Jeremy Corr

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https://media.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/content.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/When_it_Mattered_26_RD2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS Ep. 26 — A Christian Scientist forsakes her religion after taking meds for the stomach flu and takes a life detour to uncover the science of spiritual experiences / Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Contributing Writer, The Atlantic and Author, Fingerprints of God. Barbara Bradley Hagerty found herself at a crossroads one day when she got the stomach flu and realized she could no longer abide by the rules of her religion, Christian Science, banning the use of any medications. “I just lay there and this flashing in my head went off, Tylenol, Tylenol, Tylenol, so I got out of bed and I practically crawled to the medicine cabinet and pulled myself up by the sink, took one Tylenol, not two, just one and crawled back to bed. I lay there and about five minutes later I’m thinking wow I feel pretty good,” Hagerty remembers. “Now that was the beginning of the end for Christian Science for me.” Though Hagerty’s short-term health conundrum was resolved, it was only the beginning of a long-term spiritual crisis. She had to confront a much bigger issue that no meds could solve and it had to do not with her body, but with her soul. So she went on a quest and the answers she found were surprising, even shocking and resulted in her fascinating book, Fingerprints of God, about how what and why of spirituality and spiritual experiences. Join me on this journey to the center of the soul, with award-winning journalist and author, Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Transcript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan:   Barbara Bradley Hagerty caught the stomach flu one day. It was no ordinary bug. It was a bug so bad that it set off a short-term health conundrum and a long-term spiritual crisis. Bradley Hagerty was a Christian Scientist and the religion forbids medications, but she felt so awful that she took her first Tylenol ever. Even after Hagerty beat back the stomach flu, there was a bigger issue that no meds could solve. It had to do not with her body, but with her soul. So she went on a quest and the answers she found was surprising, even shocking. Chitra Ragavan:   Hello everyone I’m Chitra Ragavan and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm, helping technology startups find their narrative. I’m joined today by Barbara Bradley Hagerty. She is an award-winning formal journalist for the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. Hagerty currently is a contributing writer to The Atlantic Monthly. She’s the author of Fingerprints of God: What Science is Learning About the Brain and Spiritual Experience. Chitra Ragavan:   Barb welcome to the podcast. Barbara Hagerty:   It’s great to be here. Chitra Ragavan:   There you were. You were 34 years old in a hotel in New Haven, Connecticut, never having taken a pill of any kind as a Christian Scientist and you had the stomach flu. Barbara Hagerty:   I sure did. It with three days of just being so, so sick. I remember coming home from I think, from exams at Yale. I was on a fellowship there, every year Yale invites five journalists to go through their first year of law school. I was doing this fellowship. I got incredibly sick. I remember going into bed and putting every piece of clothing, blanket, everything I had on top of me because I was so sick. I was shivering. I was shaking. Suddenly, I remembered that my boyfriend at the time who lived in Washington had left a bottle of Tylenol in the medicine cabinet. Barbara Hagerty:   I just lay there and this flashing in my head went off, Tylenol, Tylenol, Tylenol, so I got out of bed and I practically crawled to the medicine cabinet and pulled myself up by the sink, took one Tylenol, not two, just one and crawled back to bed. I lay there and about five minutes later I’m thinking wow I feel pretty good. I’m getting warm. Let me get all of these covers off of me. I’m hot, hot. About 15 minutes later I’m sitting there. I’m at the stove. I’m making some tomato soup and I feel terrific. Now that was the beginning of the end for Christian Science for me. Barbara Hagerty:   I made a philosophical shift right then. I didn’t quite leave Christian Science because my mom and dad were still Christian Scientists and my brother had left and he said, “You can’t leave Christian Science until mom and dad die.” I felt obligated, but philosophically I thought, “Oh my gosh, medicine is great. Christian Science really relies only on prayer and says medicine essentially doesn’t work.” I have to rethink this. I not only have to rethink my medical history. I not only have to look at that, but I also have to rethink what do I actually believe. What are the spiritual truths that I’m going to put my flag on. I remember the couple of days later I saw my friend Laura who was also a journalist on the same fellowship. I told her that I had taken the Tylenol and felt terrific. She grabs my hand and squeezes it and she says, “Oh Barb the whole world of pharmacology is now open to you.” It was. Chitra Ragavan:   It wasn’t just the whole world of pharmacology. It was literally the whole world of religion and spirituality had suddenly come open because you were confronted with this dichotomy of moving from Christian Science to Christianity. Barbara Hagerty:   That’s right. That’s exactly right. That shift came a little bit later when the … The journey began then, but I didn’t begin to find some answers for another year and a half or so and that was when I was assigned an article by the LA Times Sunday Magazine to do a story on why some churches grow and why others don’t.

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https://media.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/content.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/When_it_Mattered_25_RD2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS   Ep. 25 — A double-leg amputee with a love for running beats back a cocaine addiction and battles Olympic bureaucracy in his quest to become the fastest runner in the world / Blake Leeper, Eight-Time Paralympic Medalist. and 2020 Summer Olympics Aspirant Born without legs from a congenital birth defect, Blake Leeper discovered his mission and passion in life when he watched South African Paralympic champion sprinter Oscar Pistorius competing in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. It triggered in Leeper a deep desire to run, despite being a double-leg amputee. “They were saying, ‘Look how this man born without legs…’ I feel like they were talking about me but there were talking about him of course. I was just like, shocked, I was amazed,” remembers Leeper. I was like, ‘Wow, there’s something for me.’ And the crowd of Beijing was 90,000 people and they were cheering. It was just a spark of inspiration that was planted inside of me that even though I never ran track and field a day in my life I just felt and knew that’s what I need to do with my life.” Leeper got running blades like Pistorius’s and began racing in 2010. With grit and endurance, he became an eight-time Paralympic medalist representing the United States. But just as Leeper hit his stride professionally, he entered a dark period in his personal life. He tested positive for cocaine and was banned from competing for nearly two years. It was a devastating blow. But today, at age 26, Leeper says he’s back on track, running faster than ever, training better than ever and with one clear goal, to become the fastest runner in the world. That’s easier said than done. Leeper is struggling to qualify for future Paralympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo because of a dispute over whether his running blades give him an unfair height and speed advantage over able-bodied runners. Leeper is fighting back with the same legal team that helped Pistorius qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Don’t miss this fascinating episode with a very different type of Blade Runner. #Leadership #WhatInspiresMe #Success #WhenItMattered Tanscript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan:   Although he was born without legs from a congenital birth defect, Blake Leeper has never allowed that to prevent him from winning in sports. When Leeper was a teenager, he watched South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. It triggered in him a deep desire to run. Leeper began racing in 2010. Since then he has become an eight-time Paralympic track and field international medalist. He holds many world records, including the sixth-fastest runner in the world in the 400-meter dash. Chitra Ragavan:   Hello everyone, I’m Chitra Ragavan and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. I’m joined today by Blake Leeper, who at age 26 has ambitious goals to become one of the fastest runners in the world. But Leeper is struggling to compete in the Paralympics and get accepted into the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. International racing authorities say his running blades give him an unfair height and speed advantage over able-bodied runners. It’s a fight he’s determined to win. Chitra Ragavan:   Blake, welcome to the podcast. Blake Leeper:   Thank you so much for having me. It is an honor and a pleasure, and just thank you so much for allowing me to share my story and just some of the things I’ve been through in my life that allow me to be in the situation that I am in today. Chitra Ragavan:   You were born with this extraordinary challenge of being a double amputee, yet you’ve never let it get in the way. How did you overcome those early years of adversity to start participating both is sports and in life? Blake Leeper:   I really give it to my parents, my family members. I grew up in East Tennessee, and I had an older Brother, and I had Grandparents, and Grandmothers, and Grandfathers, and Aunts, and Uncles, and of course my Mother and my Father. And just their mindset of just saying, “Yes, we have a disabled child, but we want to give him everything that we got. We’re going to allow him to live a fulfilled life.” I ask my Parents every single time, “What was it like the day that I was born?” You had doctors rushing out the room. They brought my back and had that conversation, “Mr. and Mrs. Leeper I’m sorry but your baby boy is born missing both of his legs.” And I ask my Mom, “Mom, what did you say? Dad, who’d you hit? I know you didn’t take that.” Blake Leeper:   They give me the same answer over and over and over again. They said, “Blake the day that you was born we was nervous because they rushed you out the room and took you to ICU, but they eventually brought you back, and once they brought you back we didn’t see what you was missing, we didn’t notice that. We seen the beauty inside of you. And in that moment we decided to do two things, the first thing we’re going to do is stick together as a family, as a unit.” The second answer was, “We’re going to keep a positive attitude towards the whole situation.” And that’s something that was instilled in me at a early age since day one. Chitra Ragavan:   That’s absolutely beautiful, but I’m sure as a young child you had to overcome that huge mental, and emotional and physical block of a. Being different from everybody around you. And, b. Getting accepted into sports and activities. It must have been super difficult. How did you get over that? Blake Leeper:   Absolutely I mean especially in my community I was the only probably disabled child, especially

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https://media.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/content.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/When_it_Mattered_24_RD1.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS Ep. 24 — A bored and broke undergraduate has a terrible car crash and uses it as a turning point to pursue wealth and knowledge / Richard Wilson, CEO and founder of the Family Office Club. Richard Wilson was phoning it in like many undergraduate students, feeling unmotivated and unrewarded. Then, driving home one night from college to his parent’s home, Wilson hydroplaned in the rain into a cement barricade. “The car just kind of crumpled in half and it was the middle of the night, pouring rain. I just kind of stumbled out of the car and several cars stopped because my headlights were facing oncoming traffic. And some people saw my car spinning,” remembers Wilson. “And I just kind of walked away from it, luckily. And it just kind of opened my eyes to that my life could have ended right then.” That was, literally and figuratively, a turning point in Wilson’s life. He started piling on more coursework to graduate early and enter the workforce. He learned how to work the phones to look for the best jobs and  how to negotiate for higher salaries. And he started to look for “anomalous opportunities,” searching for “white spaces,” where there wasn’t much competition and where he could create his own brand and niche. He found it in the Family Office world, helping high net worth families find and make the right investments and connecting Family Offices to each other. He started a LinkedIn group, bought and quickly monetized a Family Office website, and spoke at 150 events over 14 countries. Today, Wilson is the author of four books and one of the global authorities on Family Offices and investment strategies for the ultra-wealthy. Transcript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan:   Richard Wilson was driving home one night from college to his parent’s home. Despite his usual pre-drive triple shot latte, Wilson hydroplaned in the rain straight into a cement barricade. That was, literally and figuratively, a turning point in his life. Today, Wilson helps ultra wealthy families create and manage their single family offices. Chitra Ragavan:   Hello everyone. I’m Chitra Ragavan and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. I’m joined today by Richard Wilson, CEO and founder of the Family Office Club. Wilson also is the author of four books on family offices. Richard, welcome to the podcast. Richard Wilson:   Thanks for having me here, Chitra. Chitra Ragavan:   You were an undergraduate student when that accident happened that put you on this path to wealth building, but you always were a budding entrepreneur. How young were you and what was that path? Richard Wilson:   Well, just when I was maybe five to seven years old, my parents would pay me a penny per pine cone, pick them up in the yard or they’d pay me a penny per page to read books. We had Christmas wreath sales in the Boy Scouts. We did lemonade stands. I would go along with my dad to his meetings because he had his own business and I’d sit in on his meetings with him. So it was pretty early on that I got exposed to entrepreneurism and I guess capitalism. So I kind of blame my parents for that. Chitra Ragavan:   And you became more successful at it as you grew older. I mean you had a lot of failed schemes and scams, but you also had some successful ones. What were those? Both of those. Richard Wilson:   Sure. So I had a yard service business and we had some neighborhood clients for that. I had a radio station, internet advertising business that kind of flopped. I also had a used textbook business when I was in college. I also had a long distance telephone service business where I’d call all the parents in the school directory, and try to sell them on changing their long distance phone provider to the company I was representing, as kind of a commissioned salesperson. So a number of different things. Some worked a little bit, some didn’t work at all, but I learned a lot at every turn. Chitra Ragavan:   And your used textbook business appears to have been really successful. As a mother of two kids who’s given away quite a few textbooks. You probably picked up a bunch of those kinds of textbooks and made a lot of money out of it, didn’t you? Richard Wilson:   Yes. Yeah, I drove to regional book sales. Like I drove to Arizona and back over a weekend. One time, I’d get textbooks out of trash cans around the university if I walked by and saw one. I’d buy them from other students, at garage sales, at Goodwill, at estate sales. Anytime I can buy a textbook for $1 to $3 for $4, I could usually sell it for $8, $10, $25 sometimes. So it was a pretty good cash turnover business, and I built up an inventory of about 7,000 books over a few years doing that in college. Chitra Ragavan:   So you were 18 or 19, and what were you making out of this business that you started? Richard Wilson:   I was doing somewhere between $6,000 and 8,000 in revenue pretty consistently. And then costs were usually a third or a fourth of that revenue. So it was pretty good money for being in school. Chitra Ragavan:   And is that $7,000 or $8,000, 10,000 a month? Richard Wilson:   Yes, that’s correct. Yeah, per month. Chitra Ragavan:   That’s pretty remarkable. Richard Wilson:   Yeah, it was fun. I mean it really taught me about researching the buy before you actually commit to buy. You can research your inventory before you place that capital down. Look up how much it’s selling for online, managing inventory, moving inventory. If it’s not selling, then lower the price. Or whoever

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https://media.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/content.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/When_it_Mattered_23_RD4.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS Ep 23 — A political strategist loses his mojo and becomes one of the greatest comedy writers of our time / Jon Macks, Comedy Writer, Democratic Political Consultant, Author. Jon Macks thought he was in for a great ride to the top. Having quit law school for a career as a political strategist, Macks won two big state elections for his clients. But the euphoria quickly wore off and shock set in when Macks then lost 23 straight races in a row. “It’s almost self-fulfilling. What happens is that when you are on a losing streak, no one good will hire you,” says Macks, “And so they don’t have much money, they can’t win the campaign, they don’t have the skills, and so then you rack up another loss. So basically at that point you’re in a position where you have to somehow convince one person to take a chance on you.” And that’s exactly what happened. Macks began his upward trajectory as a political strategist again, traveling tens of thousands of miles for many winning candidates. To keep himself occupied on those flights, Macks wrote free-lance jokes and sent them in to the rising star stand-up comic, Jay Leno, who was about to become Johnny Carson’s successor on The Tonight Show. One thing led to another and Leno offered Macks a full-time writer position on the show. It was the beginning of an amazing career in stand-up comedy. During his 22 years on The Tonight Show, Macks wrote an estimated 500,000 jokes, getting a record 18,000 on the air. He’s also written for top comedians including Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, and famous actors. And Macks has maintained a parallel career as a top strategist and writer for democratic political candidates and even some U.S. Presidents. In this fascinating interview, Macks talks about how he surmounted his early obstacles in politics and went on to become one of the most prolific and successful comedy writers in history. The author of five books, including his most recent, Monologue: What Makes America Laugh Before Bed, Macks dissects the anatomy of winning jokes and ruminates on what makes some work so well while others fall totally flat. Macks shares what it’s like to write for the current slew of democratic political candidates. And last but not least, he reveals some of his tradecraft on how he is able to write more than 100 jokes a day. The quintessential Jon Macks, on this episode of When It mattered. Tanscript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan:   Jon Macks became a comedy writer in a roundabout way. He had quit law to become a political strategist. He won two huge campaigns, but then his luck turned on a dime. Macks started writing jokes when he was on flights, one thing led to another, and he became one of Jay Leno’s most successful writers on The Tonight Show for 22 years. Hello, everyone. I’m Chitra Ragavan and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. Chitra Ragavan:   Joining me now is Jon Macks. He’s considered one of the greatest comedy writers of all time by the likes of Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, and Martin Short just to name a few. Macks has written for 22 Academy Awards. He’s written material for high-profile clients including Helen Mirren, Michael Douglas, Hugh Jackman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others. The author of five books, Macks also is a sought-after democratic political consultant and a speechwriter for political candidates, and even some US presidents. Jon, welcome to the podcast. Jon Macks:   It’s great to be here. Chitra Ragavan:   When you told me earlier that you had won two races followed by losing 23 races, my first thought was, “Wow, people really trust this guy. They keep hiring him even when he’s consistently losing campaigns.” How did you convince people to keep hiring you? Jon Macks:   Well, it was actually a little bit less of convincing people that I was really good and getting people who were really at the bottom of the barrel. It’s almost self-fulfilling that what happens is that when you are on a losing streak, no one good will hire you and so they don’t have much money, they can’t win the campaign, they don’t have the skills, and so then you rack up another loss. Jon Macks:   So basically at that point you’re in a position where you have to somehow convince one person to take a chance at you and generally, and at least for me that worked out the same way it worked for James Carville. We ended up working for a guy named Bob Casey. Bob Casey had run for governor three times and lost. So basically no one really wanted to work for him when he ran for a fourth time. No one would hire James Carville who had never won a race, and no one was really interested in hiring a guy who lost 23 straight, so we were a perfect combination. Chitra Ragavan:   So you then ended up getting back on the horse and you started winning races? Jon Macks:   Yeah. What happened was that after Governor Casey won, after Bob Casey at the time became Governor Casey in ’86, what happened was I started to get interest from media consulting firms as opposed to just being a one-off of running a race and going next race, one of the top two Democratic firms, a firm called Doak and Shrum gave me a call and said they wanted to hire me to be an associate. So I moved to Washington DC where I ended up doing TV ads, speeches, debate prep and strategic advice for a number of races. You’re a consultant, you’re actually working a number of races, signing a bunch, hoping most of the win in

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https://media.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/content.blubrry.com/whenitmattered/When_it_Mattered_22_RD2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS Ep. 22 — An Iowa musician battles a lifetime of blues and gets his groove back on the international blues stage / Kevin Burt, Singer, Songwriter, blues heritage educator. Raised by a single mom on $5,000 a year in food stamps, Kevin Burt spent most of his life in chronic “survival mode” in the school of hard knocks. That meant a chronically anxious and overworked state of mind and body:  “You’re so worried about the basics of day to day that there’s no way to think about tomorrow, there’s no way to think about not a day from now, not a week from now, not a year from now,” says Burt. “You can’t make future plans if you’re not okay. You’re just surviving. That hustle turns into the worst kind of a loop to be in.” So caught was Burt in a punishing work cycle of 300 or more shows a year that when his friends urged him to sign up for the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee last year, he said he was too busy. But his friends prevailed. Burt decided to jump into the Challenge, albeit grudgingly. It would prove to be the best decision of his life. Burt swept the contest in three categories, best harmonica, guitar, and solo/duo  — the first performer to accomplish that little hat trick in the competition’s thirty-five-year history. His massive success, borne of a lifetime of hard work and resilience, has skyrocketed Burt into a surreal new matrix, both on the international blues soundstage and in his personal headspace. He says it’s a development that he’s “wholly unprepared for.” But he’s getting there quickly, one step at a time. Burt’s life is rapidly changing. But there’s one thing that will remain constant: His commitment to his role as a blues heritage educator and a proud narrator of Iowa’s forgotten important role in the evolution of the American blues scene. Tanscript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan:   Born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa blues artist, Kevin Burt, had a tough childhood that put him in chronic survival mode for most of his life, forcing him to make a bunch of career and personal sacrifices to support his family. Chitra Ragavan:   Then last year, Burt made a decision that changed everything. Hello. Everyone, I’m Chitra Ragavan and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. I’m joined today by Kevin Burt, who after more than two decades on the local and national blues circuits is well on his way to becoming a recording artist of international merit. Kevin, welcome to the podcast. Kevin Burt:   Thank you for having me, appreciate it. Chitra Ragavan:   You told me recently that your survival mindset began at age five when your parents were separated. What was your life like after that moment? Kevin Burt:   It’s just one of those things where you know that every day it’s about making sure that you make it to the next one. It wasn’t so much that it was out of danger. It’s just out of not knowing. It’s the knowing that your mom’s doing the best she can and you’ve got siblings and you’re watching them do the best that they can. Your responsibility was to do the best you could too. It was a collective mindset versus just being a kid. Chitra Ragavan:   Your mother had to raise … How many kids on a very limited income? Kevin Burt:   There were four of us. My parents separated, they never divorced. My dad was always there but not, and so he was … Chitra Ragavan:   But not there. Kevin Burt:   Yeah, yeah. He was living his best life. I don’t fault him for that. It was his choice to make. Mom raised four of us, three boys, one girl. All three of us boys ended up being all American football players and our sister was the best athlete in the family. Chitra Ragavan:   This was on food stamps? Kevin Burt:   $5,000 a year in food stamps. Fixed income is just that. The one thing that it taught me is that I knew that I didn’t want my kids to ever experience it. It wasn’t a situation where it was, hey, we’re living the dream. It was just reminding folks a nightmare is a dream too. We always had love and never felt like we were in a position where we were destitute by any stretch. It just meant that what you did had to matter. Chitra Ragavan:   You had a lot of people helping you get through those early years. Kevin Burt:   Yeah. The neighbors were always there. I could always count on them to … I would do things for them as I got older. My brothers and I would shovel snow, and cut grass, and all of those kinds of things for a lot of the older folks in the neighborhood. They were all friends. We all went to church together. They’d known us. We stayed in the same neighborhood my whole life. All of the folks that were there watched us and helped us to grow up. They were all a part of who ended up being. I used to disappear sometimes and go over to some of my neighbor’s house. There were a lot of older ladies in my neighborhood and a lot of grandmas I used to call it. I used to sneak over to their places. They always have cake or cookies. I’d sit in there and listen to stories and have cake. My mom always knew. If she didn’t see me outside playing, I’d stumbled, somebody had baked something. Chitra Ragavan:   Your mom’s difficult experience and how she handled it, what did that teach you about life? Kevin Burt:   The one thing is, is that no matter how tough things may have