The Sydcast

Episode Summary

Raised to believe she could be anything, Christine Spadafor has done almost everything, from competitive ice-skater to Harvard Law School to CEO. And a dozen other pretty cool things too. Which makes her an ideal Sydcast guest! While her deep background in healthcare helped her through her own personal health crisis, it has been her indomitable spirit and intellectual restlessness that has really powered Christine’s incredible journey, 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. 

Christine Spadafor

Christine J. Spadafor is an experienced public and private company board director with deep expertise in risk management, regulatory compliance, and ESG.  She has a demonstrated track record leading successful large-scale transformational initiatives at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and change management in both domestic and global markets across a broad spectrum of industries.  

Christine is CEO of SpadaforClay Group, a management consulting firm.  She serves as an Independent Director on the boards of highly regulated companies: Chair of  Governance  and Nominating Committee and member of the audit committee of Boyd Gaming, Chair of Quality and Compliance Committee of Kindred at Home, and she serves on the advisory board WBUR, a premier National Public Radio station.  She is also a regular commentator on the BBC World Service “Business Matters” global radio broadcast and podcast. 

For nearly 10 years, Christine dedicated her extensive experience in financial, operational, and organizational management to St. Judes Ranch for Children — a nationally recognized nonprofit that cares for homeless and abused children — and led an innovative turnaround that received national acclaim.   

A graduate of Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Public Health, Christine was selected by the Business Section of the American Bar Association/Direct Women as one of the top 20 female attorneys with outstanding expertise for corporate board service.  At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she co-authored a workplace health treatise that was published by Johns Hopkins University.  She is a lecturer on Strategic Leadership in the Visiting Executive Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Business, and is a frequent speaker addressing board governance topics and “Women in Leadership” topics.   

Christine has been awarded two Doctor of Humane Letters degrees — received in recognition of her professional accomplishments and lifelong contributions to vulnerable and at-risk populations.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on Christine’s upbringing that had a solid base in feminism and hard work and lead to her expansive education and accomplishments.
• Reasons why Christine became a nurse but didn’t pursue that career to a doctorate and the winding path that led her to graduate from Harvard Law School.
• Benefits of having a medical degree as a lawyer and how that influenced Christine’s law career.
• How to recognize and develop your own opportunities and control your success. 
• Difficulties women have and still face in attaining education and career goals and the need for mentors and sponsors to act as your champion.
• Details on Christine’s struggle with a brain tumor to a successful end.

Quotes from the show:

• On her thoughts of life after high school: “It felt as though my head was filled with empty bookshelves and I needed to leave town to go and fill them up.” — Christine Spadafor
• “I worked in the medical ICU (Intensive Care Unit), which is one of the most meaningful and greatest privileges I’ve had professionally.” — Christine Spadafor
• “I was just really intellectually restless … and I still feel it.” — Christine Spadafor
• “Someone mentioned MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to me in high school and I had no idea what it was and now here I am at MIT.” — Christine Spadafor
• “While you learned the law in law school, it’s different practicing law and really understanding how each of those [law] specialties work.” — Christine Spadafor
• On how she became in-house counsel: “It’s about creating your own opportunities, not just waiting for that job description to come through.” — Christine Spadafor
• On being compensated for your work: “I think another way for ‘payment’ is to not only give you the big title but to give you the authority.” — Christine Spadafor
• “It’s a stereotype but backed by data, which is that women are not as aggressive a negotiator as a man, on average, in a corporate setting.” — Syd Finkelstein
• “When thinking about a sponsor, think about those people who are influential and persuasive and who are well regarded.” — Christine Spadafor
• “Expecting something, then it doesn’t happen, that can take a psychological toll.” — Syd Finkelstein

Resources:

I Am Woman (2019 Film)

RBG (2018 Film) 

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Christine Spadafor

Website: christinespadafor.com

Twitter: @cjspadafor

Facebook: Christine Spadafor

LinkedIn: Christine Spadafor

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

Powered by a voracious curiosity to learn how things work, Stephanie Mitchko-Beale blazed a trail through the world of engineering at a time when women in STEM were an anomaly. Now, as the Chief Technology Officer at Charter Communications, Stephanie brings insight to how to manage a career when fulfilling your dreams and bypassing the naysayers means everything.

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. 

Stephanie Mitchko-Beale 

Stephanie Mitchko-Beale joined Charter Communications in 2019 as Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. Based in Stamford, Ms. Mitchco-Beale oversees Charter’s Network, Mobile, Video and Software Engineering teams, as well as Network Architecture, Technology Policy, and Emerging Technology organizations. 

Ms. Mitchko-Beale joined Charter from Cadent, a provider of data-driven solutions for buying and selling TV advertising. She served as joint Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer and oversaw all technical aspects of the company’s strategy, operations and development.  

Earlier in her career, Ms. Mitchko-Beale was Senior Vice President of Video Infrastructure Software at Cablevision Systems Corporation (currently part of Altice USA) where she was responsible for the software development of new consumer-facing technologies. As a key member of Cablevision’s technology senior leadership team, she broke new ground in bringing interactive and web technologies to traditional media models. 

With more than 20 years of experience, Ms. Mitchko-Beale is a technology, television, and advanced-advertising veteran with a strong record of first-to-market products. She earned an Emmy award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for Best Interactive Television Platform for Cablevision’s iO Interactive Television and two Technical Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Creation of Non-Traditional Programs or Platforms for Cablevision’s iO Interactive Optimum Digital Cable and the second for Pioneering Work in Implementation and Deployment of Network DVR.

Ms. Mitchko-Beale received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University in New York. She guest lectures on “Advanced Technologies for Business Applications” and “Technology Innovation in Business” at NYU Stern School of Business and is a member of the NYU Poly Enterprise Learning Board. Additionally, she serves as a mentor for WICT to help young women see the benefit of pursuing careers in cable and technology.  

Insights from this episode:

• Difficulties Stephanie’s experienced in college and as a young engineer in a male-dominated field and how that led her to mentoring young women.
• Reasons why working in the field of technology provides a better work-life balance and was better positioned to respond to the COVID pandemic.
• Differences between mentorship and sponsorship and why you should create your own “personal board” to help you navigate decisions.
• Changes that are happening in the cable industry from customer service to technology and how COVID has impacted the industry.
• Benefits of going from working for a tech giant to a start-up and how that affected Stephanie’s career.  

Quotes from the show:

• “The numbers are still staggering when you look at percentages of women and men in the careers of engineering and software but there’s much more acknowledgement around having more women and more diversity.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• “If you try to be something you’re not or try to conform yourself to somebody else’s norm, it’s exhausting. You have to learn to get really comfortable in your own skin.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• “From my perspective, a mentor is someone who calls you on your shit.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• On the difficulties in providing customer service: “What has made it difficult in the past is really visibility and exposure to what’s happening at the customer site.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• “I think the whole COVID thing really accelerated digital adoption, self-service, self-install, and the use of data so we didn’t have to go into the field to learn about things.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• “It’s not the end game, it’s just a journey of using data to help manage our networks.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• On COVID’s affect on business: “The speed at which companies have responded in all sorts of industries, has been fascinating to see and in some ways it’s an unplanned test of how strong your organization is.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “What’s interesting about the cable industry … we collaborate, we don’t compete.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• On the proliferation of streaming services: “I think that curation and aggregation of what’s available is something that people need and it will happen when consumers don’t want to pay for multiple applications.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale
• “When you’re in engineering and tech you’re never really working on today; I’m always working five years out.” – Stephanie Mitchko-Beale

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Stephanie Mitchko-Beale

Website: Charter Communications

LinkedIn: Stephanie Mitchko-Beale

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

How many Emmy-award winning journalists working in war zones in the Middle East do you know who go on to become startup CEO of a hot new media company? That’s Jeff Kofman, the guy who got fed up spending hours transcribing interviews while on assignment and thought, there has to be a better way. And there is, and he calls it Trint. In this episode of The Sydcast, Jeff shares his story of what it took to go from one world to an entirely new one, and some of the adventures he encountered along the way.

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. 

Jeff Kofman

Jeff Kofman, CEO and founder of Trint, is a tech entrepreneur with an unusual backstory. As an Emmy award-winning network television news foreign correspondent and war correspondent with ABC, CBS and CBC News he spent more than three decades reporting from around the world. Jeff has covered many of the biggest stories of our time including the Iraq War, the Arab Spring, Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Oil Spill and the Chile Mine Rescue. He's won an Edward R. Murrow Award, a duPont Award and two Emmys, including one for his coverage of the fall of Muammar Gadhafi in Libya in 2011.

Insights from this episode:

• Difficulties Jeff faced with transcription and wasted time that led to him creating Trint, the problems the company set out to solve, and what sets Trint apart from the competition.
• Benefits of being a new company in a new category of technology and software.
• What it takes to be a successful start-up including maintaining focus, providing solutions people want, and being sustainable and repeatable.
• Details on why being a journalist was good preparation for being an entrepreneur.
• How to communicate with your employees to achieve common goal-setting and create a positive work-environment.

Quotes from the show:

• “I think that people sometimes confuse AI as the end product, AI is a means to an end.” – Jeff Kofman
• “We live in an era that I call the Voice Economy. The 20th Century was text driven, today we live in a voice-driven economy.” – Jeff Kofman
• On entrepreneurship: “It is more creative than I ever imagined. It is harder than I ever imagined. And it is more fun than I ever imagined.” – Jeff Kofman
• “All of us are in the business of storytelling, that’s called living.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I think that the innovation opportunities in this field are pretty limitless, people need to be able to turn around content efficiently and get it out to multiple platforms and integrate it into traditional products.” – Jeff Kofman
• “It’s very interesting when it comes to timing, many people forget that when they look back at the success of a company.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “A start-up has to have an actual business model that’s sustainable; if it’s not a sustainable business, it’s not a business.” – Jeff Kofman
• “You have to be really comfortable admitting what you don’t know … you have to be really humble about knowledge.” – Jeff Kofman
• On being a journalist: “You become incredibly resourceful, you understand what’s achievable and what’s not, and you do it.” – Jeff Kofman
• “It’s oppressive to think about how hard life is for some people.” – Jeff Kofman

Resources:

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Benedict's Newsletter

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jeff Kofman

Website: trint.com

Twitter: @JeffreyKofman

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 the 1930s, when a fiery mistress decided to get her revenge, she did not serve it cold, she served it hot enough to burn and helped create the legendary Nashville-style Hot Chicken.  Kim Prince carries on the family tradition with her restaurant Hotville and has been scorching tastebuds and the competition in Los Angeles.  The importance of legacy and family are at the core of the conversation, 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. 

Kim Prince

Reaching as far back as the 1930s, Kim said it was her great-great Uncle Thornton Prince who, along with his brothers, started the hot chicken tradition in Nashville. Legend has it that hot chicken’s origin was rooted in a not so favorable circumstance when a vengeful love interest added some unexpected heat to Uncle Thornton’s food, leaving his mouth sweltering with spice.  From there, the Prince family gave birth to the BBQ Hot Chicken Shack in 1936, later undergoing a name change to Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack in the 1980s.

Born in California, raised in Tennessee, Kim Prince moved back to California to work in television but in 2013 she decided to return to her family roots in the kitchen.   Kim is now the owner of LA’s Hotville Chicken™ and has brought her family’s deeply rooted hot chicken creations to Los Angeles.  Kim has expansion plans on the burner and hopes to continue to build on the family legacy. 

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the history of Nashville-hot chicken created by the Prince family and how that style of chicken has spawned many different imitators.
• How preparation affects the heat of the peppers and how the preparations might be culturally influenced.
• Difficulties in running a business in Los Angeles and keeping the family-oriented business model through expansion plans and how Kim is tackling that problem.
• Importance of community when it comes to success and how a support network can make or break a business.
• Difficulties COVID has presented for her business and how she has overcome the challenges.

Quotes from the show:

• “If you like fried chicken, you’re going to love Nashville’s Hot Chicken.” – Kim Prince
• “Once something comes into public usage, you start to lose some of the power of the brand itself.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “Nashville hot chicken, to me personally, is a legacy project.  This is all about the Prince family and the growth of the Prince family legacy.” – Kim Prince
• “When I try Nashville Hot Chicken at so many different restaurants … I have to honestly say they’re not bringing it.” – Kim Prince
• “While workers here may not be blood relatives, they’re working alongside a true Prince family member, a third-, fourth-, fifth-generation descendant of the original Prince [family].” – Kim Prince
•  “We’re going to do the best we can, with what we can, while we can.” – Kim Prince
• “I am excited about the opportunity but I’m more excited about the fact that people have embraced Nashville Hot Chicken, here in Los Angeles, like it’s their own.” – Kim Prince
• “Nashville Hot Chicken is everything to me.  I plan on retiring doing this.” – Kim Prince
• “The lessons we learn, sometimes they’re spoken … other times you just see it, you observe.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On the current racial disparity: “If they could do it [in the 1930s], I can do it now.” – Kim Prince

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Kim Prince

Website: hotvillechicken.com

Twitter: @kimprincetwin2

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

From the moment we first gazed upon the stars humans have wondered if there is life beyond our own planet.  Dr. Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist at NASA, has traveled to the far reaches of our own planet, including to the bottom of the ocean with James Cameron, to learn what life might be like on another planet.  Kevin talks with Syd about why we are searching for Goldilocks, how the universe is like a campfire, and the upcoming NASA mission to Europa, 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. 

Dr. Kevin Hand

Dr. Kevin P. Hand is a planetary scientist and astrobiologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he directs the Ocean Worlds Lab.  His research focuses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the solar system with an emphasis on moons of the outer solar system that likely harbor liquid water oceans.  He is the pre-Project Scientist for NASA’s Europa Lander mission concept and was co-chair of the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team.  From 2011-2016, Hand served as Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration at JPL.  His fieldwork has brought him to Antarctica, the Arctic, the depths of Earth’s ocean, the glaciers of Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, and the desert of Namibia. His popular science book, Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space, was published by Princeton University Press in April of 2020.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on what the search for extraterrestrial life entails and what we are likely to find when life is discovered.
• Reasons why communication, specifically writing, is important in scientific discovery.
• Information that can be gained from comparing Earth to other celestial bodies and how that is helping to direct the search.
• Difficulties that are impeding the search for life including technology, funding, and time.
• Details on Kevin’s work with James Cameron, their exploration of the Earth’s oceans, and how what they saw influenced their individual projects.
• Benefits commercial industries receive from NASA’s explorations.

Quotes from the show:

• “When we look at life on Earth, from the most extreme of microbes to the most extreme of human beings, we are all connected by the tree of life.  We are all connected by biochemistry.” – Kevin Hand
• “You need to know how to communicate your scientific arguments, that’s not to say writing is the most important thing, but it is an incredibly important skill.” – Kevin Hand
• “Communication and scientific discovery do not necessarily go hand in hand.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “If we’ve learned anything from Earth’s biosphere it’s that; where you find the liquid water, you generally find life.” – Kevin Hand
• “A mission to the surface of Europa is not just about searching for life, it’s also about understanding oceans as a planetary process.” – Kevin Hand
• “One of the great things about NASA and this kind of exploration is that, for the most part, it does get broad, bi-partisan support.” – Kevin Hand
• “What these missions to search for life really do is open the doorway to a much broader scientific community.” – Kevin Hand
• “It’s important to remember that the goal of NASA … is in truly pushing the frontier, daring the mighty things.” – Kevin Hand
• “I like to think of NASA as a venture capital organization that helps seed innovation at the most extraordinary levels.” – Kevin Hand
• “I can see the spiritual side of the explorations that you’re doing, it’s very spiritual.” – Syd Finkelstein

Resources:

Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space by Dr. Kevin Hand

Alien Ocean: NASA’s Mission to Europa - YouTube

Bouyant Rover for Under Ice Exploration (BRUIE)

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Dr. Kevin Hand

Website: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hand/

Twitter: @Alienoceans

LinkedIn: Kevin Hand

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 search to live freely, Fleet Maull made regrettable choices that caused his life to take a dramatic turn, but also provided the impetus for a spiritual awakening. That transformative journey led him to spearhead prison reform programs and mindfulness training programs for public-safety sectors that are changing and saving lives. Syd talks with the Prison Monk about how the choices we make lead us to the person we become, 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. 

Fleet Maull

Fleet Maull, PhD, CMT-P is an author, meditation teacher, consultant, coach, seminar leader, motivational speaker, social entrepreneur, and peacemaker. He is the founder of Prison Mindfulness Institute, National Prison Hospice Association, Windhorse Seminars & Consulting, the Center for Contemplative End of Life Care at Naropa University and co-founder of the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety and the Upaya Zen Center's Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program. He is a senior teacher in two venerable Buddhist traditions as an Acharya (senior Dharma teacher) in the Tibetan Buddhist Shambhala lineage and a Roshi (Zen master) in the Zen Peacemaker Order and Soto Zen lineage. 

Dr. Maull taught socially engaged Buddhism, Buddhist psychology, and contemplative approaches to peacemaking and social action at Naropa University from 1999 - 2009 and is a frequent guest lecturer and conference presenter at other universities like Harvard, Brown, Emory and the University of Colorado. He is also a frequent keynote speaker at national conferences on mindfulness, criminal justice, end of life care, and trauma-informed care. 

He is the author of Radical Responsibility: How to Move Beyond Blame, Fearlessly Live Your Highest Purpose, and Become an Unstoppable Force for Good and Dharma in Hell: The Prison Writings of Fleet Maull along with numerous book chapters and articles in peer reviewed professional journals.  

Acharya Maull travels world-wide offering mindfulness retreats, transformational seminars, prison training, first responder training, and bearing witness retreats. He has trained correctional officers, law enforcement, and other public safety professionals in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Ontario, Canada.  

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how a drug addiction and a counter-culture mentality led Fleet to being in prison for drug smuggling. 
• Benefits federal prison afforded Fleet beyond improved facilities over county jail; perspective, compassion, and a focus on serving others.
• Difficulties Fleet has faced outside of prison including the loss of his parents, his wife, and, very recently, his son and the comfort his faith provides.
• How to find joy and positivity even in the worst circumstances by caring for others.
• Details on Fleet’s mission to reform the prison system from punitive to rehabilitative and provide mindfulness training that extends beyond the prison walls.
• How to get started in practicing mindfulness and receive tangible benefits.
• Differences between Fleet’s mindfulness training and other available programs.

Quotes from the show:

• On why Fleet got into selling drugs: “I was doing it just to keep living outside the system and I justified it with this us versus them thinking … I was so self-deluded that I actually felt it was a noble calling.” – Fleet Maull
• “All my artifices of justification finally completely fell away and I had to face the fact that I had been involved in something extremely harmful.” – Fleet Maull
• On how Fleet dealt going to prison: “I was practicing meditation and that was my salvation, to work with my mind in that way.” – Fleet Maull
• On finding purpose: “[Prison] is a hellish place and I’m here for a reason.” – Fleet Maull
• “In my tradition, the transition from one life to the next, we believe there is further life and that transition is very important.” – Fleet Maull 
• “We felt it very important to get mindfulness into mainstream rehabilitation programming and drug-treatment programming, and post-release programming, and so forth, to do that it had to be secular and it had to be evidence-based.” – Fleet Maull
• “I think this idea of mindfulness training and other work of the type that you’ve been involved with has got to be helpful for people that have high-stress jobs.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On why people struggle with practicing mindfulness: “They might get a few moments [of peace] but it’s not tangible enough to outweigh all the distractions, the boringness of it, and the difficulty in doing it.” – Fleet Maull
• “The only place we have any power, that’s with ourselves.” – Fleet Maull 

Resources:

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport

Neuro-Somatic Mindfulness course: 

www.heartmindinstitute.co/nsm-foundation

The Best Year of Your Life Summit (January 19 - 28)

www.bestyear.life

Radical Responsibility Book:

www.radicalresponsibilitybook.com

Fleet’s website:

www.fleetmaull.com

Prison Mindfulness Institute (mindfulness for prisoners):

www.prisonmindfulness.org

Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety (mindfulness for police):

www.mindfulpublicsafety.org

Engaged Mindfulness Institute (trauma informed mindfulness teacher training):

www.engagedmindfulness.org 

National Prison Hospice Association

www.npha.org

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Fleet Maull 

Website: fleetmaull.com

Facebook: Fleet Maull

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

Chez Panisse has indelibly shaped California cuisine since its inception in 1971 and Lindsey and Charles Shere were there from the beginning, helping to change the landscape for female chefs. Influenced by the politics and art of Berkeley in the 1960s, Charles and Lindsey found their niche for unconventional thinkers and doers and they continue to live their life by following their hearts. Listen in for the era-spanning experiences of a chef and a composer, 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. 

Charles Shere

Charles Shere was born in Berkeley, California, in 1935, and grew up there and on a small farm in Sonoma county, where he attended high school. He studied music and English literature at Chapman College, Santa Rosa Junior College, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated cum laude in 1960.

He was music director at KPFA-fm, Berkeley, 1964-67; announcer, critic, director, and producer at KQED-tv, San Francisco, 1967-1972; lecturer in music at Mills College, Oakland, 1973-1984; and art and music critic at the Oakland Tribune, 1972-1988. He was the founding editor and publisher of Ear, the west coast new-music tabloid, 1973-78, and has published four books: Even Recent Cultural History (Hanover, New Hampshire: Frog Peak Music, 1995); Thinking Sound Music: the Life and Work of Robert Erickson (Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1996); Everbest Ever: Correspondence with Bay Area Friends (as editor and joint author with Virgil Thomson and Margery Tede)(Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1996); and Why I Read Stein (Oakland: Mills College Center for the Book, 2002), as well as numerous musical compositions.

Lindsey Shere

In 1947 Lindsey and her family moved to a sizable ranch in Sonoma County, California, where she spent the next ten years among milk cows, apple and prune orchards, hayfields, and four younger sisters.

She graduated from Healdsburg High School, Santa Rosa Junior College, and the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in a group major in French language, literature, and political history.

In 1971 she joined Alice Waters to open the restaurant Chez Panisse, where she continued as Pastry Chef until her retirement in 1998.

Largely self-taught as a cook, she began focusing on baking and desserts as a teenager, delighted by the fresh dairy and orchard products available on the family farm. Her interest in the French language and in European culture led to further investigations into cuisine. She has traveled extensively throughout western Europe, especially in France and northern Italy: her mother’s family was Alsatian; her father was born in the Italian Alps.

Widely read, she counts among her major influences James Beard, Ada Boni, Robert Courtine, Curnonsky, Elizabeth David, M.F.K. Fisher, Richard Olney, and Waverly Root, as well as the chefs associated with her at Chez Panisse, especially Alice Waters.

Her book, Chez Panisse Desserts, was published in 1985 and is still in print. She was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in 1993. Among the chefs who have worked for her in the Chez Panisse pastry kitchen have been bakers Diane Dexter, Gayle Ortiz, and Steve Sullivan; pastry chefs David Lebovitz and Mary Jo Thoresen; and chefs Deborah Madison and Mark Peel. She is an active member of The Baker's Dozen and a major contributor to the Dozen's forthcoming book.

Since her retirement she has returned with her husband to a rural life in Sonoma county, dividing her time among gardening, grandchildren, reading, and travel.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how Lindsey’s passion for baking led to her becoming the Pastry Chef at Chez Panisse and a prestigious career that lasted twenty-six years.
• How Chez Panisse challenged the prevalent perception of the 1970s of women’s roles as chefs and restaurant owners.
• Benefits to businesses and brand building when there is one owner for an extended period of time, like with Chez Panisse.
• Details on some of the experiences that Charles and Lindsey have shared, including why Charles walked from Geneva, Switzerland to Nice, France.
• Importance of living life as it comes and taking advantage of opportunities as they come to you.

Quotes from the show:

• “I used to think the restaurant business was a really safe business to be in because people always had to eat but now I’m learning differently.” – Lindsey Shere
• “It is quite interesting to see how the center of gravity for political parties shifts over time.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “You can’t cook a different menu everyday without learning a huge amount.” – Lindsey Shere
• On Alice Waters: “One thing that Alice has continued to learn over these years, she doesn't stop and stay there; she’s constantly moving.” – Lindsey Shere
• “The early success of the restaurant owes something to the fact that health and nutrition were very much in the news all that time.” – Charles Shere
• On having a bucket list: “I don’t think I believe in it and I don’t think I have one. It seems unnecessarily disciplined.” – Charles Shere
• “If you lead a full and engaging life, your life is the bucket list.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “There’s always something waiting out there to be discovered and enjoyed.” – Lindsey Shere
• “It seems very difficult to be a young person these days.” – Lindsey Shere
• “My method has always been to have as open a mind as possible and be as attentive and responsive to events as possible and to enjoy things for what they are.” – Charles Shere

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Charles and Lindsey Shere 

Website: shere.org

Charles’ Blog: The Eastside View

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

Rachel Feintzeig, a columnist at the Wall Street Journal who writes about work and life, has a knack for asking great questions that resonate. Whether it’s how it feels to have a partner on the front lines of COVID to how to get noticed and promoted when working remotely, her writing gets to what people are experiencing, right now. On this episode of The Sydcast, it’s Rachel that answers the questions, about her journey as a reporter, how to make people mad, and the effects of COVID on the workplace.

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. 

Rachel Feintzeig

Rachel Feintzeig is the Work & Life columnist at the Wall Street Journal, writing about the intersection of jobs and everything else. From 2013 to 2020, she covered management and career trends as a reporter for the paper’s management bureau, writing about everything from the changing role of executive assistants to people who get tattoos of their company logo. She has a particular interest in stories about families and has written personal essays exploring her own experiences with pregnancy, parenthood and marriage. Rachel joined Dow Jones as a reporting assistant in 2008, covering bankruptcy and restructuring during the financial crisis and its aftermath. She’s a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was managing editor of the student newspaper the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on why Rachel went into journalism, how she ended up writing for the Wall Street Journal, and her process for research and reporting.
• Benefits an editor provides beyond grammar and how a good editor helps shape a good reporter. 
• Differences between editorial writing and reporting and why a newspaper would publish both.
• Details on Rachel’s favorite article she wrote, why she wrote it and the writing process, and how she felt about writing a personal story.
• Difficulties that COVID presented personally and professionally, how it influenced her articles, and her thoughts on the long-lasting effects of COVID on the workplace and metropolitan areas.

Quotes from the show: 

• On working in different fields of journalism: “I really do believe that if you’re just curious and bright and a good writer you can tackle anything as a reporter.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• “The best case scenario is that everyone is mad at you; that’s how you know you’ve done a good job.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• On being a good reporter: “A lot of it is about confidence and trusting your own intuition and it also takes time.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• “Great editors make you concise. They cut through a lot of the bullshit in your writing.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• “The truth is that most academics don’t teach what they do research on.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On writing of her own personal experience: “I’m a millennial, I’m like a natural over-sharer, and I write for a living. I’m a professional journalist, how hard could this be? It was incredibly hard.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• On working during COVID: “I felt like writing was giving me purpose and that what I was doing was really important.” – Rachel Feintzeig
• On the expectation of experts having all the answers: “I wonder if, as a society, we’ve over-relied on experts.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On the effects of COVID on the workplace: “My hope is that this empathetic style of leadership and doling out of benefits will be here to stay.” – Rachel Feintzeig

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Rachel Feintzeig

Website: wsj.com/news/author/rachel-feintzeig

LinkedIn: Rachel Feintzeig

Twitter: @RachelFeintzeig

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

From military logistics to mega-concerts to self-driving cars, Blair LaCorte has had a seat at the head of the table. How does one person move so ably from industry to industry, and what do you learn along the way? In this episode of The Sydcast we skip the platitudes and get right to what leadership looks like in the trenches, what skills make the difference, and why curiosity is the secret sauce of business success.

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. 

Blair LaCorte

Blair LaCorte is an accomplished leader and strategist with a long history of leveraging his change management skills to drive operational alignment and company growth. Currently, Blair is president of AEye, an artificial perception pioneer and the creators of iDAR™, a perception system that acts as the eyes and visual cortex of autonomous vehicles.  Prior to AEye, he served as the global president of PRG, the world’s largest live event technology and services company. He was also CEO of XOJET, one of the fastest-growing aviation companies in history and the largest private charter company in North America. He also served as a managing director and operating partner at TPG, a premier private equity firm with over $91B in global investments. LaCorte has held numerous executive and general management positions in private and public technology and investment companies throughout his career including, VerticalNet, ICGE, Savi Technologies, Autodesk, and Sun Microsystems. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maine and holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, where he later served as an executive fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies. He has garnered numerous patents across several domains, served on the Senate’s High Tech Advisory Board, and has been named an “Innovator of the Year” by NASA. LaCorte is an investor and astronaut-in-training with Virgin Galactic, as well as an investor in Moon Express, designer of the next generation of robotic spacecraft systems.

Insights from this episode:

• Benefits of growing up with parents that were entrepreneurs including not wanting to be an entrepreneur.
• The three waves that have changed the way technology and data are manipulated; the internet, smartphones, and logistics and the implications of China driving the logistics wave.
• Difficulties companies face in implementing self-driving assets beyond perfecting the autonomous technology and when we can really expect to buy a self-driving car.
• Reasons why Blair has had success through many career changes and why curiosity is the best skill to cultivate.
• Details on the astronaut training program, the technology, and what it’s like to fulfill a childhood dream. 

Quotes from the show:

• “The challenge is to convince humans that technology is to be trusted more than humans.” – Blair LaCorte
• “It’s really about the psychology of humans, at some point, people are going to say … it’s very beneficial for us.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I do believe that live entertainment will be back. I think we need it. We communicate verbal, non-verbal but we also need that proximity and the energy transfer that proximity gives.” – Blair LaCorte
• On growing up with entrepreneur parents: “I learned to deal with entrepreneurs and, at a very young age, became someone who tried to put processes in place to get rid of the volatility.” – Blair LaCorte
• “It turns out that when you go to war the first thing they need on the tip of the spear is logistics.” – Blair LaCorte
• “One of the things that makes you valuable for each place you go is you’ve got a portfolio of experiences that are very diverse.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On his career success: “I like to say I was forged in the world of ambiguity and the world of crisis.” – Blair LaCorte
• “Gaining trust is the key that I’ve found in my success and the best way to get trust is to find truth and to speak truth.” – Blair LaCorte
• “One of the greatest things to help people learn is diversity and variety of experiences because then you start to see patterns.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I think part of the challenge in capitalism is we’re always driven towards growth even when we should hunker down.” – Blair LaCorte

Resources

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Blair LaCorte

Website: www.aeye.ai

LinkedIn: Blair LaCorte

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 the world continues to throw new challenges your way, improv might be the most important life skill you’ve never learned.  Collaboration, reading a room, dealing with failure, Kelly Leonard of legendary The Second City theater details how improvisation can benefit your life beyond creating a great sketch comedy.  Kelly shares what it was like seeing John Belushi and Chris Farley on stage, working with Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert, what actor really surprised him, and more from behind the comedy curtain, 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. 

Kelly Leonard

Kelly Leonard began his Second City career in 1988, eventually becoming a producer of Second City in 1992 and Executive Vice President through 2015.  He has produced hundreds of original revues with talent such as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Keegan Michael Key, Seth Meyers, and Amy Poehler.  His book, Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from The Second City, received rave reviews in Vanity Fair and the Washington Post. He co-leads a new partnership with Booth School at the University of Chicago that studies behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He is a popular speaker, appearing at Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, and TEDxBroadway.  Kelly also hosts the Second City Works/WGN Podcast Getting to Yes, And.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how Kelly went from a dishwasher to a producer at Second City, his life outside of the theater, and why improv has become life.
• Reasons why charisma is a blessing and a curse and whether it is something you are born with or something you can develop.
• Benefits of using improv skills to build a better business, be a better parent, and become comfortable being uncomfortable.
• Strategies for dealing with loss and how to console someone who has experienced loss.
• Details on working with some of the biggest names in comedy, the relationship between Second City and Saturday Night Live, and how COVID has changed the creative process at Second City versus other comedy shows.

Quotes from the show:

• On charisma: “It’s not a superpower unless it can be used for evil.” – Kelly Leonard
• “I find it an artificial conceit that somehow business operates differently than the rest of the world and life.” – Kelly Leonard
• “Anyone can learn information but the ability to take that information and apply it successfully in collaboration with others is the real thing you need.” – Kelly Leonard
• “The only way innovation happens is when you experiment over and over, which is a majority of failures, on your way to eventual success.” – Kelly Leonard
• On failure: “If you don’t admit it, you don’t acknowledge it, there’s not much opportunity there to learn from it.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “You can not be in a creative mindset and be analyzing and judging yourself at the same time.  You have to suspend that entirely.”  – Kelly Leonard
• “That is the great mark of an improviser, is their ability to be fearless and sometimes even follow their fear because making yourself uncomfortable allows you to learn new things about yourself.” – Kelly Leonard
• Creativity is a discipline, it might sound strange, but it is like any other amazing skill and you’ve got to practice it, you’ve got to do it.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On how he dealt with the loss of his daughter, Nora: “We have a saying, play the scene you’re in and not the scene you want to be in, and that’s what we did, we played the scene we were in.” – Kelly Leonard
• On operating during COVID: “We’re doing work in ways that we’ve never done before and we should be proud of that, but we can’t stop.” – Kelly Leonard

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Kelly Leonard 

Website: www.secondcity.com/people/other/kelly-leonard

Twitter: @KLsecondcity 

Book: Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from The Second City

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

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