Smart People Podcast

This week we bring you a special "best of psychology and human behavior" episode.  Travel back to the beginning of Smart People Podcast with us and enjoy some of the best clips regarding psychology, the human brain, the decision making process, passion and more.  This is a can't miss episode packed full of great information with none of the fluff. Here is a brief overview of what this episode entails, what order it's in, who are guests are, and where you can find the whole episode.  Enjoy! Part 1 - Clips from Episode 58 with Jesse Prinz.  Jesse gets us started by telling us how awesome and unique humans are! Part 2 - Clips from Episode 51 with Srini Pillay.  Srini gives some of the best advice I've EVER heard about how to live an exceptional life.  He also dives into what passion is and how to utilize it properly.  Don't miss this! Part 3 - Quick clip from Episode 13 with Kathryn Schulz.  Kathryn explains why we need to make mistakes and learn from them. Part 4 - Clips from Episode 41 with David McRaney.  Listen and then go pick up his book if you like psychology! Part 5 - Clips from Episode 83 with Venkatesh Rao.  What can robots teach us about how we make decisions? Part 6 - Clips from Episode 43 with Barry Schwartz.  Are you a maximizer or a satisficer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Sostrin, PhD - Author of Beyond the Job Description: How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job, consultant, speaker, and expert on the hidden world of work. As you are well aware by now, we here at Smart People Podcast do not believe that you have to work for the man, and put all of your own happiness aside just to achieve financial freedom.  We are all given unique talents that are truly beneficial to the world - the key is understanding how to best utilize them. Often times, when seeking out companies or careers that we believe will allow us to be our best self, the only thing we have to go off of is a job description; however, they are almost always misleading. This isn't done on purpose, but managers often fail to recognize what they truly want out of their employees.  They don't take the time to understand how to create environments that bring out the best in people and create mutually beneficial opportunities. From the day you start your first job you quickly realize that your job is much more than what you thought it would be.  You have to understand office politics, identify hidden opportunities, and appease those above you - it's a lot to handle. But if you can realize where your true potential lies and how to thrive in the environment, you can quickly excel and live a life of happiness, wealth, and meaning.  Our guest this week has spent his entire career (and a lot of time in school!) understanding how both employer and employee can be better off by just having a better understanding of what brings out the best in individuals. Jesse Sostrin, PhD is a sought-after consultant and speaker working at the intersection of individual and business success. The results of his innovative research and practice on the hidden challenges of work have helped countless organizations and their leaders navigate a unique path to success through the complex changes of our time. Jesse is best known for translating complex ideas about the workplace into simple language and useful tools that drive learning and performance for individuals and teams. In addition to his writing, speaking, and consulting, Jesse previously served as Vice President—Workforce, Leadership, and Organization Development at Wilshire Health and Community Services. He was the executive in charge of all human resources programs and services, and was responsible for company-wide strategic planning, leadership development, and cultural change.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Whitcomb - Author of Reboot Your Relationship: Restoring Love Through Real Connection in a Disconnected World - Relationship coach and therapist. Episode Transcript: Episode 119 - Joe Whitcomb Connection is a human necessity.  We need to feel loved and accepted by others, it is a driving force behind much of what we do.  Perhaps no connection is stronger than the one we build with a significant other. In these monogamous, intimate relationships, we share our deepest selves and connect on levels never before experienced. This type of relationship can be one of the most exciting, enlightening, spine-tingling, adventures we embark on in our lives.  It can provide us with a lifelong friend, confidant, and partner. But as we all know, these relationship require an incredible amount of work and dedication.  They take empathy, compassion, understanding, and communication - all the building blocks of a strong bond. And over time, these building blocks can crumble and that bond can weaken.  Throughout almost all relationships, each of us will at some point experience negative emotions such as resentment, jealousy, anger, and frustration.  When these emotions emerge, it's hard to work through them and they can force us to disengage and give up.  There are a number of ways you can get your relationship back on track and continue to thrive as a couple, but you have to have the right tools.  Well open up your toolbox, because this week, we are going to give them to you. It only takes one person to change a dance. - Joe Whitcomb Joe Whitcomb brings more than 20 years of relevant experience to his work as a relationship coach and therapist. With a focus on helping couples connect and communicate at deeper levels, Joe provides effective tools for putting the fun and excitement back into relationships using his proven multidisciplinary approach. Joe earned a B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland College Park. He holds a M.A. in Clinical Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University and a Doctoral Candidate in Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Joe is the CEO of The Relationship Society and author of the new book, Reboot Your Relationship: Restoring Love Through Real Connection in a Disconnected World. www.facebook.com/therelationshipsociety -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code smart12. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Stephen Cowan (Part 2) - Author of Fire Child, Water Child: How Understanding the Five Types of ADHD Can Help You Improve Your Child's Self Esteem and Attention, Board Certified pediatrician with over 25 years of experience specializing in ADD, ADHD, Autism and the like. Dr. Cowan uses a holistic approach incorporating both Western and Eastern medicine to treat these difficult issues. This is an EPIC first for Smart People Podcast.  On consecutive Sundays we are airing episodes with the same guest! What is happening? Well, frankly, this guy kicks ass.  He's smart, fun, energizing, conversational, and kind - all of the attributes that lead to an interview that lasted over an hour - so we decided to break it up into 2 separate shows. In case you missed it, you can check out our previous episode with Dr. Stephen Cowan: Episode 117 - Stephen Cowan Part 1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Stephen Cowan - Author of Fire Child, Water Child: How Understanding the Five Types of ADHD Can Help You Improve Your Child's Self Esteem and Attention, Board Certified pediatrician with over 25 years of experience specializing in ADD, ADHD, Autism and the like. Dr. Cowan uses a holistic approach incorporating both Western and Eastern medicine to treat these difficult issues. Did you know that according to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks 33rd in the world for average life expectancy? 33rd! For a country that prides itself on innovation, wealth and technology, the average life span in the US is shorter than that of countries such as Israel, Qatar, South Korea, and Iceland.  Hmmm, so much for that incredible Western medicine...right? Well, not really. As we discuss this week (one of many topics we cover in this incredibly varied and interesting episode), Western medicine is by far the best at treating acute illnesses or life threatening emergencies.  Some of the most innovative and miraculous procedures have come from Western medicine and then quickly spread across the globe.  But as the old sang goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that's where we often go wrong in the Western world. We have bought too much into the idea of the quick fix. We don't want to work for anything anymore.  We want our burgers in under a minute, we want our data instantly, and we want our health with a swig of water (or soda) and a pill.  And as we are learning, it just doesn't work that way when it comes to such a complicated machine as the human body.  To care for the body takes a lifetime of smart choices, and it's no secret what those choices are! We need to eat well, sleep well, exercise, nurture relationships, etc. But sometimes we just aren't willing to make the effort, and we often pay the ultimate price.  Cancer rates are soaring, diabetes and obesity are destroying the lives of both the young and the old, and the number of children being diagnosed with disabilities such as ADD, ADHD, and autism continue to grow at a steady clip.  It's time we change the way we look at illness. Stephen Cowan MD is a board-certified pediatrician with 25 years of clinical experience working with children. He has a subspecialty in Developmental Pediatrics and has developed a unique holistic approach to evaluating and treating children struggling with chronic physical, emotional and cognitive disorders.  Considering the child as a reflection of the inter-related forces of family and environment is the central focus of his practice. This approach respects the inseparability of mind, body and spirit and promotes a deeper understanding of what it means to be healthy. Dr. Cowan ompleted his pediatric training at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in NY in 1987 and went on to complete a 2 year fellowship in Child Development at the Developmental Disabilities Center at Roosevelt Hospital.  He is long-standing member of the American Board of Pediatrics, a fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on the AAP committee of Developmental Disabilities. He is a member of the Autism Research Institute's Defeat Autism Now practitioners. Dr. Cowan is a co-founder and advisory board member of the Holistic Pediatric Association and serves on the advisory boards of the Integrative Health Symposium and the TCM World Foundation Building Bridges Conference. Here is how we found out about Dr. Cowan : Mind Body Green - 11 Things I Wish Every Parent Knew -- This episode is brought to you by: the Smart People Podcast Amazon Page! Clicking on the Amazon link is one of the easiest ways to support the show. --   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Debra Benton - Author of 7 leadership books including CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization, founded Benton Management Resources, speaker, coach. Episode Transcript: Episode 116 - Debra Benton One of the things that I can really appreciate about our guest this week is her fearlessness.  Yes, she has a number of accolades and is often regarded as one of the top executive coaches in the country, but the way she achieved success was by trusting in herself, working hard, and going after it.  As Debra explains in this episode, she was quickly fired from her first job and from that moment on she decided that she would be the only one to have a say in her career - so she started her own company as a coach and advisor. When I heard this, I had to dig in.  Wasn't she scared of failing? Who was going to hire her, she barely had any real world experience at all? Didn't she feel the need to build a "solid" resume first? Debra told me that yes, she had some worries, but so does everyone.  If you believe in yourself, others will follow. It's hard work, but it's also hard work to live somebody else's life, somebody else's dream. She goes into more detail, so I suggest you just listen up - it's gold! We also cover areas of leadership, communication, success, and more.  Consider it your free weekly coaching session! Debra Benton is an effective, charismatic, and powerful speaker/consultant/author who has been in business successfully for over 30 years having founded Benton Management Resources in 1976. She has helped professionals worldwide to design subtle changes in their presentation, attitude, and leadership style that ultimately resulted in an increase in their personal and professional effectiveness--and subsequently their financial status. Debra has coached corporate executives, politicians, and business leaders on their organization impact in every industry imaginable. Ms. Benton has written seven books and numerous articles in business publications including the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. Her best-selling books have been translated into fourteen languages. Her expertise has afforded her front-page coverage in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. She has been repeatedly written about in Time, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and The New York Times, and has been a welcome guest on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and interviewed by Diane Sawyer for CBS. -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code smart11. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Sklar - Clean & renewable energy expert, Founder and President of The Stella Group, co-author of Consumer Guide to Solar Energy and The Forbidden Fuel. Until this episode, I must admit, I never thought much about what happens when I plug something into the wall. Even if you don't turn the thing on, it still accounts for nearly 10% of our total energy usage - it's called vampire power!  I didn't think about all of the blinking lights in my room at night, or the TV that drones on in the background.  But as I learned, the energy used to power all of these devices is extremely costly, both in terms of my energy bill as well as the safety and stability of our environment.  For example, did you know that 90% of the water used in the world goes towards growing food and making energy, with the majority going towards energy production?  I never knew that we used so much water just making energy.  With water being our most important and soon-to-be scarce resource, we have to find energy that is more sustainable. And there is more to it than that.  When we drill for oil we disrupt the environment, when we frack we flush harmful chemicals into the earth, and when we try to use nuclear energy....well...can you say Chernobyl? We must find a way to utilize more efficient, renewable, clean energy.  Luckily for us, we have brilliant people such as Scott Sklar, working on exactly that. Scott Sklar is an expert in the field of clean and renewable energy. He is the Founder and President of The Stella Group, a strategic technology optimization and policy firm advancing the utilization of clean, distributed energy applications.  Scott is the co-author of Consumer Guide to Solar Energy and The Forbidden Fuel. He Chairs the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and sits on the Boards of Directors of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and The Solar Foundation.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University.  Scott lives in a solar home and has a zero-energy office building in Arlington, Virginia. -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code smart11. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Tetrick - A social entrepreneur who is solving our industrial farming problem one egg at a time! Josh is the CEO of Hampton Creek Foods, an amazing company that is creating better for you egg-like products using plant based ingredients.  These products are more healthful, sustainable, and humane - it's a win, win, win! Did you know that humans consume over 1 TRILLION eggs per year? How is that even possible? We have 7 billion people on the planet, which means that the average person eats over 140 eggs per year.  I know - I was shocked when I learned that too.  Sure, many people enjoy a nice omelet or scrambled egg every once in a while, but no way we can be eating that many eggs right? But when you think about it, eggs are in everything! They are in mayonnaise and cakes, ice cream and pasta, soups and bread....and pretty much anything else you can think of! As you can imagine, this "egg dependency" really creates a problem and places a heavy burden on chicken farmers.  To keep up with demand, farmers have to use inhumane and unsafe methods to meet their egg requirement.  The hens spends their life stuff into tiny cages, unable to spread their wings, covered in their own feces, stuffed with antibiotics, never seeing the light of day.  And in the end, the thing we are eating EVERY DAY is merely a product of that crowded, dirty, diseased hens ovulation cycle.  There HAS to be a better way. This is the problem that Josh Tetrick saw, and he decided he could fix it. Josh is the CEO of Hampton Creek Foods (HCF).  HCF has set out to lower the number of eggs consumed in the world by creating a plant based egg alternative.  Although at first this idea sounds far out there - in reality it's no more crazy then our unbelievable reliance on eggs.  In fact, I would make the argument that it's more normal for us to eat plants than it is to eat eggs in the first place.  Tune in this week to learn more about how HCF is using modern science to substitute plants for eggs in everything from mayonnaise to cookie dough and more.  For a fantastic visual demonstration of what Hampton Creek Foods is creating, be sure to see Josh's amazing TedX talk below. Josh has been involved with a variety of social causes that include a United Nations initiative in Kenya and teaching street children in multiple African countries as a Fulbright Scholar.  He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. Interested in episodes on health and nutrition? We recommend Episode #1, #8, #61, #84,and #91! Twitter info: @joshtetrick @hcfoods -- This episode is brought to you by Terminology. Terminology is an app for anyone who loves words. A Universal app for iPad and iPhone, Terminology is part dictionary, part thesaurus, and part research tool.  Built from the ground up for iOS 7. Concise definitions and deep word relationships, like more and less specific words. Extensible through custom actions that let you easily browse your search on Wikipedia, Google or almost any other website. Store favorites and word history, with Dropbox backup. Universal iPad & iPhone app with iCloud sync. $2.99 on the App Store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alivia Tagliaferri - Author of 'Beyond the Wall: The Journey Home', producer and director of the documentary film, Beyond the Wall: Homeless Zone. As we discussed in episode 76, war is a part of life.  Always has been, always will be.  In fact, in that episode, we even discussed how sometimes, war is seemingly justified - a necessary evil.  But regardless of your personal stance, or the stance of anyone else, we can no longer deny the lasting effect that war has on the human psyche.  Only within the past few decades have we began to understand the after effects of war and, more specifically, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). So this week, Jon and I decided to open up a painful subject, to learn more about what happens to soldiers after they return from duty. However, as you probably know, we usually go straight to the academic when discussing any topic - especially one involving the brain.  But this week, we decided to go a slightly different route.  We wanted to hear from someone who could explain our soldiers journey in a way that we could feel the emotion.  We wanted to get a glimpse of what these brave men and women go through - so we enlisted the services of a masterful story teller, Alivia Tagliaferri. Alivia is the author of Beyond the Wall: The Journey Home (November, 2009). Formerly titled 'Still the Monkey, What Happens to Warriors after War,'. Tagliaferri's debut novel is receiving recognition from the veteran, military and mental health communities for its stirring and non-biased portrayal of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the long-range affects this mind injury has on the psyche of self and family. She is the producer and director of Beyond the Wall: Homeless Zone, a short documentary exploring the issue of homelessness among veterans. It was co-produced by Nancy E. Mantelli, a film and video educator. The film first premiered at the Woodrow Wilson Center in November 2008, and again at the 2010 GI FILM FESTIVAL.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Linden, PhD - Neurobiologist, Author of The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning and Gambling Feel So Good, and professor at Johns Hopkins. Ask and you shall receive! The data is in from the Smart People Podcast survey (which is open for anyone to still take, we would appreciate it!) and you all voted psychology and the brain to be the most interesting subject. So - we did what we do best and went out to find the smartest, most interesting, articulate "brain guy" we could. And believe us, he does not disappoint. Join us to learn about how our memory works, what makes us individuals, why we love certain experiences, and more.  It's an all out mind bender! Our guest is David J. Linden, PhD.  David is a professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurophysiology.  His most recent book is The Compass of Pleasure and prior to that he wrote The Accidental Mind. His website hilariously warns everyone that he does not want to be confused with the Psychiatrist David E. Linden - because that guy was a total jerk.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices