This episode marks the end of Season 1 of Famous Failures. If you’d like to stay in touch with me, please sign up for my weekly email list at weeklycontrarian.com. My emails go out every Thursday to 21,000+ subscribers and share 1 idea you can

Derek Sivers on What It Means to Fail

May 5th, 2020 50m 37s

Derek Sivers has lived many lives. He has been a musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, speaker, and book publisher. His TED Talk, “Weird, or just different?”, has been viewed more than 3.5 million times. His book Anything You Want

Cathy Heller on the Power of Radical Empathy

Apr 21st, 2020 31m 37s

Cathy Heller is the host of the popular podcast Don’t Keep Your Day Job, which was given the #1 spot on iTunes recommended list of shows for the New Year in 2018 and 2019. She started out as a singer songwriter and first found success licensing

3 Key Insights from Think Like a Rocket Scientist

Apr 14th, 2020 13m 19s

Today is the official launch date of my new book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist. In this special episode, I share with you three key insights from the book that will help you make giant leaps in work and life. If you order the book by Tuesday,

Baya Voce on the Cure for the Loneliness Epidemic

Apr 7th, 2020 46m 5s

Baya Voce has produced “magic touch” experiences ranging from two-person rituals to elaborate 1,000+-person immersive-theater productions. Whether 20-person Jeffersonian-style dinners or high-end finance conferences at Lincoln Center (and every

Dorie Clark on Failure and the Entrepreneurial Journey

Mar 24th, 2020 32m 19s

Dorie Clark is a consultant and keynote speaker, and the author of the books Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Dorie

Jessica Kriegel on How You Should Ditch Generational Stereotypes

Mar 10th, 2020 35m 27s

Dr. Jessica Kriegel is a researcher and expert in generational dynamics. Her insights and solutions offer a roadmap for how you can most effectively transform your culture to attract, retain, and engage all generations in the workplace. Jessica

Neil Pasricha: Ask Me Anything

Feb 25th, 2020 31m 36s

Neil Pasricha is the author of five New York Times bestsellers including: The Book of Awesome, a catalog of simple pleasures based on his 50-million hit, award-winning blog, and The Happiness Equation, a nine-step guidebook to happiness based o

Tara Schuster on Rising Up From Rock Bottom

Feb 11th, 2020 37m 47s

Tara Schuster is an author, playwright, and accomplished entertainment executive, currently serving as the Vice President of Talent and Development at Comedy Central. She was the Executive in Charge of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Key & P

Frans Johansson on Why Diversity Drives Innovation

Jan 28th, 2020 36m 21s

An entrepreneur, creative thinker, and acclaimed international speaker, Frans Johansson has lived all his life at the intersection. He has started a health-care business, a software company, a hedge fund, and an innovation firm. Frans is the au

Scott Harrison on Transforming Himself and Ending the Water Crisis

Jan 14th, 2020 39m 7s

Scott Harrison is the founder and CEO of charity: water, and the New York Times Bestselling author of Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World. In 13 years, with the help of more than 1 million

BJ Fogg on How Tiny Habits Can Spark Big Life Changes

Dec 31st, 2019 34m 3s

BJ Fogg is a behavioral scientist with deep experience in innovation and teaching. At Stanford University he runs the Behavior Design Lab and also teaches his models and methods in graduate seminars. On the industry side, he trains innovators t

Laura Vanderkam on Why You Have More Time Than You Think

Dec 17th, 2019 34m 7s

Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has

What to Do When You Make a Mistake

Dec 3rd, 2019 7m 40s

This is a short, solo episode of Famous Failures. Instead of doing an interview, I speak about what you should do when you make a mistake. The episode is based on a blog post I wrote a few months ago, which you can find here. If you enjoyed th

Rene Denfeld on Healing Trauma and Telling Her Story

Nov 19th, 2019 29m 31s

Rene Denfeld is the author of the acclaimed novels The Child Finder, The Enchanted, and The Butterfly Girl. Her literary thrillers have earned glowing reviews from the New York Times Book Review, among other venues. Margaret Atwood, who is the

Why the "Fail Fast" Mantra is a Recipe for Failure

Nov 5th, 2019 8m 41s

This is a short, solo episode of Famous Failures. Instead of doing an interview, I go on a riff on why the popular “fail fast, fail often” mantra is misguided. I offer an alternative that produces better results and explain how you can use it t

Whitney Johnson on Disrupting Yourself

Oct 22nd, 2019 38m 57s

Whitney Johnson is a leading business thinker and expert on disruptive innovation and personal disruption. She covers the framework for personal disruption in the critically-acclaimed book Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innov

Think Like a Rocket Scientist

Oct 8th, 2019 14m

In this special episode of Famous Failures, I read a never-before-released excerpt from my forthcoming book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life. If you pre-order the book, you’ll ge

Tim Urban on Overcoming Procrastination and Finding His Voice Through Experimentation

Sep 24th, 2019 35m 42s

Tim Urban is best known as the writer and illustrator behind the incredibly popular blog Wait But Why, which has garnered millions of unique page views and famous fans like Elon Musk. His deeply researched long-form posts on everything from art

Lindsey Horan on Winning the Women’s World Cup

Sep 10th, 2019 37m 11s

In 2012, eighteen-year-old soccer player Lindsey Horan defied conventional wisdom when she turned down a scholarship from soccer powerhouse University of North Carolina. UNC is almost a guaranteed path to the big leagues for talented and hardwo

Nadya Okamoto on the Value of Being Unapologetically You

Aug 27th, 2019 29m 17s

Nadya Okamoto is the Executive Director of PERIOD (period.org), an organization she founded at the age of sixteen to provide menstrual hygiene products to those in need. PERIOD is now the largest youth-run NGO in women’s health, and one of the

Christine Carter on the Science of Happiness and Escaping the "Busy" Trap

Aug 13th, 2019 38m 40s

Christine Carter is a sociologist, columnist and speaker. She’s the author of the books Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents, as well as The Sweet Spot: How to Achieve More by Doing Less. She is also a Sen

Tiago Forte on Building a Second Brain

Jul 30th, 2019 32m 4s

Tiago Forte is one of the world’s foremost experts on productivity. He writes and speaks on how knowledge workers can revolutionize their personal effectiveness using technology, and has taught more than 20,000 people around the world through h

How SpaceX Bounced Back from the Brink of Disaster

Jul 16th, 2019 10m 53s

This is a special episode of Famous Failures. Instead of doing an interview, I recount the story of the first three failures that SpaceX experienced on the launchpad, which brought the company to the brink of collapse. You’ll learn how SpaceX

Ryan Levesque on Giving Up "Good" for "Great"

Jul 2nd, 2019 42m 58s

Ryan Levesque is the CEO of The ASK Method ® Company, and the #1 national best-selling author of Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Method to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy, which was named by Inc. as the #1 Marketing Book of th