There's no shortage of books on Silicon Valley, with a quick Amazon search yielding over 40,000 results. Our guest today believes that most, if not all, of these books have overlooked a crucial element of the story: how these high-tech, disruptive, and revolutionary companies are actually run. How they implement and cultivate an organizational culture that is “freewheeling, fast-moving, egalitarian, evidence-driven, argumentative, and autonomous.” Today, we're thrilled to have Andrew McAfee with us. Andrew is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-founder and co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. His latest book, 'The Geek Way,' is aptly described by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, who wrote the foreword: 'By combining management theory, competitive strategy, the science of evolution, psychology, military history, and cultural anthropology, he has produced a remarkable work of synthesis. This work, which he dubs 'the geek way,' finally explains, with a single unified theory, the reasons why the tech startup approach has taken over so much of the world. This was a great conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. With that said, let’s get started.

Welcome back! Today, we have science journalist Sally Adee with us to discuss her new book titled 'We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for our Body’s Bioelectric Code, And What the Future Holds.' This book and our conversation delve into a fascinating area of biology now known as the electrome. Decrypting this bioelectric code, as it has been termed, holds incredible promise for understanding ourselves and developing new treatments and interventions, ranging from spinal cord injuries to reversing aging.

All right, welcome back. “Too many Americans are indifferent to their own history and know too little about it. This ignorance makes the present more baffling than it needs to be.” That from a Washington Post review of today’s book is the perfect start for today’s episode. If you think our current political atmosphere, divisiveness and the daily onslaught of negative news is unprecedented in American history, consider the period between 1917 and 1921. A period many of us have forgotten but a time that included the first world war, widespread suppression of speech and the press, mass imprisonment, horrifying lynchings of black Americans (including black veterans), labor strikes and yes, the Spanish flu pandemic. Our guide through this tumultuous period and today’s guest is journalist, historian and professor, Adam Hochschild. Adam is the author eleven books including his most recent, “American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis.” It’s a fantastic book, well researched book that delivers some much-needed context and perspective as all of us try to make sense or our own times. We really enjoyed having Adam with us and hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. With that said, let’s get started…

It’s the holiday season with New Year’s just a few days away.  What better time to take a fun filled tour through the medicinal history of alcohol? Today’s guest is the perfect guide. Camper English is a journalist, author, and recognized expert in the world of cocktails and spirits. A member of the United States Bartenders' Guild, Camper is also an innovator, having invented something called "directional freezing," a technique to make perfectly clear ice that used in bars around the world. His recent book, “Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails,” is on tap for today’s conversation. We hope you enjoy. With that said, let’s get started…

Have you ever wondered what its like being a doctor one of the most isolated and restricted countries on earth? We have. It’s a question Keith and I have explored and discussed many times over the years since starting this podcast. But how do you find and connect with someone in country where virtually all citizens are prohibited from contact with the outside world, and heavily surveilled when doing so? Today’s episode is one we were beginning to think we could never do. Finding the right person to interview involved overcoming barriers beyond our control. We even considered the possibility of interviewing a physician defector. Even if we could find such a person, how would we verify their identity, and cross check their stories? How would we really know who we were talking with? So, we tabled the idea, always hoping that one day we could find the right person. Today we have that person, and it turns out we were looking in the wrong places. We should have been looking closer to home. Dr. Kee Park is a faculty neurosurgeon at Harvard Medical School, Director of the North Korea Program at the Korean American Medical Association, and member of the National Committee on North Korea and the Council of Korean Americans. He’s a world-renowned researcher and expert on global health and humanitarian medical aid. Since 2007, Kee has visited North Korea over 20 times, working alongside North Korean doctors, attending North Korean medical conferences, and even operating on patients in North Korean hospitals. There are few outsiders (especially Americans) that we are aware of with greater firsthand experience and trusted access in North Korea. As we’ll soon see, that trusted access has been hard earned over many years. It’s what enables Kee to continue his mission, helping patients in North Korea and around the world. As all of you will understand, we have no desire to do anything that could jeopardize Kee’s ability to continue his work or endanger his personal safety. While this is was an eye-opening conversation, it did not include any political discussions or questions regarding the current North Korean regime. This was an amazing episode, and journey into a world most of us know very little about. With that said, let’s get started.

All right, welcome back. Today we’re exploring the history of surgery; taking a speedy but deliberate journey from prehistoric brain surgery to our modern high tech operating suites. As Rudyard Kipling once pointed out, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” And this episode is all about the stories. Stories about heroes, risk takers and the gruesome reality that preceded all the medical and surgical advances we take for granted today. We’re joined by general surgeon and medical historian, Dr. Ira Rutkow. Ira is the author of eight books including his most recent, Empire of the Scalpel, which we’ll be covering today. This episode was a blast (especially for two guys like us who used to spend a lot of time together in the OR). We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. With that said, let’s get started…

All right, welcome back. Today we’re happy to have with us, Robyn Short. Robyn is a business consultant and specialist in conflict resolution and mediation. She is currently president and CEO of the Workplace Peace Institute, a consulting and research firm focusing on these areas. She is also an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University. With that said, let’s get started.

Today we’re diving deep into an industry many of you have likely heard of and perhaps even participated in. It’s a nearly $2-billion-dollar global market, growing 15-20% each year. They are called expert networks and in the words of today’s guest, they are, “brokers of knowledge – all the stuff that is too niche, quirky, timely or contextual for anyone to put it in writing or audio. Traditionally, these expert networks have been the tools of trade for management consultants and analysts in hedge funds, private equity, and investment banking. That’s beginning to change as more and more professionals seek the insights, knowledge, and highly specialized expertise these expert networks offer, all through the medium of conversation. This even includes medical research and academia. Today’s guest is the ideal wise companion as we explore this space. Max Friberg began his career as a McKinsey Consultant, personally conducting hundreds of expert interviews in the course of his work. For Max, these expert interviews were critical in helping his clients tackle highly specific and challenging problems in their business. Today Max is the founder and CEO of Inex One, a platform that enables easy access to many of the world’s top expert networks, all in in one place. We’ll learn more about his company, how expert networks actually work and what can be gained from these highly specialized conversations.  With that said, let’s get started…

Today we’re privileged and delighted to have one of the world’s leading researchers in neuroscience, Anil Seth. Anil is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED talk on consciousness and controlled hallucination has been viewed over 12 million times and stands as one of TED’s most popular science talks. Today we’ll dig deep into (what Cal Fussman would call) the big questions of neuroscience: Is my reality the same as yours (do we see the same color red)? What does it mean to be you? Why did we evolve to have consciousness? Are different states of consciousness such as we see in comas, sleep, and general anesthesia measurable and clearly definable? What is consciousness and where in the brain can we find it? Why does a brain adapted to basic, hunter gatherer survival also include the capacity to compose symphonies, write philosophy, debug software code, go to the moon and ponder questions about the nature of its own existence? Will we ever be able to deconstruct the basic elements of consciousness and reconstruct them in a computer AI? This episode was a lot of fun and will probably be one of my most favorite. With that said, exploring our current understanding of the brain, consciousness, and the fundamental reality of who we are and how we experience the world around us is just not something you can knock out in an hour. That’s why I can’t recommend to you enough to check out Anil’s new book, “Being You.” With that said, let’s get started…

Today we’re exploring a particular challenge in the mental health space, the gulf between academic research and real-world clinical practice. As you’ll learn in the episode, only a surprising few of the published articles in psychology and psychiatry journals are ever read by practicing mental health professionals. Today we’re happy to welcome two guests working to bridge this gap. Dr. Scott Browning is a researcher and professor of psychology at Chestnut Hill College. Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield is a researcher and professor of Family Science and Human Development at Monclair State University. Their new book, coming out next week and published by the American Psychological Association is titled, “Treating Contemporary Families: Toward a More Inclusive Clinical Practice.” This was a great conversation and we really enjoyed having Scott and Brad on the show. With that said, let’s get started…

Today we’re excited and honored to have with us, retired US Army General Stanley McChrystal. A retired four-star general with 34 years of service, Stanley was the commander of all US and coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. Prior to this, he served as commander of JSOC or the Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing the US military’s most elite units including Delta Force and SEAL Team 6. According to journalist Sean Naylor, in his Book, Relentless Strike, McChrystal was, “the general whose vision and intensity transformed JSOC into a global man-hunting machine.” His tenure included the capture of Sadam Hussein and the killing infamous terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Today Stanley is founder and CEO of the McChrystal Group, a strategic consulting firm. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a course on Leadership. His books include, My Share of the Task, Team of Teams, Leadership- Myths and Realities and his newest book that we’ll be discussing today, Risk. A Users Guide. I’m really proud of how this conversation came out. It was a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy. With that said, let’s get started.

Colin's brief reflection and personal story from September 11th.

When it comes to VIP medical care, there is one patient who stands above all others. From what is publicly known he is assigned a team of doctors, nurses, medics and PA’s on standby around the clock. He and this team travel with an armored ambulance, a supply of matched blood, and a full array of medical and diagnostic equipment. His aircraft also has state of the art medical equipment with a surgical suite. Before he arrives anywhere, an advance team has carefully planned emergency routes to pre-screened medical facilities. If those facilities prove inadequate, resources can be brought in, including in one case, an entire Naval hospital ship anchored off the coast. If he needs hospital care, surgery or other treatments, his local hometown hospital (which happens to be US Military’s flagship medical center) has a private suite, on standby for his exclusive use. This care is 100% covered by his employer without any deductibles, co-pays, or network restrictions. Today’s guest knew two of these VIP patients very well. Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman spent 16 of his 30 years of military services as a White House Physician. This included a tour as Chief of the White House Medical Unit. This means he was the personal physician to President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Quality and Safety Officer for AdventHealth. Jeffery is joined today by his colleague and co-author, Dr. Daniel Peach. Daniel, a registered sports medicine physician in the UK, currently serves as Executive Director of Clinical Innovation for AdventHealth. Their new book, “Transformative Healthcare,” and their unique career paths are the subjects for today’s episode.

Today we are excited to have Angus Fletcher with us on the show. He is a professor of story science and literature at Ohio State University’s Project Narrative. He completed dual degrees in neuroscience and literature before receiving his PhD in literature from Yale. In addition to his teaching and research, Angus also serves a story consultant for Sony, Disney, BBC, Amazon, PBS and NBC/Universal.  Unlike many literary academics, critics and perhaps your high school English teacher, Angus takes a very different approach to literary scholarship. He studies literature’s practical usefulness, and the science behind it. His new book, “Wonderworks. The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature,” explores literature as a series of unique and innovative discoveries. These literary inventions had, and continue to have, unique problem-solving functions. Problem-solving functions that can now be studied with the modern tools and methods of neuroscience.

Today we’re exploring the world of childhood, a “protected space in which they [children] can produce new ways of thinking and acting that, for better or worse, are entirely unlike any that we would have anticipated beforehand.” A protected space that exceeds, in length, that of any other species. A space of time that today’s guest has spent her career studying and often refers to as humanity’s R&D department. Alison Gopnik is likely a familiar name to many of you, especially those of you who are parents. Currently a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, Alison has published over 100 research articles and books including critically acclaimed bestsellers such as: The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby and The Gardener and the Carpenter. Her public appearances include TED, Talks at Google, the World Economic Forum and even Stephen Colbert’s show. She is also a long-time contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s Saturday Review section. We covered a lot of ground in this episode. How do young children and babies begin to understand the world around them? We will learn about something called, “theory theory,” a process that allows children to develop and test intuitive theories about their world. We’ll see how this process resembles Bayesian probability and how understanding childhood cognitive development may be a key to developing advanced AI. This is also something Alison is researching. No surprise. She lives and works in the Bay area and she is even married to one of the founders of Pixar. Anyway, this is one of our more fascinating episodes. As a father of two young daughters, and a long-time fan of Alison’s work, talking with Alison was a real privilege. With that said, let’s get started.

Today we are delighted to have Roy Richard Grinker with us. He a professor of anthropology and international affairs at George Washington University, and author of “Nobody’s Normal. How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness.” Richard comes from a long line of research psychologists. His grandfather, Roy Richard Grinker, Sr. was a pioneer in American psychology, and studied under Sigmund Freud. He may have been one of the last people psychoanalyzed by Freud before Freud’s death. We’ll talk more about that, and Richard’s unique lens on psychology and mental illness through history, anthropology and culture. Can science really answer the questions: Is there really such a thing as a normal human mind? Is there really such as thing as an abnormal mind? Well, let’s find out and with that said, let’s get started.

Today we are delighted to have Dr. Marta Induni with us on the show. She is a principal investigator with the Public Health Institute. She is also director of Tracing Health, a program launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that provides contact tracing and scientific support services to counties and local health departments on the US West Coast.

Today we are thrilled to embark on a new adventure here on PeerSpectrum. The first episode of our new guest host series. We’re inviting back some of our most popular past guests and handing over the microphone. As Keith and I have learned over the past few years, there is an art and craft to interviewing. Playing on the field has given us both a deeper appreciation and admiration for the true masters of the game. Masters such as the late Larry King (who passed away just last month) and his very close friend, and our most recent guest, Cal Fussman. As we discussed last time, one of my all-time favorite podcast interviews was Cal Fussman interviewing Larry King, on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. It was a rare opportunity to listen in as two masters discussed their game. These types of conversations are likely more common than we think. It’s just not as common to hear them. Today we are happy to have our good friend and past guest, Dr. Robert Adams back with us. As you may recall, Bob is a former US Navy SEAL and command surgeon for the army’s elite Delta Force. A recently retired family physician in the UNC health system, Bob is also the author of two books, “Six Days of Impossible,” and “Swords and Saints: A Doctor’s Journey.” Today Bob is joined by his good friend and former colleague, Dr. Sean Mulvaney. Sean is also a former US Navy SEAL turned army physician. Their conversation will take us all around the world from the battle fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, to a surprise birthday party for Colin Powell aboard a US Navy warship. More importantly, Bob and Sean will spend some time discussing PTSD, what we currently know about it and how it is and will be treated. They also discuss a new and very promising PTSD treatment called Stellate Ganglion Block. Sean has treated hundreds of veterans, trauma survivors and others suffering the effects of PTSD. This includes Medal of Honor recipients Dakota Myer, whose treatment by Sean was dramatically featured in a recent 60 Minutes report. Let us know what you think of this new format. Who would you like to hear as a future guest host? We love hearing your ideas so keep them coming. With that said, let’s get started…

Think of someone accomplished, someone famous, someone you truly admire. Have you met them? If so, how did it go? What did you talk about? If not, what would you talk about? What questions would you ask them? For us, today’s guest is just that person. His name is Cal Fussman and he is a long time writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine through their “What I learned” series. He is also host of the Big Questions podcast. Cal has interviewed everyone and I mean everyone…Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Maher, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Walter Cronkite, Woody Allen, Barbara Walters, Pelé, Yao Ming, Serena Williams, Danny DeVito, Eric Clapton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Muhammad Ali. Just to name a few. For amateur interviewers like us, today’s conversation was like getting to play 18 holes with Arnold Palmer. It’s like being one degree away from Kevin Bacon. Cal interviewed both by the way. Cal is literally one of the best in the business. We discussed his extraordinary career and his new mission in our world of medicine. Most importantly we’ll cover how all of us can be more aware, more thoughtful and effective with the questions we use. With that said, let’s get started…

On the release of this episode, we find ourselves in October of 2020. Still deep in the Covid-19 pandemic, and exactly one week away from the 2020 presidential election. Instead of piling on with our own opinions and speculation, we’re heading to the past for lessons and perspective that might, just might, help us make better sense of the world around us. Lessons from someone I think many of us wouldn’t mind having around today. A man who led the fight to liberate Europe from the darkness of Nazism. A man who spent decades patiently preparing and training for that role, never knowing if it would ever come. A man who’s deep footprint on history still shapes the world we live in today. A man who served through multiple heart attacks, strokes, and other severe illnesses. A leader tested by pandemics from the 1918 Spanish Flu to Polio. A true citizen of the world who, as Lyndon Johnson described, left “America…a better nation—stronger, safer, more conscious of its heritage, more certain of its destiny---because Ike was with us when America needed him.” Today’s guest knew Ike well, though she never addressed him as General or Mr. President. She called him grandpa because Susan Eisenhower is one of Dwight Eisenhower’s four grandchildren. She is a writer, policy strategist and national security expert who leads the Washington, DC based consulting firm, The Eisenhower Group. Her recently published book, “How Ike Led, The Principles Behind Eisenhower’s Biggest Decisions,” and her personal perspective growing up with her grandfather are the focus of today’s episode. With that said, let’s get started.