Behind the Brilliance

Lisa summarizes Season 14, Defying the Odds, with reflections on the strategies shared and helpful recaps.

240 – Dr. Andrew Newberg

241 – Cin Fabre

242 – Tyler Denk

243 – Jim Fielding

244 – Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter

245 – Simone Stolzoff

246 – Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

247 – Andrew Barnes

248 – Jamila Souffrant

249 – Kevin Kelly

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Kevin Kelly is a modern creative pioneer. He was a polymath before it was cool. His career as a writer, founder, photographer, and editor extends across industries and continents. A world traveler and lifelong learner, Kevin’s ideas such as 1000 True Fans have inspired a generation of builders and artists to exercise full agency over their creative pursuits.

Kevin was on a short list of dream guests I’ve long held for Behind the Brilliance, and our conversation did not disappoint. He was candid and thoughtful as we covered a wide range of topics including career and life design, religion, decision making, unpopular opinions, and much more. This is an excellent listen for the dreamers, doers, and builders who want to hear the embodiment of integrating passion, purpose, and profit with thoughtful optimism. 

Behind His Brilliance: Luck + Not caring what others think

Say hi to Kevin on X (Twitter): @kevin2kelly

KEVIN KELLY | AUTHOR + CO-FOUNDER, WIRED

​​ Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His newest book is Excellent Advice for Living, a book of 450 modern proverbs for good living. He is co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, a membership organization that champions long-term thinking and acting as a good ancestor to future generations. And he is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a subscriber-supported journal of unorthodox conceptual news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. Other books by Kelly include 1) The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, 2) Out of Control, his 1994 classic book on decentralized emergent systems, 3) The Silver Cord, a graphic novel about robots and angels, 4) What Technology Wants, a robust theory of technology, and 5) Vanishing Asia, his 50-year project to photograph the disappearing cultures of Asia.  He is best known for his radical optimism about the future.

-the decision making framework Kevin developed over 5 decades of his career

-the inception and growth of WIRED

-why pursuing a range of interests can be more valuable than specializations (with important caveats)

-Kevin’s religious conversion and how it changed his life

-important reflections on leveraging and time management

-how a trip to Asia changed Kevin’s life

And much more!

THE SHOW

Jamila Souffrant’s expertise in personal finance is informed by her own experience turning financial uncertainty into financial freedom. She and her husband saved $169,000 in 2 years and redefined their future with smart money decisions. Now she’s guiding people from diverse backgrounds to more fulfilled lives through her personal finance podcast, Journey to Launch, and her new book, Your Journey to Financial Freedom.

​​Jamila’s work has been featured in Money Magazine, CNBC, and more. The Journey To Launch Podcast was listed by the NYTimes as a podcast to help you get better with your money.  

We covered a wide range of topics at the intersection of lifestyle and personal finance including creating financial independence, decoupling time and money, how to approaching spending vs saving vs earning, the specific mindset work that’s critical to the personal finance journey and much more. We touched on FIRE which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early which is a movement that targets building a nest egg and retiring to do what you’d prefer to do with your time whether that’s work that earns less, more time with family, or something else.

This episode is penultimate installment of our season long discussions around integrating work and life. Money is obviously a hufge part of that so this conversation helps to frame up our motivations for how much we work, what we work on, and what we do with our earnings.

THE GUEST

JAMILA SOUFFRANT | PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT + AUTHOR

​​Jamila Souffrant is the author of Your Journey To Financial Freedom: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Wealth and Happiness ((Hanover Square Press December 5, 2023) shares  and the host of the Journey To Launch podcast. She is a go-to thought leader in the personal finance field and her work has been featured in BuzzFeed, ESSENCE, Refinery 29, Money Magazine, CNBC, CBS, Business Insider and more. The Journey To Launch Podcast has over 4+ million total downloads and was listed by the NYTimes as a podcast to help you get better with your money.  Jamila and her husband saved $169,000 in two years. They live in Brooklyn, NY with their three children.

TOPICS COVERED

-the difference between financial independence and financial freedom and why it matters

-redefining luxury in non-monetary terms

-the necessity of simplicity on the journey to financial freedom

-age, regret, and keeping the journey in context

-how to create an effective spending plan

-Jamila’s hardest money lesson learned

-finding the balance between productivity and punishment

And much more!

A dynamic and growing group of companies and organizations are moving to a 4 day work week. Andrew Barnes is the pioneer behind this movement. It all started with an experiment to see what would happen if his team worked 4 days instead of 5. The results were so breathtaking that he never looked back. Now there's an entire organization - including research, a book, and tools - dedicated to making the work world more efficient.  

Through his company – New Zealand's largest corporate trustee company, Perpetual Guardian – Andrew announced a 4 day week trial, with staff receiving an extra day off work, on full pay, each week. The trial was an undeniable success, sparking widespread international interest and winning a number of global awards.

Today, Barnes is considered the pioneer and architect of the global 4 day week movement. As co-founder of 4 Day Week Global with his partner, Charlotte Lockhart, they are conducting the largest ever trials, currently taking place across the UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. More than 250 companies around the world with over 100,000 staff are taking part in the trials to change their workplaces combined with a global research programme involving academics from leading universities.

Continuing our season long thread on creating work/life integration, this conversation is an excellent primer for both employers and employees on creating a 4 Day Work Week.

Andrew is the literal pioneer of this movement so I invited him to BTB to discuss how it was born, the concerns many leaders have, why the movement has picked up steam, and how you – whether you’re a leader or a team member – can use these ideas to create a more sustainable and effective approach to work.

We spent a lot of time at the top of this conversation exploring Andrew’s background because I think that context is important once he starts discussing the 4 Day Work Week. That said, if you want to skip to the topical portion, it begins around minute 25.

Behind His Brilliance:  Finding opportunity anywhere

Say hi to Andrew on X/Twitter @andrewhbarnes

-how Andrew built a career as an international entrepreneur

-Andrew’s reflections on betting on himself (and why you should too)

-the keys to navigating organizational change

-how and why the 4 Day Work Week became a thing

-the art and science of designing down time

-the counterintuitive ways less work powers more efficiency

-how to save your company from meeting culture

-how to trial a 4 day week in your organization

-addressing employee concerns about the 4 day week

-the 4 day week’s impact on wage expectations (spoiler: workers value their time!)

-the legislative activity around a 4 day work week

And much more!

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg is the author of ‘What’s Your Problem?’ which was released by Harvard Business Press. He is also the co-author (with Paddy Miller) of Innovation as Usual, a Harvard Business Review Press book on the art of driving innovation in regular organizations.

Thomas has worked with managers in nearly all parts of the globe, including China, India, Russia, Singapore, Britain, France and his native country, Denmark. His research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times. His work on innovation led HR Magazine to recognize him as a “Top 20 International Thinker”.

This conversation is a continuation of a string of conversations about work and creating more effective life/work integration. I’m leaning in on this topic because most of us have experienced periods of persistent angst around work, frustration with recurring work problems, and difficulty managing work relationships. This series of episodes delivers practical advice that you can use right away to be more effective and derive more satisfaction from work.

This episode deep dives on problem solving which in my opinion is a universally useful skill to develop. As Thomas points out, most of us aren’t thinking about problems the right way – something he calls framing – which prevents us from being able to effectively talk about and solve problems. This is a winding conversation filled with useful insight on professional and personal problem solving so It’s worth taking notes.

Behind His Brilliance: Curiosity and seeking the odd things

Say hi to Thomas on X/Twitter @thomaswedell

Simone Stolzoff is a designer, and workplace expert who is the former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He’s the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work.

This conversation is, in my opinion, among the most important in the history of the show. It’s not particularly dramatic, but it’s hard for me to overstate the importance of the ideas and practical applications we discussed around life design, work, the relationship between to work and identity, and why carefully curating these things instead of letting them happen is an absolute must if you want to create more meaning and satisfaction at the intersection of your work and life.

We covered a wide range of things including the Western tendency toward work as a status symbol, how to make a career pivot, questions to consider when reflecting on the context of your career in your life, how to recover from an achievement hangover, the joys and perils of being self-employed, and much more. No matter what your career or employment status is, there’s something for you in this conversation. It’s especially timely as we all start thinking about a new year and what we might want to change where our careers are concerned.

Behind His Brilliance: Amazing people who share their stories

Say hi to Simone on X/Twitter @simonestolzoff

SIMONE STOLZOFF | AUTHOR, THE GOOD ENOUGH JOB

Simone Stolzoff is a designer, and workplace expert who is the former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He’s the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work.  

The problem with tying personal identity to work

How to diversify your identity outside of work

How to stop chasing status at work (and what to do instead)

Rethinking designing life around work

How to avoid achievement hangovers

Simone’s advice on pivoting and taking risks

The gift and challenge of being self-employed

How to create structural protection against overwork

And much more!

Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is founder and president of V&J Holdings, the largest female-owned franchise organization in the United States. As one of the best known fast-food operators in the United States with more than 130 units across multiple brands, Valerie has partnered with influential leaders like NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal to expand her operations. She sits on the board of the Green Bay Packers and is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. As a seasoned leader, Valerie has learned what it takes to create and sustain success when you don’t have a head start.

Valerie was candid about her challenges and how she persisted to create a life and career that aligns with her values. We covered a wide range of topics from how she landed her first franchise location to how she identifies great partners along with more personal topics like grief and her reflections on the role of family and faith in her life. 

Behind Her Brilliance: Faith, Family, Friends, Passion

Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is one of the most preeminent business owners in the United States. In addition to auspiciously commandeering several restaurants branded operations in the United States, she has been widely recognized for her adroit business ingenuity.  She is the President and CEO of V&J Foods, Holding Companies, Inc. (V&J Holdings), a multi-brand/multi-state operation. It is recognized as the largest female owned franchise organization in the country.  Dr. Daniels-Carter’s quick-service restaurant empire operations are comprised of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels, Burger King, Coffee Beanery, Nino’s Southern Sides, MyYoMy Frozen Yogurt, Pizza Hut and Captain D’s Seafood along with numerous Real Estate ventures. Prior to establishing V&J Holding Companies, Inc., she worked in banking and finance. 

How Valerie landed her first franchise location

Valerie’s secret to scaling to 100+ locations

How Valerie creates partnerships with other leaders

The role of faith in Valerie’s life and business

Valerie’s work in sports and philanthropy

Valerie’s reflections on grief and hard lessons

How Valerie thinks about work/life integration

And much more!

Jim Fielding is casting the kind of light we all need to free us from the anxiety of being enough and doing enough. Throughout his illustrious career as an executive as the world’s most recognizable companies, he found that authenticity and kindness were the secrets to achieving the kind of success he most craved.

But these realizations didn’t come easy. After struggling with coming out, building international teams, and climbing corporate ladders, Jim left it all behind to lean into a new chapter where he brings his whole self to his work.

This conversation is a must listen for anyone who wants to design a more meaningful professional life that delivers fulfillment and stability without sacrificing authenticity.

Behind His Brilliance: Family

Say hi to Jim on Instagram @allpridenoego

JIM FIELDING | EXECUTIVE + AUTHOR, ALL PRIDE, NO EGO

Jim Fielding is a partner at Archer Gray, and president of its Co-Lab Division. A retail and media industry veteran, Jim served as president of Disney Stores Worldwide, and led global consumer experiences at DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox. His early career experience included top global brands, from The Gap to Lands' End. Jim later served as CEO of Claire's Stores, Inc. He is author of ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically (Wiley, August 15, 2023). Jim's expertise combines storytelling, product innovation, merchandising, and consumer experiences. He is an active community leader and philanthropist, a founder of the Queer Philanthropy Circle, and serves on the board of directors for the Indiana University Foundation. Jim has served as an executive-in-residence for IU's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and a board member for GLSEN, Make-A-Wish International, and American Red Cross. He is based in Atlanta, GA and Northport, MI. 

Jim's path into retail and how he found success

How authenticity accelerated Jim’s elevation as an executive

How Jim navigates high pressure situations

Jim’s advice on designing effective teams and collaborative cultures

Jim’s advice to professionals weighing their options

A fresh perspective on failure – and how to fail up

Why Jim stopped chasing the next promotion and title

The ah ha moment that healed years of trauma

And much more!

Tyler Denk is making a name for himself as a CEO who building a modern company that brings fresh energy to an old space: e-mail. He’s powering the world’s most beloved newsletters through Beehiiv, the company he founded in 2021. beehiiv is an all-in-one product suite for newsletter. 

Tyler joined Morning Brew as the second employee, leading product and engineering, and helped them scale up until the acquisition by Business Insider in 2020. He then had a stint at Google as a Product Lead on the YouTube Music team, before ultimately leaving to start beehiiv in 2021, where he is currently the CEO.

Tyler’s story is an inspiring journey in strartups and aligning personal values with business vision.

Behind His Brilliance: Family

Say hi Tyler on X/Twitter: @denk_tweets

Cin Fabré is the personification of grit. We hear that word used in personal and professional development circles, but her story, her mindset, and her confidence truly reflects it.

Growing up, Cin Fabré didn’t know anything about the stock market. But she learned how to hustle from her immigrant parents. Through a tip from a friend, Cin pushed her way into brokerage firm VTR Capital―an offshoot of Stratton Oakmont, the company where the Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, had reigned. She instantly felt the pull of profit and knew she would do whatever she had to do to be successful. Pulling back the curtain on the inequities she and so many others faced, Cin’s memoir Wolf Hustle reveals how Cin worked grueling hours, ascending from cold caller to stockbroker, becoming the only Black woman to do so at her firm. She also reveals the excesses she took part in on 1990s Wall Street―the strip clubs, the Hamptons parties, the Gucci shopping sprees―while reveling in the thrill of making money. From landing clients worth hundreds of millions to gaining, losing, then gaining back fortunes in seconds, Cin examines her years spent trading frantically and hustling successfully, grappling with what it takes to build a rich life, and, ultimately, beating Wall Street at its own game.

After a multistudio bidding war, Apple won the rights to the book and will be adapting it into a film. 

We covered a lot in this conversation – how she landed on Wall Street so young, how she navigated everything from politics to dick pics, her financial literacy journey, her reflections on grief and mental health, and her leap from Wall Street Hustler to author.

Behind Her Brilliance: Confidence and a commitment to enjoying life

Cin Fabré

Wolf Hustle (Cin’s memoir)

Jacqueline Woodson (Cin’s reading pick)

John Grisham (Cin’s reading pick)