Smart People Podcast

Marc Ostrofsky: Author of Word of Mouse: 101+ Trends in How We Buy, Sell, Live, Learn, Work and Play, and NY Times best seller Get Rich Click!: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet, entrepreneur, online business mogul, venture capitalist. Some people just have the itch, the drive, the absolute need to create things out of thin air and make money along the way.  That's exactly the kind of person this week's guest, Marc Ostrofsky is.  It started in very typical fashion, with a lemonade stand (I'm not even kidding: http://bit.ly/14T2Dng).  After he made his first couple of bucks, he was hooked. In college, while the rest of us were "studying", Marc was getting his Real Estate license and selling condo's to student's parents.  He eventually made the natural transition into the world of making money on the internet, and ten's of millions of dollars later, he's sharing all of his knowledge with us. Join us this week to learn: How to leverage all the technology we have at our finger tips Marc's favorite online applications How to spot an opportunity and take advantage of it and more! Marc is a best selling author, a professional speaker, consultant, venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur. His current Internet Companies will brought in over $90 Million in 2012. In his latest book, Word of Mouse: 101+ Trends in How We Buy, Sell, Live, Learn, Work and Play, serial entrepreneur Ostrofsky (Get Rich Click!), a domain-name investor best known for selling the name Business.com for 7.5 million, offers a trove of advice to consumers and marketers who want to better understand how to leverage technology. Known as a “Technology Wildcatter,” he was the founder of the Prepaid Phone Card industry and was an early pioneer in the Voice Mail Industry, Pay Phone Industry, Prepaid Cellular Market and other deregulated telecommunications markets. He created numerous magazines, trade shows and market research studies and later sold those firms for $50 Million+.

Dr. Adam Grant - Author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, youngest tenured professor at Wharton, one of BusinessWeek’s favorite professors, and one of the world’s 40 best business professors under 40. According to Professor Adam Grant, at work we all fall into one of the following 3 categories: Takers, Givers, and Matchers.  You can pretty much imagine that a taker is someone who receives (or takes) more than he gives, a giver is someone who gives without expecting things in return, and a matcher is someone who gives and takes equally and conditionally.  Ok - nothing mind blowing yet.  But which one are you? Which one do you want to be? As we discuss in this week's episode, the research shows that givers tend to be the least successful.  They often give too much of themselves unconditionally and don't leave enough time for their own success.  Hmm - so much for the nice guy approach! Takers tend to do moderately well, although over time their success dwindles as people catch on to their selfish approach.  Well that must mean it's best to be a matcher....right? Wrong again, matchers do OK, but they still aren't the most successful.  Well WTF guys? What do I want to be? Ok, it's a little tricky, but the most successful people tend to be givers as well.  Dive in to our interview with Adam Grant to find out what kind of giver you want to be! Adam Grant is the youngest tenured professor at Wharton. He has been recognized as Wharton’s single-highest-rated teacher, one of BusinessWeek’s favorite professors, and one of the world’s 40 best business professors under 40. Previously, he was a record-setting advertising director at Let’s Go Publications, an All-American springboard diver, and a professional magician. In 2011, he won the triple crown of prestigious scholarly achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the Academy of Management, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success www.giveandtake.com

Jay Baer - Author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype (NY Times Bestseller), marketing consultant, entrepreneur (started 5 multi-million dollar businesses from scratch!), named one of America's top 3 social media consultants. After speaking with Jay this week, we quickly realized how much the world of connecting and marketing has come.  Now that everyone literally has the world at their fingertips, you can't just gain customers by yelling the loudest or by having the biggest advertising budget (although it helps).  People are smart, consumers are educated, and the "hard sell" is a thing of the past. This week, "hype-free" marketing expert Jay Baer explains that in order to connect with your audience, you have to provide them with free value today in hopes of forming a relationship that pays off tomorrow.  You have to position yourself as a resource first and foremost, which will help build brand loyalty in a marketplace where loyalty is all but extinct.  Join us this week to learn some tips, tricks, and tools that help you and your business stick out from the crowd. Jay Baer is a hype-free digital marketing strategist, speaker, and author. He founded Convince & Convert in 2008. This is the fifth marketing services firm he’s started or managed. Jay has consulted with more than 700 companies on digital marketing since 1994, including Caterpillar, Nike, Visit California, Billabong, and 30 of the Fortune 500. He was named one of America’s top social media consultants by Fast Company magazine, and the Convince and Convert blog is ranked as the world’s #1 content marketing resource. His new book, Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype, debuted as a New York Times #1 Bestseller!  

Dorie Clark - Author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, former presidential campaign spokeswoman, professor at Duke University WHERE was this book 10 years ago and why didn't anyone give me this advice.  Our guest this week, Dorie Clark, hits home with a powerful episode about becoming the person you want to be.  Although Dorie tends to focus more of her energy on helping people achieve their professional goals, her advice can be applied to just about any aspect of your life.  Her book, Reinventing You, reads like a step-by-step guide to getting to where you want to go, giving practical advice and real world examples.  The best part is, you don't have to sludge through a lot of nonsense just to get to the good stuff.  For example, just 6 pages in she posits a seemingly benign question that is anything but - she asks, "Why not take the time to think about how you'd like to be seen in the world and then work strategically to accomplish that, rather than waiting for life to happen to you?". You know what Dorie, that's a damn good question.  However, unlike many in the field who leave you with only questions, Dorie gives you recommendations on how achieve your professional and personal goals. So first, we recommend (obviously) you listen to this episode where we get Dorie to give a great cliffs note edition of all of her sage advice and tactics.  But believe me - you are going to want more, at which point we highly recommend her amazing book. Dorie Clark is a former presidential campaign spokeswoman, an author, a professor, a columnist and a business owner. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the American Management Association's publications. She is also a columnist for Mint, India's second-largest business newspaper. She is a consultant and speaker for clients including Google, Yale University, and the World Bank, and is an adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.  

Steve Blank - Author of The Startup Owner's Manual and The Four Steps to the Epiphany, serial entrepreneur, professor. This week we talk to a true pioneer in an industry filled with innovators.  Our guest, Steve Blank, created the "Lean Startup" model that helped facilitate the launch of over 10,000 companies.  This model states that startup companies are not merely small versions of large corporations, but are entirely different entities.  As such, startups must adhere to different rules and practices than those that work for an established business.  According to the Lean Startup model, startups are in the process of searching for a viable business model; hence the reason they are in the startup stage.  During the searching stage, the company must be willing to quickly pivot in order to adapt to their findings of what the market wants.  There are little to no established rules within the startup and positions are often ill-defined.  It takes dedication, passion, a willingness to fail (and get back up again) and a love of the unknown to survive in the startup world.  Individuals within a startup need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to thrive.  Structure is a four letter word.  Once a business model is established, it proves to be profitable and also scalable, the company will eventually move on to becoming the established corporation. The established corporation is quite different from the above defined startup.  Structure is what keeps the business running.  Everyone knows what they need to do and the better they can execute on their assigned tasks, the more successful they will be. In this stage, you need people who are reliable, detailed, and dedicated to replicating proven methods. If this thought process seems like common knowledge to you, then you can thank Steve Blank for impressively discovering and explaining this model to the world.  If you don't understand this or haven't heard of this before - you'll be an expert after this week's episode! Steve is the author of The Startup Owner's Manual and The Four Steps to the Epiphany.  Blank co-founded his 8th and last startup, the Customer Relationship Management provider E.piphany, in 1996 and retired the day before its IPO in September 1999. In 2005, E.piphany was acquired by SSA Global Technologies for $329 million. In 2012 the Harvard Business Review listed Steve as one of the “Masters of Innovation” and in 2013, Forbes listed him as one of the 30 most influential people in Tech. Steve writes weekly for the Wall Street Journal Accelerators blog and occasionally for Forbes, the Huffington Post and in Japan for NikkeiBP.  He currently lectures at the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). -- This episode is brought to you by Bespoke Post – Bespoke Post is a monthly box-of-cool-stuff for guys. They call it the Box of Awesome.  Visit Bespoke Post at http://bespokepost.com/smart to get 20% off your first box! Bespoke Post is a monthly box-of-cool-stuff for guys. They call it the Box of Awesome. From sweet cocktail sets to high-end shaving kits, the Box of Awesome delivers a different experience that guys will dig.  The box costs $45 but the retail cost of the items in the box is always higher so you’re always getting a deal.  Here’s how it works: You sign up and on the first of each month, Bespoke Post sends you an email with a description of that month’s box. If you’re not interested in that month’s selection, you simply opt-out at no charge and wait for the following month. The choice is completely yours.        

Louie Schwartzberg - Director, producer, cinematographer. Movingart.com Well, we did it.  We made it to 100.  We joined the century club.  We want you to know, that we couldn't have done it without you.  100 episodes is something that we never envisioned - hell, I didn't think I would want to sit in the same room with Jon that many times! But I have to tell you, it's been an awesome ride and we plan on keeping this thing going as long as you all decide to listen to it! We look forward to bringing you hundreds more and we promise to attempt to get better each and every week.  I'm pretty sure we achieved that goal with this week's episode. We wanted to make sure that we blew your mind with the 100th episode, so we searched far and wide to find this week's guest.  And let me just put it this way, consider your mind blown. This week we meet the man who changed the film industry forever - Louie Schwartzberg.  Louie literally invented stock imagery.  An award-winning filmmaker whose career spans over 35 years, Schwartzberg is distinguished as an artist and a pioneer who transformed high-end time-lapse photography into an arresting art form. His stunning nature, aerial and slice-of-life imagery has helped transform films by such directors as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Haggis and Ridley Scott, including “American Beauty,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Crash,” “Erin Brockovich,” “E.T.,” “Independence Day,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Koyaanisqatsi,” “Men in Black,” “Twister” and countless others. As the only cinematographer in the world who has been shooting time-lapse 24/7 continuously for well over three decades, Schwartzberg is a visual artist breaking barriers, connecting with audiences, and telling stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, people and places. His latest piece of cinematic artistry is “Wings of Life,” a feature-length documentary for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep. Utilizing time-lapse, high-speed and macro cinematography, the film offers an intimate and unprecedented high-definition glimpse into the hidden world of butterflies, hummingbirds, bats and bees – the precarious relationship between flowers and their pollinators – with a third of the world’s food supply depending on these increasingly threatened species. Released April 16, this extraordinary film has already won numerous kudos including Best Theatrical Program at the Jackson Hole Science Media Awards, the Best Cinematography Award at the Ocean Film Festival, and Wild Talk Africa’s Roscar Award. -- 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 smart7. 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.

Nicco Mele: Author of The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath, entrepreneur, angel investor, and consultant to Fortune 1000 companies. At first glance, you might look at the title of this post, or the author we have on and think, "We get it! The Internet makes us connected.  Welcome to the 21st century." However, I would like to caution you about taking such a flippant look at this topic.  After you listen to this week's episode, if you so dare to dive into Nicco's book, you will quickly learn that there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to how technology - specifically connectivity - is changing the world.  For example, people are turning to social media more and more to get their news updates.  Sites like Twitter and Facebook can give you real time updates of what's going on around the world.  However, if we no longer have large news corporations such as The Washington Post or NBC news, who is going to fund the in-depth investigative stories.  We are already seeing a move towards quantity over quality when it comes to content, and that trend is only increasing - but at some point it all just becomes junk and noise. We all know that there are definitely benefits to the information age, but it helps to understand that there are also some drawbacks, and if we don't take the time to identify them - it could be too late before we realize what we have lost. On the most basic level, we have to be aware of how fast technology is shifting our world and make a conscious effort to attempt to understand it.  Industries are changing at a breakneck pace.  The music industry is completely different than it was just 5 years ago.  Television, advertising, travel, medicine.... the list goes on and on. Every single aspect of our world is evolving... are we ready for that? This week's guest is Nicco Mele. Nicco is a professor at Harvard and a leading expert in the integration of social media and Web 2.0 with politics, business, and communications. As the internet operations director for Governor Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential race, Nicco and the campaign team pioneered the use of technology and social media that revolutionized political fundraising and American politics. Later that year, Nicco founded EchoDitto, a leading internet strategy consulting company. Nicco also co-founded GeniusRocket.com, which used the Internet to change the advertising concept by soliciting creative online in an open and collaborative process. Named in 2003 by EsquireMagazine as one of America’s "best and brightest," Nicco was born in West Africa to foreign service parents.

Tony Schwartz - President & CEO of TheEnergyProject.com, Author of, Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys To Transforming the Way We Work and Live If you have listened to the show for any length of time, you probably know about the origins of Smart People Podcast.  Jon and I had been in the corporate world for about 5 years and knew it was time for a change.  Not just because we were bored, but because we were physically, emotionally and spiritually drained.  As eager, young professionals we had inadvertently burned ourselves out too early in our careers and we knew we needed to regroup - so we traveled across the country and let our creativity run wild. Three years later, this podcast is not only thriving, but it provides the creative output that keeps Jon and I amped up each week.  Why did I decide to tell that story? Because the lesson we learned the hard way is the topic of this week's episode. Plain and simple, everyone needs to slow down now and again and recharge our battery, lest risk the potential for burnout.  Today, more so than any time in history, people are being pushed to do more work, faster, better, and cheaper.  It's the model of our entire society, and it's creating a workforce of tired, resentful, unmotivated individuals.  I'm in no way going to sit here and tell you that you shouldn't work hard; on the contrary, we are advocating that you work hard, but work balanced. Make sure you unwind, regroup, and let go of stress on a daily basis. By doing this, you'll be more productive than you ever imagined.  But don't take my word for it, take the man who has taken this message global. Tony Schwartz is the CEO and founder of The Energy Project, which helps companies fuel sustainable high performance by better meeting the needs of their employees. Tony's most recent book, Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. His previous book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time, co-authored with Jim Loehr, spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 28 languages. Recently, Tony launched a weekly column for the New York Times titled “Life@Work.” Tony is a frequent contributor to numerous publications including the New York Times, the Huffington Post and the Harvard Business Review, and for three years, he wrote the most popular blog on HBR.org. -- 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 smart7. 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.

Lauren Sandler: Journalist, author of One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One Roach wouldn't willingly admit it in the interview, and perhaps this is presumptuous, but I think we all have a negative bias towards only children...unless, of course, you are one.  I'm not saying it's a huge issue, but it's one of those things that lies beneath the surface and impedes our beliefs, regardless of it's a conscious decision or not. You all know that here at SPP, we like to back things up with facts.  So whenever I see an interesting book grounded in scientific evidence, I tend to gravitate towards it.  When I began to read Lauren's book, I quickly realized that only children are a group chastised based on out of date assumptions that are not at all grounded in facts.  Take this common generalization for example - because someone is an only child they obviously received too much attention early on and therefore will be attention seekers throughout life... right? WRONG - disproven with research.  Ok fine, but surely they are maladjusted without having the built in best friend of a sibling...right? WRONG! In this episode we give you the real facts behind what it means to be an only child, from the voice of a well respected journalist who has been researched it, been there, AND done that. And don't worry, "middle child syndrome" is the next thing on our radar! Lauren's career in journalism began in the mid nineties at NPR in Washington, where she worked on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and as a producer on the cultural desk. She left NPR to accept a fellowship at NYU’s Cultural Reporting and Criticism master’s program—where she now occasionally teaches—and transitioned into print. She has written investigative reporting, features, opinion pieces, and personal essays on cultural politics for publications including Time, The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, The Nation, The New Republic, Business Week, Elle, Marie Claire, The Guardian, Psychology Today, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, and The Big Money. - See more at: http://laurensandler.com/

Christine Clapp - Presentation and communications expert, founder of Spoken With Authority The ability to communicate through language is what separates man from ape (and all other mammals for that matter).  The spoken word is a defining trait of homo sapiens,  and as such, is our main method of communication.  It shouldn't surprise anyone then, that the ability to communicate effectively is one of the highest determining factors of success and happiness.  Whether it be convincing co-workers to lend you a hand on a project, interviewing for your dream job, or explaining to your wife why you got home at 3 am smelling of perfume and brandy, the way you converse with others is an art that needs to be practiced.  Lucky for you, this week we have one of the best in the business on the show to explain how to get your message across to the best of your ability. Christine earned two degrees in communication: a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University, where she debated at the national and international levels, and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.  Since 2001, she has taught public speaking to undergraduates and currently is a lecturer at The George Washington University.  Christine also served as a communications aide for five years on Capitol Hill.  An active member of the U.S. Senate chapter of Toastmasters International, she received the organization’s highest distinction, Distinguished Toastmaster, in 2008, won a regional speech evaluation contest in 2007 and is a regular contributor to Toastmaster Magazine. Christine is the founder of Spoken with Authority, a consulting firm that allows others to communicate to their highest potential. Show Snippets: The 5 S's of presenting: Stance: Stand wide and proud, take up as much space as possible Sound: Don't be afraid to speak up! Really let your voice reverberate.  Don't be timid, you aren't speaking as loudly as you think. Smile: A great smile puts everyone at ease and portrays confidence.  Don't forget to enjoy your time on stage. Silence: Filler words are the worst.  Practice using silence rather than filler words such as um, uh, like, ya know, etc. Sight: Make eye contact with the audience, bring them in to your talk, connect through direct eye contact. 3 Keys to a great elevator pitch: Immediately explain how you solve a problem.  Try to stay away from using the word help, such as "We help people ..." Tell a signature story.  A brief personal anecdote that helps you connect with others. Keep it short. Christine's website: Spoken With Authority Twitter: @christineclapp  

David Kadavy: Author of Design for Hackers: Reverse-Engineering Beauty, design guru. If you know anything about the show, you know that Jon loves his weird stuff.  So leave it to him to find a guy who focuses on design.  What does that even mean? I was pretty sure this conversation wouldn't apply to my life at all, nor would it apply to most of yours.  However, little did you know, design has infiltrated every aspect of your life.  Sure, you know that buildings are designed, clothing is designed, and websites are designed - but have you ever thought about how your chair is designed? What about your toothbrush? Your washing machine? Almost everything you interact with on a daily basis has been created with you in mind... you should feel special.  Sure, most of the time you don't care - but have you ever come across something that was poorly constructed? Perhaps the button is on the wrong side, the cord is too short, or the website is too busy.  At that moment, all of a sudden design becomes extremely important and noticeable.  Join us this week as we change your perception of design with one of the best in the business.  Oh... and, apparently comic sans sucks - don't ever use it. David Kadavy is author of the #18 Amazon best-selling book, Design for Hackers: Reverse-Engineering Beauty. Prior to writing Design for Hackers, David founded the Design departments at two Silicon Valley startups, and freelanced for clients such as oDesk, PBworks, and UserVoice. David also launched numerous other projects on his own, none of which failed hard enough to be worthy of mention in this bio. Since the debut of Design for Hackers, David has traveled the world, speaking about design and entrepreneurship, and mentoring startups, including those at 500 Startups. Currently, David is in the middle of Summer of Design, which is his 12 weeks of design learning delivered to your inbox. Even though enrollment is closed, you can add your email address and join the waitlist! 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 smart6. 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.

Maren and Jamie Showkeir - Authors of Yoga Wisdom at Work: Finding Sanity Off the Mat and On the Job, Yoga Instructor As you might know by now, Jon and I like to focus on how terrible work is - perhaps it's because misery likes company. We get emails from many of you out in the rat race just like us, who are fed up and stressed out - but such is life.  That's why work is a four letter word.  But is it just us, or does work seem to get more difficult with every passing year?  It seems that with every new technological advance there is more to focus on.  There are 5 different social media platforms to keep up with, 3 different email accounts, 2 cell phones to answer, 2 monitors so that you can see twice as much... it's a never-ending competition to do more!  Our attention is being pulled in so many different directions, it feels like you never actually get anything done.  So at the end of the day you're exhausted and stressed, but your mind is still telling you that you didn't accomplish anything, nothing came off of your checklist - tomorrow you need to do better and be more focused. This kind of work life on a daily basis can put a huge strain on both our mind and our body.  It is for this reason that we could all use a quick lesson on how to incorporate one of the world's oldest practices, yoga, to find SANITY in an insane world of work.  You may be surprised to learn that yoga can teach you a whole lot more than just some funny stretches. This week we interviewed the husband and wife team of Maren and Jamie Showkeir. Jamie is co-founder and owner of henning-showkeir & associates, inc., whose client list is extensive and varied. Jamie earned a BS in education from Miami University, where he was a scholarship athlete. He earned his MA in Educational Leadership from Eastern Michigan University. Maren joined henning-showkeir & associates, inc., in 2005 as a managing partner, where she has collaborated with people in numerous organizations of all types and sizes managing complex organizational change.  As a writer, teacher, and yogini, Maren is dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unleash their full potentials. She earned a BA degree in journalism from Arizona State University and a MA in Human and Organizational Development at Fielding Graduate University. This week's episode is brought to you by 23andme.com. Head over to 23andme.com and order your 23andme.com DNA kit today for just $99!! 23andMe gives you the tools to better understand how your genes may impact your health. This helps you and your doctor find health areas to keep an eye on. With over 240 personalized health, trait and ancestry reports, the 23andMe DNA kit is an important tool to help you understand your genetics. 23andMe results include a few fun data points, such as:  famous ancestors, how closely you are related to Neanderthals, why you may not like cilantro, how fast you metabolize coffee...             If this is something you are interested in, please make sure to take advantage of the offer through our show! Not only will you get to learn some cool information, but you'll also be helping the show.

Susan Schorn - Author of Smile at Strangers: And Other Lessons in the Art of Living Fearlessly, writer, teacher, martial arts instructor, and dual black belt. "If you're going for a groin strike, you want to attack from the bottom up, rather than from the front, to inflict maximum damage."  This may be my favorite piece of advice I have received to date here on Smart People Podcast, and it's just one of the many gems that is presented in our episode this week.  But, we cover so much more than brute force and inflicting pain.  As a matter of fact, that is a rather small portion of our show - which is odd, considering our guest this week holds a black belt in Kyokushin and Seido karate and is a member of the National Women's Martial Arts Federation and  former chair of the board of directors for Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense.  Instead we focus on how to be more comfortable in your skin, to accept your reality and to be more aware daily; all things that are just as important in the dojo as they are elsewhere.   For example, you know when you're walking down the street and you get that creepy feeling? Perhaps you don't like the guy that's following you, the alley looks a little shady, or a strange car seems to be following too close.  Well, that's called your intuition, it has been honed over thousands of years and you shouldn't be afraid to pay attention to it.  I won't spoil any more, just press play! Susan Schorn is a writer, martial artist, and self defense advocate. She writes Bitchslap: A Column About Women and Fighting for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Her book, Smile at Strangers: Lessons in the Art of Living Fearlessly, was just be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in May 2013. Susan has taught writing and literature at the University of Texas, St. Edward's University, and the University of Hawaii-Hilo. She holds black belts in Kyokushin and Seido karate and is a member of the National Women's Martial Arts Federation and  former chair of the board of directors for Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self Defense, NFP, in Austin, Texas (where she still trains and teaches). She is currently working toward self-defense instructor certification through the NWMAF, and earned her nidan (second degree) black belt in Seido karate in 2011.  

Kevin Smokler - Literary enthusiast, speaker, author of Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 books you Haven't Touched Since High School. When you hear the name Holden Caulfield, does it trigger any memories? Perhaps you get a nervous, jittery sensation that runs down your spine as you reminisce about an old book report gone awry. Or maybe you are immediately transported to an easier, more carefree time in your life. A time when it was OK to hunker down in your room, not worry about the demands of life, and immerse yourself in a fictional realm. Or, just as likely, you have no idea what I'm talking about, which means you really never paid attention in school. Of course, Holden Caulfield is the teenage protagonist in one of the most popular 'high school novels' of all time - The Catcher in the Rye. A novel such as this truly is a piece of American history, but is it wasted on our youth? What I mean is, often times such amazing works of art are presented to students as yet another project to complete, another task to be tackled. By doing so, classics such as The Catcher in the Rye, often become something to conquer, rather than something to relish. So now that we are all grown up, mature, and worldly (yeah, I said it), we thought we should rehash the good ol' days and find out what the smart kids were reading when we were busy giving swirlies to the band geeks. Luckily, we found the perfect person for the job. Kevin Smokler is the author of, Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched since High School. Called "a publishing visionary" by the Huffington Post, his writing on the arts and technology has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Fast Company and on NPR. He's the editor of the anthology Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, which was a San Francisco Chronicle notable book of 2005. As a speaker, Smokler has lectured throughout North America on the arts and their role in contemporary society at The Commonwealth Club of California, The Idea Festival, Book Expo America and universities such as Stanford and Johns Hopkins. He sits on the advisory board of the South by Southwest Interactive Conference where he has been a featured speaker since 2003. Kevin Smokler has a B.A. in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. In American Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, he lives in San Francisco.  

Michael Moss - Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter; author of #1 NY Times Bestseller, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us  Look, we know you don't need a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter to tell you that junk food is bad for you, soda makes you fat, and the Western diet is causing an epidemic of diabetes and obesity.  But, that's just the tip of the iceberg lettuce.  The fact is, we almost never had a chance to eat healthy once big business got its grubby hands on the food industry.  And what's worse, is the large food corporations have known for decades that they are cramming harmful food down our throats - and they just kept on doing it! You might be thinking, "Wait a second, we are all adults here, we CHOOSE what we want to eat."  But do you? When presented with a head of lettuce or a McDonald's cheeseburger, is that even a choice? Of course not, you choose that burger 10 out of 10 (ok, maybe 9 out of 10 for those of you with a really strong will).  And this is because, the food industry has applied heavy science and mathematics to figure out how to exploit the human brain and its "pleasure centers" to make us crave unhealthy food to the point of it becoming a certifiable addiction.  So much of an addiction, that the industry refers to it's most loyal customers as heavy users! Some have posited that sugar is as addictive as heroine!  Hmmm - we might need to investigate this after all.  Lucky for us all, one of the best in the business put all of this on his plate (yes, love puns) to take a huge bite (yessss) out of the problem with our addiction to salt, sugar, and fat, and how we all got here in the first place. Michael Moss is an investigative reporter with The New York Times, having joined the paper in 2000. In 2010, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his investigation of the dangers of contaminated meat - being the first to bring about the "pink slime" problem. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Moss was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colo., and the High Country News in Lander, Wyo. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his reporting on the lack of protective armor for soldiers in Iraq, and in 1999 for a team effort on Wall Street’s emerging influence in the nursing home industry. His most recent book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, is a #1 NY Times bestseller and has been one of the best investigative works written on processed foods.