The Most Fascinating Podcast in the World

Rodney Schultz has lived multiple careers inside one remarkable life - contractor, executive, operator, author, and quiet industry transformer.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Rodney reflects on growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri, in a fourth-generation electrical contracting family shaped by grit, discipline, and Depression-era work ethic. He shares how a promising football career ended abruptly with a devastating neck injury, forcing a hard pivot away from sports and toward business.

Rodney walks through his unconventional path…from nuclear engineering to business school, from family enterprise to major commercial projects across the country. Along the way, he found himself at the center of some of the construction industry’s biggest shifts, including early lean production adoption, large-scale consolidations, and operational turnarounds that reshaped how contractors think about efficiency.

He also dives into the behind-the-scenes realities of leadership: shutting down failing companies, balancing family life with constant travel, seizing opportunities before feeling “ready,” and why mentorship and continuous improvement matter more than titles.

Jeffrey Zorn and Pat DiCerbo go way back...Union College rugby days, decades of friendship, and a whole lot of life lived in between.Jeff opens up about growing up in the Bronx and Long Island, including an early childhood incident rooted in anti-Semitism that helped push his family out of the city. He shares the complicated story of his biological father, being adopted by his stepfather, and the emotional realization (years later) that what he wanted wasn’t paperwork, it was for his dad to fight for him. He also describes the surreal twist of fate: his biological father and stepfather died on the exact same day, forcing him to write two eulogies in the same stretch of grief.From there, the conversation shifts to the lighter (and classic) stories: high school football glory in the middle of a legendary losing streak, getting fired for being too honest, and the chaos and camaraderie of Union rugby.Then it turns serious again - Jeff’s career path into sales and Northwestern Mutual, and how he thinks about success: goals don’t move him; expectations do. He talks candidly about feeling a little uninspired lately, and how mountaineering became his way of proving something to himself, while also creating deep bonding experiences with his kids.Jeff shares his path from local hikes to major climbs like Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, and Rainier, the brutal reality of carrying 100+ pounds of gear, and why he refuses to use porters or supplemental oxygen.

Simon Balint is an entrepreneur, world traveler, and builder...of companies, experiences, and second chances for old places.In this conversation, Simon shares how a childhood spent on a rundown farm outside Albany shaped his independence, curiosity, and work ethic. At 17, with $3,000 in his pocket, he deferred college and took a one-way ticket to Europe, backpacking through Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the collapsing Soviet Union, China, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Japan in a journey that would permanently alter how he views risk, opportunity, and life.Simon recounts bribes paid in five-dollar bills, nights sleeping in construction sites, months riding the Trans-Siberian Railway, and working odd jobs across Asia just to keep moving. He later connects those formative experiences to his career: building a global emergency-response simulation company from scratch, selling complex systems worldwide, and eventually returning home to restore historic buildings in Troy, New York.This episode is about curiosity over comfort, calculated risk over fear, and why staying still can be just as dangerous as moving forward.

Daniel Byrne is a Johns Hopkins professor and one of the earliest pioneers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, with more than 40 years of experience inside the medical system.In this conversation, Daniel shares how his early work helped make surgery safer for older patients long before AI was a buzzword…and why today’s AI moment risks being driven more by hype than results. He explains what most people misunderstand about AI in medicine, why many tools fail at the last mile, and how rigorous testing, similar to how we evaluate new drugs, is the only way AI can truly improve patient outcomes.Daniel breaks down how AI can move healthcare from reactive to proactive: preventing blood clots, postpartum hemorrhage, missed cancers, and other costly medical errors before they happen. He also addresses private equity, administrative bloat, and why evidence, not marketing, will determine which hospitals win in the next decade.The conversation closes with a thoughtful detour into the American Dream, happiness, contribution, and why progress, not possessions, is what actually sustains fulfillment.

John Robinson was born a quadruple congenital amputee, and from the start his life required problem-solving most of us never think about. But this conversation isn’t about limitation...it’s about the way he built a full, grounded, meaningful life in a world not designed for him.John talks about growing up in a small New York town, summers on his grandparents’ dairy farm, and the role his parents and community played in shaping his outlook. He shares what discrimination looked like in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, how he taught himself independence one task at a time, and what it felt like to be turned down for job after job despite being qualified.We cover the break that finally launched his TV career, the persistence behind his sales success, meeting Andrea in Toronto, raising three children, and why he ultimately founded a company focused on employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Toward the end, we talk legacy, identity, and how he hopes to be remembered by the people who knew him best.It’s an honest, thoughtful look at a life shaped by challenge, family, humor, and hard-won perspective...told by someone who has lived every word of it.

Rosannah Harding is a New York City architect who started college at 12, entered architecture school at 14, and never really took her foot off the gas.

In this episode, she talks about growing up in a big military family, getting homeschooled, testing into college early, and fighting her way into Auburn’s architecture program and later Cooper Union. She walks through working at Diller Scofidio + Renfro on The Shed at Hudson Yards, what it’s like to take a building from model to jobsite, and why most of architecture is disciplined “drudgery” with flashes of payoff.

We also get into seeing in 3D, why drawing is still a weapon in a digital world, what it really takes to ship big projects, and how she balances running her own studio with doing hard, interesting work that actually gets built.

In this episode of The Most Fascinating Podcast in the World, host Pat DiCerbo sits down with Kevin Riley — a powerhouse executive, athlete, hunter, and lifelong learner whose story spans decades of leadership and personal growth. From his early football days in Albany to climbing the corporate ranks at KeyBank and ultimately leading First Interstate Bank in Montana, Kevin shares the grit and mindset that shaped his journey.

He opens up about working under his legendary father, recovering from career heartbreak, learning humility through coaching, and living with a “failure is not an option” attitude. Kevin also talks about life after banking — from fixing boats and joining a garden club to lessons learned hunting mountain lions and raising turkeys on his hobby farm. This is a masterclass in leadership, resilience, and redefining success… both in business and at home.

In this deeply moving and inspiring episode, Lenee Koch, Business Development Leader at Hensel Phelps, shares her extraordinary journey through sport, family, loss, and leadership.A Colorado native and the first gymnast at the University of Denver to ever score a perfect 10, Lenee reflects on how the discipline of gymnastics shaped her mindset and career in construction - a field she was drawn to through her father’s entrepreneurial path from immigrant cook to electrical contractor.

She opens up about building her own business with her brother, finding her calling at Hensel Phelps, and how collaboration, humility, and integrity drive everything she does. Lenee also shares her family’s most personal chapter: the story of her daughter Kaydee, who battled Ewing’s sarcoma with courage and love, and whose spirit lives on through Project Sol Flower (https://www.projectsolflower.org/), a foundation granting bucket-list dreams to young adults with cancer.

Lenee reflects on resilience, gratitude, and how to find light in the hardest moments. Her story reminds us that joy can be found in the smallest things, that grief can coexist with hope, and that perseverance is its own quiet form of heroism.If you’re moved by stories of faith, family, and finding meaning through adversity - this episode will stay with you long after it ends.

Mark Walsh’s path reads like a roadmap of modern media and entrepreneurship: an idyllic childhood outside Baltimore, early TV work in West Virginia, a formative stint at HBO (helping launch Cinemax), founding one of the first database marketing firms for cable operators, taking early e-commerce bets, and later joining AOL during the internet’s explosive growth. He went on to Harvard Business School, launched companies, moved into venture and board work (including the Bipartisan Policy Center and initiatives to expand capital into underrepresented communities), and still makes time for family, reunion planning, and mentoring law & business students.In this conversation with Pat DiCerbo you’ll hear: - How growing up in Ruxton and theatrical parents shaped Mark’s curiosity. - Wild TV stories: anchoring live news with no teleprompter and “making stuff up” on air. - Behind the scenes at HBO in the early cable era - and the mentors who mattered. - What Harvard Business School’s brutal first year taught him (and why the second year was different). - Early database marketing and the birth of online shopping on platforms like AOL and CompuServe. - Personal political memories: Camp David, Bill Clinton, and what “access” really looks like. - Why he invests in early startups now, and his work to get capital into under-funded communities. - Two rules he shares with students: resist fear, and value your time. - The role of friendships, bipartisan work, and how to keep people together in polarized times.

Professor Stephen Berk of Union College sits down with host Pat DiCerbo to trace a life in history… from Bensonhurst childhood memories of FDR’s death to a career spent teaching Russian, Jewish, Holocaust, Middle Eastern, and European history. Berk shares the Madison High School culture that produced Nobel laureates, senators, and a young Bernie Sanders… his path through Penn, Chicago, and Columbia… and why his dissertation on Admiral Kolchak still shapes how he reads Putin and today’s Russia.They tackle tough, current questions with a historian’s perspective: China’s long memory, Russian siege mentality, the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism, and how incendiary language warps public life. Berk also recounts a viral campus moment after Oct. 7 and why he remains optimistic about America.Highlights: - Brooklyn at its zenith… and a 5-year-old’s memory of FDR’s passing - Madison High School’s “drive”… Schumer, Sanders, Blumberg, Ginsburg - Penn to Chicago to Columbia… and the Kolchak thesis in Siberia - Why Dewey stayed quiet on the broken Japanese code in ’44 - China’s century of humiliation… history towering over the present - Explaining Putin without exonerating him - The Oct. 7 aftermath on campus… lines, labels, and leadership - Why words matter… and why Berk is still bullish on America - Reading as a civic duty… and owning our biases