Best selling author, Dr. John Ratey M.D. is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognised expert in Neuropsychiatry. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and 11 books published in 17 languages. With the publication of ‘Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain’, Dr. Ratey has established himself as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection. Recognised by his peers as one of the Best Doctors in America since 1997, Dr. Ratey was recently honoured by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society as “Outstanding Psychiatrist of the Year” for advancing the field. He’s frequently profiled in the media from: ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and that’s just scratching the surface. (This interview was recorded in April 2019).
Dr. Michael Greger is a physician, an internationally recognised speaker on a number of important public health issues, and a bestselling author of multiple titles including the instant New York Times bestseller ‘How Not To Die’. He’s testified before Congress, has appeared on shows such as: The Colbert Report and The Dr. Oz Show, and Oprah Winfrey invited him to be her expert witness in the infamous “meat defamation” trial. He is a Council of Directors member of True Health Initiative which is a coalition of more than 360 world experts representing 35 countries, who together offer clarity as to the principles behind healthy eating and healthy living.
Hank Greely is a professor of law and a professor of genetics at Stanford University. He specialises in ethical, legal and social issues arising from advances in the biosciences, particularly from genetics, neuroscience and human stem cell research. He was the president of the International Neuro-ethics Society and is the chairman of the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research. He joined Stanford in 1985 after working in private law practice and in the Defence and Energy Departments during President Carter’s administration. Last but not least he is the author of the book ‘The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction’.
Dr. Scilla Elworthy is a three time Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work with the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation she founded in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. In 2002 Cilla founded ‘Peace Direct’a charity to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas. She was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003 and she advised Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Richard Branson in setting up ‘The Elders’. She now leads ‘The Business Plan for Peace’ to help prevent violent conflict and build sustainable peace throughout the world, because peace is possible; and she lays out how in her latest books: The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War and The Mighty Heart: How to Transform Conflict. Last but not least her TED talk on nonviolence has been viewed by over 1,500,000 people.
Maria Konnikova is an award winning journalist and the author of three New York Times bestsellers, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes and The Confidence Game which is an investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists. Her latest book, The Biggest Bluff is a journey into the world of high-stakes poker – it’s an exploration of the role that luck plays in our lives and what it truly means to take control of our destinies. Maria doesn’t do things half heartedly so in the process of researching this book she went from having never played a single game of poker in her life, to becoming an international poker champion, turning professional and earning over $300,000 in tournament earnings.
Dr. Dan Siegel is a: Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a clinical professor of psychiatry, an award winning educator and an internationally acclaimed author of five New York Times bestselling books. Amongst these are: Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain; Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, and Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human. Dan is also the executive director of the Mindsight Institute and has lectured for the King of Thailand, Pope John Paul II, Google University and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Greg Lukianoff is: an attorney, a New York Times best-selling author, and the President and CEO of FIRE, which stands for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. His books include, ‘Unlearning Liberty’ and ‘The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure’ which he co-authored with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. He’s an executive producer of ‘Can We Take a Joke?’, a feature-length documentary that explores the collision between comedy, censorship and outrage culture. He frequently appears on TV shows such as CBS Evening News and The Today Show and he’s testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives about free speech issues on America’s college campuses.
Adam Alter is the New York Times bestselling author of two books: ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, which investigates how hidden forces in the world around us shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and his recent work, ‘Irresistible’, which considers why so many people today are addicted to so many behaviours. He’s an Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department. His research has been published widely in academic journals, and featured in dozens of TV, radio and print outlets around the world. He’s written for the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic and has been invited to share his ideas to companies such as Google, Microsoft and Fidelity.
David Meltzer grew up really poor so all he wanted to do was make a load of money so he could buy his mum a house and a car. He became the CEO of the world’s first ever smartphone, he retired early, bought his mum the house, bought a golf course, a ski mountain, countless other houses and had a net worth of over $120 million. Then he lost everything, every single penny, they even took his mum’s house. However that’s not the end of the story, he made it all back again. He became CEO of the world’s most notable sports agency, before co-founding Sports 1 Marketing, one of the world’s leading sports & entertainment marketing agencies. However despite his amazing business success that is not why I invited him on the show today, what I think is most interesting is his mindset. He’s also an award-winning humanitarian, an international public speaker and a best-selling author.
(Guest Interview) Hi everyone, my name’s Atuksha Poonwassie and I’m the co-founder of the UK crowdfunding platform Simple Crowdfunding. For this podcast we’ve decided to mix things up a bit and I’m going to interview Duncan so that you can learn more about the person behind Spirit Pig. So I met Duncan at a property event 6 years ago and we’ve met and stayed in contact regularly ever since. He runs the podcast ‘Spirit Pig’ which has been rated by iTunes as one of the top self help podcasts in the world. So how has he achieved it? Driven by the mission; Fulfilment For Everyone, Duncan has spent years tracking down and interviewing the top and coolest thoughts leaders on the planet about happiness and fulfilment. Over the last 130 episodes he’s interviewed pioneering scientists, Academy Award nominated directors, New York Times bestselling authors, Mt. Everest climbers and 32 TED speakers. He also life coaches CEOs of companies that are positively impacting the world. Over the time that I’ve known Duncan his goal has been clear and he has done whatever it takes without faltering and compromise. He lives and breathes happiness and it comes across clearly in everything he does. I am so grateful that I have the pleasure of interviewing Duncan today.