo. Please don’t do it. I know this bullet will upset some friends and hit others in the wallet, but I find it impossible to endorse kambo, given the methods used to gather the secretions from the Giant leaf frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor), possible side-effects (including associated fatalities), and more attractive alternatives. If you think the frogs are released unharmed, as I’ve seen written repeatedly, imagine doing the below to another animal, like a dog or a cat. Many practitioners will put the frogs over or near an open flame, as these methods are explicitly intended to induce stress and prompt release of the skin secretions. The below photo is not an outlier. You can easily find dozens of similar photos online.

Extraction of Kambo frog poison near Iquitos, Peru. (Photo: / )

If we have other options, is this really what we want “expanded consciousness” or “evolved consciousness” to look like?

The Giant leaf frog population is currently stable, but rapid increases in demand, if unabated, will no doubt change that. Once again, I don’t object to indigenous peoples using this frog sparingly for their own use. Such groups are small and, in some respects, have fewer options available to them for certain conditions. If you’re reading this, you have more ethical alternatives easily within reach. Frogs are also probably the most at-risk group of animals threatened by both climate change and chytrid fungi, yet another reason not to stress or harm them.

For the ailments I’ve seen anecdotally relieved by kambo—depression, alcohol abuse, auto-immune disorders, and others—most Westerners have access to other compounds and approaches that may well provide relief without involving animal abuse.

Consider legal ketamine—even a single dose—for acute depression and suicidal ideation, as well as chronic pain; read about psilocybin for depression and the impressive results coming out of Johns Hopkins; look at New York University’s compelling research related to psilocybin for alcohol use disorder (here, here, and here), and consider the following book for thoughts on ayahuasca and auto-immune disorders: The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine.

If you really want a purgative/emetic (i.e., something to make you vomit), there are dozens, hundreds, or thousands of plant options (e.g., yawar panga — use sparingly and under supervision), particularly those rich in saponins. But it need not sound exotic. I’ve experienced purges with various types of ginger in the Upper Amazon. And, yes, it is remarkable how great you feel after stopping the continual vomiting, which can last for hours. Is it therapeutic or simply relief after-the-fact? And is it worthwhile? For most, I would suggest not.

In this list, kambo is also the most prone to what I might call “Instagram porn,” since the process literally leaves burn marks on the skin. It makes for a great story, and people will often do it for the arm photo, the likes, the comments, and the follows. I understand the appeal, but I’d also like people to consider the consequences of perpetuating this practice on social media. Good stories sometimes = bad karma.

To that point, and this might be one of the more important paragraphs in this entire piece…

I encourage everyone to ask themselves an uncomfortable question, which I continually ask myself: If you couldn’t tell anyone about your experience or put it on Instagram or social, would you still do it? Are you really doing this for healing or expansion, or are you doing this for a story you can share later? If the latter, consider hitting pause or stop so you can reconsider your plans.

Measure twice and cut once. And maybe, just maybe, consider keeping this part of your life private. In a world of vanishing privacy, keeping these experiences for you, your family, and your closest loved ones can foster a sense of sacredness that is increasingly rare.

MY CONCLUSIONS FOR NOW

Overall:

Rather than asking some version of “How can I have the most powerful experience possible [without regard to environmental consequences]?,” I suggest we all ask ourselves, “Is this an ethical tool that could really help me to improve?”

There are many responsible options that will give you a solid “yes” to the latter. Even if the substitutions I propose are 80% as effective or nuanced as the threatened all-natural options (I don’t think they are less effective), they are still easily effective and versatile enough for 99.999% of people. This is also true of the “oldies” like LSD and psilocybin; they are reliably powerful and — icing on the cake — we have excellent safety data on them.

Now, perhaps not using toad-derived 5-MeO-DMT means three sessions of something else instead of two sessions, but… who cares? Perhaps not using kambo means taking a few weeks to find another modality. That’s fine if you’re playing the long game. Sometimes, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Invest in sustainability and you will be rewarded; I’m confident in this.

Conversely, beware of the new thing, the cool discovery. It’s a hard temptation to resist, but remember, good stories sometimes = bad karma.

On Plants:

Choose species that grow well, grow widely, and grow quickly. Simply eliminate from your consideration any slow-growing or rare species like peyote. Focus instead on readily available and easily cultivated species like psilocybe mushrooms, San Pedro cactus, ayahuasca, etc.. Peyote can take decades to grow; mushrooms can take weeks to grow. Filter your options by environmental impact first.

No single indigenous population uses all psychedelics under the sun, and we don’t need to, either. If you could only use psilocybe mushrooms for the rest of your life, you could continue to cultivate that relationship, develop deep skills, and unfurl profound layers of learning and meaning until your dying breath. The depth is there, if you commit to the exploration. There is no need to stamp the psychedelic passport with every plant or animal, and there are many reasons not to.

If you believe in plant spirits, and you want to connect with and learn from them, simply ensure the plants you choose aren’t threatened or endangered. That makes you a steward of these plants, which I wholeheartedly support. To choose threatened options makes you a willfully damaging consumer at best, and a destroyer of these plants at worst. There are many unthreatened plants that indigenous consider powerful, including those that North American and South American traditions regard as master plants and teacher plants (e.g., tobacco). Do your homework and you can find them. Here is one excellent book to start with. If you’re unwilling to do the homework, I implore you to find your recreation outside of natural psychedelics. It’s simply too easy to do damage otherwise.

On animals:

Don’t do it. Revisit the photo at the top of this post, as well as Hamilton’s video. There are too many ethical and ecological reasons why this should be off the menu, and there are plenty of other powerful options. If most indigenous traditions could survive and develop deep spiritual practices without psychedelic toads, frogs, etc., you can, too.

On synthetics:

There is an argument to be made that synthetics are sometimes both safer and more effective than all-natural compounds for many therapeutic purposes. Some advantages include: consistent potency, precise dosing, and (in many cases, like 5-MeO-DMT), scalability. The synthetic pantheon also offers an incredible spectrum of wonders. It’s sometimes said that two beings created psychedelics: God and Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin. Sasha co-wrote PiHKAL and TiHKAL, which are encyclopedias of chemical delights for every imaginable purpose, including synthesis steps and trip reports for nearly every compound. Sasha was a serious scientist deeply concerned with, and knowledgeable about, safety and effectiveness. Both of his books are treasures.

All that said, it is worth noting that synthetics are not automatically environmentally friendly. Sources and process do matter, just as they would for natural psychedelics, and there are related environmental crises: deforestation of trees in Cambodia for MDMA precursors, illegal dumping of solvents, acids, and so on by black-market chemists, and more.

The above issues are largely byproducts of the “war on drugs” and an unregulated illicit drug trade, which I believe is best addressed by responsible legalization, regulation, and taxation of these compounds. This is one of the many reasons for my strong support of Phase Three trials like this.

On hybrid approaches:

One of the weaknesses of synthetics isn’t that they’re synthetic; it’s that they’re often administered or taken without a meaningful container.

I believe much of the efficacy of natural compounds comes from the set-up and setting of ritualized administration. This is true for ayahuasca circles with singing and “doctoring,” the shared experience and suffering of various purges, and dozens more. Speaking from personal experience, this “medicine” of bonding and belonging has been just as powerful as the plants I’ve come to know and love.

What if we incorporated some of the best practices—the most meaning-imbued aspects—of the traditional with the reliability of synthetics?

If you think that’s heresy, and that you shouldn’t combine old practices with the new, first think back to the ceremonies you’ve seen. It’s likely they’re highly syncretic already, blending elements from multiple influences. Sage smudging and mushrooms, for instance? Those are not classically combined in the same room. There are a million examples. It’s even true for “traditional” ayahuasca ceremonies in the jungles of South America, where you might find a combination of animism, Christianity, and shamanic tools like the ubiquitous “Agua de Florida.” Guess what the last is? It is literally “Florida Water,” a unisex cologne first manufactured in… the US! So why not experiment with new combinations that are environmentally and ethically calibrated for the time and ecological reality in which we live? The mixing and matching and blending of psychedelics and formats has been constant for millennia, and there is no one right or fixed way to do things. What is “right” can and does change over time.

LAST WORDS

In the pursuit of healing or expanded consciousness, I would like to suggest that we all take the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.

Alas, causing no harm is nearly impossible, unless you grow your own materials. So let us consider a modern Psychonaut’s Oath: First, do the least harm possible.

In my mind, that is the only approach that isn’t hypocritical. If you’re contributing to (or condoning) unnecessary harm in order to facilitate your own spiritual journey, it is not highly evolved. It is mercenary.

If we truly care for Mother Nature, the best thing we can do is the least necessary, not the most possible. Perhaps we should seek the least exotic treatment that will do the job, not the most exotic treatment that nature can provide. There are plenty of great options.

I still think there is time to right the ship, but it requires us to start taking action now. Once plants or animals are gone, they are gone. This is time-sensitive.

There will always be powerful forces pulling us towards the wrong reasons, so it requires effort to ensure we’re doing things for the right reasons. I’m in there with you, constantly reminding myself (example: good stories sometimes = bad karma!).

The future of these healing tools is literally in our hands. It’s up to each of us to do our part, and together, we can do a lot of good. Please spread the word.

Thank you for reading.

###

AFTERWORD:

For those who would like to go further and support preservation, I am offering a $50,000 challenge grant to the non-profit Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), which works in partnership with indigenous groups to protect ancestral rainforests, shamanic traditions, and tribal knowledge (botanical, linguistic, and otherwise).

I will match up to $50,000 USD in donations made to ACT before 5pm PT this Thursday, February 25, 2021. In other words, whatever you collectively donate by 5pm PT this Thursday, up to a maximum of $50K, I will then match and donate. Even if you can only donate $5, every dollar matters and adds up! A few dollars can mean a lot when multiplied by a community of thousands or tens of thousands. This is also not all-or-nothing. If you all donate $20K, I’ll match $20K. $30K, $30K. I’d love to hit the maximum, if possible, and it would make a beautifully round $100K to ACT ($50K from you all, and $50K from me).

Just click here (Amazon Conservation Team homepage, direct donation page) to learn more and consider donating.

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Published on February 21, 2021 08:04

February 18, 2021

Katie Haun on the Dark Web, Gangs, Investigating Bitcoin, and The New Magic of “Nifties” (NFTs) (#499)

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Katie Haun (@katie_haun) is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Previously, she spent a decade as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice where she focused on fraud, cyber, and corporate crime alongside agencies including the SEC, FBI, and Treasury. She created the government’s first cryptocurrency task force and led investigations into the Mt. Gox hack and the corrupt agents on the Silk Road task force.

While serving as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, she also prosecuted RICO murders, organized crime, public corruption, gangs, and money laundering. She held senior positions at Justice Department headquarters in both the National Security Division and Attorney General’s office where her portfolio included antitrust, tax, and national security. Katie has testified before both houses of Congress on the intersection of technology and regulation.

Katie serves on the board of Coinbase, where she chairs its audit and risk committees, and HackerOne. She also advises numerous technology companies and has invested in a range of companies from seed to Series C stage. She teaches a class on cryptocurrencies at Stanford Business School and previously taught cybercrime at Stanford Law School.

She clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and is an honors graduate of Stanford Law School. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

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Want to listen to another episode about cryptocurrency? Make sure to check out my conversation with Nick Szabo, in which we discuss social scalability, strengths and weaknesses of Etherium, blockchain governance, quantum thought, future careers, and much more.

#244: The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency — Nick Szabohttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/30e669b9-67ac-41e7-b8b0-35ab10ead247.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Katie Haun:

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Andreessen Horowitz Coinbase HackerOne Stanford Graduate School of Business Council on Foreign Relations Naval Ravikant on Happiness, Reducing Anxiety, Crypto Stablecoins, and Crypto Strategy | The Tim Ferriss Show #473 Silk Road | Investopedia Bitcoin Our Glen Park Library Figures in a Noire-ish Tale | Glen Park Association The Princess Bride | Prime Video American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton If You’re Running an Illicit Drug Site, Maybe Don’t Use Your Real Email | Vice Blockchain 101 | CoinDesk Mt. Gox | Investopedia Stealing Bitcoins with Badges: How Silk Road’s Dirty Cops Got Caught | Ars Technica Affidavit of Special Agent Tigran Gambaryan in Support of Criminal Complaint | US District Court WalletExplorer The Fast Track to a US Attorney’s Office | Harvard Law School Ben Horowitz Introduces Katie Haun | Andreessen Horowitz Chun-Li by Nicki Minaj Law & Order | Prime Video What is a Reverse Proffer? | Grand Jury Target MS13 In the Americas | InSight Crime Jurors Critique Lawyers After Guilty Verdicts in Gang Racketeering Trial | ABA Journal Mongols Motorcycle Club Hells Angels Motorcycle Club Mongols Motorcycle Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering President of San Francisco Hells Angels | FBI Order Holding Google in Civil Contempt and Denying Government’s Motion for Evidentiary Hearing | US District Court Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act | Wikipedia 18 U.S. Code § 1959: Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR) Activity | Legal Information Institute Predicate Act Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.River Run Riot | One Percenter Bikers Nuestra Familia | Historica Wiki Gangs Thrive in Maximum-Security Prison | 60 Minutes Norteños | Wikipedia 12 Secrets of the Witness Protection Program | Mental Floss Concealed Carry in the United States | Wikipedia Why Governments Are Afraid of Bitcoin | Investopedia Satoshi White Paper | Bitcoin $90 Million Seized in Fraud Case Tied to BTC-e Exchange | Bank Infosecurity Bitstamp Zcash What Are NFTs and How Do They Work? | CoinDesk Global Fantasy Football | Sorare Dapper Labs Officially Licensed Digital Collectibles | NBA Top Shot Celo Valora Venmo Stablecoin | Investopedia Rally Creator Coins Series of Tubes | Know Your Meme “One Hundred…Trillion Dollars.” | Tim Ferriss, Instagram Hyperinflation | Investopedia Horror Stories of Hyperinflation: Germany in 1920s | factXtract How Bitcoin Could Smash Socialism in Venezuela | Foundation for Economic Education Estonia Is Working on a Digital Currency — for Real This Time | Decrypt The Pros and Cons of Incorporating in Delaware | Entrepreneur Biography of the Dollar: How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It’s Under Siege by Craig Karmin Diem Association GameStop Hearing: What to Expect from Robinhood, Reddit, and Citadel CEOs | CNBC Musk Touts Crypto on Twitter, Tesla Buys $1.5 Billion in Bitcoin | Motor1.com UK Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP No “Yes.” Either “HELL YEAH!” or “No.” | Derek Sivers How the Difference Between Your Experiencing Self and Your Remembering Self Shapes Your Happiness | Brain Pickings Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel by Arthur Golden Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America’s Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by William Queen Crypto Canon | Andreessen Horowitz Clubhouse: What Is It and How Do You Get an Invite to the Exclusive Audio App? | The Guardian What Is DeFi? | CoinDeskSHOW NOTESKatie gives us a rundown of how blockchain technology both powered the Silk Road darknet market and dropped the breadcrumbs that led to its downfall — as well as the arrest of the corrupt agents who were exploiting the investigation for their personal enrichment. [06:45]As an aside for anyone not already in the know: what is blockchain technology? [16:57]How did Katie get the tip that there were corrupt agents profiting from the investigation? [21:23]What does the job of a federal prosecutor entail? [24:30]As a federal prosecutor, Katie never lost a case. To what does she attribute this perfect record? What is it about her methodology that differentiated her from others in her field? [26:00]What made “fearless and egoless” Assistant US Attorney Wil Frentzen such a good mentor (and a bit of a character) during this time? [32:15]A story about the time Katie and Wil made sure Google wasn’t above the law. [35:58]How is the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act used to take down organized crime? [38:55]While working to put violent criminals behind bars, what was the self-talk that kept Katie level-headed when risks to personal safety were of valid concern? How large are these criminal organizations, and how much reach do they have in the outside world? [41:40]Was there ever an instance where Katie genuinely feared for her life while prosecuting these types of criminals? [47:34]When did Katie first hear about Bitcoin, and how did her impression of it change as she learned more about it? [48:37]From navigating the mistrust of early players in the emerging crypto space to finding common ground and eventually joining the Coinbase board of directors. [51:57]Why it’s important for there to be ongoing dialogue between governments and crypto developers. [56:31]On illustrating the potential good of cryptocurrency with Paul Krugman and others who are skeptical of — or even downright hostile toward — it. [58:24]What are NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and how do they work? [1:01:16]What developments does Katie expect to see in crypto or blockchain over the next three to five years? [1:08:05]In what ways does Katie see regulation of these new technologies taking shape as government adapts to understanding them? [1:15:07]What types of countries will most readily embrace digital currencies in a powerful way, and is Katie concerned that the US might just show up too late to the party? [1:21:03]How might Bitcoin volatility decrease to the point where larger institutional investors would allow it into their portfolios as they do gold? [1:29:50]What roads less traveled have been the most challenging for Katie? [1:32:58]What’s the story behind Katie’s pivot from government prosecutor to joining the board of a cryptocurrency company and working with venture capital? [1:38:42]Does Katie agree with one of our mutual friends that she is a child whisperer of sorts? How was she inspired to excel when she was a child, and what does her son want to be when he grows up? [1:45:27]Favorite books and the memories with which they’ve become entwined. [1:53:00]Katie’s ask of the audience: explore crypto (and suggested resources to get started). [1:57:55]Parting thoughts. [2:04:13]PEOPLE MENTIONEDNaval Ravikant Suna Said Nick Bilton Ross Ulbricht Gary Alford Mark Karpelès Ben Horowitz Marc Andreessen Nicki Minaj Wil Frentzen Anthony Kennedy Satoshi Nakamoto Zooko Wilcox Paul Krugman LeBron James Steph Curry Michel De Nostradamus Vitalik Buterin Jerome Powell Brian Armstrong Fred Ehrsam Derek Sivers Richard Feynman Naguib Mahfouz Pablo Escobar Mark Bowden William Queen Nick Szabo

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Published on February 18, 2021 11:55

February 16, 2021

Josh Waitzkin and Tim Ferriss on The Cave Process, Advice from Future Selves, and Training for an Uncertain Future (#498)

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Most of the great performers that I’ve known or competed against or worked with in different fields just had this beautiful connection between their areas of dysfunctionality and brilliance. Sometimes the very thing that helps them excel in their professional life, or their artistic life, or their competitive life, is something that in their personal life can be a little bit awkward.
— Josh Waitzkin

Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, is an eight-time national chess champion, a two-time world champion in Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands, and the first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under nine-time world champion Marcelo Garcia.

For the past 13 years, Josh has been channeling his passion for the outer limits of the learning process toward training elite mental performers in business and finance and to revolutionizing the education system through his nonprofit foundation, The Art of Learning Project. Josh is currently in the process of taking on his fourth and fifth disciplines, paddle surfing and foiling, and is an all-in father and husband.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Vuori comfortable and durable performance apparel, and Tonal smart home gym. More on all three below.

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This episode is brought to you by Vuori clothing! Vuori is a new and fresh perspective on performance apparel. Perfect if you are sick and tired of traditional, old workout gear. Everything is designed for maximum comfort and versatility so that you look and feel as good in everyday life as you do working out.

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

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Want to hear another episode with Josh Waitzkin? Listen to our last conversation, in which we discussed changing assumptions and shared constructs, the benefits of being a beginner, practicing the art of falling, writing exercises, feedback loops, the unexpected rewards of approaching skill acquisition in an unorthodox way, and much more!

#412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Selfhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/12d68ba3-6324-4364-95af-8113430a1adb.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Josh Waitzkin:

Website | The Art of Learning Project

Josh’s first, second, third, fourth, and fifth appearances on this show.The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin This Is Water Commencement Speech | David Foster Wallace “The Dog that Didn’t Bark:” What We Can Learn from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle About Using the Absence of Expected Facts | Briefly Writing Black Swan Event: Guide to Unpredictable Catastrophic Events | CFI Something Strange in Usain Bolt’s Stride | The New York Times Marcelo Garcia Jiu-Jitsu Academy The Relationship Between Mental and Somatic Practices and Wisdom | PLoS One The Marcelotine | Attack the Back Comedy as Therapy: How Some Comedians Self-Treat Depression and Social Anxiety with Standup | Vulture The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss How to Set a Tango World Record | Live with Regis and Kelly American Psycho | Prime Video Searching for Bobby Fischer | Prime Video Jim Dethmer — How to Shift from Victim Consciousness, Reduce Drama, Practice Candor, Be Fully Alive, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #434 Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Richard Koch on Mastering the 80/20 Principle, Achieving Unreasonable Success, and the Art of Gambling | The Tim Ferriss Show #466 Accelerated Learning and Mentors – My Personal Story | The Tim Ferriss Show #240 Deming’s 14 Points: Total Quality Management Principles | ASQ Psychedelics — Microdosing, Mind-Enhancing Methods, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #377 Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (Resources) | tim.blog The Sirens and Ulysses | Wikipedia Amazon Shareholder Letters | Amazon Peter The Lumberjack Aerts Insane High Kicks Explained: Technique Breakdown | The Modern Martial Artist Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach Dr. Gabor Maté — New Paradigms, Ayahuasca, and Redefining Addiction | The Tim Ferriss Show #298 My Healing Journey After Childhood Abuse (Includes Extensive Resource List) | tim.blog That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief | HBR Grief in the COVID Era Will Weigh on the American Psyche for Years to Come | Stat Chronic Lyme Disease Can Make Patients Profoundly Debilitated | LymeDisease.org Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide | tim.blog The Art and Science of Learning Anything Faster | The Tim Ferriss Show #191 The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss Is CRISPR Worth the Risk? | Yale Insights The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Susan Garrett — Master Dog (and Human) Trainer | The Tim Ferriss Show #200SHOW NOTESWhat are gating questions, what are they intended to fish out, and how do I go about constructing them? [08:48]What patterns might emerge if we were to gauge the insights others gain from being asked these gating questions? [16:40]Pondering the entanglement of genius and eccentricity, and how it shows up in Usain Bolt’s unusual stride and Marcelo Gracie’s ability to learn from making a mistake just once. [20:11]How do I view this entanglement (or dysfunction) in my own life, and how does it manifest in ways the public usually doesn’t get to (and probably wouldn’t want to) witness? [23:30]On the proximity of our superpowers to our wounds, and the double-bladed “edge” we fear losing by soothing those wounds. [28:29]What’s behind Josh’s seeming inability to practice mediocrity? [30:55]Where did my obsession with efficiency originate? [34:08]How this efficiency has played into my attitude about competition, and why I’ve taken the last six months to hit the pause button on the sense of urgency they tend to generate and see if I’m pulled in a different direction. [39:38]My relationship with control and the healing power of psychedelics. [43:10]How exploration of the entanglement of overdevelopment and underdevelopment affect my aforementioned “edge.” [49:25]Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast: the virtuoso can move slower than their opponent and still get there first. With mastery, more is accomplished with less effort. [52:36]What discoveries have surfaced for me since hitting the pause button? [55:49]What is the cave process, and how is it implemented? [59:53]What advice might my 20-year-older self impart to me today? [1:03:19]How should we best prepare for the world ahead if regular disruptive events — like the COVID-19 pandemic and exponentially ramping technology — become the new normal? [1:09:31]What’s the single most important attribute I look for when debating if I’ll bring a new person into my circle of friends? [1:14:18]Do I ever worry I’m mistaking noise for signal with learning from successful people, survival bias, and all that jazz? [1:15:23]What have I learned about myself and the world since getting a dog? [1:16:46]Parting thoughts. [1:18:26]PEOPLE MENTIONEDDavid Foster Wallace Sherlock Holmes Usain Bolt Marcelo Garcia Ivan Pavlov Jim Dethmer Greg McKeown Edwards Deming Ulysses Jeff Bezos Sogo Kakutogi Peter Aerts Tara Brach Gabor Maté Jorge Luis Borges Mike Tyson Kevin Kelly Nassim Nicholas Taleb Molly

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Published on February 16, 2021 06:21

February 10, 2021

Joyce Carol Oates — A Writing Icon on Creative Process and Creative Living (#497)

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“If you feel that you just can’t write or you’re too tired or this, that, and the other, just stop thinking about it, and go and work. Life doesn’t have to be so overthought. You don’t have to wait to be inspired. Just start working.”
— Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) is the author of novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, and A Widow’s Story. Among her many honors are the National Book Award, the PEN America Award, the National Humanities Medal, the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and the 2020 Cino Del Duca World Prize for literature.

Joyce is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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This episode is brought to you by Pique Tea! I first learned about Pique through my friends Dr. Peter Attia and Kevin Rose, and now Pique’s fermented pu’er tea crystals have become my daily go-to. I often kickstart my mornings with their Pu’er Green Tea and Pu’er Black Tea, and I alternate between the two. Their crystals are cold-extracted, using only wild-harvested leaves from 250-year-old tea trees. Plus, they triple toxin screen for heavy metals, pesticides, and toxic mold—contaminants commonly found in tea. I also use the crystals for iced tea, which saves a ton of time and hassle.

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

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Want to hear another episode with a master of memoir? Listen to my conversation with award-winning author Mary Karr in which we discuss curiosity and presence as a solution to fear, the role spirituality plays in maintaining her sobriety as a former atheist, coping with and expressing the aftermath of trauma, what she wished she’d known about therapy when she was younger, and much more.

#479: Mary Karr — The Master of Memoir on Creative Process and Finding Gifts in the Sufferinghttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/82b2f72a-0853-4e3d-969e-a5958d7c2b6f.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Joyce Carol Oates:

Twitter | Facebook

Note from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.

In Joyce’s estimation, what is the most important “writerly” quality? On the obverse side, what does she consider to be the biggest obstacle to creativity?What does Joyce suggest to novice writers for overcoming the obstacles to creativity they’ll inevitably encounter?Why does Joyce need to envision the end of a novel and its title before she can really begin writing it? How does her process differ from that of her friend, the late E.L. Doctorow?Once Joyce has her title and ending in place to write toward, does she ever change them along the way?How does physical activity fit into Joyce’s creative process?How fleshed out is a typical ending before the rest of the writing begins in earnest, and what does Joyce’s revision regimen look like? How does she decide what stays and what goes?When the writer Jonathan Safran Foer was a student of hers, how did she select what she considered to be essential reading for this budding talent?Jonathan says Joyce was the first person to take him seriously as a writer. But what was the catalyst that allowed her to begin taking herself seriously as a writer?When By the North Gate was published in 1963, Joyce had already been featured in magazines and won awards for her writing. How important did that first book feel as a personal milestone at the time?As “a sympathetic and careful reader,” how does Joyce encourage young writers in her classroom?On overcoming writer’s block with a strong work ethic, and why a lot of women seem to struggle with treating the time it takes to create something as a valuable commodity.Does Joyce work on multiple projects at once, or does she commit to just one at a time?Joyce has said on numerous occasions that she’s one of the rare and lucky writers who doesn’t suffer anxiety around writing. Why does she think this is, and does this apply to all creative endeavors? What would make her anxious?As someone who could see new ways to revise a draft upon every inspection, how does she decide when enough is enough and a piece of writing is ready for prime time?Why is an Oscar Wilde quote about sincerity included in Joyce’s 10 tips for writing?Why does Joyce feel it’s important to write for one’s contemporaries over writing for the sake of posterity? Can Joyce recall any impediments that have stood in the way of her own ability to follow this advice?If Joyce believes a writer shouldn’t try to anticipate an ideal reader, who is she writing for? How does one stay true to this sentiment when writing for a publication with a particular kind of audience?What kind of writing assignments could one of Joyce’s students expect to take on? What kind of assignment might she bring out to challenge her more advanced students, and how might it differ from something she’d assign a class of younger people?How much of Joyce’s own work has she discarded before sending it to an editor or just removed from circulation?On productivity: what does Joyce feel is the relationship between quantity and enduring quality of one’s work?Of her own prolific body of work, what might she suggest first to someone who wants to get acquainted with it? Are there any she wishes could have been released with the same high profile treatment as We Were the Mulvaneys when it was selected for Oprah’s Book Club?For someone who’s already written what would take most authors several lifetimes to accomplish, what’s still on Joyce’s list?A final word of advice to writers and aspiring writers, and other parting thoughts.PEOPLE MENTIONEDJonathan Safran Foer Walker Evans E.L. Doctorow Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Frédéric Chopin Ludwig van Beethoven James Joyce Joseph Cornell Franz Kafka Henry Ray Smith Philip Roth Gustave Flaubert Fyodor Dostoevsky Molly Oscar Wilde Bernard Malamud William Shakespeare John McPhee William Shawn Margaret Atwood William Faulkner Ernest Hemingway Jack Kerouac H.P. Lovecraft Shirley Jackson D.H. Lawrence William Faulkner Jane Austen Marilyn Monroe Oprah Winfrey Vladimir Nabokov Virginia Woolf Barry Lopez

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Published on February 10, 2021 11:18

February 1, 2021

Marc Randolph on Building Netflix, Battling Blockbuster, Negotiating with Amazon/Bezos, and Scraping the Barnacles Off the Hull (#496)

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“You have to have the willingness and the confidence to walk away from sure mediocrity to bet everything on the long shot of a big success.”
— Marc Randolph

Although best known as the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, Marc Randolph‘s (@mbrandolph) career as an entrepreneur spans more than four decades. He’s founded or co-founded half a dozen other successful start-ups, including, most recently, Looker Data Sciences, which he sold to Google in 2019 for $2.6B. He is currently mentoring a handful of other early-stage companies and advising hundreds of other entrepreneurs. He is also an active seed investor in start-ups all over the world, author of an internationally bestselling memoir, and host of the new podcast That Will Never Work, where he dispenses advice, encouragement, and tough love to struggling entrepreneurs.

When not surfing, mountain biking, or back-country skiing, Marc is a frequent speaker at industry events, works extensively with young entrepreneur programs, sits on the board of the environmental advocacy group 1% for the Planet, and chairs the National Outdoor Leadership School‘s board of trustees.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement. More on all three below.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#496: Marc Randolph on Building Netflix, Battling Blockbuster, Negotiating with Amazon/Bezos, and Scraping the Barnacles Off The Hullhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/ce186e5b-fcfc-439f-881d-12c76653dfdf.mp3 Download

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 best overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

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Want to hear another episode with a paradigm-shifting entrepreneur? Listen to my conversation with Sir Richard Branson, in which we discuss clean meat, cryptocurrency, dyslexia, energy-generating habits, PR stunts, lessons learned from Nelson Mandela, limiting risk, and more!

#272: Sir Richard Branson — The Billionaire Maverick of the Virgin Empirehttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/2f74a98e-c86d-4211-8d7d-3c99464bd9c6.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Marc Randolph:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph That Will Never Work Podcast Netflix Looker Data Sciences 1% for the Planet National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)First Blood | Prime Video Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS)Warren Buffett: ‘This $100 College Course Gave Me the Most Important Degree I Have’ | CNBC American Seed Co.How to Test Your Advertising Quickly, Cheaply, and Effectively | Harvard Business Review Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph Says There Is No Such Thing as a Good Idea | Entrepreneur Amazon at 25: The Story of a Giant | BBC News Netflix vs. Blockbuster: The Official Case Study | Drift The Scientific Method | Khan Academy It’s a Steal! How Columbia House Made Money Giving Away Music | Mental Floss 7 Netflix Secrets You Didn’t Know | Investopedia Why GameStop’s Stock Surge Is Shaking Wall Street | AP News United States Patent and Trademark Office | USPTO.gov How Jeff Bezos Almost Bought Netflix for $15 Million | Fast Company MapQuest How a Door Became a Desk, and a Symbol of Amazon | Amazon The History of Uber | Uber Newsroom Blockbuster Video Wayne Huizenga, Blockbuster and Miami Dolphins Owner, Dies at 80 | NBC News Blockbuster Almost Killed Netflix — Almost | Better Marketing, Medium Dot-Com Bubble | Investopedia The Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort Deus Ex Machina Explained | Fandor Netflix Co-founder Tells Us Why We’ll Probably Never See Ads on Netflix | BGR Rob Moore Interviews Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph | Rob Moore Why I Waited Sixteen Years to Write My Book About Netflix | Marc Randolph, The Startup, Medium Damion Searls: How Does the Rorschach Inkblot Test Work? | TED-EdSHOW NOTESHere’s the story behind why I’ve taken to calling my guest Marc “The Seagull” Randolph. [05:35]In his youth, what did involvement with the National Outdoor Leadership School (which he now chairs) teach Marc? Does NOLS offer such programs for adults? [10:00]While discovering his own penchant for leadership, how did Marc’s communication style change? [15:27]Homing in on a superpower: split testing. Where did Marc get bitten by the bug that endowed him with this ability? [18:27]I share something I may have never shared with the public before, Marc explains what he meant when he said: “There’s no such thing as a good idea.” He details some of the ideas he and Reed Hastings worked on before arriving at what we know today as Netflix, and shares the test they did to determine if the idea of video rental by mail was good or bad. [21:28]What were the prerequisites of the business ideas Marc and Reed threw around before arriving on what would become Netflix? [27:11]What did the approach to Netflix’s iteration look like in the early days, and what, in Marc’s opinion, sets apart good entrepreneurs from mediocre ones? [32:20]How did Marc and Reed overcome the temptation to gear their startup toward what seemed to work in the ’90s and what would go on to change the face of media consumption in the 21st century? [35:50]Marc answers a question he perhaps never considered. [40:17]How did Marc and Reed think about naming the company? What were their best and worst ideas, and how might arriving at this decision be different now versus then? [42:14]Marc dishes about the time e-commerce demigod Jeff Bezos invited Reed and him to a sketchy part of Seattle for a “talk,” and how they prepared for it on the flight up. [46:19]People told Marc and Reed, time and time again regarding the Netflix business model, “That’ll never work.” What were they missing? [56:09]On the perfect storm of bad news that led to Marc and Reed trying to unload Netflix onto its then-biggest competitor: Blockbuster.[1:01:09]Why didn’t Marc and Reed negotiate with Blockbuster for a lower buyout price when the company balked at the initial offer? [1:11:19]What is the Canada Principle, and how has it guided Netflix’s unique business model in ways others might think of as leaving money on the table? What were the most tempting opportunities during this time that had to be turned away as distractions from Netflix’s main focus? [1:14:06]How did Marc stick by his commitment to honor a regular date night with his wife without letting hectic startup life disrupt the balance? Has this tradition ever failed the stress test? [1:20:16]What advice does Marc have for the success of couples considering instituting a similar date night tradition? [1:27:48]The moment of clarity through which Marc found his purpose in life that led to writing That Will Never Work and starting a podcast by the same name. [1:30:32]What can listeners to Marc’s podcast expect? [1:37:10]What would Marc’s billboard say? [1:40:05]Parting thoughts. [1:44:04]PEOPLE MENTIONEDJohn Rambo Warren Buffett Dale Carnegie Reed Hastings Jeff Bezos Darth Vader Wayne Huizenga Vanna White John Antioco Alexis Ohanian Mike Maples, Jr.Brandon Stanton Paul Petzoldt Richard Branson Hermann Rorschach Nolan Bushnell

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Published on February 01, 2021 06:31

January 27, 2021

David Rubenstein, Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group, on Lessons Learned, Jeff Bezos, Raising Billions of Dollars, Advising Presidents, and Sprinting to the End (#495)

Illustration via 99designs

“Honor your parents.”
— David Rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein (davidrubenstein.com) is co-founder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm with $230 billion under management.

David is chairman of the boards of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of the Harvard Corporation, and a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.

David, an original signer of the Giving Pledge, has made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, National Archives, National Zoo, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

David is host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and the author of The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians and How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers.

David is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#495: David Rubenstein, Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group, on Lessons Learned, Jeff Bezos, Raising Billions of Dollars, Advising Presidents, and Sprinting to the Endhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/0d93f2f2-699e-43d8-891f-f1fc2acbca91.mp3 Download

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

Want to hear another episode with someone who’s spent time studying White House power dynamics? Listen to my conversation with biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, in which we discuss her firsthand accounts of working with LBJ, the greatest separator in leadership, how Abe Lincoln turned enemies into friends, how to have civil discourse in a politically polarized nation, underrated leaders, overcoming procrastination, and much more.

#335: The Life Lessons and Success Habits of Four Presidents — Doris Kearns Goodwinhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/6f065006-06c5-464b-a839-f64d078736ed.mp3 DownloadSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with David Rubenstein:

Website

The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations | Bloomberg How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers by David M. Rubenstein The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians by David M. Rubenstein The Carlyle Group JFK’s Inaugural Address | JFK Library David Rubenstein Oral History, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy | Miller Center Difference Between Eidetic Memory and Photographic Memory | BetterHelp David Rubenstein: Full Address and Q&A | Oxford Union Was Jimmy Carter the Most Underrated President in History? | The New York Times The Hostage Crisis in Iran | The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum Reaping the Big Profits from a Fat Cat | The New York Times Leveraged Buyout (LBO) | Investopedia Venture Capital | Investopedia Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar Corporate Kleptocracy at RJR Nabisco | Investopedia Two and Twenty | Investopedia The Medieval Geniuses Who Invented Carried Interest and the Modern Barbarians Who Want to Tax It | Foundation for Economic Education The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Convertible Debt | Startup Grind Y Combinator Origin of ‘No Jack Kennedy’ Comment Disputed | NPR Fidelity Investments T. Rowe Price Investment Management Vanguard Minority Interest | Investopedia Investing in War | Center for Public Integrity ‘Ex-Presidents Club’ Gets Fat on Conflict | The Guardian How Amazon Makes Money: Amazon Business Model in a Nutshell | FourWeekMBA Financier: The Biography of André Meyer: A Story of Money, Power, and the Reshaping of American Business by Cary Reich Lazard The Carlyle | NYC Alex. Brown | Raymond James What Is EBITDA and Why Does It Matter? | The Motley Fool Analyzing the Price-to-Cash-Flow Ratio | Investopedia Price-to-Earnings Ratio – P/E Ratio | Investopedia Amazon Shareholder Letters | Amazon Standing Ovation Greets Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Cameo in DC Opera | The Guardian Washington National Opera Remembers RBG | Kennedy Center The Evolution of The Tonight Show | The Chant The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro Power Is Not Only an Aphrodisiac, It Does Weird Things to Some of Us | SFGate The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser Master Of The Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro Kennedy: The Classic Biography by Ted Sorensen A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter A Promised Land by Barack Obama Opinion: Alliteracy and the Empathy Gap | Burlington Free Press Consequences of illiteracy | Literacy Foundation The Cost of Illiteracy | Literacy Matters Foundation Literacy Awards | Library of Congress QuestBridge National Park Service Completes Renovation of Iwo Jima Statue | NPR All-American | 60 Minutes, CBS News The Giving Pledge David Rubenstein Donates $18.5 Million to Restore the Lincoln Memorial | National Mall and Memorial Parks Magna Carta | The British LibrarySHOW NOTESWhen he was in his teens, what did David aspire to be? [06:35]Who was Ted Sorensen, and when did he enter the picture? [08:33]Why do some of the best speechwriters in the history of politics seem to be extremely young, and how accurate is it to say that Ted Sorensen was JFK’s “intellectual blood bank” in his 30s? [10:26]Viewing his career in law as a stepping stone into the world of politics, how did young David take criticisms that maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a lawyer? [12:45]How did David end up as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Carter administration? What did his first month working at The White House look like, and how did he learn to fulfill the duties expected of him? [14:27]In hindsight, what does David consider the best decisions he had made up to this point in his career? [19:40]David considers speaking, reading, and writing well to be crucial basic skills for anyone with the ambition to make something of themselves. What would be his methodology for teaching these skills to a college freshman class? [21:56]What’s David’s process for giving a compelling, action-packed speech without relying on notes? [23:01]Why — and at what age — did David decide to become an entrepreneur, and how might his life have turned out differently if Jimmy Carter had been reelected for a second term? [28:32]Deciding to go into business for himself, David started a buyout firm. What does a buyout firm do, and why was this such a booming business in the late ’70s and early ’80s? [32:35]What are the potential risks of a private equity deal, and how does David mitigate them? [37:39]How did David and his partners arrive at the innovations that drove the success of the Carlyle Group? [43:11]Described as a virtuoso of private fundraising, did David begin Carlyle with a global, Fidelity-style approach in mind? Why did he embrace the role of company fundraiser when it was traditionally something the industry delegated to third parties? Furthermore, how did Carlyle leverage its association with DC insiders to achieve brand recognition (and in what ways did this backfire when these associations operated in the political realm)? [46:21]When Carlyle was implicated in the court of public opinion as being a behind-the-scenes player in orchestrating the war in Iraq, how did it affect David? [49:33]What are some of the most common mistakes David sees novice fundraisers make, and why is it so hard to learn the ropes without making these kinds of rookie mistakes? [50:52]What’s the origin story of the Carlyle Group name? [54:33]How much was David trying to drum up during Carlyle Group’s initial round of fundraising, and how did he secure it in spite of no longer being a White House insider? [56:17]David says: “If you have a good track record, you can raise an infinite amount of money.” But what does a good track record look like, and how did David differentiate Carlyle from other firms in its fundraising efforts? [58:02]How did Carlyle compensate the company’s fundraising staff in a way that would retain their services and incentivize them to excel? [1:00:37]What lessons did David learn from Jeff Bezos after interviewing him for his book How to Lead, and what deal does he wish Carlyle had made with him early on? [1:01:46]What lessons and impressions did David glean from the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg? [1:05:45]On the interview format as being a fairly modern innovation, why it’s a shame Johnny Carson couldn’t have interviewed Henry VIII or Alexander the Great, and the insights we might gain from listening to less-recognized voices. [1:07:51]As someone who’s spent time among the world’s most powerful, David weighs in with his impressions of how power manifests itself in the halls of policy — and how it becomes more than just status, but a form of currency in certain circles. [1:10:37]What books about power — its beneficent uses and malevolent abuses — does David recommend? [1:13:13]Does David read fiction? As a voracious reader who aims to make it through a high volume of books each year, what’s the criteria for the ones that make it to his shelf? Does he ever give up on a book that doesn’t quite capture his interest, or will he soldier through it to the end? [1:16:40]How does David think we can best address and correct the widespread problem of illiteracy — a major source of recidivism and income inequality? [1:21:20]David’s advice to new parents who are financially successful but don’t want to raise kids who are complacent or entitled. [1:23:44]At age 71, what fears, regrets, and hopes does David spend time thinking about? In what ways might we honor our parents if we still have time to do so? [1:27:16]Must-do bucket list items. [1:32:24]Called “Clark Kent in a suit and tie” on 60 Minutes, what acts of patriotic philanthropy make David proudest? [1:34:06]What would David’s billboard say? [1:38:05]Parting thoughts. [1:38:46]PEOPLE MENTIONEDJohn F. Kennedy Dwight D. Eisenhower Ted Sorensen Scoop Jackson Paul Weiss Adlai Stevenson Arthur Goldberg Ramsey Clark John Favreau Barack Obama Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon James Carter Birch Bayh Monica Lewinsky Gerald Ford George H.W. Bush Ronald Reagan Bill Simon Marc Andreessen Reid Hoffman Frank Carlucci James A. Baker III Arthur Levitt Dick Darman George W. Bush Lou Gerstner Jeff Bezos André Meyer The Mellon Family Ed Mathias Ruth Bader Ginsburg Phil Knight Oprah Winfrey Bill Gates Paul Getty Howard Hughes Daniel Ludwig Julius Caesar William Shakespeare Charlemagne Alexander the Great Henry VIII Abraham Lincoln George Washington Robert Caro Doris Kearns Goodwin Franklin D. Roosevelt Henry Kissinger Peter Baker Susan Glasser Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.Andrew Johnson James Buchanan Warren Harding Jacqueline Kennedy Bear Bryant

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Published on January 27, 2021 06:59

January 25, 2021

The Master and the Fool

Photo by svklimkin on Unsplash

The book Mastery by George Leonard has been recommended to me by many people, including chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley, swimming legend Terry Laughlin, and drumming phenom Dave Elitch.

One of my favorite sections is the epilogue, titled “The Master and the Fool,” which I’ve posted below with permission from Plume, an imprint of The Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

It explores a question: What are the keys to rapid and lifelong learning?

There are many keys, but arguably the most important is found in this five-minute read…

The Master and the Fool

“I want you to tell me how I can be a learner.”

It was not so much a query as a demand, almost a threat. He was a mountain man, with the long black hair, bold moustache and rough-hewn clothing of a nineteenth-century outlaw, one of a breed that lived illegally in the rugged hills of the Los Padres National Wilderness Area along the Big Sur coast of California—a place of buzzards and hawks, mountain lions and wild boar. Having just turned in the final proofs of a book on education (it was in the late 1960s), I had driven four hours south from San Francisco for a weekend of relaxation at Esalen Institute.

As I approached the lodge—a rustic building built at the edge of the Pacific on one of the few areas of flat land between the sea and the mountains of the Los Padres—I heard the sound of conga drums. Inside, the mountain man was sitting at one of the drums, surrounded by eight other people, each also at a drum. He was apparently giving an informal lesson to whoever cared to participate. One of the drums was unoccupied. I pulled up to the unoccupied drum and joined the others, following the instruction as well as I could. When the session ended I started to walk away, but the mountain man came after me, grasped my shoulder, and fixed me with a significant look.

“Man,” he said, “you are a learner.”

I stood there speechless. I’d never met this person, and he certainly had no idea I had just finished a book about learning. My conservative city garb had probably led him to think that I was a complete novice at the conga drum, the instrument of choice of the counterculture, and thus he must have been impressed by my seemingly rapid progress. Still, I was so pleased by his words that I didn’t inform him I’d played before. He proceeded to tell me that he was a sculptor who worked metal with an acetylene torch, and that he was badly stuck and had been for a year; he was no longer a learner. Now he wanted me, a learner in his mind, to come up to his place in the Los Padres, look at his work, and tell him how he could be a learner. He was leaving right away and I could follow him in my car if I wished.

The invitation baffled me, but I realized it was a rare opportunity to visit the forbidden haunts of one of the legendary mountain men of Big Sur, so I immediately accepted. I followed his battered sedan up a steep and tortuous dirt road, then across a mountain meadow to a driveway that was nothing more than two tire tracks through a forest of live oak, madrone, and bay trees. For what seemed a long time, the car lurched and labored steeply upward, coming at last to a clearing near the top of the coast range. In the clearing stood several wooden structures: a two-room cabin, a tool shed, a crude studio for metal sculpture, and something that might have been a chicken or rabbit coop. At one point during my visit, I spotted a slim young woman with flowing blonde hair and a long dress standing like a ghost near the edge of the clearing. He never mentioned her.

The mountain man showed me into a sturdily built cabin with a large front window looking 4,000 feet down to the Pacific, now shining like a sheet of metal in the late afternoon sun. We sat and made disjointed conversation for a while. I found myself somewhat disoriented. But for the presence of several conga drums, we might have been sitting in an early nineteenth-century pioneer’s cabin. It was all like a dream: the unlikely invitation, the rugged drive, the mysterious woman, the expansive gleam of the ocean through the trees.

When the mountain man announced that we would now go and look at his work so that I could tell him how to be a learner, I dumbly followed him out, having no idea of what I could possibly say that would be of any use to him. He walked me through his sculpture chronologically, showing me the point at which he had lost his creative spark, had stopped being a learner. When he finished, he fixed me with his eyes, and repeated his question one more time.

‘Tell me. How can I be a learner?”

My mind went absolutely blank, and I heard myself saying, “It’s simple. To be a learner, you’ve got to be willing to be a fool.”

The mountain man nodded thoughtfully and said “thanks.” There were a few more words, after which I got into my car and went back down the mountain. Several years were to pass before I considered the possibility that my answer was anything more than a part of one of those slightly bizarre, easily forgotten sixties episodes. Still, the time did come when ideas from other places—all sorts of ideas—began to coalesce around my careless words of advice, and I began to see more than a casual relationship between learning and the willingness to be foolish, between the master and the fool. By fool, to be clear, I don’t mean a stupid, unthinking person, but one with the spirit of the medieval fool, the court jester, the carefree fool in the tarot deck who bears the awesome number zero, signifying the fertile void from which all creation springs, the state of emptiness that allows new things to come into being.

The theme of emptiness as a precondition to significant learning shows up in the familiar tale of the wise man who comes to the Zen master, haughty in his great wisdom, asking how he can become even wiser. The master simply pours tea into the wise man’s cup and keeps pouring until the cup runs over and spills all over the wise man, letting him know without words that if one’s cup is already full there is no space in it for anything new. Then there is the question of why young people sometimes learn new things faster than old people; why my teenage daughters, for example, learned the new dances when I didn’t. Was it just because they were willing to let themselves be foolish and I was not?

Or you might take the case of an eighteen-month-old infant learning to talk. Imagine the father leaning over the crib in which his baby son is engaging in what the behaviorist B. F. Skinner calls the free operant; that is, he’s simply babbling various nonsense sounds. Out of this babble comes the syllable da. What happens? Father smiles broadly, jumps up and down with joy, and shouts, “Did you hear that? My son said ‘daddy.’” Of course, he didn’t say “daddy.” Still, nothing is much more rewarding to an eighteen-month-old infant than to see an adult smiling broadly and jumping up and down. So, the behaviorists confirm our common sense by telling us that the probability of the infant uttering the syllable da has now increased slightly.

The father continues to be delighted by da, but after a while his enthusiasm begins to wane. Finally, the infant happens to say, not da, but dada. Once again, father goes slightly crazy with joy, thus increasing the probability that his son will repeat the sound dada. Through such reinforcements and approximations, the toddler finally learns to say daddy quite well. To do so, remember, he not only has been allowed but has been encouraged to babble, to make “mistakes,” to engage in approximations—in short, to be a fool.

But what if this type of permission had not been granted? Let’s rerun the same scene. There’s father leaning over the crib of his eighteen-month-old son. Out of the infant’s babble comes the syllable da. This time, father looks down sternly and says, “No, son, that is wrong! The correct pronunciation is dad-dy. Now repeat after me: Dad-dy. Dad-dy. Dad-dy.”

What would happen under these circumstances? If all of the adults around an infant responded in such a manner, it’s quite possible he would never learn to talk. In any case, he would be afflicted with serious speech and psychological difficulties.

If this scenario should seem extreme, consider for a moment the learnings in life you’ve forfeited because your parents, your peers, your school, your society, have not allowed you to be playful, free, and foolish in the learning process. How many times have you failed to try something new out of fear of being thought silly? How often have you censored your spontaneity out of fear of being thought childish? Too bad. Psychologist Abraham Maslow discovered a childlike quality (he called it a “second naivete”) in people who have met an unusually high degree of their potential. Ashleigh Montagu used the term neotany (from neonate, meaning newborn) to describe geniuses such as Mozart and Einstein. What we frown at as foolish in our friends, or ourselves, we’re likely to smile at as merely eccentric in a world-renowned genius, never stopping to think that the freedom to be foolish might well be one of the keys to the genius’s success or even to something as basic as learning to talk.

When Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, was quite old and close to death, the story goes, he called his students around him and told them he wanted to be buried in his white belt. What a touching story; how humble of the world’s highest-ranking judoist in his last days to ask for the emblem of the beginner! But Kano’s request, I eventually realized, was less humility than realism. At the moment of death, the ultimate transformation, we are all white belts. And if death makes beginners of us, so does life—again and again. In the master’s secret mirror, even at the moment of highest renown and accomplishment, there is an image of the newest student in class, eager for knowledge, willing to play the fool.

And for all who walk the path of mastery, however far that journey has progressed, Kano’s request becomes a lingering question, an ever-new challenge:

Are you willing to wear your white belt?

George Leonard was an American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential. He served as president emeritus of the Esalen Institute, past-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and co-founder of Integral Transformative Practice International.

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Published on January 25, 2021 12:57

January 22, 2021

Essay I’m Reading — “Still Alive”

“Still Alive” by Scott Siskind, better known as “Scott Alexander” (@slatestarcodex). This really struck a chord, and if you are considering growing your audience or “platform,” make this essay part of your required reading. This bullet will be a bit longer and more heated than usual, as it reopened old wounds.

Some of my dear friends are journalists, and they’re wonderful people. They measure twice and cut once. They are thoughtful, unrushed, and considerate, despite organizational pressure and incentives to be the opposite. That takes extraordinary discipline, and it’s fucking hard. It isn’t the path of least resistance, and I admire the hell out of them for doing what is right, despite the uphill path. This includes some amazing humans at the NYT. This praise doesn’t mean that they write fluff pieces; it means they aim to be fair and humane and take the time necessary to think about ethics and the Golden Rule.

That said, there is a great-to-terrible spectrum for any professional group, including surgeons, elementary school teachers, politicians, hot dog vendors, and, yes, even journalists. There are people in all walks of life who are spiteful, narcissistic, harried, or simply uncaring. They do what is easiest and best for them personally, and what is expedient, without thought to those vulnerable to their mistreatment. Perhaps it’s from fatigue, perhaps it’s from outside pressure, perhaps it’s from ill will, but the outcomes are often the same. Sadly, there are journalists who earn a living by repeatedly earning trust and betraying it; they are a minority, but they clearly exist. I don’t say this about anyone referred to in Scott’s essay, as I’m not in the know, but based on my personal experience with hundreds of interviews over 10+ years, plus other authors’ similar experiences. There are great people in the unlikeliest of places, and there are bad apples at even the best publications. Don’t assume a good masthead means you are in safe hands.

This entire essay by Scott can serve as a cautionary tale about public exposure, fame, privacy, and living life. The “don’t kick me in the balls” section speaks to deeper truths and risks of the spotlight. Personally, I’ve been misquoted by tier-one newspapers and even threatened by one writer at a newspaper of record. Why was I threatened? Because I asked that he only include my answers if he quoted them in full, instead of pulling single sound bites out of context, which he’d done before. This was for an online piece, so there were no space constraints. He got very upset and wrote directly, “You are not in control,” and proceeded to explain the power dynamic. Endearing, eh? I immediately saved and drafted that exchange as a just-in-case blog post, which I still have. Thankfully, I didn’t need it then, and I can only guess that he realized the liability of explicitly typing what he did. That’s an edge case. There are tougher cases that don’t leave as obvious a paper trail. For example, I’ve had fact-checkers at a magazine famous for fact-checking *not* make the corrections I provided via phone, which resulted in a grossly inaccurate profile that will sit in Google results for years and probably decades. Lesson learned: only do fact-checking via email. For these reasons and more, I rarely do print interviews any longer, and if I do, I use email or insist on also having recordings of the conversations. Pro tip: ensure you ask to record on your side and have your own audio (via Skype, QuickTime, Zoom, or other), as I’ve also had several writers promise to send their audio and then never do so, despite multiple follow-ups. As Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) says in Fort Minor’s “Get Me Gone”:

“After that I made it a rule:
I only do E-mail responses to print interviews
Because these people love to put a twist to your words
To infer that you said something fucking absurd
…
Now I’ve got the interviews on file
Which people said what, which number to dial”

Again, in the world of media, as in any group of humans, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are some beautiful humans and some deplorable humans, and a vast majority fall somewhere in between, depending on which side of the bed they wake up on. Plan accordingly. And if you want more scary bedtime stories, alongside some tactical points, consider reading 11 Reasons Not to Become Famous.

Fame, even micro-celebrity, is like a razor-sharp scalpel with no handle; it easily cuts both ways.

[This post originally appeared in the “5-Bullet Friday” newsletter.]

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Published on January 22, 2021 11:24

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