The Sydcast

Episode Summary

If you really want to shake up a family dinner just bring up sports or politics.  Pepper in a bit of business and crime and you have Jim Campbell shaking things up on talk radio.  From his start in radio, to his explosive interview with Bernie Madoff, and beyond, Jim has always had a passion for providing unbiased information in a world where facts matter less than ratings.  Gain perspective on why some successful people become bad at what they do, 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. 

Jim Campbell

Jim Campbell has been the host, since 2008, of the nationally syndicated “Business Talk with Jim Campbell”; and, more recently, the syndicated crime show: “Forensic Talk with Jim Campbell.”  “Biz Talk” is known for its “deep dives” with leading figures from the world of business; and the business of politics and sports. “Forensic Talk” features Wall Street crimes to unsolved murders to international scandal and corruption.

Mr. Campbell is also Assistant News Director at a Connecticut radio station – AM 1490 WGCH Greenwich. Previously, he was a National Director with a Big Four Consulting Firm – KPMG Consulting; an Officer with Dean Witter Financial Services (now Morgan Stanley); and an Analyst at IBM. He has a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Tufts University, and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on Jim’s life before radio, why he chose radio for his platform to change the world, and details on some of his favorite interviews and guests.
• Reasons why social comparisons set you up for failure and why being your best is what really matters.
• Why Bernie Madoff allowed Jim to interview him, what they both hoped to get from the interviews, and what Ruth Madoff was like.
• Details on Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and why it worked.
• Strategies used by leaders to disassociate themselves from their failures or crimes that allow them to maintain their status.

Quotes from the show:

• “Radio reared itself as something that I could be free to do what I wanted as well as fill this gap I thought that was out there for unbiased, non-partisan, information-driven, fact-driven … perspective.” – Jim Campbell
• On the current status of talk radio: “Truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore, facts don’t seem to matter.” – Jim Campbell
• On social comparison: “The easiest way to feel unsatisfied with your own accomplishments in life is to continually compare yourself to somebody else.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “Building a team, to me, is also one of the most fascinating things in the world.   Where you sublimate your ego for the benefit of a team and you learn how to endure and how to win.” – Jim Campbell
• On why Bernie Madoff let Jim interview him: “I think that he thought he could bullshit me.” – Jim Campbell
• On why CEOs talked to Syd for his book Superbosses: “Why did they talk to me?  Part of the answer is because they didn’t think they did anything wrong.” – Syd Finkelstein
• Quote from a Wall Street fraud expert on why Bernie Madoff allowed Jim’s interviews:  “You were his self-appointed guardian of reputation.” – Jim Campbell

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Jim Campbell 

Website: campbellbiztalk.com

LinkedIn: Jim Campbell

Book: Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History

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

As the world rages around us it may seem like there is no rule of law to keep us safe but Judge Fred Block provides us with ample evidence to be optimistic about the enduring independence of the Judicial Branch. Speaking to Syd from Greece, Fred shares his journey to a judgeship, why New York is still a great place to live, and why he doesn’t consider the infamous Gotti trial to be his most important case. In this episode of The Sydcast, get an enlightening view from the bench with Judge Fred Block.

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. 

Fred Block

Frederic Block was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York on September 29, 1994, and entered duty on October 31, 1994. He assumed senior status on September 1, 2005. He received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 1956 and an LLB degree from Cornell Law School in 1959. 

During his twenty-three years on the bench, Judge Block has presided over a number of high-profile cases, including the trials of former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, Peter Gotti, Lemrick Nelson, and nightclub magnate Peter Gatien. He regularly sits by designation on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

In addition to Race to Judgment and Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge, he recently authored the best-selling book, Disrobed: An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge. 

He also co-authored the 1985 off-Broadway musical Professionally Speaking (music and lyrics) and he has published articles on a variety of legal topics.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how he became a federal court judge, why the process is not the same for everybody, and the importance of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• How the current administration is affecting the dynamic and independence of the judiciary and why their strategy is unlikely to yield the desired results.
• Reasons why mafia cases always seem to be tried in New York and why the mafia isn’t quite the bogeyman they used to be.
• Difficulties that come with being a judge in an age of technology that removes privacy and safety.
• Details on collateral consequences, the lifetime impact they have on people, and how they can affect sentencing. 

Quotes from the show:

• On the current judicial climate: “There’s really something different in the waters today than I think we’ve had, historically, in the United States.” – Fred Block
• “[The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals] is one that’s looked at very carefully because it’s the largest circuit court, it covers twenty percent of all the appeals of district courts throughout the country. It’s the most profound court in terms of the impact it has on the Senate judiciary.” – Fred Block
• “I think any of our privileges, any of our functions of government, any of our institutions can be subject to abuse in the wrong hands.” – Fred Block
• On the separation of powers: “We’re independent yes, conceptually, but certainly not in practice and we’re subject to a lot of pressures from the other branches of government.” – Fred Block
• “Judgement itself is central to society, to leadership, and to organizations.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “We’re being challenged like never before to really maintain the independence and the integrity of the judiciary.” – Fred Block
• “Sometimes strange things happen and have a positive effect when you least expect them.” – Fred Block
• “The people that have been among the most positive and have helped society the most [during this pandemic], of course first-line responders goes without saying, but the arts community would be next. We’ve watched many streaming events from all over the world and it’s been powerful and there’s been an exposure to something that people would never have gone to.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On collateral consequences: “I think it adds a human dimension to the law.” – Fred Block
• “I think we have a pretty sound federal judicial system correlated to merit, correlated to being well-educated, correlated to having a good sense of judgement with a good moral compass.” – Fred Block

Resources:

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

By Frederic Block:

Race to Judgment 

Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge 

Disrobed: An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Fred Block 

Website: fredericblock.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

Football is synonymous with Sundays in America and the NFL draft has become almost like a celebrity awards show. What makes it so popular? Why have other sports not achieved that status? Kevin Demoff, Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Rams, not only answers that question but also talks about how data drives the draft, why defense isn’t the best offense when it comes to hiring diversity, and how the NFL is continuing to operate under COVID. Get unprecedented access to the talent beyond the playbook, 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. 

Kevin Demoff

Kevin Demoff is in his 11th year as Chief Operating Officer with the Los Angeles Rams football team. In this capacity, Demoff serves as the team's top front office executive and liaison to owner and chairman, Stan Kroenke, on all organizational matters. After serving on the working group that helped Kroenke return the Rams – Los Angeles' original professional sports team – home to L.A., Demoff played a significant role in delivering on Kroenke's vision to design and construct the 298-acre sports and entertainment district in Inglewood that will serve as the future home of the Rams. The campus will include SoFi Stadium, a retail district and office complex and is currently the largest entitled real-estate project in Southern California. 

Since joining the Rams in 2009, Demoff has been responsible for re-organizing the club's business efforts with a focus on delivering a better overall experience for Rams' fans and increasing the club's presence in the community. As part of his vision, Demoff spearheaded the organization's efforts to become one of the strongest philanthropic partners in professional sports. Demoff serves on the boards of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission and Los Angeles Sports Council. 

Prior to joining the Rams, Demoff spent the previous four seasons (2005-08) with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he served as a consultant before being named Senior Assistant in 2006. In this capacity, Demoff assisted General Manager Bruce Allen in contract negotiations, salary cap management, strategic planning and both college and pro scouting. 

Demoff was recognized by the Sports Business Journal as one of its "Forty under 40" class members of 2016, and in 2010 he was named one of the "NFL's 10 Future Power Brokers" by Sports Illustrated. 

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Demoff received a bachelors' degree in history from Dartmouth College in 1999 and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2006. Kevin and Jennifer have two children – a daughter, Claire and a son, Owen.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the NFL draft, its singular popularity among sports drafts, and how COVID has affected how the draft is held.
• Reasons why the Rams have a majority female staff, how hiring practices have changed, and how COVID has highlighted the need for greater work-life balance.
• Strategies used for recruiting talent to the team, how technology has improved player research, and why being the fastest might not be what gets you on the team.
• Similarities between running a business and running an NFL team.
• How to promote and improve diverse hiring practices within the NFL and why status quo hiring practices have hurt teams and created a poor candidate pool in terms of diversity.
• Difficulties specific to running a NFL franchise under COVID and how to move forward as safely as possible.

Quotes from the show: 

• “What’s so unique about the NFL draft right now, I would say, is the collision of what I believe are the two most popular sports in America which is the NFL and college football.” – Kevin Demoff
• On working from home during COVID: “Seeing people at home, in their environments, has helped people understand more the importance of that work-life balance.” – Kevin Demoff
• “Once you have people in senior leadership who are diverse, be that gender, be that, racial, be that LGBTQ, they are much more open to hiring people who are diverse underneath them.” – Kevin Demoff
• “If you bring someone in who is super talented but doesn’t fit your culture, who does not have the ability to do what is most important within your culture, they’re probably not going to be a fit.” – Kevin Demoff
• “In the NFL we are bad at developing head coaches. When you look at the turnover in the NFL in head coaches, we are terrible at hiring.” – Kevin Demoff
• “Imagine every team had an offensive-oriented head coach, all of a sudden it’s not the same league anymore, there’s going to be an advantage to having someone on the defensive side.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On hiring coaches: “Winning the press conference and making the big hire was not ultimately what was going to set us up for success, it was finding the right fit for our organization at that time.” – Kevin Demoff
• “You’ve got to give people a chance to make things happen.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “If we really want to improve the minority pipeline, we can be more patient with all of our coaches so that those coaches get a chance … for success.” – Kevin Demoff
• “I think, much like the rest of the world, we have to get to a point in the NFL where one case does not shut down the NFL and one case doesn’t shut down the world.” – Kevin Demoff

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Kevin Demoff

Website: therams.com/team/front-office-roster/kevin-demoff

LinkedIn: Kevin Demoff

Twitter: @kdemoff

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

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

Episode Summary

Why is Bob Wallace – successful entrepreneur, advisor to senior executives, and author of multiple books on business – running as an Independent candidate for mayor of Baltimore? And why does this outsider, in a city where Democrats have dominated the political arena for decades, actually think he has a real chance to win? In this episode of The Sydcast, meet Bob Wallace and hear his story that took him from the Baltimore projects to the corner office, and now, maybe, City Hall.

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. 

Bob Wallace

Robert L. Wallace is an internationally-known entrepreneur, author, speaker, and consultant. With more than 30 years of business experience spanning engineering, energy, and IT, Bob blends decades of research with practical real-world advice to educate and inspire entrepreneurs and executives worldwide. His rags-to-riches story began in the Baltimore projects amidst poverty and racial segregation, before overcoming obstacles to establish three companies: BITHGROUP Technologies, Bithenergy, and through RobertWallace.com, EntreTeach. Now, he shares his innovative strategies for success with other corporate and community leaders through his growing library of books and other content, and through his energetic keynote presentations and training workshops. He is running for Mayor of Baltimore in 2020.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on why Bob felt the need to run for Mayor of Baltimore, including ousting career politicians to bring a new perspective to the position.
• Reasons why he changed from the Democratic party to the Republican party and why he is now running as an Independent candidate. 
• Benefits of spiritual fortitude in entrepreneurship and “mayor-preneurship”.
• Difficulties Bob faced being an African-American student in Ivy League schools, Penn and Dartmouth, in the 1980s.
• Details on Bob’s plan to rebuild Baltimore and how he plans to be transparent and accountable to the people of Maryland.

Quotes from the show:

• On Bob Wallace: “It’s pretty exciting to see someone with this type of mindset and integrity, deep integrity, and innovation and verified real accomplishment as an entrepreneur.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’re going to get what you’ve always gotten.” – Bob Wallace
• “What’s critical to success in business is timing. You can have a great idea and a great plan but if the timing is not right, it’s not going to work.” – Bob Wallace
• On why Bob is running for Mayor: “Sometimes we are called in life to do things that don’t make sense on paper but you’re called to do it, so you must do it.” – Bob Wallace
• “I do believe that there is a spiritual component to entrepreneurial success.” – Bob Wallace
• On spiritual fortitude: “It’s not about religion per se, it’s that there is a belief that the future will be better than the present. A belief that I have the power to create something out of nothing ” – Bob Wallace
• “When you get to another level of some type in whatever venue it is, you gain this incredible confidence. ... Once you get to a certain level, it becomes your standard” – Syd Finkelstein
• On Bob’s mission as Mayor: “I’m not interested in coming in and nibbling around the edges of this environment, I’m looking to disrupt it and rebuild it and that’s going to take courage and that’s going to take strength, and I think I can bring that to the table.” – Bob Wallace
• “[My approach] is to understand first and then to move forward together. I am prepared to fight for the things that I think are important, but may not be popular.” – Bob Wallace
• “What’s most rewarding for me is the people I am meeting in Baltimore City neighborhoods that I am able to visit and it is so encouraging. Our city has such great DNA, strong bones, and all we need is a leader to pull it together.” – Bob Wallace

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Bob Wallace

Website: robertwallace.com

Twitter: @RobertLWallace

Facebook: Bob Wallace for Baltimore Mayor 2020

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

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

Episode Summary

The Guggenheim Museum is one of the greatest art institutions in the United States, and in the world. Who works there? Who are these people we know as “curators?” What goes on behind the scenes in preparing exhibitions? The Sydcast goes on a road trip to the NY Guggenheim (pre-COVID) to talk to curator Megan Fontanella, who shares her passion for the stories behind the historic artworks in the collection, her journey to art and curatorship, and what it takes to create exhibits that bring art to life for patrons, critics, and general audiences.

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. 

Megan Fontanella

Megan Fontanella joined the curatorial staff in 2005 and conducts collections research for the Guggenheim, focusing on institutional history and the provenance of artworks. In addition to her research work, she has co-organized several collection-based exhibitions, including Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenheim, 1949–1960; The Great Upheaval: Modern Art from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910–1918; and From Berlin to New York: Karl Nierendorf and the Guggenheim. Her co-organized international presentations for the Guggenheim include From Private to Public: Collections and the Guggenheim and Painterly Abstraction, 1949–1969: Selections from the Guggenheim Collections, both at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; she likewise curated Visions of Modernity, the final presentation of the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. More recently, Fontanella supported the traveling retrospective Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting; curated Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim, and co-curated Giacometti. She has also helped organize numerous presentations in the museum’s former Kandinsky Gallery and currently maintains the Thannhauser Gallery, a permanent display of 19th- and early 20th-century art. For the Guggenheim Bilbao she organized Van Gogh to Picasso: The Thannhauser Legacy. Megan graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in art history modified with history and received her MA in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, where she specialized in late 19th-century French art. She is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how exhibitions are determined and created, what happens once the exhibit has launched, and what happens if the show is a flop.
• Strategies used to create exhibits, how to get pieces on loan from other museums, and how reframing shows to present them differently to the audience gives them new life.
• Details on artists like Kandinsky, Cézanne, and Van Gogh, how they were influenced by their time period and surroundings, and how those influences can be seen in their art.
• How to determine the provenance of a piece of artwork, how the journey of the object can influence exhibits, and dealing with sensitive issues surrounding pieces.  
• Benefits of incorporating art into your life and encouraging children to appreciate art through exposure and respect.

Quotes from the show:

• On building relationships: “So much in life is socially based, no matter how ‘scientific’ or ‘technical’ something is, the personal connection is so important.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On creating an exhibition: “It really, genuinely takes a village. There are so many colleagues that I rely upon to make sure that things go off without a hitch.” – Megan Fontanella
• “Some of the most special, fantastic shows maybe don’t connect with our visitors but connect with art historians and critics or vice-versa; it doesn’t connect with critics but is wildly successful [with audiences].” – Megan Fontanella
• On building exhibits: “First and foremost, we strive for scholarship behind our work, we strive to do justice to the artists’ work.” – Megan Fontanella
• On exhibits featuring art from a living artist versus ancient artwork: “It’s an interesting dynamic to think about when the artist is living and this is part of his or her brand and what they are trying to accomplish.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “An exhibit is a work of art in itself.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “Every object tells a story, it has lived a life, and I very much relish pulling out those stories.” – Megan Fontanella
• “You don’t have to be an art historian or think you are going to pursue a future career in the art world to hone your visual literacy.” – Megan Fontanella
• “Variety of experience creates more talented people in whatever area they end up in.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “There are so many different ways that art can affect us and I would just love for the arts to become something that everyone feels is part of their life.” – Megan Fontanella

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Megan Fontanella

Book: Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim 

Website: www.guggenheim.org

LinkedIn: Megan Fontanella

Instagram: @meganfontanella

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

Coffee, cheese, chocolate, carbs.  We all love to eat, but we don’t completely understand how food affects our health and that’s what Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian wants to change.  A cardiologist by trade and a food scientist by necessity, Dr. Mozaffarian appreciates the complex relationship between food and health and the need to make choices based on individual health needs, not broad guidelines.  Put down that diet magazine and get ready to hear the real skinny on nutrition with Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, 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. Dariush Mozaffarian

Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Dean, and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School. As one of the top nutrition institutions in the world, the Friedman School’s mission is to produce trusted science, future leaders, and real-world impact. 

Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 400 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches to reduce these burdens in the US and globally. He has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in a wide array of media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Time Magazine. In 2016, Thomson Reuters named him as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. Dr. Mozaffarian received a BS in biological sciences at Stanford (Phi Beta Kappa), MD at Columbia (Alpha Omega Alpha), residency training in internal medicine at Stanford, and fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Washington. He also received an MPH from the University of Washington and a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Third Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.

The Friedman School pursues cutting-edge research, education, and public impact across five Divisions, a cross-divisional Center, and multiple academic programs. Areas of focus range from cell to society, including: molecular nutrition, human metabolism and clinical trials, nutrition data science, behavior change, community and organizational interventions, communication and media, agriculture, food systems, and sustainability, hunger and food security, humanitarian crisis, and food policy and economics. Friedman School graduates are leaders in academia, US and international government, policy, advocacy, industry, public health, community service, and entrepreneurship. The School’s unique breadth, engagement with the world, and entrepreneurial spirit make it a leading institution for nutrition education, research, and public impact.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the two epiphanies that led Dariush, a cardiologist, into the science of food and health.
• Strategies used to implement dietary guidelines that changed the American diet forever.
• Difficulties transitioning from the original, single-focus food science into a more complex and broad approach to health.
• How to characterize the quality of nutrition in your food when different sources provide conflicting information.
• Differences between the acceptance of nutrition science versus the acceptance of more established sciences.
• Strategies needed to change the politics, funding, and research of food science to help the population become healthier and less prone to serious medical conditions.
• How to define a healthy carbohydrate, how they affect your glycemic index, and why that is important to your overall health.
• The reasons why fat intake was dropped from dietary guidelines in 2015 and why fat continues to be a diet focus.
• Differences between high- and low-fat dairy and how food science is evolving in that area.
• How COVID has affected the health and nutrition of millions of Americans. 

Quotes from the show:

• “Nutrition science doesn’t change or evolve any more or any less than any other science.  Every science changes and evolves pretty rapidly.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• “I think that [change] is natural and normal in science.  That we have some stuttering and shifts moving toward truth.  Science is always improving and, not only is it natural, it should reassure us.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• On the accessibility of food science: “We’re in the lab of the kitchen every single day.  That’s never the case for these other fields [of science].” – Syd Finkelstein
• “Food and nutrition are the top cause of poor health in this country and on the planet.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• “COVID’s really laid bare the fractured food system and unhealthy food system that we have.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• “Most of the fat in your body is from eating too many calories that get converted to fat.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• “The fundamental message is that foods can’t be judged based on their calories.  Every food is a complex package of physiologic information that comes into our body, and interacts with our body in complex ways.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
• ”These simple solutions and labels have really brought us into a crazy place where all you look at is calories.”  – Syd Finkelstein

Resources

New York Times article Our Food is Killing Too Many of Us by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, August 26, 2019

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

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Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian 

Website: nutrition.tufts.edu

Twitter: @DMozaffarian

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

Episode Summary

Bill Helman sits on the board of directors for some of the most influential institutions that are changing the business landscape and, as a partner at Greylock, he is helping to foster the next generation of big ideas. Internet conspiracy theories, flying cars, and a talent search for a president are among the scenery on this wild ride of an 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. 

Bill Helman

William W. Helman IV is a general partner at Greylock Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in technology, consumer Internet, and healthcare.  He joined Greylock in 1984, has been a partner since 1997, and served as managing partner from  2000 to 2013.

Bill was elected to the board of directors of Ford Motor Company in 2011.  He serves on the finance committee and nominating and governance committee, and as chair of the sustainability and innovation committee.  As of 2019, he is also a trustee for Vornado Realty Trust and a Member of the Board at Inari.

Bill led Greylock’s investments in Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Hyperion Software, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Filene’s Basement, UPromise, Reveal Imaging, and Zipcar, among others.

He is a former trustee of Dartmouth College and chaired the investment committee from 2014 to 2017.  In addition, he serves on the board of Harvard Management Company, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and The Steppingstone Foundation.

Bill is a member of the board of fellows at Harvard Medical School and Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

He graduated from Dartmouth in 1980 and Harvard Business School in 1984.

Insights from this episode:

• Strategies for encouraging and investing in internet security and protocols to ensure a company’s prosperity and safety.
• Details on what personality characteristics are shared by the most successful business people.
• Benefits changing transportation modes, auto-drive vehicles, and rideshare services bring to the automotive industry.
• How to determine and recruit leadership talent for elite universities and how those leaders will shape the future of those establishments.   
• Details on the food supply system in the United States and future trends in dining and food.  

Quotes from the show: 

• “Philosophically, the issue of the negative effects of our totally wired interconnected world runs against the unbelievable benefits.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On predictive algorithms and website tracking: “You don’t know what they know about you and what they are using that information for, you have no idea.” – Bill Helman
• “[Elon Musk] is an amazing inventor, amazing, and he has changed the car industry like no one else has, maybe since Henry Ford.” – Bill Helman
• On traits of highly successful people: “Number one, it’s being willing to challenge the standard convention like few do, number two, it’s having an idea that may seem crazy to the average person but which the founder has an instinct that it will be a great product or service that will deliver value, and the third thing is being able and enabled to accept risk.” – Bill Helman
• On transportation methods: “I think people are moving around, particularly in urban environments, differently.” – Bill Helman
• On higher education: “I believe it is one of our core, unique assets in the United States, it is something that is so important to our core position, higher education, and I don’t think that we appreciate that enough.” – Bill Helman
• “The leadership of most higher education institutions got there through default.” – Bill Helman
• “Four-year, residence-based college is too expensive and it’s not for everybody and it shouldn’t be for everybody. We have this obsession with going to a four-year, top school and, I think, we need to get rid of that obsession. We need to educate our population in a different way.” – Bill Helman
• “You wouldn’t want to hire someone that didn’t want to change the world in some way.” – Syd Finkelstein
• Bill’s favorite hobby: “Hanging out with people and learning from them.” – Bill Helman
• “People say ‘you should do what you’re really good at’ but just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you like it.” – Syd Finkelstein

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Bill Helman 

Website: www.greylock.com

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: Bill Helman

Instagram: @billhelman

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

Listening to Oliver Kremer of Dos Toros Taqueria illustrate the beauty of the burrito, it is easy to understand how he and his brother, Leo, found success bringing Mission-style Mexican food from San Francisco to New York.  Oliver and Syd discuss the ingredients that came together to launch Dos Toros and how Oliver, Leo, and Dos Toros have grown and changed along the 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. 

Oliver Kremer

Oliver Kremer, co-founder and co-CEO of Dos Toros Taqueria, grew up in Berkeley, California.  He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008, where he flexed his entrepreneurial muscles in the business world, starting a website devoted to helping students find off-campus housing.  After graduating with a degree in finance he ultimately decided to return to his first love – burritos – and build a business with his brother Leo.  They opened the first Dos Toros Taqueria in New York City in 2009.  Today, Dos Toros has 22 locations in NYC and Chicago. In January of 2020 Dos Toros was acquired by Chopt Salad and L Catterton to form Founders Table Restaurant Group with the mission to create, acquire, and cultivate innovative and profitable founder-led restaurant companies.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on the history of the Mission-style burrito and its signature ingredients, how that contributed to the launch of Dos Toros Taqueria, and what it was like to open their first location in Manhattan.
• How to predict demand by monitoring how outside factors, like days of the week, can affect consumer spending and how consumer psychology plays into that demand as well.
• Strategies for using technology to track consumer demand and whether you need high-end or basic programs.
• The secret formula, V.O.R.B (Value Over Replacement Burrito), that Dos Toros Taqueria uses to determine factors like potential new locations.
• Benefits of having a busy restaurant including reducing variability in sales and inventory management and how location affects your volume. 
• Details on how Dos Toros went from one location to over a dozen, how they are handling COVID-19, their new merger, and what Oliver has learned along the way.

Quotes from the show:

• On the recipes that make a burrito: “If you can nail each one of these components and if you can portion them and place them into the burrito with real care and love that you can create a real synergy that is so much more than each one of these recipes by itself.” – Oscar Kremer
• On burritos in New York: “You can find amazing tacos that are really authentic, really high-quality tacos but the burrito was, seemingly, more elusive.” – Oscar Kremer
• “I love the creation of anything and food happens to be a pretty good anything.”  – Syd Finkelstein
• On product demand: “Thankfully, demand is remarkably predictable.  I think people outside of the industry don’t realize the extent to which you can forecast.” – Oscar Kremer
• On not overthinking your market: “Really we’re all very similar, I think, and if you use yourself as a North Star and as a good guide for what people want and when they want it, you’ll probably be fairly accurate.” – Oscar Kremer
• On starting Dos Toros: “We are expert connoisseurs and consumers of the burrito so we didn’t have a lot of questions about what we wanted this thing to look like or be like, it was just about execution.” – Oscar Kremer
• “I know it’s cliche but I really can’t overstate how important location is especially for fast-casual [food].” – Oscar Kremer
• “With every problem I come to, just really try to distill it down to its core and understand what the root cause of something is.” – Oscar Kremer
• On the importance of luck in business: “Acknowledging that is important.  I think it keeps all of us a little more centered on the reality of the world.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I’ve done a fair bit of research on experience and whether it’s valuable or not valuable, in particular highlighting how so many of us, it’s human nature, reach all kinds of conclusions based on a sample size of one.” – Syd Finkelstein

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Oliver Kremer

LinkedIn: Oliver Kremer

Facebook: Oliver Kremer

Instagram: @guackaflockaflame

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

Episode Summary

When taking off in an Apache helicopter you turn into the wind and face that wind head-on ... and that is how Shannon Polson takes on life. A fighter pilot, mountain climber, and author, Shannon is the embodiment of grit, whose energy and personal story inspires others to change, overcome, and transform. Syd talks with his former student about her unique military experience, family tragedy, and navigating life, 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. 

Shannon Polson 

After eight years in uniform as one of the Army's first women Apache pilots, Shannon Huffman-Polson never stopped looking for challenges. She climbed high mountains, raced long-course triathlons, and took journeys to Alaska's Arctic, all epic in their challenge emotionally and physically. For three years, she has interviewed women in the vanguard of their military fields as research for The Grit Factor to better understand shared stories and lessons in leadership and grit to inspire other leaders in ways she would have liked to be inspired herself. The Grit Institute is a culmination of that work toward the mission of providing resources for leaders at all levels, especially those in transitions or navigating change.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on why Shannon joined the Army, growing up in Alaska, and what it was like to be stranded while climbing Denali, North America’s tallest peak.
• The strategy Shannon used to become the first female attack helicopter pilot and what it was like to fly missions.
• Benefits of her unique military experience that translated to providing mentorship and leadership to other women through personal interaction and her books.
• How to define grit for yourself, what it takes to get it, and how to use it.
• Benefits of telling your story your way and creating a narrative that makes you stronger.

Quotes from the show: 

• On working in the military: “I worked with some of the absolute best people that I ever hope to know and ever hope to work with and I also worked with some of the worst.” – Shannon Polson
• On leaving the military: “It was very hard to not be somewhere where I felt like I was making a difference and responding.” – Shannon Polson
• “My experience is, possibly, now a little bit dated. It’s certainly very unique for having been one of the first women to enter into army attack aviation.” – Shannon Polson 
• “Absolutely no question that grit is innate to every single one of us and that grit is a trainable skill and I think that’s been proven again and again.” – Shannon Polson
• “Whatever our level [of skill] is when it comes to being an effective leader or a creative person … you can get more, you can learn how to extend that.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “The ecosystem that supports grit is something that we all need to pay attention to and be able to determine as well.” – Shannon Polson
• “Stories are so fundamental to how we think about the world and who we are.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On telling our own story: “It really is just integral, quite frankly, to everything that we do and everything that we are, whether or not we recognize it. To recognize it means to claim the potential to change it.” – Shannon Polson
• “We often don’t see the truth in our own stories without a little bit of help.” – Shannon Polson
• “We all create our masks in life and we’re different types of people in different situations and this whole thing [COVID-19] has stripped it away to our fundamentals.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “Nothing ever happens by just doing what everybody tells you to do.” – Syd Finkelstein

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Shannon Polson

Website: www.thegritinstitute.com

Website: www.shannonpolson.com

Twitter: @ABorderLife

Book: The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World

Book: North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey

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

If Stuart Weitzman - storyteller, entrepreneur, impresario - had a motto it would be “stand on the shoulders of others.” That simple phrase characterizes his approach to business, branding, and advertising and has helped him create a shoe that regularly walks the red carpet while remaining affordably accessible. From his first shoe design sketches to opening the first shoe store on Rodeo Drive, Stuart shares stories of how Stuart Weitzman shoes became a coveted celebrity brand, 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. 

Stuart Weitzman

It can certainly be said that Stuart Weitzman’s passion for design has been a lifelong pursuit: he began working at his father’s Massachusetts shoe factory while still in college. After graduating from university, Weitzman applied himself to the industry with a laserlike focus, eventually building the globally-renowned company that bears his name. He has been honored with numerous awards from the footwear, bridal, advertising, and business communities for his work in the world of fashion and entrepreneurship.

Today, his shoes dominate the red carpet events and are worn by loyal celebrity fans like Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, and by millions of women who buy them in over 70 countries around the world.  

Weitzman approaches his other endeavors with equal commitment. He shares his time with his wife Jane and their two daughters and is personally involved in philanthropic causes close to his heart. Among these is his mentoring students on their entrepreneurial aspirations at several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Yale, and the London Business School. Weitzman is a graduate of Penn’s Wharton School of Business and in 2019 the university honored him by renaming their design school the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.

During his free time, you may find him on the tennis court or at the ping-pong table. If you’ve got a racket, he’ll welcome the challenge. 

Insights from this episode:

• Details on how Stuart got his start in designing shoes, early lessons he learned about business, and the best decision he made.
• Benefits of working in an industry versus going to graduate school to learn the industry.
• Strategies Stuart used to create a niche market for his business that would bring the success he envisioned. 
• How to become a great designer, not just a talented designer.
• Strategies for protecting your business from competition including company culture and imagination.

Quotes from the show:

• “There’s the creative side of so many endeavors and then there’s the business side. You see it in almost any field. … It’s almost this yin and yang kind of thing.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On customer acquisition cost: “That made me recognize nothing was more important than making a business out of this product.” – Stuart Weitzman
• “The most beautiful shoe in the world, if nobody bought it, it wasn’t such a good shoe.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I knew if I could work for someone else who was making a product that, hopefully, I would make one day as well, I could learn things I certainly would never have gotten in grad school.” – Stuart Weitzman
• On finding his market niche: “Every dress on the red carpet was custom made and one of a kind for that actress but shoes were bought in shoe stores.” – Stuart Weitzman
• On why women buy his shoes: “It’s really about the image of the company and how I use the celebrities to overcome being a low-price brand [in the luxury shoe market].” – Stuart Weitzman
• On using celebrities to promote brands: “Associate yourself with great success in others and it can rub off on you if you do it well but you have to have product integrity.” – Stuart Weitzman
• On why Stuart decided to open shoe stores: “I recognized that the right store on the right street was a great branding tool, better than spending a $100,000 on a Vogue ad.” – Stuart Weitzman
• “There was never a door on my office. I knew everybody and I didn’t manage them, maybe I inspired them.” – Stuart Weitzman
• “To be imaginative and do things out of the ordinary but in a fresh and exciting way is just as easy as following the same straight path to that finish line.” – Stuart Weitzman

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Stuart Weitzman

Website: www.stuartweitzman.com/home

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

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