Jim Lloyd spent 28 years in IT before pushing his chips all-in on the AUDL. He is planning to draw on his experience in startups and at IBM to grow his three Canadian franchises.
He stopped by the show to discuss.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Jim
If you liked this interview, check out episode 142 with Jean-Levy Champagne where we discuss record-setting AUDL crowds.
William Generett has been working to connect the Pittsburgh region’s innovation economy to underserved communities as the first president and CEO of Urban Innovation21.
Urban Innovation21 is a unique public-private partnership that is supporting the growth of the Pittsburgh region's innovation economy while simultaneously connecting that growth to underserved communities, the residents that live in those communities and diverse populations that have not traditionally been connected to the innovation economy. Urban Innovation21 is one of the first US based organizations to work under the "Inclusive Innovation" model.
William’s Challenge; Meet 10 new people outside your existing network and visit 5 neighborhoods you don’t usually visit.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with William
If you liked this interview, check out episode 125 with Dan Gilman where we discuss how to make cities more attractive to younger generations and leadership.
Xtehn Titcomb first played ultimate in middle school at Spring Reign in 1997. Soon after that, ultimate became his main sport and a lifelong passion! He played and captained at The University of Chicago and played for Chicago's premier men's club team, Machine. Upon moving back to Seattle, Xtehn played with Voodoo, Emerald City Ultimate, Sockeye, and now is a player/coach on the men's club team Seattle Seaking.
Xtehn began coaching in 2006 at Roosevelt High School. After eight years, he transferred to Rainier Beach High School, where he currently coaches. Meanwhile, Xtehn has organized/coached dozens of youth and adult ultimate camps and clinics in the US, South America, Europe, and Asia. Xtehn plays and coaches with the mentality that hard work, mental toughness, and a teamwork make an ultimate player great.
Along with his two sisters and two brothers, Xtehn founded Five Ultimate in 2006. He has worked on various aspects of the company, mostly in the areas of operations and marketing. Xtehn and his siblings are also responsible for The All-Star Ultimate Tour, The Ultimate Project, Seattle Cascades, and a couple other projects that are in the works. He currently is CEO and General Manager at Seattle Cascades.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Xtehn
If you liked this interview, check out episode 62 with Steve Gordon where we discuss the AUDL and the role of self-officiation in the sport’s future.
Nick Adkins is a passionate kilt-wearing leader with start-up experience & 5 acquisition adventures. He is focusing on manifesting/attracting like-minded people who are making a difference/changing the world!
Nick’s Challenges
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Nick
If you liked this interview, check out episode 151 with Dr. Matt Keener where we discuss brain health, telemedicine, and technology.
Dr. Rasu Shrestha is the Chief Innovation Officer at UPMC and Executive Vice President of UPMC Enterprises. As chief innovation officer for UPMC, Dr. Shrestha plays a leading role in driving UPMC’s innovation strategy, serving as a catalyst for transforming the organization into a more patient-focused and economically sustainable system.
As the leader of a team of over 200 technology professionals, Dr. Shrestha works to facilitate new health care intelligence, technology expertise and entrepreneurial drive to solve complex healthcare challenges. Through strategic partnerships, joint development agreements and investments in promising healthcare startups, Dr. Shrestha champions the development, implementation and commercialization of these innovations.
Dr. Shrestha has been recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the 26 “Smartest People in Health IT,” and InformationWeek named him one of the “Top 20 Health IT Leaders Driving Change” and a “Top Healthcare Innovator.” He is a frequent speaker at national and international health care, innovation and technology conferences.
Rasu’s Challenge; Practice empathy by turning off your smartphone and focus on connecting. It’s important not just to listen, but to hear. Not just to look, but to see.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Rasu
If you liked this interview, check out episode 151 with Dr. Matt Keener where we discuss mental health, telemedicine, and the future of accessible care.
Dr. Keener is a board-certified psychiatrist passionate about applying neuroscience in non-traditional settings to help families and adolescents. He set out to work with "kids and brains" 20 years ago and never looked back.
Matt completed his medical training and residency in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, where he served as Chief Resident of Research. He subsequently undertook a postdoctoral research fellowship in Pediatric Neuroimaging Research under an NIH grant fellowship, studying brain systems/circuits that form our sense of self in bipolar disorder, depression.
Fascinated by big waves, however–and believing that applying neuroscience outside traditional routes could have a broader impact for good–in 2012, he jumped into the wave of healthcare innovation. He co-founded Emodt, a company quantifying emotion through language. LIke 99% (yes, that's the actual number) of digital health startups, Emodt didn't make it as a stand-alone business, but the team did have a win in helping one of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms create their first non-drug digital health tool to be launched in 2016, presently in pilot testing.
In 2015, wishing to put all this experience into serving adolescents and their supporters, Dr. Keener began assembling Blackbird Health as a way of delivering a supportive health framework for those in greatest need.
Book Recommendation
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Matt’s Challenge; Notice and pay attention to friends who are letting you know that they are struggling. Make an effort to reach out and affirm them.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Matt
If you liked this interview, check out episode 140 with Richard Citrin where we discuss resilience and how to deal with stress.
A letter to a friend to inspire and cultivate creativity. Thank you for your attention.
@AaronWatson59 on Twitter and Instagram
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Ryan Stewman is a salesman. Ryan has not had a salaried job his entire life. By mastering the art of being a super effective communicator, Ryan has closed more transactions than he has time to add up. With his no BS approach to making things happen, Ryan has been able to help high income, and high net worth performers make adjustments in their businesses that have led to windfalls of profits for them.
Ryan’s background is in the mortgage industry. He was a loan officer in Dallas, Texas for almost 10 years. During his time as a Loan Officer Ryan closed 1000s of loans for people across the country. Ryan has been the top producing salesman at every sales job he’s had. He was born and raised in Dallas, Tx and is probably the proudest Texan you will ever meet.
Ryan’s Challenge; Take the 10 Day Hustle.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Ryan
If you liked this interview, check out episode 108 with Oren Klaff where we discuss what most salespeople get wrong and professional trash talk.
Dinesh is a self-professed technophile, in addition to a speaker, mentor, and entrepreneur. He has taken part in three separate companies getting acquired, the third for over $200 million dollars. These days he stays busy investing, mentoring, and sharing wisdom.
He initially went to university for sciences, which lead him to a career in software. It wasn’t long before he realized that his pay would hit a ceiling. He saw the sales guys driving Porsches and Jaguars—and wanted in. Little did he know that his passions were in unlocking a business' potential, which goes far beyond the sale.
Dinesh’s Challenge; Count your “I can’t”s over the course of one week, then work to change one to “I can”.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Dinesh
If you liked this interview, check out episode 118 with Kevin Kelly where we discuss the technological trends that will shape our future.
Steve Shelton was born and raised in Pittsburgh. In his early teens, he began working in the masonry field as a laborer during summers and weekends. After enlisting in the Navy at 19, he became a naval aircraft electrician and finished his four-year enlistment working on the TA-4J aircraft. He has worked professionally as an electrician, a plumber, as masonry laborer, a bricklayer, and as a specialist in stone and brick restoration. In 2002, with one other employee and a wheelbarrow, Steve started Shelton Masonry, Inc.; a firm that was renowned for some of the finest restoration work done in the city, on many of its most beautiful historic homes.
In 2009, realizing the need in the masonry trade for a new generation of masonry professionals, Steve started the Shelton Trade Center, which is now a non-profit named The Trade Institute of Pittsburgh. The Trade Institute of Pittsburgh (TIP) was founded to train and place young adults in the skilled manual trades. TIP is especially committed to training young people with great needs and few resources.
Most of TIP's students have troubled backgrounds, coming from broken families in poor neighborhoods, and many have been in prison and/or drug and alcohol recovery. Our goal is to move them from being chronically unemployed to productively employed, in living-wage jobs with a future. Our hope is that through the resources and training provided by our organization, cycles of poverty and crime will be broken, and a brighter future will be realized for some of Pittsburgh’s most blighted communities.
Steve’s Challenge; Don’t judge a book by the cover. Give people a chance.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Steve
If you liked this interview, check out episode 114 with Dan Bull where we discuss getting ex-cons to work and episode 60 with Mike Gable where we talk Construction Junction and creative reuse.
Bill has been awarded both Chef of the Year and Restaurateur of the Year from Pittsburgh Magazine, in addition to sharing in the numerous awards received by the restaurants he oversees. He is dedicated to developing relationships with individual local farmers and Penn's Corner Farm Alliance, publicly speaking on the benefits of locally farmed foods. Ongoing charity efforts include participating in the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and acting as an advisor to the culinary program the the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Bill
If you liked this interview, check out episode 7 with Bobby Fry where we discuss the restaurant business and reinventing yourself.
Challenge = Change the Notification Settings on Your Phone
Book Recommendation
Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday
Clinton Senkow is a hustler. Being the Co-founder and COO of Influencive, an online publication for millennial entrepreneurs, would be enough for most people. He is also one of Canada's representatives at the g20 Young Entrepreneur's Alliance.
Clinton came on the podcast to talk entrepreneurship and blazing your own trail.
Read Clinton’s Post
Why Every Entrepreneur Should be Blogging
Clinton’s Challenge; Go and ask someone a question that you’ve been losing sleep over.
Connect with Clinton
If you liked this interview, check out episode 136 with Justin Lafazan where we discuss the youth movement in entrepreneurship and his tips for success.
For decades, radio was for many people the primary method of staying connected with the rest of the world. The ability to broadcast information over large distances constituted a major turning point in the course of human civilization, impacting everything from news and education to music and entertainment. Recent years have produced another shift: as technology has become more affordable and easy to use, listeners and creators around the world have been empowered to take more active roles in shaping our collective knowledge and interactions.
Three podcasters come together for a live recording of their respective shows. Thrival content partner Aaron Watson, from Going Deep with Aaron Watson, was joined by Marta on the Move’s Marta Mazzoni, and The Juice Crew 412 + Kelly Strayhorn Theater's Knowledge Build Hudson for a discussion on how this medium has impacted the way they learn, live, and engage with the world around them.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Aaron
Jean-Lévy ultimate player since 2002 and General Manager of the Montreal Ultimate Association from 2007 to 2012. Jean-Lévy comes from a family of ultimate players and is currently training the next generation. He was a Canadian Ultimate Championships gold medalist in 2009 and 2012.
Jean-Lévy has committed himself to training up and coming juniors. He has coached the UQAM university team for three years and promotes junior development in the Montreal region. Ultimate is Jean-Lévy’s life: he is a passionate player and contributor.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
Connect with Jean-Lévy
info@royalultimate.com
If you liked this interview, check out episode 139 with Jim Gerencser where we discuss the Dallas Roughnecks, an AUDL championship, and the future of pro ultimate.
I'm Qxhna Titcomb and I've been playing disc sports since I was 5 years old. I went to Tufts University in Boston, played on Boston Brute Squad and am now on my second year on Seattle Riot. I have three older brothers and one older sister - they are the ones that inspire me to think bigger and be better. Together we have founded the ultimate frisbee apparel company Five Ultimate and are the owners of the men's professional team in Seattle called the Cascades. Most recently, I have been working on promoting women in ultimate via the All-Star Ultimate Tour. Check out www.AllStarUltimateTour.com to see what that's all about!
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My name is Leila Tunnell and I have been playing Ultimate for 17 years. I grew up in Atlanta, GA, where I played for The Paideia School and with the Atlanta women's club team, Ozone. In 2004 and 2006 I was selected for the U-20 Girls National Team, winning silver and gold respectively. In college I played for UNC Chapel Hill, where I won the Callahan Award in 2011, and also helped start and played for the NC women's team Phoenix. I have coached high school programs all over the east coast and have also worked as a counselor and now Assistant Director of the Nationals Ultimate Training Camp in Amherst, MA, for 10 years. In 2014 I won the Kathy Pufahl Spirit Award for contribution to the sport, and in 2016 I was selected to play for the US Women's National Team at the World Ultimate and Guts Championships in London where we won a gold medal. I currently live in Amherst, MA, and play for the reigning national champions, Boston Brutesquad and also help coach the Amherst High School Boys Varsity team.
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My name is Octavia Payne, but many people call me Opi. I grew up mostly in Baltimore and I began playing ultimate at UPenn in 2007. I've played for a number of club teams, including a 5 year stint with DC Scandal with whom I won two national championships. I've also won a gold medal with the U.S. Mixed National Team at the 2013 World Games and with the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championship. I currently play on Denver Molly Brown.
Their Challenges
Connect with Them
genderequityactiongroup@gmail.com
If you liked this interview, check out episode 39 with Tim DeByl where we discuss the AUDL and Madison Radicals.
Richard Citrin, Ph.D., MBA brings more than 25 years of business leadership and consulting experience to his clients and their organizations, focusing on using a practical and pragmatic approach to his work.
His unique perspective on leadership development, talent management and resilience is based on the idea that by using strengths, assets, and skills, and by aligning them in a purposeful and powerful manner, real change occurs.
Early in his career, Richard worked on Wall Street where he loved the excitement and pace of the financial world, but he also saw how the impact of poor leadership, underutilization of employee capabilities and management overconfidence led to destructive workplaces. His observations helped him decide to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology.
Following his academic work, Richard began his business career. He built a successful healthcare business in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex in the 1990’s that he successfully sold to a national healthcare company. Richard oversaw multiple aspects of this acquisition and merger and helped the company develop new product lines that led to a tripling of valuation and their eventual purchase by one of the nation’s largest healthcare companies.
Richard’s Book
The Resilience Advantage: Stop Managing Stress and Find Your Resilience
Book Recommendation
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Richard’s Challenge; Congratulate anyone who has lost their job. Practice being actively constructive.
Connect with Richard
If you liked this interview, check out episode 88 with Sunny Lenarduzzi where we discuss gratitude, YouTube, and Snapchat.
It was a pleasure to interview the 56-year-old co-owner of the Dallas Roughnecks. In their inaugural season, the Roughnecks won the 2016 AUDL championship in dominant fashion, beating the Seattle Cascades 33-27. The win capped an undefeated 17-0 season and the birth of a potential juggernaut.
Jim Gerencser is also the CEO & President of Nationwide Auto Services. Jim started the company in 1982 and has continually refined the process used in overspray removal and administering large-scale claims.
Connect with Jim
If you liked this interview, check out episode 62 with AUDL Commissioner Steve Gordon where we discuss running the American Ultimate Disc League and the future of pro ultimate.
Mike was most recently the CEO at Green Building Alliance, and was previously the founder of Confluence, Venture Outdoors, and Kayak Pittsburgh.
For the past decade, the Room Leopard team has been searching for places to hold classes, meetings, networking events and lectures. We found this process frustrating and we often depended on our personal network of colleagues and friends. We also noticed the surplus of spaces around the city that owners could utilize more actively. RoomLeopard strives to make it easier to match these unused spaces with the people who need them.
As a guest, be it an hour or a day, RoomLeopard is the spot to connect you with affordable spaces for your next meeting or event.
As a host, be it a conference room, a lobby or an auditorium, RoomLeopard is the spot to put surplus spaces to work for you.
Mike’s Challenge; Invite some people into your home that you normally wouldn’t have over.
Quote from our Interview
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.“
~ Goethe
Connect with Mike
mjschiller@roomleopard.com
If you liked this interview, check out episode 3 with Larry Gioia, another outdoorsman and entrepreneur.
Hershey Hilado is not your typical 24-year old. Her difficult upbringing enabled her to develop the resilience and natural drive to find success. Her father was murdered by her own uncle when she was 12. Her own mother traded her for money when she was only 15 and forced her to marry a man 3 times her age when she was 16.
After escaping that terrible ordeal, she was homeless for 2 years and eventually moved to Australia. She started her own business 2 years later and now runs a Women's Fashion Label called Ohmagosh, currently sold in over 15 countries across the globe.
Her passion and purpose stretch beyond overcoming adversity and Entrepreneurship. As a philanthropist, she is one of the Ambassadors for The Freedom Hub, a not for profit organization that helps rebuild the lives of survivors of Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery in Australia.
She speaks for those who needed a voice. She is a spiritual and passionate human being who chose to live LIFE with so much gratitude, positive intentions, and a purpose to change people's lives through SERVICE, SURRENDERING herself to total selflessness and IMPACTING millions of lives.
Hershey’s Challenge; Identity one negative behavior or habit and focus exclusively on getting rid of it.
Connect with Hershey
If you liked this interview, check out episode 134 with Gisele Fetterman where we discuss helping those who are less fortunate or in need.
At age 20, Justin is an experienced entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, and best-selling author.
Justin began his adventure with the creation of Students4Students College Advisory, a full-service higher education consulting agency. Enjoying his experience helping youth maximize their potential, Justin wanted to further leverage the power of young people. Millennial Marketing Strategy has evolved into a boutique, digital media strategy consulting agency, assisting Fortune 500 firms, as well as select medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs, leverage powerful marketing tools to grow online.
Justin proceeded to launch Next Gen Summit, the premier community for millennial entrepreneurs. Since its inception over two years ago, Next Gen Summit was more than just a conference. NGS is a mission to bring together the world’s most talented young entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate, and inspire each other, and give them the resources they need to be successful.
In December of 2015, Justin published his best-selling book - What Wakes You Up?: Designing Kick-Ass Lives Through Entrepreneurship - choosing to donate 100% of launch profits to the Next Gen Foundation, a scholarship granting nonprofit organization.
Justin’s Challenge; Find someone in your network who’s done something cool and email them to set up a 30-minute interview to learn how they did it.
Connect with Justin
If you liked this interview, check out episode 46 with Taylor Pearson where we discuss the end of jobs and the need to develop entrepreneurial skills.
Babs Carryer teaches entrepreneurship, provides mentorship and coaching to early-stage companies, and writes about entrepreneurship. At the University of Pittsburgh, Babs works for the Innovation Institute, as Director of Education and Outreach. She teaches the Benchtop to Bedside technology commercialization course to clinicians, researchers.
Babs is a co-founder and past chapter chair of Women in Bio. She also teaches at Thrill Mill, educating their teams about entrepreneurship and how to build better businesses. She is also President of Carryer Consulting which provides strategic business planning services to technology companies.
Babs co-founded LaunchCyte, which currently has five life sciences portfolio companies, including Crystalplex, Immunetrics, Knopp Biosciences, and Reaction Biology.
Bab’s Challenge; Find 3 women in your life (one younger, one the same age, one older) and give them a hug.
Connect with Babs
If you liked this interview, check out episode 67 with Kit Mueller where we discuss Pittsburgh entrepreneurship.
Gisele was born in Rio de Janeiro and immigrated to the U.S. at age eight with her mother and was undocumented for many years. Growing up in the cities, she was acutely aware of the vast inequalities between Brazil and the United States, and between the working-class community that she lived in and the more affluent communities where her mother secured work as a housekeeper.
These days, you can probably find her at the Free Store – a brightly painted converted storage container that Gisele Fetterman stocks with donated or surplus clothing and necessities for her neighbors in Braddock and nearby communities in Allegheny County. The concept was something she imagined as a kid and new immigrant in New York City. Gisele was frustrated by how easily people were willing to throw things away. Now, three years into the endeavor in Braddock, it’s a full-fledged enterprise run entirely by volunteers and serves 1,600 folks monthly.
In Braddock, Gisele is a force in her own right behind the good works and progressive change she and her husband, Mayor John, are sowing in their home town.
In addition to the Free Store, Gisele co-founded the 412 Food Rescue, which aims to fight hunger by collecting fresh, healthy food scheduled to be wastefully discarded and distributing it to community organizations that serve those in need.
Gisele’s Challenge; Connect in some small way with 5 strangers every day.
Connect with Gisele
If you liked this interview, check out episode 48 with her partner at 412 Food Rescue Leah Lizarondo where we discuss food deserts and community service.
Squonk has created and toured our outdoor spectacles around the world, with reviews that include “insane majesty" from The Scotsman, “surreal and poetic” from USA Today and “ingenious, hallucinatory, hypnotic" from The New York Times. Squonkwork is fast, funny, and shameless: our first show was performed in a Pittsburgh junkyard, with choreographed cranes and roaring earthmovers. Squonk creates post-industrial outdoor performances for major civic venues and festivals and have toured to 39 states and 3 continents, and have received 7 N.E.A. grants.
Jackie Dempsey (Artistic Director/Composer/Pianist/Accordionist) has created twelve multimedia productions with Squonk Opera and has been touring nationally and internationally for over two decades. Last year, she was awarded an Investing in Professional Artists grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation and Heinz Endowments. She has worked as composer and sound designer for Quantum Theatre through a Heinz Endowments’ Creative Heights grant and has been awarded five Interdisciplinary Arts fellowships from the PA Council on the Arts. She has produced all nine of the group’s recordings, one of which was Squonk’s major label debut for Capitol Records.
Steve O’Hearn (Artistic Director/Artist/Wind Player) contributes environmental and product designs, and theater productions to the group. He had a solo show of work at the Andy Warhol Museum, where he was Heinz Artist-in-Residence. He has also received the American Theater Wing’s Hewes Award for his work on Broadway, three International Design Awards and five PA Council on the Arts fellowships. His work has been published and exhibited internationally, and he has been invited three times to exhibit his designs at the Prague Quadrennial. He has designed for a score of theater productions, including the multimedia Macbeth with the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Marc Masterson, and also for the Hawaii Theater in Honolulu.
Sqonk’s Challenge; See the art in the everyday.
Connect with Sqonk
If you liked this interview, check out episode 124 with Baron Batch where we discuss the melding of art and entrepreneurship.
Sean Douglas is a veteran of the United States Air Force, a certified Master Resilience Trainer, and a professional Motivational Speaker. He enlisted in the Air Force in 2001 right after 9/11, has been deployed to multiple locations, and performed a multitude of duties all over the world. Sean gives many speeches throughout the year on various topics, such as Developing Leaders, Leadership Principles, Team Building, Stages of Team Forming, Self-Defeating Behaviors, Decisions, and much more. As a Master Resilience Trainer, he teaches the following skill sets: Counting Blessings, Accomplishing Goals, ABC (Activating Event, Brain's Interpretation, Consequences), Check Your Playbook, Balance Your Thinking, Acceptance, Capitalizing On Strengths, Physical Resilience, Spiritual Resilience, Interpersonal Problem Solving, and Good Listening & Active Constructive Responding.
Sean's passion is Resilience and inspiring others to succeed. His love for helping others achieve their dreams and instilling in them that extra motivation to finish strong is at the forefront of every speech and presentation he delivers. His main goal is to save at least one person from a self-defeating behavior and to inspire change in their lives. Sean is also a published author of a book titled, "Decisions: The Power To Overcome Self-Defeating Behaviors".
Sean’s Challenge; Pick one of your values and review how much money & time you’ve actually put into your “priority” over the last 30 days.
Connect with Sean
If you liked this interview, check out episode 70 with Michael Port where we discuss public speaking and stealing the show.