Nobody Told Me!

Susan J. Elliot is a sought-after dating commentator, relationship coach, author, blogger and lawyer. She is the author of the book, Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn a Devastating Loss Into the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You.

Why does someone decide to join a terrorist group, a gang or a cult? Joining us on this episode is someone who knows the answer to that question. She joined a religious cult at the age of 17, left the cult and became a deprogrammer, helping families free their loved ones from similar religious cults. Our guest is former Moonie Diane Benscoter who is the author of the book, “Shoes of a Servant—My Unconditional Devotion to a Lie.” Diane is also the founder of “Own Your Brain”…a project to expose how, when, where and why we can be manipulated.

We first learned about Curtis Carroll (aka "Wall Street") after watching his TED talk, which has gathered more than 2.4 million views since April. Known by the media as the "Oracle of San Quentin", Wall Street is known for his stock picking abilities, but he had to overcome a number of challenges to earn that title. Carroll grew up in Oakland and was convicted of murder/robbery 20 years ago. Sentenced to 54 years to life behind bars, he decided that rather than becoming a victim of the prison system, he wanted to do something impactful with his life. The stock market grabbed his attention, but he was illiterate. He educated himself, teaching himself to read and switching his role models from drug dealers to financial gurus like Warren Buffett. He now sees his life as an opportunity to teach financial literacy the masses, attributing crime, or the motive behind it, directly to the disconnect between financial security and most people.

Mike Mullane was selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 and was a part of the first group of space shuttle astronauts. He completed three space missions before retiring from NASA in 1990. Since then, he has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and has won many awards. He has written multiple books, most recently “Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut”.

David Allen is widely recognized as the world's leading authority on personal and organizational productivity. He is the author of the bestselling book 'Getting Things Done', which TIME magazine calls “the defining self-help business book of its time". He also also given TED talks that have gathered more than a million views.

Deborah Tannen has spent her career studying the language of everyday conversation. She is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and the author of many books, the latest of which is called, "You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships".

Tiffany Aliche, more commonly known as ‘The Budgetnista’, is the number one best selling author of ‘The One Week Budget’. She’s been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS MoneyWatch and has written for Time, Forbes, the Huffington Post, and many others. She’s also the founder of the Live Richer Movement, a virtual boot camp of 500,000 women from more than 100 countries.

Evan Goldstein, MS, is one of the nation’s most prolific food and wine industry veterans. He is the author of "Five Star Service: Your Guide to Hospitality Excellence" and the critically acclaimed books "Perfect Pairings: A Master Sommelier’s Practical Advice for Partnering Wine with Food" and 'Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with Recipes from His Favorite Chefs". He served two terms as chairman of the American Chapter of the Court of Master Sommeliers, served as an adviser to the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation, acted on the Board of Directors of Women Chefs’ and Restaurateurs, and received finalist nominations four times for the James Beard “Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional” award.

John Kralik is the author of "365 Thank Yous, the Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life", a book that tells the story of how when Kralik wrote 365 thank-you notes to people he encountered in his everyday life over the course of a year. He practiced law for 30 years, and was a partner in the law firms of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Miller Tokuyama Kralik & Sur, and Kralik & Jacobs. In 2009, he was appointed a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. He lives in the Los Angeles area.

Dr. Jack Schafer is a retired FBI special agent who specialized in behavior analysis and trying to get people to confess to their crimes. In his book, The Like Switch, he shares his proven strategies on how to instantly read people and influence how they perceive you so that you can turn strangers into friends in any aspect of your life, whether that be in a job interview or on a first date.

Sergeant Kevin Briggs is a retired California Highway Patrol officer who spent many years patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While on patrol, he encountered numerous individuals clinging to life by a thread – individuals who had lost hope and could see no way out of their current situation - ready to jump off the bridge to what they assumed was a sudden death and ending of their pain and hopelessness. His TED talk entitled, "The bridge between life and death", has had more than two and a half million views. He is the author of "Guardian of the Gate".

Sherri Franklin is the founder and executive director of Muttville, a San Francisco-based senior dog rescue-and-foster shelter. In 2010, Sherri received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, which recognizes those who “inspire others to service.” In 2016, CNN named Sherri a CNN Hero. To learn more about Muttville and its amazing adoption, volunteer, and other programs, go to http://www.muttville.org.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books are available in 26 languages and include Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. He edits the Wise Brain Bulletin and has numerous audio programs. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he’s been an invited speaker at Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities, and taught in meditation centers worldwide.

Bruce Tulgan is an adviser to business leaders all over the world. He is the founder and CEO of RainmakerThinking, Inc. Author of numerous books including Not Everyone Gets a Trophy (Revised & Updated, 2016). He has written for the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Marty Nemko is a longtime career coach. He’s here to help if you’re deciding what to study in college,how to land that first job after college, how to change careers in the, middle of your life, and anything else related to jobs and careers. The new 3rd edition of 'The Best of Marty Nemko' is now available on Amazon. It's in both print and Kindle formats. It consists of the best 86 of his 3,400 nationally published articles on career, relationships, money, men's issues, even the meaning of life, plus ideas for reinventing societal institutions: from education to health care to taxation. You can buy it at www.amazon.com/Best-Marty-Nemko-articles-difference/dp/1519254318.