From building birdhouses as a kid in rural Ohio to selling a nine-figure real estate tech company to Zillow, Austin Allison talks about growing up with a carpenter father, hitting rock bottom at 16, and how chasing passion over money shaped everything from marathon running to reinventing second home ownership.

Humorist and screenwriter Simon Rich talks about growing up in New York, developing a "no reviews" philosophy, and how relentless daily writing shaped his career, from Harvard to Saturday Night Live to creating Man Seeking Woman

We wrap the season with Dr. Condoleeza Rice

Dr. Rice is among the most distinguished diplomats, political scientists and professors alive today. Born in the 1950’s in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Rice shares with us her upbringing under two extraordinary parents, how an intense focus on figure skating snapped her out of being a procrastinator, how the great classical musical composers taught her sublime melodies through the piano, but it was a long winded Protestant preacher who taught her how to improvise the notes when playing. 

We speak about her wide ranging career in service of multiple U.S. Presidents, and alongside many famous foreign heads of state. She shares with us how she trained her mind to be a decision maker amidst complex circumstances, and she values most in leaders. We even touch on what new kinds of National Service could look like for the next generation of Americans.

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This episode is sponsored by Bixby Coffee Roasters.

Hosted by Miles Fisher

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