Tim Ferriss really goes out of his way to explain why he would interview his latest guest:
The goal of my blog and podcast is to push you outside of your comfort zone and force you to question assumptions.
This is why I invite divergent thinkers and world-class performers who often disagree. I might interview Tony Robbins and then Matt Mullenweg. Or I might have a long chat with Sam Harris, PhD, and later invite a seemingly opposite guest like…
Glenn Beck.
This interview is a wild ride, and it happened — oddly enough — thanks to a late-night sauna session. I was catching up with an old friend, who is mixed-race, a Brown University grad, and liberal in almost every sense of the word. I casually asked him, “If you could pick one person to be on the podcast, who would it be?”
“Glenn Beck,” he answered without a moment’s hesitation. “His story is FASCINATING.”
He described how Glenn hit rock bottom and restarted his life in his 30’s, well past the point most people think it possible. Fast forward to 2014, Forbes named him to their annual Celebrity 100 Power List and pegged his earnings at $90 million for that year. This placed him ahead of people like Mark Burnett, Jimmy Fallon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Will Smith. Glenn’s platforms — including radio, tv, digital (TheBlaze.com), publishing, etc. — get somewhere between 30 and 50 million unique visitors per month.
This interview is neither a “gotcha” interview nor a softball interview. I ask some tough questions (e.g. “If you were reborn as a disabled gay woman in a poor family, what political system would you want in place?”), but my primary goal is to pull out routines, habits, books, etc. that you can use. This show is about actionable insight, not argument for argument’s sake.
First and foremost, this is a story of entrepreneurship, and whether you love Glenn, hate Glenn, or have never heard his name, there is a lot to learn from him.
Though Ferriss is pathetically apologetic in the beginning, the whole interview is fantastic and totally worth your time.
The audience is the message.
You could try to interview a Chinese technocrat, but they’ll tailor their presentation to the audience.
You could try to interview Ghengis Khan but he’ll likely take your head off in one clean stroke and then burn down your village.
It’s the interview format itself that causes such close relatives to be hilariously described as ‘opposite.’
Best quote, paraphrased: “There is no hope in Washington, on either side; it’s a cauldron of rot.” – Glenn Beck
The interviews with Schwarzenegger and Thiel are also worthwhile.
Peter “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” Thiel!