North Star Podcast
Rob Henderson is one of my favorite up-and-coming writers. I like him because he's one of those people who doesn't fit into a category. He's a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, but I met him in a book club about technological stagnation. He's spent years in the academy, first at Yale and now at Cambridge, but most of his influence comes from his online writing. Most of all, he's interested in human nature. In particular, psychology, status, and social class.
info_outline Chrisman Frank and Ana Lorena Fabrega: How Childhood Education Will ChangeNorth Star Podcast
This week, I have two guests. Both are affiliated with Synthesis, a new kind of online school where kids learn through games and simulations. One is Chrisman Frank, the CEO of Synthesis. The other is Ana Lorena Fabrega, who is their Chief Evangelist.
info_outline Ash Fontana: Building Artificial IntelligenceNorth Star Podcast
Ash Fontana is an entrepreneur, investor, and author. As an entrepreneur, he was only of the early employees at an online investing platform called AngelList. From there, he became the Managing Director at Zetta, the first investment fund focused on artificial intelligence. Now, he's the author of the AI-First Company.
info_outline Li Jin: Creating the Creator EconomyNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Li Jin, the founder and managing partner at an early-stage venture capital firm called Atelier.
info_outline Zena Hitz: Liberal Arts ThinkingNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Zena Hitz, a tutor at St John’s and the author of an excellent book called Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life. Her book explores the meaning and the value of learning for its own sake, through images and stories of bookworms, philosophers, scientists, and other learners, both fictional and historical.
info_outline Tiago Forte and Will Mannon: Building Cohort-Based CoursesNorth Star Podcast
I have two guests today: Tiago Forte and Will Mannon.
info_outline Gagan Biyani: Building Silicon Valley StartupsNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Gagan Biyani, the current CEO of an education startup that helps teachers run Cohort-Based Courses on the Internet and has students from around the world. Gagan also founded a multi-billion dollar online education platform called Udemy. Afterward, he founded Sprig, a food delivery platform that grew to a nine-digit valuation but eventually failed. So today, he has the distinct pleasure of being both the founder of a unicorn and the founder of a massive failure.
info_outline Trevor Bauer: Playing Professional BaseballNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Trevor Bauer, who is arguably the very best pitcher in Major League Baseball. I wanted to interview Trevor not only because he's an excellent pitcher, but because he takes a radical approach to the game. He's a physicist and a scientist. A scholar and an entrepreneur. And you don't find that combination very often.
info_outline Nik Sharma: Building DTC CompaniesNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Nik Sharma, the founder of Sharma Brands and an advisor to companies like Judy and Cha Cha Matcha. Nik is one of my very best friends, and my go-to person for all things commerce. Since we first met, we've spent hours exploring the future of marketing and commerce together, and recorded this podcast to give you a window into what our conversations are like.
info_outline Kevin Kelly: Seeing the FutureNorth Star Podcast
My guest today is Kevin Kelly, who co-founded Wired Magazine in 1993 and served as its Executive Editor for the first seven years. As one of the most important futurists of our generation, he's published a number of books including The Inevitable, What Technology Wants, and New Rules for the New Economy which is my favorite one. Coolest of all, he's also a founding member of the board of the Long Now Foundation, a non-profit devoted to encouraging long-term thinking.
info_outlineMorgan Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund and a former columnist at The Motley Fool and The Wall Street Journal. He's the author of The Psychology of Money, where he shares 19 stories about the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to manage it.
I revere Morgan's writing, and this episode was my chance to finally ask him about how he writes so well. We talk about why listening to loud music helps Morgan think, lessons from his favorite non-fiction writer, and why you should start stories at the moment when you're being eaten by a bear. We also talk about the rise of intangible assets in the economy, why the American economy shifted in the 1970s, and how investment strategies have changed over time.
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Show Notes
2:00 - How the economy is changing, and why the edge in technology is going up while the edge in finance is going down.
6:38 - How the rise of intangible assets is distorting our view of the economy.
9:58 - The benefit of being slightly underemployed and why perceived "leisure" is so important in Morgan's career.
14:12 - What differed between what Morgan thought he would do as a parent and what he actually does.
15:35 - How the 1970s and 1980s fundamentally shifted the economy and culture of America.
20:22 - The three most important factors in really understanding the economy and whether truth or coherence is more important for social stability.
24:35 - How Morgan gets away with almost no collection or organization in creating his work.
29:58 - Why writing for yourself as a way to better understand your gut feelings will always pay off.
31:46 - How and why Morgan searches for the obvious things nobody pays attention to.
34:00 - Why some colleges are here to stay and others are not going to last according to Morgan.
40:11 - The most important things about writing that Morgan has learned from former and current workplaces.
42:24 - The two articles that Morgan is most proud of writing.
45:46 - What it means that people spend more money on the lottery than movies, music, video games, sporting events, and books combined.
49:06 - Why there aren't enough good books about how to write well.
52:15 - A writer that Morgan wishes more people would read their work.
54:32 - How the Ben Affleck speech in Boiler Room inspired Morgan to work in finance.
56:10 - The most difficult part about writing his most recent book.