
My Wakeup Call with Dr. Mark Goulston
I’m Dr. Mark Goulston, and this is My Wakeup Call. Everybody has personal wakeup calls, but not everybody wakes up. In this podcast, we speak to people who did. In fact, they not only woke up, but their wakeup calls changed their lives, often helped them discover their purpose and then changed how they would spend the rest of their life. In most cases, the wakeup call was not pleasant, sought-after, and often shook people to the core of their being. But in every case, it made our guests more authentic, better at life, better in life and better human beings. I hope you will listen in and become as inspired as I am from every episode. I also hope it will help you persevere if you are going through a wakeup call and haven’t yet gotten through the pain of it, or landed in your future as the better person you’re meant to be, with the better life that you’re meant to have.
DISCLAIMER: Any information or advice I give is purely based on my own experience. Comments made are as a coach- this is not medical or psychiatry advice. There is no guarantee as there are many variables that will impact outcomes. Everything stated should be taken as opinion.
Latest episodes

Mar 30, 2023 • 46min
Ep 484 - Adeel Khan
In this episode I speak with leading regenerative medicine MD, Dr. Adeel Khan, who treats people around the world including royalty, athletes and celebrities whose wakeup call was the death of his younger sister at age 25, a near breakdown in his medical training and having that push him to find meaning in how he would help the world. https://www.instagram.com/dr.akhan/

Mar 28, 2023 • 1h 4min
Ep 483 -Julia Boorstin
CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent based at the network’s Los Angeles Bureau, whose through line has been always asking questions as a way to learn, connect and as a shield and whose wakeup call was realizing there were many amazing women leaders that could teach women AND men many things about leadership. https://juliaboorstin.com/

Mar 23, 2023 • 57min
Ep 482 -Jeff Dewing
In this episode I speak with Jeff Dewing, best-selling business author of "Doing the Opposite," podcast host of "Business Disruptors: Doing the Opposite" and founder of Cloudfm & Mindsett whose wakeup call was losing everything and rebuilding from that and also showing vulnerability to his recent company during the pandemic and having all his people step up and come up with solutions he never could. https://www.jeffdewing.co.uk/

Mar 21, 2023 • 39min
Ep 481 - Sam White
In this episode I speak with Sam White, CEO of Freedom Services, an ever-expanding insurance business and who cares passionately about diversity, equality, innovation and above all, making business human. Motivated by a desire to change the insurance industry for the better, Sam is a vocal advocate for leveling the playing field for women and championing female leaders within the industry after her wakeup call of seeing how overly male it is. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-white-093b9b22/

4 snips
Mar 16, 2023 • 44min
Ep 480 - Dan Pink
In this episode I speak to multi-NY Times best selling author, Daniel Pink, whose latest book is, including his latest, "The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward," whose wakeup call was realizing that what he was doing on the side, i.e. always writing, was something he should shift his life to doing as his main focus. https://www.danpink.com/

Mar 14, 2023 • 60min
Ep 479 - Charryse Johnson
In this episode I speak with Dr. Charryse Johnson, Founder of Jade Integrative Counseling and Wellness, psychotherapist and mindfulness practitioner whose wakeup call was surviving a tumultuous childhood and then the trauma of giving birth to her second child several rooms away from her dying mother, who had been her rock. http://drcharryse.com

Mar 9, 2023 • 1h 4min
Ep 478 - Sally Helgesen
In this episode I speak to Sally Helgesen, the world's foremost authority on women leadership and author of: "Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace," whose wakeup call was realizing that both women AND men are looking for practical/tactical way to accomplish this. http://sallyhelgesen.com

Mar 7, 2023 • 53min
Ep 477 - Mikke Pierson
In this episode I speak with entrepreneur, coach and former Mayor of Malibu, CA, Mikke Pierson, whose wakeup call was pushing through whatever fears were holding him back when he was younger. https://mikkepierson.focalpointcoaching.com/

Mar 2, 2023 • 54min
Ep 476 - Ann Christensen
In this episode I speak with Ann Christensen, President and CEO of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation whose through line has always been to help people and whose missionary work to Mongolia woke her up to the utter humanity of the world and caused her to double down in finding ways to help even more. https://www.christenseninstitute.org/about/#about-ann-christensen

Feb 28, 2023 • 50min
Ep 475 - Miklos Dietz
In this episode I speak with Miklos Dietz, Senior Partner at McKinsey and co-author with Vekat Atluri of "THE ECOSYSTEM ECONOMY: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders," whose wakeup call was realizing that the world is much to siloed and needs to view itself as part of something much larger and much more cooperative in order to thrive and even survive. https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/miklos-dietz