Lately, I have been on a podcast binge. It started when I accidentally stumbled upon SoulFeed sometime early last year. It coincided so well with my meditation practice and I think both those guys (Alex and Shannon) are great. They have fantastic insight and their interviews with mindfulness and wellness experts such as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and Gabby Bernstein are well worth a listen.
Well, I got hooked and started subscribing to more podcasts. The other two I also love listening to are Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin and The Tim Ferriss Show. I also like to listen to Joel Osteen’s podcast, who I have been listening to for years when my best friend Janine first told me about him one day when she was visiting me from NYC. Then, believe it or not, that evening we actually ran into him with his family at a nearby restaurant here in Dana Point! Wonderful people. Of course I believe meeting him was absolutely divine work at hand.
Anyway, here are a few good podcast episodes that I really enjoyed and thought you may like, too:
Questlove Can’t Take a Compliment – Questlove is a musical genius. I had no idea of the depth of his knowledge until I listened to this podcast. I have an even deeper respect for him, and can see that he is much more than just Jimmy Fallon’s frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, who serve as the house band for The Tonight Show.
Starbucks’ Howard Schultz Doesn’t Sleep—But Don’t Blame the Coffee – My favorite part is around 6:06 when Schultz says that while building Starbucks he kept dreaming of what he needed to do for his Dad. His Dad had died that year (1987) and he wanted to build the kind of company that his Dad never had a chance to work for. So his mission for Starbucks was to balance profit with conscience, and provide benevolence and social impact. With that, every Starbucks employee is an owner, and it was the first company in America to provide comprehensive health insurance (before the Affordable Care Act) which cost $300 million/year – more than the cost of the coffee beans for Starbucks. This year, Starbucks is the first company in America to give free college tuition to every employee. Incredible. I hope to write another blog post about the impact of a father’s death because I have seen many examples (and I can attest to this firsthand) that it really does change what motivates you.
How to Design a Life – Debbie Millman – For 20 years, Debbie was the President of the design division at Sterling Brands, the consultancy that helped me and the company I was working for successfully rebrand Nailene, an artificial nail line I once managed. I have firsthand experience with the stellar Sterling Brands team, so I found this podcast very fascinating on Debbie’s career. Around 1:31:08, she mentions taking a class from Milton Glaser (one of the most celebrated graphic designers in the USA) at SVA, The School of Visual Arts, and a profound exercise: “We had to envision the life we could have if we pursued everything we wanted with the certainty that whatever it is we wanted, we would succeed.” She was told to dream big and not to edit. Glaser had mentioned that it had a magical quality that he had experienced over and over with his students. She wrote her essay in July 2005, a 5 year plan. She included far-fetched goals and almost all of them have come true, so now she does this same exercise with her students.
What’s Important to You – Ryan Holiday – This is an audio snippet from Holiday’s book, “Ego is the Enemy” and the chapter, “What’s Important to You.” Some good insight around 12:02: According to Roman philosopher Seneca, Euthymia is the sense of our own path and how to stay on it without being distracted. “It’s not about having more than others. It’s about being what you are and being as good as possible at it without succumbing to all the things that draw you away from it. Going where you set out to go, about accomplishing the most you’re capable of, in what you choose. That’s it, no more, no less.”
Does anyone have any favorite podcasts? Tell me. I’d love to hear!
No Ugly Duckling 