The Sydcast

Episode Summary:

It is now a common phrase: fake news. Are you getting tired of it? I wanted to talk to someone who doesn’t have a horse in the race and who has studied media, polling, political polarization, and the psychology of how people think about political media so I can get handle on the Trumpian bon mot that is lasting a lot longer than he did. Dr. Jennifer Jerit is that person, and this is our conversation.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s 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. 

Jennifer Jerit

Jennifer Jerit is a Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. She studies American politics with a focus on public opinion and political communication. Her research explores how information (from elected leaders and the media) influences people’s attitudes as well as their knowledge about the political world. She also studies misinformation and techniques for correcting this problem. Several of her current projects examine best practices for the measurement of public opinion through survey and experimental methods. 

In 2010, Jerit received the Erik Erikson Early Career Award for Excellence and Creativity in the field of Political Psychology and her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council. Professor Jerit has been the recipient of Best Paper awards from the American Political Science Association, International Society of Political Psychology, and International Communication Association. She is on the editorial board of several leading political science journals and a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology (3rd edition). Prior to coming to Dartmouth College, Jerit held positions at Stony Brook University, Florida State University, MIT, and University of Connecticut. 

Insights from this episode:

• Understanding the psychology of how people process and use political information.
• The idea that a general concept becomes a partisan issue.
• How specific motivations can drive behavior in order to influence others.
• Understanding that algorithms influence exposure to specific resources.
• How the pandemic is affecting general public health behaviors. 

Quotes from the show:

“There has been, it seems, like a separation between people who study politics and people who practice it. And I’m not quite sure I understand why that’s the case. I do think there are people who get phDs or maybe Master’s in political science and then they go on and work in the political world, so they’ve been trained as political scientists. But I don't think political scientists have had the kind of experience as economists have had.” Jennifer Jerit [28:21]

“The content of these two channels is obviously vastly different. It’s challenging to identify the effect of that on people because people are choosing to watch these programs. You know, there’s some element by which there are different people who watch these programs and so they’re different to begin with. They may have different persuasions. They may have different levels of knowledge, different levels of interest. They may differ on other characteristics that we can’t even mention. And so there are different viewers and they are selecting into these channels, most likely. And so that, from a social science standpoint, that’s the biggest challenge: is how to identify or isolate the unique effect from the same person watching Fox versus that same person watching MSNBC.” Jennifer Jerit [30:22]

“When the algorithms know what we like, it is logical for those algorithms to suggest more similar things, which takes you deeper and deeper down the same pathway that you’ve been on and it leads to less diversity and variety of perspectives, if you let that happen. And that’s their job. And many people, I mean I was quite happy about these algorithms when Amazon said, “You might like this book.” And I said, “You know what, I think I might.” But when you start to reflect on it, algorithms are a method, a very common method everywhere really now, that leads people to narrower range of use--less exposure to diverse products, ways of thinking, books, records, who knows what.” Syd Finkelstein [34:20]

“The real challenge measuring opinion through polls is that the people who agree to participate in a poll are different than the people who don’t. And so even with the very highest quality probability based polls there’s still the choice of whether or not you’re going to participate once you’ve been selected to be a respondent. And so, you know, the conventional way to deal with this is through weighting, where we upweigh the responses of the people who choose to participate among these underrepresented groups. And so I think some of the thought was that that was not being done. There were some mistakes or errors in the way that was done for particular groups, particularly groups related to education in 2016. But weighting, the philosophy of that approach assumes that you know everything about the people who decided to participate; that you can solve this problem through weighting. And I’m just skeptical that that can be done. Because I think there are some differences that maybe we haven’t measured--that we can’t measure. Or maybe there are differences that we don’t even know about.” Jennifer Jerit [45:09]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jennifer Jerit

Website: http://www.jjerit.com

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

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.

Episode Summary:

In the age of Amazon, it’s important for a start-up e-commerce company to be able to offer something different. This is why exclusivity is such an important element. When offering an exclusive partnership with vendors or suppliers, it’s also important to establish mutual benefits within that partnership. Dave states that the secret to make all of this happen effectively is determination, motivation, and inspiration among the team. In this episode, Dave Bolotsky describes giving up a lucrative, stable career to start a new business in e-commerce and why he did it. He also describes some fears and struggles that he experienced as an entrepreneur in a relatively new industry at the time.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s 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. 

David Bolotsky:

David Bolotsky founded UncommonGoods with the goal of introducing more people to creative design in a sustainable way. UncommonGoods is a hub of creativity - from collaborations where we work with designers to help get products made to the commerce side of our website and catalog where customers can purchase a broad range of items that are great for gifts or themselves. We strive to do everything in a sustainable manner, beginning with treating everyone with dignity and respect, paying a living wage, using environmentally-friendly materials and working with vendors who share similar practices. We are a Founding B Corporation and we successfully advocated for Paid Family Leave and a higher minimum wage in New York.

In an earlier life, Dave was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, specializing in investment research in the retail sector. Dave is active in community service in New York’s Lower East Side, where his family has lived for generations. Dave was a founder of Comprehensive Youth Development, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide support services to disadvantaged public high school students, where he has been involved for 27 years. 

Insights from this episode:

• The importance of exclusivity in partnership with another company to develop mutual benefits.

• Tips and ideas for starting an e-commerce business in the age of Amazon.

• Balancing merchandise predictions and sales using analytics, inspiration, and insight.

• The return on investment for advertising an online retail store versus the investment for a physical retail store.

• Finding your company’s critical competitive advantage over larger retailers.

• Doing something that is more aligned with your values.

Quotes from the show:

“I think that the mindset of the entrepreneur is one that I hope each of us, whether we’re entrepreneurial or not, whether we are in business or not, each of us can adopt. I mean, it really is a can-do attitude. It really is, ok I got a problem I’m going to figure it out. I’m going to try to solve this problem and I’m not just going to complain about it. And that’s a pretty important life skill.” - Syd Finkelstein [01:42]

“Just about anything that can go wrong, has gone wrong over the past 22 years at one time or another. So, better to be ready for it than be surprised by it.” - Dave Bolotsky [25:44]

“At Goldman I sort of had the equivalent of front row seats at Madison Square Garden watching, assuming the Knicks were good at the time, watching the Knicks play. And it was exciting, but it was a spectator sport. I was a critic as opposed to an actor. And I’d always had that feeling gnawing at me, that I wanted to try to build something. The internet was such an exciting thing and I wanted to be more of an actor in it.” - Dave Bolotsky [29:21]

“There is way more to life than money. And my parents had raised me to try to make the world a better place in whatever way that I could, as corny as it sounds. And they’ve lived their lives that way. And I felt like I wasn’t. I didn’t feel like what I was doing was immoral, but I felt it was amoral. I was helping the wheels of capitalism spin faster but not necessarily in a direction that I particularly believed in.” - Dave Bolotsky [30:01]

“I think that was probably the single biggest thing that I had to work on was my nature to look at the glass as half empty and recognize that that’s not inspiring. It’s great, if you’re an analyst, to identify what’s wrong. It’s also very helpful as a CEO, but I had to learn how to tamp that down and be more positive and frame things in a more constructive way. - Dave Bolotsky [35:32]

“The one thing I could say from my own experience, having taught MBA students now for almost three decades, is there’s been a tremendous change in their mindset coming in the door. And they absolutely care a lot about environmental and social issues, diversity and inclusion. And the rubber meets the road when you see what companies they work for and what those values are and what they’re going to do when a company doesn’t have all the values or doesn’t live up to the values they might espouse. - Syd Finkelstein [54:45]

On advice to his twenty-one year old self: “I would say be kind to yourself. You know, my parents always raised me to believe in myself and I think I have. I’ve certainly had self-doubt, but in general believed in myself. But, that glass half empty mindset can wear on you and wear you down, because I’m my own harshest critic. And so, I think just appreciating the things that go well and focusing on that as much as things that I can do better.” - Dave Bolotsky [56:32]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

David Bolotsky:

Website: https://www.uncommongoods.com

LinkedIn: Dave Bolotsky

Twitter: @DavidBolotsky

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

Episode Summary

Bruno Viniciguerra - Bain, Sotheby's, Dell, Disney, Bonham's - he's worked in senior leadership roles at cool companies in cool industries. What did he learn? What does he know, and what doesn't he know? How did he learn to adapt to different industries, companies, and cultures? Bruno - one of Syd's favorite business thinkers - shares his wisdom, advice, and stories, on this episode of 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 Master’s 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.

Bruno Vinciguerra

Bruno Vinciguerra is the Global CEO of Bonhams. He was appointed in September 2018 to lead Bonhams after the auction house was acquired by Epiris, the UK-based private equity company.

Vinciguerra – who holds dual French-American citizenship and is a graduate in business administration and economics from ESSEC (Ecole Superieure des Sciences at Commerciales) in Paris – has offices based in Bonhams New York and London. He has led global businesses in the consumer, luxury and technology sphere such as Bain & Co, Disney and Dell. Vinciguerra's previous role before joining Bonhams was Chief Operating Officer at Sotheby's, which he joined in 2007 and where he was responsible for the global P&L and the management of the worldwide organization. His influence on complex deals, auction sales and staff around the world was instrumental in Sotheby's return to all-time high levels of profitability after 2009.

Vinciguerra also played a major role in Sotheby's expansion in Beijing, making the company the first international fine art auction house in mainland China, and in the development of the company's digital initiatives.

Insights from the Episode:

• How important creativity and intuition are in business and leadership
• The ways managerial skills can be successfully transferred to different industries
• How the art market exists, and how it has changed over the past years especially with the introduction of NFTs
• How listening to the expertise of someone else can change your perspective

Quotes from the Show:

• On how working for Bain helped him: “It was all about trying to understand a program that you don't have a lot of experience with, first hand. And working in a team with very smart people, focusing on the quality of your communication to convey a message to an audience you have a limited time with, and being effective at using the information you have and at conveying it.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [8:23]

• On why he loves working art auctions: It is thrilling, exhilarating, to see the best of human creativity through the ages, and that’s what I deal with on a daily basis. - Bruno Vinciguerra [9:08]

• On how one’s production shouldn’t define one’s career: “I think depending on who you are, you can live in this business of big events that can be triumphs, or could be moderate successes. Or you can be in a world of perfection and optimization where you know what you deliver.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [11:37]

• On the shift away from longer plans and towards new, faster forms of development: “I see with my team developing a website; there is a concept of ‘sprints.’ Six-week sprints, which is, they say, these small bites, these small projects. ‘Okay, what can we achieve in six weeks,’ and it is completely different, and it’s all the new programming.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [20:53]

• On how to keep up with changing trends: “To your question, the ultimate goal is to be flexible. To be able to get information as fast as possible, analyze it, and modify trajectory as fast as you can.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [25:22]

• On how difficult it is for new players to enter the art selling market: “This is not only a business about selling this is also a business about sourcing. And in the world of rarities, in the world of the exceptional, the success factor is having the best art to sell, or the best cars to sell, or the best jewelry to sell.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [26:48]

• The usual criteria for a collector to sell. “The four ‘D’s’, Death, Debt, Divorce, and Desperation.” - Bruno Vinciguerra [28:18]

• On why shifting to an online model of art auctions is working: “The secret of this industry is the following: you have 500, 600 people in an auction room during a great evening sale in the art world, maybe 5 people in the room are bidding. They are here for the entertainment, and the majority, the vast majority, I’m talking more than 90% of the bidders are either online, on the phone, or leave what we call an absentee bid, which means ‘buy it, to that level, for me.’” - Bruno Vinciguerra [35:50]

• People say ‘you know you’re going to pay 0 for a copy of a Picasso, so why do you pay millions of dollars for the original painting,’ and you say ‘Because it was painted by the hand of Picasso,’ and there is a reality to the object. - Bruno Vinciguerra [43:31]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Bruno Vinciguerra

LinkedIn: Bruno Vinciguerra

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 riveting episode of The Sydcast, Syd sits down with Doug Conant to talk about life, leadership, and the pursuit of improving business from the top down. No matter where you may be positioned in your current work situation, the lessons Doug shares will bring your attention to how important a brilliant leader is for a business and how you can take concrete steps towards being one yourself. These aren’t lessons pulled from a vacuum either, this is Doug’s lived experience, and what an experience it is. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s 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.

Doug Conant

Doug is the only former Fortune 500 CEO who is a New York Times best-selling author, a Top 50 Leadership Innovator, a Top 100 Leadership Speaker, and one of the 100 Most Influential Authors in the World.

A devoted leadership practitioner and teacher, Doug’s 45-year career has been defined by achieving high performance through an intentional commitment to studying, practicing, improving, and spreading the tenets of “leadership that works.”

He is Founder and CEO of ConantLeadership, former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, former President of Nabisco Foods, and former Chairman of Avon Products. He has also served on multiple corporate boards including AmerisourceBergen and RHR International. He began his career in marketing at General Mills and held leadership positions in marketing and strategy at Kraft.

Doug is also Chairman of CECP—Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, and proudly

serves on the boards of The Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, the National

Organization on Disability, the Partnership for Public Service, and Hope College. Previously, he was Chairman of The Conference Board, Chairman of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and Chairman of Enactus.

His new Wall Street Journal bestselling book, co-authored with Amy Federman, The

Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights, is available now and is a seminal treatise on leadership and practical guide for leading effectively in a chaotic world. He is also the New York Times bestselling co-author with Mette Norgaard of TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments.

Doug is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and served as the Chairman of Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute for five years. He is an instructor of leadership at the Higher Ambition Leadership Institute and he teaches many of the concepts advanced in The Blueprint to seasoned and aspiring leaders in his own signature leadership development course, The BLUEPRINT Boot Camp by

ConantLeadership.

Conant has been named a Trust Across America Top Thought Leader in Trust for five

consecutive years and is a Top Thought Leader in Trust Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. He has also been lauded as a Top 100 Leadership Speaker by Inc. Magazine; a Top 100 Most Influential Author in the World; a Top 30 Leadership Professional by Global Gurus; a Leader to Watch by the American Management Association (AMA); a Top 50 Leadership Innovator Changing How We Lead; and a Top 75 Human Business Champion.

Finally, he is the ever-so-proud husband of Leigh and father to their three remarkable children.

Insights from the Episode

• The role a brilliant leader should fill for a company
• How to learn from failure
• How to use role models to guide your career
• How to develop world-class talent
• The importance of crafting a career, not following a straight line

Quotes from the Show:

On the importance of learning from past experiences. “I’m constantly looking at what's working and what's not, what can I do differently, how can I be a little better tomorrow than I was today, how can I grow. For me it’s what makes life so interesting.” -Doug Conant [8:29]

On how to navigate imperfect jobs early in one’s career. “For me it’s about growth, and it’s not just my growth, it's growth and contribution to others. And so I’m always looking through the lens of growing and contributing in a more substantial way.” -Doug Conant [9:22]

“As a CEO, you’re crazy if you think you’re going to know everything. So you’ve got to be able to have a collection of people that know a lot about the subject matter expertise and then you’ve got to be incredibly fluent at orchestrating to optimize your effectiveness at calling on all those talents.” -Doug Conant [10:24]

On leadership as a learnable skill: “I view leadership in a mastery model, you've got to become a craftsman at it. You apprentice, you study, you learn, and most of the time you do it by the seat of your pants, let's be honest. But I think it's imperative that you really embrace the notion of being a brilliant leader to get the most out of people.” -Doug Conant [12:43]

“It’s hard to have courage if you’re not clear on your convictions.” -Doug Conant [26:46]

“You were an overnight success 25 years in the making.” -Syd Finkelstein [30:49]

On the most important aspect of leadership “I find that my effectiveness, in every situation, improves if I’m a good listener. If I’m very attentive with it. I serve people better because I better understand their situation. They appreciate that I’m earnestly trying to hear them and we move forward in a way that’s a higher order of effectiveness.” -Doug Conant [52:24]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Doug Conant

Website: https://conantleadership.com

LinkedIn: Douglas Conant

Twitter: @DougConant

Youtube: Doug Conant

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, serial entrepreneur Adrian Johnson sits down and gives us the details of his fantastic life from childhood to where he is now. He has a curiosity and an entrepreneurial mindset that is, to put it lightly, extraordinary, and a heart that seeks to help wherever he can. This episode has it all, from the ways technology can assist in education to what it was like starting a business in Eastern Germany after the Berlin Wall came down.

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s 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. 

Adrian Johnson:

Adrian Johnson is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and a technology and media entrepreneur. Since 1993 he has co-founded several companies, including Poptel, Germany's first phone-to-phone Internet telephony service provider (VC-funded and successfully sold in a trade sale); Archimation (www.archimation.com), Germany's first architectural animation and visualization company; MrFootage (www.mrfootage.com), a web-based film footage library; Eventival (www.eventival.com), the world’s leading online film festival management system and SeriesIMPACT, an “EdTech" business creating “NextGen" live cases (www.LiveCASE.com). 

At INSEAD Adrian is an Adjunct Professor and teaches the legendary "Your First Hundred Days" (YFCD) MBA/EMBA course as well as Executive Education company-specific and open-enrolment programmes at INSEAD’s campuses in Fontainebleau, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Adrian is also a supervisor of final EMBA student projects, and has been teacher, judge and mentor for Startup and Sci-Tech Commercialisation Bootcamps. After fourteen years on the INSEAD MBA Admissions Committee, he now sits on the INSEAD Global EMBA Admissions Panel. Investing in the next-generation leaders of tomorrow, Adrian is the Programme Director of the Summer@INSEAD business awareness summer camp for 15 to 18 year olds. 

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Adrian began his career with ICI, then the largest manufacturer in Britain. After his MBA, he moved to the IT services industry, later working for the German Treuhandanstalt, privatising East German companies in Dresden and Berlin. 

After a childhood spent in Sierra Leone, Kenya and the USA, Adrian studied Electrical Engineering at Imperial College London and earned his MBA from INSEAD.

Insights from the Episode:

• How important a Team is to starting a new business
• What Eastern Germany looked like, from a business perspective, after the wall came down
• The nuances of choosing between different countries to start a business in
• The potential for technology to integrate with education going forward

Quotes from the Show:

• Getting an MBA is a way of reducing your career risk because you’re increasing your skill set and marketability and your own brand, and coming out of an MBA program you are really extremely marketable - Syd Finkelstein [19:47]
• On the most important part of a startup: It's kind of easy coming up with ideas but actually turning an idea into a successful venture; I have definitely come to the conclusion that the team ends up being the most important thing. - Adrian Johnson [23:33]
• We started working together, and we were so complementary to each other. That's why our business worked, and cementing that was the trust that we had and we built over the years. And of course we ended up becoming very good friends - Adrian Johnson [25:34]
• On the way Germany handled business ventures after the wall came down: I think what has worked very well in Germany is that sort of the social democratic structure, so there was not this massive transfer - as many east germans feared - that the wealthy Germans would come in and take all the wealth and we’d end up with a load of very rich people and a load of very poor people. - Adrian Johnson [36:43]
• The problem is France didn’t have any real role models, successful entrepreneurs. There’s no Bill Gates, there's no Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. - Adrian Johnson [49:07]
• Entrepreneurship can create, not can, but does create wealth not just for the entrepreneurs that are successful but for the entire economy and employment - Syd Finkelstein [57:57]
• There's still a lot of innovating to be done around how to more effectively use technology to help kids learn. And maybe it's not just in the content delivery but its the process of; how do you actually teach, how do people learn, and can they learn more effectively. - Adrian Johnson [62:11]

Stay Connected:  

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Adrian Johnson:

Website: adrianjohnson.com

Blog: Adrian Johnson

INSEAD: Adrian Johnson

Twitter: @acvjohnson

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 sits down with American businessman Michael Ainslie to discuss how the former President and CEO of Sotheby’s fits into the complex stories of the 2008 financial crash, the ever-fluctuating prices of art, and the nature of educating underprivileged youth. It seems unbelievable that one man can be a focal point for three topics as diverse as these, but it’s all true, and you can hear it all on this episode of 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 Master’s 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. 

Michael Ainslie:

Michael Ainslie is an American businessman who’s distinguished career includes, among other things, serving as President and CEO of Sotheby’s from 1984-94 and transforming the world of auctioning. Prior to this he was the CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation where he helped to rewrite a tax law to provide a 25% investment tax credit for investment in historic buildings. He was a director at Lehman Brothers for 12 years, culminating with its 2008 bankruptcy. Ainslie was one of the ten people in the room on the night of September 14th, the night of the largest bankruptcy filing in US history, and afterwards was part of the team that oversaw the sale of the company’s remaining assets. 

One of his more passionate ventures involved the Posse Foundation, which he helped to launch in 1994. This foundation finds young leaders from public and parochial high schools in ten major cities and sends them to one of over 50 elite university partners. They travel as a cohort of 10 scholars, and all receive a full merit leadership scholarship. To date there have been over 9200 Posse Scholars who have been awarded over $1.4 billion in scholarships. 

He is a Trustee Emeritus of Vanderbilt University and has served on the boards of Sotheby’s, the United States Tennis Association, and the St. Joe Company. In 2020 he authored a book called A Nose For Trouble: Sotheby’s, Lehman Brothers, and My Life of Redefining Adversity, in which he describes his personal experience with these high profile events. 

Insights from this episode:

• The complicated nature of the 2008 financial crisis and where Lehman Brothers exists in the story
• How deeply the global financial system depends on trust
• Understanding how the art market exists as one of the purest free markets in the world, for better or for worse
• How important it is to provide students from under-privileged backgrounds with the support they need in University settings 

Quotes from the show:

• “The ability of a buyer from China or Russia or anywhere in the world to participate is now very easy to do. That has made it a true global market, it's also driven up the prices because a lot of these people have new wealth and they either want to own the art or be known to own the art.” - Michael Ainslie [00:32]
• “Universities go out of their way to admit students from very underprivileged backgrounds and they think their job is done. ‘We have diversity, we did a good thing, this is great,’ and then they leave these kids to sink or swim.” - Syd Finkelstein [05:58]
• “The problem was that causing the bankruptcy triggered that basically banks stopped and stopped working together, and the global financial world froze.” - Michael Ainslie [12:55]
• There's something that gets done after a bankruptcy that's called an examiners report, and a firm from Chicago was hired to do that. Believe it or not they spent $100 million on the forensic evidence to put together that examiners report. They concluded there was no malfeasance, there was no lack of carrying out responsibilities by the audit committee, the board, or management. They literally said ‘Lehman became illiquid in the last 5 or 6 days of its existence due to things I spoke about earlier.’” - Michael Ainslie [26:28]
• Congress literally opened the floodgates to the subprime mortgage crisis, you remember this, they were changing the lending standards. Do they go to jail for that decision? Because that, in a sense, is what really precipitated the flooding of money into these financial instruments that financed these subprime mortgages.” - Michael Ainslie [29:03]
• I think the involvement of wealthy individuals, and frequently very newly wealthy individuals, in the art market has driven prices to levels that are really quite remarkable. And frankly I think a lot of people have trouble with that. When paintings cost three or four hundred million dollars, even though they’re some of the great works of art, that seems excessive. - Michael Ainslie [32:39]
• “The Posse is kind of a genius idea because you have a team, you have friends, you have support group right from day one, which gives you a huge comfort level. You don’t have to worry about having nothing to do on a Saturday night in the first month because you don’t know anybody, you know nine people” - Syd Finklestein [49:24] 

Stay Connected:  

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Michael Ainslie

Website: https://anosefortrouble.com/ 

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

When it comes to entrepreneurship and investment, underrepresented communities face many challenges. As a female investor in a male-dominated field, Marjorie Radlo-Zandi, has overcome her own set of challenges and helped others to do the same. In conversation with Marjorie, Syd explores how successful entrepreneurs and investors operate and the tools they need to make it to the top of their field. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.  He holds a Master’s 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. 

Marjorie Radlo-Zandi 

Marjorie Radlo-Zandi is an experienced angel investor, board director, mentor and consultant who focuses on investing and mentoring early-stage companies in life sciences, diagnostics, software/IT, clean technology, ed-tech, food/beverage/ag and related food related technologies. She invests primarily for impact with an eye to diversity through two angel investment groups where she is a member, Launchpad Venture Group and Branch Venture Group.  Launchpad is the most active angel investment group in the Northeast and top three-ranked group in the U.S. It invests in life sciences, diagnostics, medical devices, software / IT, ed-tech, web and e-commerce, media/social media, and clean technology. Branch invests nationwide in start-ups in the food/beverage/ag CPG and related technology space. Fifty percent of her investments are in women-led businesses and fifty percent are led by people of color. 

Prior to becoming an angel investor, she was a senior executive and leader in Silicon Valley and the Boston life science diagnostics sector, where she developed a reputation for driving domestic and international organizational growth through innovation, global market expansion and building robust cross-cultural teams. She also improved organizational performance by both positioning and evaluating companies for acquisition. Her biggest achievement: grew the food diagnostics company she led with angel funds, expanded in over 100 countries, and sold it to a two billion dollar publicly-held firm. This company she led positively impacted the lives of millions by protecting and enhancing the global food supply. 

Marjorie grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so entrepreneurship is in her blood. Her first entrepreneurial venture at age 19 was a high-profile sailing program where none existed previously in Burlington, Vermont. She now focuses her time on investing, being a board director, mentoring and consulting in companies which makes an impact with an eye to diversity. 

Marjorie holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont, and a master's degree in business administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Insights from this episode:

• How to predict individual and entrepreneurial success using algorithms  
• Different ways to foster success in others by providing thoughtful and sustainable support 
• The best problem-solving strategies used by both successful entrepreneurs and investors 
• The benefits of targeting investments that align with personal values 
• The essentials of successful angel investing 
• The secrets to preparing a successful pitch for an angel investor as an entrepreneur
• Benefits of expanding the workplace and the workforce through investing in virtual corporations and e-commerce 

Quotes from the show:

• “Virtual Corporations are going to expand the workplace opportunities, so those people who are in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming who didn’t have the richness of opportunities of Silicon Valley or Boston or New York City are going to have that open to them with the advent of work from many different places.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [00:10]
• “We all like to complain, we all like to wonder, we all like to think, but actually fix the problem. And fix it in a way that could be beneficial to other people, and if it leads to wealth generation, that’s a good thing” - Syd Finkelstein [11:10]
• “The most important thing is have your vision, execute your vision, get the go-to market plan, and go and market well.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [12:12]
• “Technology is in the DNA of the economy. It’s not going away. The mutation has occurred.” - Syd Finkelstein [16:44]
• “It was a very male-oriented culture, mostly white males. But yet, yes there was sexism along the way. But I’d say I had some fabulous mentors in Silicon Valley, and the learning opportunities were tremendous…There were some challenges along the way, but you can't let that get in the way of your progress.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [18:56]
• “If I’m targeting for anything, it's investments that make a social or environmental impact.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [22:49]
• “I think where there’s an opportunity for President Biden is helping those underserved communities and putting investment in underserved communities who don’t have the friends and family round.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [34:43]
• “I think there can be an algorithm for a lot of different things, but there is a direct human element in terms of evaluation and working with different groups to assess them. I’m not quite sure that an algorithm could do that.” - Marjorie Radlo-Zandi [42:42]

Stay Connected:  

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Marjorie Radlo-Zandi 

Website: https://www.jazzas.com/ 

LInkedIn: Marjorie Radlo-Zandi

Twitter: @margorieradlozandi 

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

Throughout Dr. Rowland Hazard’s career, listening and human connection have been at the core of his success in both medicine and business. Through asking simple questions such as “who are you?” and “where are you from?” Rowley has been able to help people through the toughest period of their lives. Syd and Rowley discuss Rowley's journey from dishwasher to world-renowned MD and back pain specialist. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s 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. 

Rowland G. Hazard

Rowland G. Hazard, MD recently retired from an over 30-year career devoted to people disabled by chronic back pain. Currently Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, he is a physician, internationally respected scholar and researcher, widely published author, teacher, inventor, entrepreneur, athlete and jazz musician. 

As a clinician and director of Functional Restoration Programs (FRPs) at the University of Vermont (1986-2000) and at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (2002-2018), Dr. Hazard cared for several thousand patients with back pain and lead FRP teams of physicians, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, and trainers. A board-certified internist, he is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians. 

He has published over 50 journal articles and book chapters and delivered scores of related academic lectures and media appearances in the US, Europe and Australia. He has served as reviewer and technical expert for the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and as an editorial board member of Spine and The Back Letter. He has twice represented the US at the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. 

His new book, Talking Back: How to Overcome Chronic Back Pain and Rebuild Your Life, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in May, 2021.

Insights from this episode:

• How to effectively communicate with your doctor and peers about your goals and expectations
• Benefits of following your skills and finding your passion within those skills
• The differences between pain and disability stemming from pain and fear of reinjury
• Advantages of manipulation and functional restoration for back pain and treating disability
• The power of listening and its ability to propel you into success in a variety of different fields
• Advice on how to treat and manage chronic, acute back pain

Quotes from the show:

• “I learned in a way that was completely different from the book learning I was accustomed to, and I loved it.” – Rowland G. Hazard [11:55] Episode #97
• “I just think true reform of the national healthcare system should involve education, research, and practice. Not just, you know, with your taxes, you’re going to pay for your gall bladder operation. It’s more complicated than that. ” – Rowland G. Hazard [23:01] Episode #97
• “I was hit over the head by how ignorant I was about how to take care of people who had back pain. So for almost a year, I dedicated Thursday nights. I stayed up every Thursday night, reading everything I could get my hands on about back pain.” – Rowland G. Hazard [24:00] Episode #97
• “There’s a huge variety of treatments out there for back pain. There are many belief systems underneath those that pass as science, but the science is actually pretty thin.” – Rowland G. Hazard [27:06] Episode #97
• “If I go back to doing all the things I did before, there is a fear of getting much worse. The pain itself is not terrible, it’s manageable. Just you sharing that actually is good to know. It at least helps me process it in my head and recognize what choice is happening implicitly” Syd Finkelstein–  [37:20] Episode #97
• “You gotta have passion, and you have to work hard. You can be fearless, but if you can’t listen, you can drive really hard down the wrong road quickly.” – Rowland G. Hazard [46:25] Episode #97
• “In my own practice, I rarely talked to people about opioids, even though I was seeing ‘the worst of the worst of the chronic pain patients’.” – Rowland G. Hazard [59:48] Episode #97
• “90% of people who have an acute episode of back pain get better, almost no matter what you do.” – Rowland G. Hazard [62:29] Episode #97

Stay Connected:  

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Rowland G. Hazard 

New book: Talking Back: How to Overcome Chronic Back Pain and Rebuild Your Life

LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowland-hazard-8a8a2174/ 

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

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

TSC 96: The Wisdom of Philippe Bourguignon

Episode Summary

Vice Chairman of Revolution Places and Executive Co-Chairman of Exclusive Resorts Philippe Bourguignon shares his zigzag journey that led him to the top of the travel industry. Once the CEO of Euro Disney, Philippe gives advice on having fun, being a dreamer, and taking time for yourself. Hear Philippe Bourguignon’s stories, business strategies, and wisdom in this episode of 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 Master’s 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. 

Philippe Bourguignon

Vice Chairman, Revolution Places; Executive Co-Chairman, Exclusive Resorts

Philippe Bourguignon is vice chairman of Revolution Places, a company that is creating a new model for travel and tourism that promotes and encourages a healthy lifestyle, Philippe establishes consumer brands that reflect those values. In addition, he serves as executive co-chairman of Exclusive Resorts, a carefully vetted collection of more than 300 privately managed multimillion-dollar residences in iconic destinations paired with highly personalized and intuitive service. Revolution Places’ approach is to create unique, authentic experiences that can become treasured memories that last a lifetime — and build large businesses in the process.

Prior to joining Revolution Places, Philippe was co-chief executive officer of the Davos-based World Economic Forum in 2003 and 2004. Previously, as chairman and chief executive of Club Med, he was widely credited with a comprehensive turnaround of the company in 2000. The change included refocusing the brand, revamping operations and restoring competitiveness, implementing an innovative pricing policy, and completely overhauling the management culture.

Beginning in 1988, Philippe worked with Disney in several capacities, including as chairman and chief executive officer of Euro Disney, and executive vice president of Disney Europe. As the head of Euro Disney, he led a far-reaching corporate restructuring which restored the company on solid financial footing and achieved operating results far ahead of market expectations.

Previously Philippe spent 14 years with the Accor group, one of the largest hotel groups in the world. Initially serving as vice president of Development for Asia/Middle East and executive vice president of North America, he was eventually promoted to president of Accor for the Asia/Pacific region.

Today, Philippe sits on the board of two Revolution companies: Exclusive Resorts, a luxury travel club, and Mint House, a hospitality company setting a new standard in business travel.

He also co-founded Le Shack with his daughter in 2020.

In addition, he is also an active member on the board of Neiman Marcus, the global board of Operation Hope and chairman of HOPE Global Forums, a non-profit organization with a vision to eradicate poverty.

He is also the chairman of Primonial a Paris based wealth management firm and an active investor in OneRagtime, a European disruptive venture platform. He previously served as a member of the board of directors for Zipcar and spent 11-years on the board at eBay.

Philippe is also a co-founder of the Monthly Barometer. The Barometer is a subscription service that enables executives and leaders from around the world to anticipate and leverage emerging trends, using “contextual intelligence” methods to distill into one page the macro issues relevant to time-starved decision-makers. It has been in existence for more than five years and has a remarkably accurate track record.

In 2005, Philippe published his first book, Hop!, a revealing discussion on the paradoxes of the world and the French economy.

On a personal note — Philippe Bourguignon is married, and the father of two children. He is a man of many passions – a dedicated racer of yachts who, with Bruno Peyron, set a record in 1996 for crossing the English Channel.

Insights from this episode:

• Reasons why it is important to have fun and play, no matter what your age. 
• Tips for practicing unconsciousness to overcome doubt and imposter syndrome. 
• Information on the “zigzag strategy” and how to leverage it in your life and career.
• How Philippe helped revive Club Med and Euro Disney, and his reflections on the travel industry. 
• How Philippe is working to create “opportunities of collision.” 

Quotes from the show:

• “You should still play as a kid. Even if you learn serious things, you should still play because the minute you stop playing, you become serious. And when you become serious, it’s the beginning of the end.” — Philippe Bourguignon [13:32]
• “A good businessman needs to have a certain level of unconsciousness. If you are too conscious, you don’t take risks.” — Philippe Bourguignon [22:19]
• “I don’t believe in straight lines… Americans believe in straight lines. America is the only country which has built a city based on straight lines over 14 hills called San Francisco and swear… straight lines are efficient.” — Philippe Bourguignon [26:27]
• “In life you meander, you don’t go straight. Those people who want to go straight, they lose opportunities.” — Philippe Bourguignon [27:24]
• “Experience is like the light on the back of a train. It lights the backtrack behind us. While vision lights the tracks ahead, where you’re not sure where you’re going.” — Philippe Bourguignon [30:27]
• “I was feeling more like a carton of milk with an expiration date, but after I joined Revolution, I became like a bottle of old wine.” — Philippe Bourguignon [35:17]
• On branding: “A lot of agencies force, or a lot of clients of agencies accept to have a brand bible, and all of a sudden, the brand is driving the decisions of the company, while the brand should be the expression of what the company is.” — Philippe Bourguignon [50:28]
• “Those hotels have a soul. They don’t need a loyalty program for me to come back. The experience I got there is good enough that I don’t need points to come back.” — Philippe Bourguignon [52:05]
• “I was given a chance. Therefore, I knew and trusted my leaders that I would get somewhere.” — Philippe Bourguignon [1:04:53]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Philippe Bourguignon

Website: https://www.revolution.com/ 

Linkedin: Philippe Bourguignon

Le Shack: https://leshack.fr/

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

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

TSC 95: Professor Emily Finn: How Our Brain Activity is as Unique as our Fingerprint

Episode Summary

New Dartmouth professor and brain scientist Emily Finn talks about how our brains are wired and how we have something akin to a neural connection fingerprint. In addition to discussing the implications of this headline discovery, Dr. Finn shares her own motivations in her research and her personal journey in arriving where she is now in this episode of 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 Master’s 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. 

Emily Finn

Emily S. Finn, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. She completed her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Yale, and her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health. Before that, she received a B.A. in linguistics, also from Yale. Emily’s work is focused on individual variability in brain activity and behavior, especially as it relates to appraisal of ambiguous information under naturalistic conditions. She is particularly interested in how and why, given the same experience, different individuals arrive at different conclusions. She was recently named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, and her work has been featured in popular media such as The New York Times, BBC, NBC, PBS, CBS, Scientific American, Discover, and WIRED.

Insights from this episode:

• Dr. Finn’s journey to becoming an independent researcher and a scientist and what she learned along the way. 
• The value of strong communication skills when you’re in any field. 
• Reasons why a break from school might be a good idea.
• A look into Dr. Finn’s research into the brain’s activity fingerprint, including what might cause it.
• The goals of Dr. Finn’s research and possible implications of mapping individuals’ brain functional organization. 

Quotes from the show:

• “To have real responsibility, to have the confidence of the people around you, you have to earn it but you also have to take it… you spend all your time becoming the expert-- and it’s not easy to do that-- and sometimes you forgot, or don’t even know, that you have to actually advocate for yourself.” — Syd Finkelstein [11:13]
• “I think I didn’t appreciate just how much of a scientist’s job is writing-- writing papers, writing grants, and the further you get the more and more it’s about communicating the science rather than actually doing the science.” — Emily Finn [21:57]
• “My articles [for the newspaper at MIT] about neuroscience, I think, were actually the worst because I was the least able to put myself in the shoes of someone who didn’t have any background on the topic, whereas when I would go interview the physicist or the geologist or astronomy people, I could just say, hey talk to me like I’m a five-year-old, I don’t know anything about this.” — Emily Finn [22:50]
• “You don’t have to be at breakneck speed. In fact, there are many disadvantages to it.” — Syd Finkelstein [25:10]
• “I’ve never met anybody that took a few years off and said, wow I really wish I had gotten my MD two years earlier once they’re mid-career. On the contrary, having that life experience and flailing a little bit-- not in the bad sense of the word-- but giving yourself a chance to kind of experience things and make sure what you’re choosing is right.” — Emily Finn [26:20]
• “As we’re sort of getting to the point where we’re building up these databases, because really what you need is a ton of data from lots and lots of individuals… the challenge is to find the signal in that noise, and all of these things are messy and complicated and there’s no single factor that is going to be driving everything. We’re making progress, but it’s still early days.” — Emily Finn [37:24]
• “Genetics can account for a lot, all of the epigenetic phenomenon, life experiences, and the different things that people encounter and experiences they seek out are also going to leave a fingerprint so to speak that’s not necessary encoded in the DNA itself but that’s present in brain functional organization.” — Emily Finn [40:12]
• “People’s brains will, in some ways, synchronize. So when two people watch the same movie or listen to the same story, you see a lot of synchrony in terms of how brains are processing that experience, but in other ways, you also see idiosyncrasies, so different people have different reactions at different moments or to different features.” — Emily Finn [47:09]
• On privacy: “The press coverage of the first fingerprinting essay was kind of unsettling in some ways, and it’s understandable. In a lot of ways this brings up concerns, and a lot of the reporters were kind of interested in how this could be used against us?” — Emily Finn [55:16]

Resources Mentioned

The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Emily Finn

Website: https://esfinn.github.io/ 

Twitter: @esfinn

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

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