The Business Roundtable, a group of corporate CEOs, recently put out a statement that CEOs should be focused on more than just shareholders. What does their statement mean, practically speaking? What are the pressures on CEOs and how should they balance the short term vs. the long term? Are corporations moral? Should they be? We tackle these big life questions and more, right here in this episode.

0.48 The Business Roundtable Position Statement

3.45 What pressures do CEOs really face?

6.17 A ray of hope for CEO behavior

9.26 Long term versus short term focus

11.15 Is there a moral element to capitalism?

16.05 Are CEOs worried about growing discontent with capitalism?

18.55 A CEO case study

26.15 CEOs, Boards, and creating good jobs

Life is full of lessons to be learned -- or ignored! In this episode, Chris and Doug offer life advice to their younger selves based on their own experiences, mistakes, observations, and epiphanies. What valuable life advice would you offer to your younger self?

1:15 Don't spend too much time in your own head

3.14 Don't ignore karma; it's real

6.56 It's usually not personal

8.56 There are people you can't reason with

12.25 Eliminate negative influences from your life

16.24 Be in the world, but not of it

17.45 Live abroad for a couple of years

20.05 Stay healthy

22.35 Don't ignore the obvious

in this episode, Doug and Chris discuss what a person's responsibilities are to be a productive member of society - and, for that matter, what exactly does it mean to be productive? For example, do you need to make money to be a productive member of society? What is the bare minimum behavior to be considered productive? Basically, what are our responsibilities - if any - that result from being on this planet?

0.45 What does it mean to be productive?

3:54 Can a toll booth operator be a productive member of society?

8:45 Is civility part of being productive?

10.00 What is not productive behavior for society?

11.25 What about dropping out of society? Is that okay?

18.14 The problem with libertarians

In this episode, Doug and Chris struggle with the ramifications of what Baby Boomers have done to make the future more difficult for Millennials, Generation X, and succeeding generations. The full gamut of debacles is covered -- climate change, wealth and income inequality, bad leadership, political polarization. Our cohosts scour the planet for possible solutions, or at least ways to make Baby Boomers feel better.

6.58 We need better humans

8.45 We need better models of leadership and success

15.20 A billionaire endorses the wealth tax

20.05 The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund

21.50 Care and concern for other species

Imagine that you could invent a time machine and have dinner with famous, or not-so-famous, historical figures. Who would you pick? What questions would you ask them? That's what Chris and Doug do in this episode, and they cover people from all eras and walks of life. The cohosts also reveal who almost made the cut.

1.25 Dinner Guest Number One (for both Doug and Chris) -- A political prisoner and a corrupter of youth

8.17 Dinner Guest Number Two -- An emancipator and a roundtable wag

14.00 Dinner Guest Number Three -- A first lady and a funny lady

19.20 Dinner Guest Number Four -- A Founding Father and a legendary boxer

27.04 Dinner Guest Number Five -- An inventor and a musician/songwriter

33.19 Summary and Last-minute Dinner List Cuts

Links:

Walter Issacson, Leonardo da Vinci

If you are desperately trying to figure out how we get Donald Trump out of the White House, The Big Life Questions Show analysis of the 2020 Democratic Primary is for you. Doug and Chris make no attempts to discuss all 183 people running, nor do either of them announce their own candidacies. Instead, they handicap the major contenders and throw in their own obsessions, biases, peculiarities, and occasional insights. They even argue! If you're looking for poll results, you won't find them here. But if you want the lay of the land on what's really happening, check out this episode.

Life throws curveballs at all of us; it's how we respond to those curveballs that matters the most. Sometimes what happens to us even challenges our definition of self. In this episode, Doug and Chris discuss how a running injury has made Doug re-think the fundamentals of his life. 

1.00 Doug's Running Injury

9.05 Diagnosing yourself over the internet (bad idea)

10.13 The conversation with the surgeonm11.50  The aftermath of the surgery

15.55 Doug's stab at some overall perspective

20.26 Coping and not coping with health issues and injuries

In this episode Doug and Chris deal with a crucial question for the summer months: What makes for a great vacation? It turns out that taking a vacation isn't as simple as it sounds, especially when kids are involved. Are vacations just a break or can they be transformative to your life? Should you deal with work email while on vacation? How often do you get really good ideas about the rest of your life while on vacation? How important is it to get to all 50 states in the U.S.? (A subtle dig by Doug.) Are the best vacations the ones where you stay in one place or the ones where you move around? And what is your idea of the ideal vacation? 

3.30 Is reading work email while on vacation advisable?  

9.30 Should you go new places or go where you've been before?

10.20 The All 50 States Contest

14.52 How much should you plan your day-to-day itinerary?

18.20 The Big Life Questions Show Vacation Endorsement

Age tends to creep up on us. Then again, there seem to be some subtle (and not so subtle) signs when other people think you are old. In this episode, Chris and Doug explore those signs along with questions such as:

• Why do doctors like to tell you that "it's just wear and tear"?

Our cohosts also talk about they keys to healthy aging.

0.25 Update on Chris's medical mystery

5.30 When the doc says "it's just wear and tear"

6.30 Is age just a number?

9.00 The intelligence that seems to get better as you age

15.30 Mortality and Immortality?

18.15 Healthy aging

Everyone knows a narcissist. That would be someone who needs to be the center of attention and whose own needs dominate their lives, and can dominate the lives of those around them. In this episode, Chris and Doug explore the role of narcissists in their own lives and how they've attempted to deal with them. The cohosts also consider the role of social media in enabling narcissism. And, of course, it's hard to discuss narcissism these days without referencing the current occupant of the White House.

1:29 Dealing with narcissists

7:27 No statute of limitations on grievances

9:28 The ultimate sign that someone is a narcissist

13:20 Working for a narcissist

16:43 The Narcissist in the White House

20:30 Social media and narcissism

22:05 The reporter's instinct