Calling Bullsh!t

The NCAA claims to be on the same team as the players. But is it? In this episode, we analyze the NCAA’s playbook and propose a whole new game plan. 

Pride doesn’t pay the bills. But for years, pride has been the only compensation offered to college athletes who play in the NCAA – the governing body of college sports. The NCAA claims to be defending the concept of “amateurism” which they assert is the only reason fans watch the games. Meanwhile, the billions they rake in benefit nearly everyone but the players. Even worse, once their 4 years are up, many student-athletes leave without even an education to fall back on. 

With the help of author Joe Nocera, professor Dr. Ellen Staurowsky and athlete/activist Dallas Hobbs, we analyze the NCAA’s playbook and propose a whole new game plan.

Guests:

Joe Nocera - Business Columnist of Bloomberg & Author

Dr. Ellen Staurowsky - Ithaca College Professor of Sports Media, Roy H. Park School of Communications

Dallas Hobbs - Activist & Student-Athlete of Washington State University

Background Reading:

• Read Joe Nocera’s book, ‘Indentured’.
• Learn more about Ellen Staurowsky’s work here.
• View Dallas Hobb’s design work here.

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Better life for chickens, better outcomes for people and the planet.

For Vital Farms, it was the egg. In 2009, they set out to rethink how our food is produced by defining a new standard: Pasture-Raised. Now, they’re the largest producer of pasture-raised eggs in the world, and their sights are set on so much more. Where did this mission come from, and how have they successfully taken on industrial egg giants?

Today’s episode is a 1-on-1 with Vital Farms CEO Russell Diez-Canseco. Russell speaks about how the company’s purpose has guided every decision made over the last 13 years — from the barn to the boardroom, and every other moment on the journey of making their purpose real in the world.

Guest:

Russell Diez-Canseco - President & CEO of Vital Farms

We’d love to hear what you think about the show. Maybe you’re inspired to take action, maybe you disagree with today’s bullshit rating. Either way, we want to hear about it. Leave us a message at 212-505-2305. You might even be featured on an upcoming episode. 

Background Reading:

• Read more about Vital Farms and Russell Diez-Canseco here. 

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook is back in the news again. And turns out, it’s worse than we thought. In part 2 we take a look at all the recent whistleblower revelations, including just how much the company knows about the harm it causes. 

The Wall Street Journal dropped conclusive proof that Facebook knew that their algorithms were dangerous all along. Whistleblower Frances Haugen went public with allegations that among other things, Facebook routinely places profits over public safety. The Senate commission on the capital insurrection got underway. Oh, and Facebook ignored all of that and they announced the name change to “Meta”. 

Join us to hear what UCLA Professor and author Ramesh Srinivasan had to say about all of this. And for a revision of Facebook’s BS score. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go down.

Guest:

Ramesh Srinivasan - UCLA Professor & Author 

We’d love to hear what you think about the show. Maybe you’re inspired to take action, maybe you disagree with today’s bullshit rating. Either way, we want to hear about it. Leave us a message at 212-505-2305. You might even be featured on an upcoming episode. 

Background Reading:

• Read Ramesh Srinivasan’s book ‘Beyond the Valley’.

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Juul claims to be trying to save lives by getting smokers to switch to their product. In this episode, we cut through all the smoke to see if we can find the burning truth.

“Hey bro, can I hit your vape?”

If you’re one of the 5 million Gen Z-ers who smoke e-cigarettes, the answer is a resounding “bet.” E-cigarette manufacturer JUUL set out on a mission to build a safer cigarette alternative, but along the way, a whole new generation became hooked on nicotine. Is Juul addicted to profits? Or was this simply a slip on their journey toward reducing harm? 

 

Guests:

Lauren Etter - Reporter at Bloomberg News & Author

Jamie Ducharme - Health Correspondent at TIME & Author of “Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul”

Greg Conley - President of the American Vaping Association 

We’d love to hear what you think about the show. Maybe you’re inspired to take action, maybe you disagree with today’s bullshit rating. Either way, we want to hear about it. Leave us a message at 212-505-2305. You might even be featured on an upcoming episode. 

Background Reading:

• Read Lauren Etter’s book, ‘The Devil’s Playbook’.
• Read Jamie Ducharme’s book, ‘Big Vape’.
• Learn more about Greg Conley and the American Vaping Association.

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is investment firm BlackRock really using their power for good? In this episode, we grab the bull by the horns to find out if BlackRock is truly pushing for change. 

$9,000,000,000,000. That’s the amount of money Larry Fink and his colleagues at BlackRock manage. Over the past few years, Mr. Fink has begun to use his powerful position to promote the need for all companies to become purpose-led and create positive social and environmental impact.

Can BlackRock drive real change? And to do so, who might they need to piss off? In this episode, we dive deep into the world’s largest asset manager to uncover the balance between Fink’s message and the constraints that might hold BlackRock back.

Guests:

Andrew Behar - CEO of As You Sow & Author

Matthew Weatherley-White - Former Co-Founder & Managing Director of The

CAPROCK Group

Tariq Fancy - Founder & CEO of the Rumie Initiative, Former CIO of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock

We’d love to hear what you think about the show. Maybe you’re inspired to take action, maybe you disagree with today’s bullshit rating. Either way, we want to hear about it. Leave us a message at 212-505-2305. You might even be featured on an upcoming episode. 

Background Reading:

• Read Andrew Behar’s book and learn more about As You Sow.
• Follow Matthew Weatherley-White on LinkedIn. 
• Read about Rumie-Learn and Tariq Fancy here.

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we look at Facebook’s development from dorm-room prank to being one of the world’s most powerful and dangerous companies. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/.

January 6th, 2021. For the first time in U.S. history, an armed mob at the U.S. Capitol attempted to disrupt the peaceful transition of power from one presidential administration to the next. In the aftermath, it became clear that Facebook had played an outsized role in inciting the event.

How did Facebook go from a place for people to share silly cat videos, to a space for bad actors to make the world considerably worse? In this episode we look at Facebook, starting all the way back to when it began as a dorm-room prank and trace its development into one of the world’s most powerful and dangerous companies.

Guests:

Sinan Aral - MIT Professor & Author 

Lucie Greene - Strategist & Author 

Rosemarie Ryan - CEO of co:collective

Kamran Asghar - Fonder & CEO of Crossmedia

We’d love to hear what you think about the show. Maybe you’re inspired to take action, maybe you disagree with today’s bullshit rating. Either way, we want to hear about it. Leave us a message at 212-505-2305. You might even be featured on an upcoming episode. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/ 

Show Notes:

• In October of 2021, The Atlantic scoured thousands of internal documents from Facebook to explore the company’s impact on our democracy and how employees feel about their contributions.
• What can the humanities do to instill a moral or ethical compass within Big Tech, or more specifically, Mark Zuckerberg? Not much, according to Wired.
• Lobbying by Big Tech is at an all-time high, with companies such as Meta and Amazon spending big to curb strict regulations and ensure their power holds steady.

Background Reading:

• Read Sinan Aral’s book: The Hype Machine
• Learn more about Light Years and read Lucie Greene’s book here. 
• Learn more about co:collective and Rosemarie Ryan here.
• Read about CrossMedia and Kamran Asghar here.

If you love the show, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Find out more at https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first podcast about purpose-washing…the gap between what companies say they stand for and what they actually do — and what they would need to change to practice what they preach. Calling Bullsh!t is hosted by Ty Montague, the Chairman and Chief Purpose Officer of co:collective and distributed by iHeartMedia. Launching February 9, 2022 with new episodes released weekly.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.