The Sydcast

Episode Summary

Chuck Blanchard gives us a primer on the relationship between the military and politics by recounting his experience as General Counsel of the Air Force and Army and almost becoming a Congressman. He speaks candidly about being a clerk of the Supreme Court under Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and how the Court functions from an insider's view. If you’ve ever wondered how the government really works then don’t miss Chuck Blanchard on The Sydcast.  

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Charles Blanchard

Charles Blanchard, who previously served as the General Counsel of the Air Force and the Army, works with clients in the contracting and national security communities, drawing upon his experience in government and private practice, providing unique insights into doing business with the federal government. He represents major US and foreign defense and aerospace companies on a wide range of national security and government contracts issues, including bid protests, transactions, internal investigations, cybersecurity and sensitive national security issues. This has included representing several companies in bid protest matters, advising companies on the unique issues raised in acquiring companies that do highly classified work for the government, bid protests, data rights disputes, Trade Agreements Act and Buy America advice, suspension and debarment defense, CFIUS and global foreign investment review advice, and advice on compliance with US government cybersecurity and supply chain requirements.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Blanchard served as General Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer for the US Air Force (2009-2013). In this role, he provided oversight and guidance for legal advice provided by more than 2,600 Air Force military and civilian lawyers worldwide. In addition, he served as General Counsel at the US Department of the Army (1999-2001). Mr. Blanchard's other government experience includes serving as Chief Counsel to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (1997-1999), and as a two-term member of the Arizona State Senate. In 2003, he served as Interim Homeland Security Director for former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. Mr. Blanchard was also formerly a partner in private practice where he focused on complex commercial litigation, antitrust, state constitutional law, and election law.  

Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, where he graduated first in his class and served as an Articles Editor for the Harvard Law Review, Mr. Blanchard served as a law clerk for DC Circuit Judge Harry Edwards (1985-1986) as well as US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (1986-1987). Mr. Blanchard also holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the relationship between the military, political parties, and their appointees and how things aren’t always what they seem to the public.
• Strategies employed by political parties to solidify power and how those machinations can be used for good.  
• Benefits of being a law clerk for Sandra Day O’Connor, the mentorship she provided, and her views on the role of the Supreme Court. 
• Secrets behind how the Supreme Court decides which cases to hear, how decisions are made, the role of the Chief Justice, and how personalities affect working relationships.
• Details on the impact to the military justice system caused by the Executive Order voiding military convictions and the potential long term fallout to military justice.

Quotes from the show: 

• “One of the great wonders of the United States military is that they truly are non-partisan and they truly do respect political appointees.” – Chuck Blanchard
• On Justice O’Connor hiring law clerks non-ideologically: “It made her a better justice having people on the right and the left of her to keep her grounded in the arguments she would face.” – Chuck Blanchard
• On Justice O’Connor’s approach to rendering decisions: “She had a very pragmatic approach to the law, realizing that people rely on [those] decisions and it’s better off not making grand pronouncements that are beyond what you need to say to resolve that case.” – Chuck Blanchard
• On politics in the Supreme Court: “It’s less Democrat and Republican and more different judicial philosophies.” – Chuck Blanchard
• “The entire country has become more polarized in almost any dimension you want to look at.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On how the Supreme Court decides which cases to hear: “In some sense, what’s happening in the larger culture can have a big impact on what the [Supreme] Court decides to take or not take.” – Chuck Blanchard
• “The trick is to try to write an opinion that will meet the needs of all of the majority.” – Chuck Blanchard
• “There are norms in international law that this country, not only has agreed to, we were advocates for creating them in the first place [to establish] how we fight war.” – Chuck Blanchard
• On the effects of President Trump’s military intervention: “The disrespect that was shown to the military justice system will hurt the military.” – Chuck Blanchard
• On President Trump voiding the convictions of members of the military: “A code has been broken here, one that really should not have been broken.” – Syd Finkelstein 

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Charles Blanchard 

Website: Arnold & Porter

LinkedIn: Charles Blanchard

Twitter: @FmrAirForceGC

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

Dan Richards is the guy to call if you’re stuck – in another country, in a ravine with no one to help, or in a medical emergency. His company, Global Rescue, does just that. Where did the idea come from, why did he bite on it, how did he build it, and how has the whole thing affected his life? Stories from the front line of rescue, on the Sydcast.

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Dan Richards

Mr. Richards has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Global Rescue since he founded the company in 2004. He also serves as the President of Crisis Services Company, a Vermont-based captive insurance company. In these roles, he has implemented and led risk management and crisis response services for hundreds of organizations during thousands of events worldwide. Mr. Richards has been a featured speaker on CNN, Fox News, NPR, and other major media outlets regarding crisis response, mitigation and travel risk management topics. Prior to founding Global Rescue, Mr. Richards spent a decade in the private equity and financial services industries. He previously worked at the $1.3 billion private equity affiliate of Thomas Weisel Partners and in various positions at Thomas Cressey Equity Partners, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. Over the last two decades, he has been involved in financings and private equity investments for more than 30 companies. Mr. Richards is a graduate of Middlebury College where he played football, rugby, and was a competitive powerlifter. He received his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. He currently serves on the board of Global Wildlife Conservation, a science-based environmental conservation organization.

Global Rescue

Global Rescue has been a leader and pioneer in the travel services industry since their founding in 2004. They provide the finest integrated medical, security, travel risk and crisis management services available anywhere, delivered by our teams of critical care paramedics, physicians, nurses and military special operations veterans. Our medical advisory and evacuation services include exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations, Elite Medical Group and Partners HealthCare. Their track record has made them the chosen provider to government agencies and some of the world’s largest companies, universities, nonprofits and tour operators. The mission is simple - to be there when it matters most.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on creating the Global Rescue organization, their mission, and recruiting the right people.
• Benefits of a Global Rescue membership and what happens when you need to be rescued.
• Details behind different rescues, including technical aspects of operations.  
• How to become a member of Global Rescue, different memberships they offer, and the types of members they have.
• Strategies on how to be a safe traveller no matter where you travel.  

Quotes from the show: 

• On the unrest in Chile: “It’s another example, in America we don’t know anything that’s going on in the rest of the world.”  – Syd Finkelstein
• “We respond when people are having, in many instances, the worst day of their lives and we try to make it better.”  – Dan Richards
• On meeting with rescues: “That is a special and wonderful part of my job. And, honestly, one of  the best parts of my job.” – Dan Richards
• Referring to one of their rescuees: “He used to call me on the anniversary of his rescue to thank me and just remind me that what I’m doing is important and I need to keep doing it.” – Dan Richards
• On gratitude: “Of course, people appreciate when they are appreciated, but when you share that gratitude with others, you yourself get so much from that.”  – Syd Finkelstein
• “Basically, during a crisis you need to understand what is happening to you or  to your organization so providing that situational awareness is incredibly important.” – Dan Richards
• “While the world has shrunk, or feels like it has shrunk for many of us, it is still a remarkably large, diverse, and sometimes difficult place.” – Dan Richards 
• On receiving government help as an individual: “Sometimes, people make the assumption … that if something really bad happens they’re (the government) going to try to do something … but they’re not set up for that.”  – Syd Finkelstein
• “It’s the worst part of our job, when we have to communicate to a family member that their loved one is not going to make it.” – Dan Richards
• On travelling: “The places that, previously, we might have considered safe or benign from a risk or security standpoint are no longer that way.” – Dan Richards

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Global Rescue

Website: Global Rescue

Facebook: Global Rescue

Twitter: @GlobalRescue

Instagram: @global_rescue

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

Why does a kid just out of college decide to walk across America? Andrew Forsthoefel shares his unusual journey of discovery – what he did and how he did it – unveiling a family history he had refused to come to terms with until deep into his walk. In this episode of the Sydcast, a story of forgiveness, love and hate, and how telling a compelling story can transform culture.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Andrew Forsthoefel

Andrew Forsthoefel is a writer, speaker, and peace activist living in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts. After graduating from Middlebury College, he was ready to begin his adult life, but didn’t know how. So he decided to begin a cross-country quest for guidance, during which time he would try to see everyone as his teacher, worthy of being listened to.

After his year-long walk across America, Andrew began telling the stories of his transformative journey. He co-produced a radio documentary about this project which was featured on "This American Life," and his memoir, Walking to Listen, tells the full tale and is now being assigned as required reading by schools and libraries across America.

Andrew now writes and speaks about the discipline of trustworthy listening and its role in the work of reconciliation, transformational resistance, and peace-making at the personal and collective levels. He is a guest teacher at high schools and universities across America, offering workshops that train participants in the work of becoming a trustworthy listener. His work is a contribution to the collective project of learning how to be alive together with love, by listening—united by our diversity, empowered by sharing the unavoidable vulnerability of being human, and freed by opening up to ourselves and one another.

Insights from this episode:

• Benefits of being able to relate to your past in a constructive way.
• Details on how being alone forced a change in Andrew’s perception of life and how he relates to others.
• Strategies on how to make a journey for yourself.
• Benefits of learning lessons when they are presented and using them to better yourself.
• How to transform a culture by changing the dynamic of how power is perceived.

Quotes from the show: 

• “It became clear that my understanding of what deep, trustworthy listening actually was, was quite limited and therefore my ability to do it was also limited.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• “The journey, on foot, all the way across America was kind of my apprenticeship to actually finding out what a life can become if one is listening first.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• “In some senses you can conceptualize the college journey as a four year coming of age ritual.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• On beginning his walk: “To set out into the unknown, totally unsure of what’s to come, but entirely sure that I was on my life’s songline.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• “We have, in some ways, been culturally trained to be afraid of the unknown.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• “The idea of forgiving people is part of multiple religions for good reason, but it can be really hard to do that.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I think forgiveness is sort of a mystery as to how it happens.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• On forgiveness: “Intention is not the same as action.” – Syd Finkelstein
• When someone offers you a gift: “I have come to believe there is a responsibility to receive that (gift).  It is a way of saying to someone that: You have gifts to give.” – Andrew Forsthoefel
• “Sometimes you tell the deepest truths to people you don’t know because it is so much safer.” – Syd Finkelstein

Resources:

This American Life: Hit the Road

Amazon: Book - Walking to Listen 

Amazon: Audiobook: Walking to Listen

Audiocast: Living to Listen

Podcast: Living to Listen

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Andrew Forsthoefel

Website: Living to Listen

Facebook: Andrew Foersthoefel

Twitter: @forstho

Instagram: @forstho

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

Alice Chun is an entrepreneur driven to solve a problem that needed solving: how to provide light to people who have no electricity. Motivated to help in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Alice changed her career and her life. In this episode of the Sydcast, listen to Alice describe what she did, and felt, and how that momentous occasion when she decided to do something put in motion a series of events that led to Nigeria, Syria, Hillary Clinton, and a start-up called Solight Design.

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Alice Chun

Alice Chun is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Solight Design and the inventor of the SolarPuff. Alice was a Professor of Design and Material Culture at Parsons the New School for Design. She was formerly the Director of the Materials Resource Lab at the New School and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and at the University of Pennsylvania. She has built award-winning community outreach projects in Philadelphia and her work has been published in the New York Times, Architectural Record, Dwell, and the Journal of Architectural Education. In 2011, Alice founded Material Intelligence Project, Inc. (MIP), renamed to Solight Design, Inc. with Stacy Kelly as co-founder to market her SolarPuff solar lanterns.  Solight now markets several flat-pack solar lights and is working to provide solar innovations to those who need it most.

Her book entitled Ground Rules in Humanitarian Design stresses the importance of design principles for the long-term sustainability.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the living conditions and the people in Haiti and Nigeria that drove Alice to raise resources to help provide a better quality of life. 
• Benefits of being a for-profit company versus being a non-profit company.
• Strategies involved in dealing with various NGOs (Non-government Organizations) and other organizations while dealing with politics and corruption in pursuit of relief efforts.
• Details on the creation of Solight products and the attributes that make them unique.
• Strategies on being a successful entrepreneur and staffing talented people. 

Quotes from the show:

• “It is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences to see your child's lips turning blue; it is an incredibly mind blowing experience.” – Alice Chun
• On Alice struggling to begin a business: “There’s a lot of things in life, I think, like that.  You just do it, you put your head down and you do it, but when you look back and you realize how incredibly challenging … you may not have wanted to do it.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On not knowing the difficulties that she faced: “I was lucky that I was stupid because if I knew everything that would happen, it might have deterred me.” – Alice Chun
• “We consider ourselves a for-purpose company instead of a for-profit company.” – Alice Chun
• On turning her lab into a solar studio: “I realized there would be a purpose and that purpose would be to solve problems and it turned out that those problems were world problems, not just problems in Haiti.” – Alice Chun
• On staffing companies: “Talent is everywhere and it requires, I think, people to be entrepreneurial in looking for talent.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “What’s really important is to be able to hone talent and make it productive for your company.” – Alice Chun
• “The whole idea of resourcefulness and being able to creatively work your way through a problem is a talent that I think is so valuable and that’s what I look for a lot when I meet people.” – Alice Chun
• “Just being able to trust your intuition is quite a revelation within the context of becoming a successful entrepreneur.” – Alice Chun
• On growing up poor: “I became a fighter, but I didn’t fight with my fists, I fought with the light of my imagination and the light of my heart.” – Alice Chun
• “Careers are organic.  You go from one thing to the other and it’s not a straight path.” – Syd Finkelstein

Resources

Bill Clinton and Mayor Yulin Cruz after Hurricane Maria.

Mayor Yulin Cruz handed out the first batch of lights after Hurricane Maria.

Malala speaks at UN with Solight Design lights.

The Solight Design story.

TEDxTalk

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Alice Chun

Website: Solight Design

Facebook: Solight Design

Twitter: Solight Design

Instagram: Solight Design

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

 Episode Summary

In a seven-year period Jerry Zaks won four Tony Awards for best director. But he wasn’t supposed to even be on Broadway. Getting there meant disappointing his parents, unleashing an innate competitiveness to be the best, and taking giant risks that many others wouldn’t. In our conversation on the Sydcast, Jerry is candid, introspective, and hilarious as he provides a roadmap for young actors and directors – indeed, for anyone crafting a career – by sharing his journey, then and now. 

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Jerry Zaks

JERRY ZAKS was most recently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning production of Hello, Dolly!, Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower, and A Bronx Tale: The Musical.  Mr. Zaks has directed more than 30 productions in New York.  He has received four Tony Awards and eight Tony Award nominations.  He's also received four Drama Desks, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, and an Obie.  He directed the award-winning film Marvin’s Room, starring Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton; and Who Do You Love, which was featured in the Toronto Film Festival.  Mr. Zaks is a founding member, and serves on the board of the Ensemble Studio Theater.  He received the SDC’s George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1967, received an MFA from Smith College in 1969, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Dartmouth in 1999.  He is a 2013 inductee to the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Insights from this episode:

• Details from Jerry’s early acting days from Dartmouth College to New York City. 
• Benefits of being an actor before becoming a director. 
• Details on being a director; the best and the worst parts of the job.    
• The overall secret to being successful in any endeavor you choose.
• Strategies of different productions he has worked on and the challenges and exaltations that come with each show.

Quotes from the show: 

• On seeing his first musical: “I was floored by the joy that the experience generated; the laughter, the lights, the music, all of it just transported me in a way that got my attention seriously for the first time in my life.” – Jerry Zaks
• “It’s impossible to overstate what an awakening going to Dartmouth (College) was.” – Jerry Zaks
• On getting his career started in New York City: “One of the things I had going in my favor was ferocious determination and relentless drive to get myself noticed.  I didn’t want to fail.” – Jerry Zaks
• “You get an opportunity to do well; you get more opportunities.” – Jerry Zaks
• On auditioning: “You have to distinguish yourself.” – Jerry Zaks
• “You can call yourself an actor, but unless you’re actually acting, you feel less than whole.” – Jerry Zaks
• “It’s amazing how quickly you can get credibility as a director if something you do goes well.” – Jerry Zaks
• On the job of directing: “You’re the CEO of the show.”– Syd Finkelstein
• His advice to young people in the industry: “You’ve got to work.  You’ve got to work.” – Jerry Zaks
• “I’ve rarely worked with anybody that’s a big name that isn’t a tremendously hard worker.” – Jerry Zaks
• “I think people have very short memories; what they remember is your last successful show.” – Jerry Zaks
• “It’s hard to describe the sound of an audience that’s been thrilled.” – Jerry Zaks

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jerry Zaks

Twitter: @JerryZaks

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Sydcast, Syd and Adam Gopnik recall the wonders and the tribulations of living in Paris in the pre-9/11 era, the drama of moving to New York City, and what makes these two cities the world capitals they are, no matter how different. Adam talks about writing books, being a writer for The New Yorker magazine, and how the art and writing industries have changed. In typical Adam Gopnik fashion, parenting, marriage, capitalism, education and more are also touched on throughout the episode.  

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Adam Gopnik

A staff writer for the New Yorker since 1986, Adam Gopnik was born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal. He received his BA. in Art History from McGill University, before completing his graduate work at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. His first essay in The New Yorker, "Quattrocento Baseball" appeared in May of 1986 and he served as the magazine’s art critic from 1987 to 1995. 

His 2006 book, Through The Children’s Gate: A Home In New York collected and expanded his essays from the previous five years about life in New York and about raising two children in the shadow of many kinds of sadness. It includes the much-anthologized essays “Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli,” about his daughter Olivia’s imaginary friend, who is always too busy to play with her, and “Last of the Metrozoids,” about the life and last year of Kirk Varnedoe. In 2009, Gopnik completed Angels And Ages: A Short Book About Lincoln, Darwin And Modern Life, which became a national best-seller and which the Telegraph in London called “the essay every essayist would like to have written.”

In addition to his work as a writer, Adam has been an active lecturer. He has given lectures and readings in almost every major American city, and some smaller ones, too, from Jackson, Mississippi to Seattle, Washington.

He lives in New York with his wife, filmmaker Martha Parker, and their two children, Luke Auden and Olivia Esme Claire.

 Insights from this episode:

• Comparisons between business, bureaucracy, and life in America versus France.  
• Opinions on capitalism’s effect on consumers and producers.
• How living and parenting changed in New York City after the September 11, 2001 terror attack.
• What led Adam to become a writer and what it is like to be a writer for The New Yorker magazine.
• Reasons why Adam writes about his life and family and why it resonates with readers.

Quotes from the show:

• On fake empathy in business: “At least the French experience is genuinely human, if grouchy.” – Adam Gopnik
• “The difficulties of starting a business in France are often overwhelming.” – Adam Gopnik
• “In every economy we have a role as both a consumer and producer. America tends to identify with the role of consumer … in France, everybody identifies as their roles as producers.” – Adam Gopnik
• “My wife has a beautiful capacity for connecting with people.” – Adam Gopnik
• On Amazon’s business model: “It is the capitalist system in place and it has lead to a tremendous amount of inequality, but, also, it has lead to the ability of an Amazon (style business) to innovate in untold ways. ” – Syd Finkelstein
• “The coming of digitization has not destroyed the book business. People still buy hardcover books.” – Adam Gopnik
• “Any capitalist economy, the American one in particular, is designed to favor the interests of consumers over the persistence of producers.” – Adam Gopnik
• Advice from his father: “Never underestimate the other person’s insecurity.” – Adam Gopnik
• On the reaction to the September 11, 2001 terror event: “The auto-immune reaction to that one terrorist event has done us infinitely more harm, most visibly and notably in the war in Iraq, than everything else.” – Adam Gopnik
• On living in New York City, New York after September 11, 2001: “We had to raise our kids in the shadow of that fear.” – Adam Gopnik
• On writing the Talk of the Town section of The New Yorker magazine: “Learning how to listen, learning how to observe, that was the great bootcamp of my life as a writer.” – Adam Gopnik
• On writing about his children now that they are adults: “Their story belongs to them now; the only story I can really write is about missing them.” – Adam Gopnik

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Adam Gopnik

Website: adamgopnik.com

Twitter: @adamgopnik

Lucky! Music by David Shire/Lyrics by Adam Gopnik. From the musical comedy "Table". Sung by Liz Callaway & Alice Ripley

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

The creator of Seinfeld’s theme music, Jonathan Wolff was a child prodigy, trained in classical and jazz, working 3 jobs as a musician and composer while still in high school in Louisville, Kentucky, and the guy who composed music for dozens of primetime TV shows for decades. Along the way Jonathan amassed a wealth of stories and insights he shares on this episode of the Sydcast – about each of the Seinfeld characters, about Larry David, and about what a career in entertainment really looks like. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Jonathan Wolff

Acclaimed musician Jonathan Wolff created the music for 75 primetime network series and is best known for his iconic Seinfeld music. Now retired, he thrills concert and lecture audiences with wonderful insider stories and Q/A about his remarkable Hollywood career including yada yada of working with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.

While best known for creating the theme and music for 9 seasons of “Seinfeld”, Wolff was also the composer for about 75 other TV series including: “Will & Grace”, “Who’s The Boss?”, “Married…with Children”, “Saved by the Bell – The College Years”, “The Good Life”, and “Reba”, racking up an astounding 44 original themes.

Today, Wolff lectures to music and law students at universities throughout the United States about how his understanding of business strategy and the intricacies of copyright law that shaped his life and colorful career.

Insights from this episode:

• The benefits of working with Larry David on Seinfeld, the outside-the-box thinking that created the iconic theme song, and the fight to get network acceptance.
• The benefits of mentorship and how mentorship from world-class jazz master, Jamey Aebersold, changed his life.  
• How to turn being indispensable into a career.
• The benefits of hard work and putting a business plan in writing.
• How to become a better closer by developing better relationships through empathy.  

Quotes from the show:

• On getting the job on Seinfeld: “My most important asset was relationships.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On the difficulties of getting the show picked up: “Seinfeld was a new species of TV series. It was a show about nothing.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On Julia Louis Dreyfuss: “She is so talented, so smart, so well trained, and just a hard worker that her success has endured...she’s fearless.” – Jonathan Wolff
• Regarding working so much during that time: “So much time and distance has passed since those Camelot years of working on Seinfeld that now I view it from a different perspective. Now, I watch the episodes and I’m a fan of Seinfeld.” – Jonathan Wolff
• On why he loves jazz: “It’s always a moving platform, the landscape changes all the time.” – Jonathan Wolff
• Speaking about Jonathan’s musical training: “You were building this combustion engine, day-after-day, with all kinds of musical influences, not just one influence, but all types of genres.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On beginning his career as a musical handyman: “I did anything people asked me to do, the studios were happy to have acquired another swiss-army, multi-purpose utility tool for their musical chores.” – Jonathan Wolff
• “You’re not afraid to work hard and you’re not afraid to take on whatever job there is to take on.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On being one of the top composers in Los Angeles at the time: “I was not the best composer in LA (Los Angeles), I was probably the best closer.”– Jonathan Wolff
• On what he would say to his twenty year old self: “You need a business plan.” – Jonathan Wolff

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jonathan Wolff

 Website: Seinfeld Music Guy

Facebook: Jonathan Wolff

Twitter: @seinfeldmusic

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com

Episode Summary

Few modern writers have captured the zeitgeist of the era as eloquently as Jodi Picoult. Small Great Things, A Spark of Light, and more than a dozen others – powerful books with front-page themes such as racism and abortion that touch a nerve, and keep readers turning the pages. Jodi talks about it all, her early years, why she chooses to write what she writes, how she does it, why she loves her readers, and what it felt like the first time she hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is the #1 bestselling author of twenty-five novels including My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, The Storyteller, Leaving Time, the acclaimed #1 bestseller, Small Great Things, which explored the issues of power, privilege and race, and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Picoult's most recent novel, A SPARK OF LIGHT, published on October 2, 2018, was her tenth consecutive instant #1 New York Times bestseller, and was praised as “Picoult at her fearless best” by the Washington Post.

Picoult’s books have been translated into thirty-four languages in thirty-five countries. Four novels – The Pact, Plain Truth, The Tenth Circle, and Salem Falls – have been made into television movies. My Sister’s Keeper was a film released from New Line Cinema, with Nick Cassavetes directing and Cameron Diaz starring. SMALL GREAT THINGS has been optioned for motion picture adaptation by Amblin Entertainment and is set to star Viola Davis and Julia Roberts. Picoult’s two Young Adult novels, Between The Lines and Off The Page, co-written with her daughter Samantha Van Leer, have been adapted and developed by the authors into a musical entitled Between The Lines which had its world premiere on September 2017 at the Kansas City Repertory Theater and is expected to premiere Off-Broadway in Summer 2019.

Insights from this episode:

• The benefits of being born white, overcoming white privilege, and what you can do to stand up for racial justice.
• The emotional toll of writing a book on abortion and the difficulties involved in researching the topic.
• Details on her writing process, where her ideas come from, and what happens when the story changes.
• How her community of dedicated readers was formed and the challenges of presenting yourself as technology changes combined with the rise of social media.
• How storytelling has evolved with self-publishing, and the benefits of having an agent and editor.

Quotes from the show:

• Referring to Jodi Picoult: “You are legendary for the work that you do.” – Syd Finkelstein
• Regarding writing a book on racism: “As a white woman I am never going to be able to tell a person of color what they experience, but I can tell you what other white people think.” – Jodi Picoult
• On where her ideas come from: “The things that keep me up at night, the things I’m worried about, and it could be something that I’m worried about as a wife, as a woman, as an American. It’s the questions I don’t have the answers to, that I still need to figure out.” – Jodi Picoult
• On why she made the decision to not publish a book she had written: “I think my readers deserve to get great from me, at whatever moment of my life I’m at. ” – Jodi Picoult
• “I’ve been very fortunate to have amazing readers who have stuck with me no matter what I wanted to write because I don’t write about easy stuff.” – Jodi Picoult
• “I still think that my novels defy categorization.” – Jodi Picoult
• On the reality of being an overnight sensation: “They don’t know what blood, sweat, and tears that are behind it. ” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I love going out on a book tour and meeting my readers. I love putting on the show when it’s time to talk about a book.” – Jodi Picoult
• “You, as a reader, bring things to a book, that change your experience of the book and that really makes it personal for you.” – Jodi Picoult
• On the rise of self-publication: “Sometimes instant isn’t best.” – Jodi Picoult

What Jodi is Reading:

The World That We Knew - Alice Hoffman

The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ying

Isabel Allende

Margaret Atwood

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Guest contact info

Website: Jodi Picoult

Twitter: @jodipicoult

Facebook: Jodi Picoult

Instagram: @jodipicoult

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

A US marine for decades, Jack O’Toole did what comes naturally to him – he became a leader, an innovator, an entrepreneur. In this episode of the Sydcast, we hear Jack share his story about life in the military and how he managed to navigate around rules meant to stifle creativity to become what most of us never thought possible – an entrepreneur in the military. All the way to his current world as co-founder and president of an innovative clean air tech firm snuffing out tobacco smoke where there shouldn’t be any.

Syd Finkelstein

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Jack O’Toole

Jack is founder and President of FreshAir Sensor LLC. FreshAir’s mission is improving lives through novel sensor technology. FreshAir has developed patented, novel sensors which detect nicotine and marijuana. This is the only technology available that can detect airborne concentrations of these chemicals. The sensors are used in a device that communicates over Wi-Fi to the FreshAir platform. When smoke is detected the system immediately notifies clients that smoking is taking place in a prohibited area and then generates a time-coded chart of the substance detected, providing scientific proof that unauthorized smoking has occurred. FreshAir has also developed a sensor for vaping.

Jack is a graduate of the Tuck School of Business and an Eagle Scout from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He is a retired Marine who served primarily in specialized units and Special Operations. While serving in the military Jack commanded six units and deployed to five contents. He was part of a small team that developed the Marine component of Special Operations Command (MARSOC) which now has over 3000 people. He then served as the Operations Officer of a 2500-person Marine Expeditionary Unit and directed part of the relief efforts following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. 

Jack and his family live in Hanover, NH.  

Insights from this episode:

• Details of Jack’s military experience and entrepreneurship efforts within the military.
• Problems and benefits resulting from the creation of the Marine component of Special Operations Command, MARSOC.
• The influence of military service on entrepreneurship and leadership in business.
• Top reasons for going to business school and the benefits of learning how to lead people in business.
• The realization of a consumer demand that led to the FreshAir start-up.

Quotes from the show:

• “People are only going to do what you force them, compel them to do and measure what they have actually done, or what they want to do, whichever is greater.” – Jack O’Toole
• “In a start-up you are trying to move people from apathy to at least mild interest.” – Jack O’Toole
• “I felt like a two-year, full immersion at business school would be how I would learn the most about the U.S. business culture and be able to operate fluidly the way I did in my old culture.” – Jack O’Toole
• On choosing a second career: “I really liked my experience building MARSOC (Marine component of Special Operations Command), so I wanted to go into a start-up.” – Jack O’Toole
• “There is a large number of diagonally aligned skills that you need to build a company, particularly a technology company” – Jack O’Toole
• On FreshAir’s detection success: “A 100% success rate means that you can, in fact, prove that the person did a bad thing.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “In the military you get more resources by convincing higher organizations to give you more resources, so you have to be very controlled in your message.” – Jack O’Toole
• “In business if you’re doing something great, and you can convince people that you are doing something great, then that’s attractive.” – Jack O’Toole
• “There’s almost always more money to deploy than there are good ideas or places to deploy it.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “You can’t outsource leadership.” – Syd Finkelstein

Resources Mentioned:

The Tuck School of Business

National Institute of Health (NIH)

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast 

Jack O’Toole 

Website: www.FreshAirSensor.com

LinkedIn: Jack O’Toole

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

The Wall Street Journal has referred to Sally Pinkas’ performances as simply “exquisite,” and she is considered to be in the highest realm of classical musicians. Today, Sally shares how she crafted her life as both a musician and musical creator, while growing up in Israel during a time of tremendous political unrest. One of The Sydcast’s favorite topics is creativity – what it is, where it comes from, and how it’s nourished, or extinguished – and Sally Pinkas turns out to be an excellent and insightful partner to explore creativity in all its guises. The more you talk to Sally the more you realize that a professional life of accomplishment need not turn you into a lone iconoclast who lives in her own world.