North Star Podcast

This wide ranging episode branches from practical philosophy to biology to Stoicism. Pigliucci background is exceptional. He was born in Rome and immigrated to America to get his first PhD in Botany, before receiving another one in the Philosophy of Science. His next book, How to Be a Stoic will hit book shelves in May.

In this episode, I interview Sunil Arora, a graduate of University of California at Berkeley where he studied Business and Sociology. He also established a now prominent Hedge Fund community called Artivest, worked for the White House National Economic Council, and received his Masters in Public Administration from Columbia. Sunil draws upon a rich life story and experiences in finance, technology start-ups and the public policy space.

Episode 4 features Ed Latimore, a writer, physicist, and professional heavy-weight boxer. With a combination of mind and fist, Latimore lives his life based on the Japanese principle of Kaizen, the idea that little improvements every day compound to produce significant long term changes. I admire Latimore for how he embraces the challenges and difficulties that make life fulfilling. He's focused on providing value to others while building high standards for himself. In this episode, we discuss Latimore's experience of growing up in the projects, get into the mentality of a heavyweight boxer, and how to think about talent versus potential. Subscribe: iTunes | Overcast | Facebook Links: Twitter Website Books Recommendations: The Art of Learning Feedback: Email Twitter

In this episode, I interview Khemaridh Hy to understand how he’s transformed his life from an addiction to hustle to a focus on wholeness. Khe is building an online community of his own called Rad Reads with a weekly email newsletter featuring five curated links from around the internet every Saturday. A year and a half ago, Khe quit his job as a managing director at Black Rock, the world largest asset manager to live a more introspective life.

On this episode, I interview James Allworth. James is the host of my favorite podcast, Exponent. James is the former Director of Strategy at Medallia and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. 

He grew up in Australia before moving to the United States to get an MBA at Harvard. While at Harvard, James co-authored a book called How Will You Measure Your Life with the famous Clay Christensen. This wide-ranging conversation stretches from the importance of travel and fitness to the future of technology.

This is the North Star podcast where I interview with the world’s leading minds to understand how they find synergy between their personal values, their passions, and their work. The internet and the vast democratization of technology is changing everything. It’s changing the nature of work as it opens up opportunities for entrepreneurs and creatives around the world. I hope you use this podcast to embark on a lifelong journey of meaningful work that fulfills you.

My guest today is Mark Broadie, a Golf Statistician and Professor at Columbia Business School. I first found Mark through his book Every Shot Counts, which transformed golf statistics and analytics forever. Marcus worked with many of the world's best golfers, including Francesco Molinari, and Justin Rose, who became the world's number one golfer as a result of their work together. In this episode, we explore the nooks and crannies of golf statistics, we talked about how different kinds of grasses influence players, why approach shots play the biggest role in success for top golfers. We discussed the math behind the drive for show and putt for dough theory, and dive into the reasons why Tiger Woods was so dominant for so many years. Now I live for conversations like this. I love them. And spending an afternoon with Mark talking about strategy, statistics, and golf, the so called greatest game ever played is about as good as it gets for me. And we begin the conversation talking about the strokes gained measurement system which Mark invented, and which dispelled many of the myths and misconceptions about the game of Golf. I hope you enjoy this episode.

SUBSCRIBE TO MY “MONDAY MUSINGS” NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP WITH THE PODCAST. SHOW TOPICS LINKS: Find Mark online:

Twitter

Columbia Business School Profile

People mentioned:

Tiger Woods

Francesco Molinari

Justin Rose

Phil Mickelson

Tommy Fleetwood

Rory McIlroy

Steve Stricker

Other mentioned:

Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie

PGATour.com

SHOW TOPICS 1:45 Why drive for show, putt for dough is not really true, an elevator pitch of Mark’s strokes gained statistic, and which information on shots would Mark want access to that he doesn’t already have

10:25 Surprising conclusion about player performance around straight vs. dogleg holes, how does perception line up with statistic when it comes to player reputations, and correlations between birdies, bogeys, and driving distance

19:01 Is closer to the hole always better and what the exceptions to the rule, how the NBA changed it’s mind about three pointers, how Mark thinks about introducing changes to the way things are done in a sport, and the effect that different courses have on player psychology

32:12 The effect of different species of grass on the green on player performance, how some variants of grass are better for worse players, the horses for courses effect, and Mark’s counter-intuitive idea of which are the key holes on a course

40:51 How game theory affects driving decisions in 1:1 situations, what really separates the best players from the just good ones on a particular day among the pros, the TV highlight reel effect for long putts

53:54 How different golf course architects effect how players change their game, how ridiculously good Tiger Woods’ approach shot game was in his prime, and diving deeper into spin rates

1:05:00 How has being a golf statistician changed Mark’s own game, what the biggest mistakes that amateurs make, the most rewarding experiences that have come out of his work, and David and Mark piece together a story about the 2013 US Open

1:15:19 The next phase of Mark’s research that he is excited about