Part-Time Genius Taking Risks and Traveling the World, with Tom Freston!
Nov 25, 2025
Tom Freston, a veteran media executive and co-founder of MTV, shares his remarkable journey from bartending in the Caribbean to leading Viacom. He reveals fascinating tales, like his unexpected sauna chat with Paul McCartney and David Bowie. Tom discusses the adventurous spirit that led him to build a clothing brand in India and work in Afghanistan. He also highlights how MTV's unique culture embraced risk-taking, birthed reality TV, and asserts that television can drive social change.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Encourage Career Flexibility
- Tell your children their lives are full of possibility and they can change lanes across careers.
- Encourage them to embrace new chapters and not be trapped by a single professional identity.
Hire Outsiders To Create Fresh Culture
- MTV hired people with no television experience to avoid old production habits and build a fresh culture.
- This mix of outsiders created a non-hierarchical, risk-taking environment that fueled creativity.
Pivot From Fashion To Music TV
- After losing his India clothing business due to geopolitics, Tom used What Color Is Your Parachute? to identify transferable skills.
- That led him to pursue music-industry jobs and eventually an interview at the company that became MTV.
