Trajectori

In this episode of Trajectori, I profile Leo Fender… the shy craftsman who did more than anyone to unleash the music most of us listen to today.

You know Leo’s instruments. The Telecaster. The Stratocaster. The amplifiers behind nearly every guitarist you've ever loved. When you listen to rock, country, blues, R&B, funk, punk, surf, grunge, metal and even hip-hop, you are almost certainly hearing an instrument Leo Fender created or influenced.

While his instruments are broadly known, far fewer of us know anything about Fender Musical Instrument’s founder, and that's exactly the way Leo liked it. Quiet, private, and far more comfortable behind a workbench than in front of a microphone, Leo Fender started out as a radio repairman who couldn't play, or even tune, a guitar.  From these humble beginnings, he went on to build the most important and influential instruments in modern music.

What you'll hear:

• The childhood accident that cost Leo an eye, and the stoic family creed that shaped everything that came afterwards
• How an outsider who couldn't play a note designed and built the instruments our musical heroes couldn't put down
• The dinner out that sparked the electric bass and redefined the rhythm section
• The afternoon testing amps that cost Leo much of his hearing, and what he went on to build anyway
• The five-step Trajectori VOIAP framework, mapped to a life spent behind the curtain while his creations took center stage

Follow along on Social Media: 

• Instagram
• LinkedIn 
• Send us an email at [email protected] 

Download the PDF Summary document from this episode so you can apply the takeaways from Leo Fender’s Trajectori to your own life. 

Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss out on future profiles. 

In my recent Trajectori profile on Anthony Bourdain, you heard the story of a wildly talented and deeply contradictory man. Tony was a self-destructive wanderer who became a beloved storyteller, a tough guy who was secretly tender, and someone who reached millions of strangers yet struggled to connect with the people closest to him. His contradictions beg a question worth asking ourselves: what contradictions do you harbor within yourself, the ones you are proud of or the ones that drive you crazy? And is there anything you do to amplify them, or to keep them in check?

I gathered a few of your responses into this companion episode, so we can learn from one another, a little like being in a great classroom. Please respond to future questions asked in our main Trajectori profiles, and who knows… maybe your story will be featured in a future companion episode!  Just send me an email, or respond through social:   

• Instagram
• LinkedIn 
• Send us an email at [email protected] 

In this companion episode, you'll hear about a few of the contradictions that Trajectori listeners carry within themselves, and how embracing them makes us all a little more human.
Here are some highlights: 

• The hockey goalie who guards the net in pink gloves, and sings to her opponents to rattle them during a shootout.
• The woman who is meticulous and buttoned-up the moment she walks into work, and whose home life looks like the complete opposite.
• The hard-nosed political conservative who quietly works through a box of Kleenex every time Puccini fills the opera house.

New to Trajectori? Start with my full Anthony Bourdain profile here: https://youtu.be/NipjxM58lKQ?si=EOyRe5GZHVhn6YC5

Keep your stories coming! I read and appreciate every response I get. 

To avoid missing out on future episodes, don’t forget to subscribe to Trajectori wherever you listen to podcasts. 

When many of us met Anthony Bourdain, he already had a snappy leather jacket, a raconteur’s wit, and a glamorous globe-trotting job. Far fewer of us remember an earlier version of Tony, when he was forty-two years old, broke, and quietly certain he had wasted his life.

That guy started getting up early to write a few paragraphs before his shift at Les Halles in NYC. Within a year, Kitchen Confidential had made him one of the most talked about writers in America, and the rest of the world became his next assignment.

In episode three of Trajectori, I profile Anthony Bourdain… dishwasher, Culinary Institute of America graduate, chef, recovering addict, bestselling author, and the beloved host of A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, and Parts Unknown. Tony’s trajectory is a case study in becoming yourself through life’s detours, not in spite of them.

What you'll hear:

• A raw oyster, freshly eaten straight from the water off the coast of France, that started Anthony Bourdain on his adventurous life at the age of 10
• A kitchen full of cooks who dressed like pirates, and the humiliating shift that made Tony want to be a chef
• A mentor with a strange nickname, whose seven rules of the kitchen turned Tony from a drifting cook into a true leader
• A phone call Tony’s mother made, and a resulting favor that changed her son's life
• A week trapped in war torn Beirut that shaped Tony’s future
• A lifetime of hard living that blossomed at middle age, but ultimately became unsustainable

Follow along on Social Media: 

• Instagram
• LinkedIn 
• Send us an email at [email protected] 

Download the PDF Summary documents from this episode so you can apply the takeaways from Anthony Bourdain’s Trajectori to your own life:

1. Key Takeaways From The Episode
2. Bigfoot Takeaways
3. No Go List

Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss out on future profiles. 

This episode touches on addiction and suicide. If you are struggling, please confide with someone close to you, or call or text 988 in the US.

In our inaugural Trajectori profile on Sami Inkinen, you heard how Sami and his wife Meredith rowed, on their own, from California to Hawaii. Sami and Meredith’s jaunt across the Pacific begs the question: what is the most adventurous thing Trajectori listeners have done with their partners, and what did they learn from the experience?

Your answers were so good I recorded this companion episode, where I highlighted some particularly compelling responses. Each Trajectori profile will have a similar Trajectori community feedback episode to help us learn from one another, like being in a great classroom.

Please respond to future questions asked in our main Trajectori profiles, and who knows… maybe your story will be featured in a future companion episode!  Just send me an email, or respond through social:   

• Instagram
• LinkedIn 
• Send us an email at [email protected] 

In this companion episode, you’ll hear about a few adventures that Trajectori couples have taken together, and how their experiences made their connections stronger.  Here are some highlights: 

• The couple who drop their kids off at camp for a month every summer, and then disappear into the remote Rocky Mountains, while still maintaining an active work schedule.
• The lifelong Brooklynite who had never spent a single night outdoors, until his wife handed him a paddle and a challenge he couldn't turn down.
• The man who spent years designing and building his dream boat, and the commitment his wife made so she wouldn’t be left on shore.

New to Trajectori? Start with my full Sami Inkinen profile here: https://youtu.be/oU86WauGKeg 

Keep your stories coming! I read and appreciate every response I get. 

To avoid missing out on future episodes, don’t forget to subscribe to Trajectori wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Sami Inkinen grew up on a small farm in rural Finland, a couple of miles from the Russian border. He skied ten kilometers to school. He never really did any homework, and still earned perfect marks.

Four decades later, Sami has co-founded two multi-billion dollar companies, finished second in his age group at the Kona Ironman, and rowed a twenty-foot boat across the Pacific with his wife.

In the first episode of Trajectori, I profile Sami Inkinen… physicist, reconnaissance officer, triathlete, adventurer, and co-founder of Trulia and Virta Health. His whole life is a case study in quality over quantity.

What you'll hear:

• Where a very Finnish kind of grit called sisu actually comes from
• How he became an elite triathlete with ten to twelve hours of weekly training, not thirty
• What forty-five days in a rowboat taught him and his wife Meredith about partnership
• The sugar-and-insulin science that led him to start and build Virta
• The five-step Trajectori VOIAP framework, mapped onto a real life

Follow along on Social Media: 

• Instagram
• LinkedIn 
• Send us an email at [email protected] 

Download the PDF Summary so you can apply the takeaways from Sami’s Trajectori to your own life.

Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss out on future profiles. 

Get inspired by the trajectories of dynamic leaders across a variety of fields including business, tech, medicine, sports, and the arts.  If you want to hear engaging stories about people who make a difference, gain a better understanding of their pathways to greatness, and apply new insights to be your best self, this is the podcast for you.

Hosted by Eric Grosse