🔥 Fireside Chat: Smart People Podcast Creators -- Chris & Jon
Lessons from 380+ podcast episodes, favorite questions to ask, interviewing skills, and more.
Dive into the mental models and lessons of peculiar people and effective frameworks. Join other curious minds and subscribe to Curious Expeditions:
“It’s like getting to talk with bright people at a dinner party and skipping the small talk to get to the really interesting stuff!”
- Smart People Podcast listener
With 380+ episodes of interviewing thought leaders from every profession (e.g. psychology, leadership, education, technology, entrepreneurship, relationships), Chris & Jon, the creators and hosts of Smart People Podcast, have a treasure trove of lessons, interviewing advice, and fun stories.
This fireside chat was a blast. Curious minds will be delighted!
Meet Chris & Jon.
Guests: Chris Stemp (host) and Jon Rojas (co-host/producer) met 2 decades ago at a school bus stop in Ashburn, Virginia, and went on to be college roommates at James Madison University.
Fun Fact: Episode 1 was August 2012 and featured Dr. Walter Willet, Professor of Epidemiology, Nutrition, and Medicine at Harvard. They discussed the downfall of the no-fat diet, the shift in the food pyramid, and the truth about anti-oxidants.
If you prefer to listen to our chat via podcast, click here.
Applicable Lessons.
Lesson #1: You cannot take people with you if they do not understand. It’s more important to effectively communicate your ideas than it is to have ideas in the first place. Turn complicated concepts into easy-to-remember headlines (e.g. Andon Cord, Single-Threaded Leader, PR/FAQ, One-Way and Two-Way Door Decisions, Work Like A Lion, Super Mario Marketing, Mamba Mentality). IMO, the wittier the more memorable.
Lesson #2: Everyone is an overnight 10-year success. There is no secret sauce. A common trait of top performers is grit and a growth mindset. Have the grit to fail and keep trying.
Lesson #3: It’s not your job that makes you interesting, it’s your passions that make you interesting for a job.
Jon said he got his last few jobs because of Smart People Podcast and interviewers were more interested in the podcast than the routine resume.
Lesson #4: Listen to understand, not to respond. The most important part of a conversation is not what you say, but how you listen.
When it comes to interviews, focus on (1) follow-up questions to go deeper; (2) what the speaker is excited to talk about, not necessarily the obvious highlights; and (3) disarm with specific and peculiar questions such as “What was Kobe’s stretching routine?”
Lesson #5: The unmemorable moments matter. The aggregate of these moments shape you into who you will become.
Chris & Jon read every email, send them your thoughts about our fireside chat and what you are working on — smartpeoplepodcast@gmail.com
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“Fly High, Burn Bright, Be Curious.”