Finally, the Podcast from Fertik

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Ken Rogoff will surely win the Nobel Prize in Economics. (Did you know it is formally called the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences?) Until that time, this justly celebrated economist and sometime chess grandmaster continues to inspire leaders and ruffle feathers on the left and right alike with his exceptional scholarship, his commitment to telling the truth about debt, deficit, and doom, and his understated wry sense of humor. His new book, Our Dollar, Your Problem, is both essential and readable, and it coheres with his epic collaboration with Carmen Reinhardt from two decades ago, This Time is Different. Both should be required reading. On the other hand, as my exceptionally brilliant listenership shall learn, his taste in pizza is incorrect. Join me in my journey into one of the world’s most productive and insightful brains. Kenneth Rogoff, Finally. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Matthew Barzun is a character you might find in a spy novel written by John Le Carré, a play written by Sam Shepard, and a novel written by Charlotte Bronte. He is courageous yet diplomatic, visionary yet modest, and sensible yet romantic. I like him a lot. Here you will find us discuss what is really means to be a US Ambassador, why the hell he has spent considerable time, energy, and resource reviving the Enemy of Nonsense, his literal favorite bite of pizza in the world, and the unsung guru of guru of gurus of management and leadership. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

I predict you will be as surprised as I was. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Hillel Fuld had a successful career in startups before October 7th. That day, he closed his consulting business and began a new full-time life as an advocate for Israel. Listen now as Fuld reveals personal details about himself he has never before revealed, as he explains his case for the Jewish State, as I ask my most unusual Speed Round questions ever, and as your correspondent begins to cry, in an interview, for the first time in Finally history. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Avi Hyman was, for the nine months immediately following the Hamas attack of October 7th, the global English-speaking spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He was personally interviewed over 150 times and prepared the Prime Minister and team for a thousand more. Avi is now free of the strictures of public service. This is his story, as he has never before told it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Michael Fertik’s lecture, first delivered as a Polaris Lecture for UATX in Austin, Texas, This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is the prequel to Moby Dick. First published in Eclectica Magazine. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Mike Maples, Jr., was the first investor in Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft. Twenty years ago, he was one of a tiny handful of entrepreneurial investors who changed the rules of venture investing forever. He is famously kind in person and generous in spirit. He is also a terrific listener and, unlike most venture capitalists, very inventive himself. Recently he published a book called Pattern Breakers, revealing some of his chief learnings over his decades as a co-founder and investor. Here he reveals, for the first time ever, some of his most private insights, including the precise moments and reasons he passed on both AirBnB and Uber, as well as that one guilty pleasure that has carried on from his youth and the days of his very first job. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

John Palfrey is the President of the MacArthur Foundation, a former Harvard Law School Professor and Head of School at the legendary Phillips Academy Andover high school. A celebrated educator, lifelong student of our national civic life, and special expert in digital subjects such as copyright, Palfrey shares his perspective on the crisis in American politics, in higher education, and in secondary education. He also confides in our audience with respect to his (objectively incorrect) first choice in pizza slice. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Larry Tribe is widely regarded as the greatest American constitutionalist not to sit on the United States Supreme Court. In this touchingly personal interview, he tells us of his upbringing, of his parents, of their relationship, of his birth in Shanghai and of his maturation in intellectual curiosity and kindness. He also offers insight on his former students President Barack Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts; on his fateful decision in 1987 to testify against Robert Bork’s SCOTUS nomination; on the nexus of that decision with then-Senator Joe Biden; on his first-ever Supreme Court argument and its moving connection to his own father; on his current feelings about Jewishness and Israel; and on what he perceives are the dangerous storm clouds of fascism now gathering across the Western world. Laurence Tribe is 82 years old. There may never be another such interview in his lifetime. Join me in learning from this gentle legend. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Oren Falkowitz is an unusual figure. The founder and longtime CEO of Area 1 Security, which sold to Cloudflare and created wealth for him and his shareholders, moved back to Washington, D.C., from Silicon Valley because he felt something was amiss in the California startup landscape, and it wasn’t just the lackluster restaurant culture. This is not a typical story of a founder who made it and celebrates his experience. Nor is it a typical story of a founder who didn’t make it and gripes. This is the story of a founder who succeeded but is willing to share, on the record, some of his hard-earned ‘lessons learned,’ including the stories of dynamics on the board of directors that did not … quite … operate … the way he would have wanted. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Pano Kanelos is one of the very most important public intellectuals in America today. He is the Founding President of the University of Austin, a past President of St. Johns, a touchstone of Liberal Arts education, a noted Shakespeare scholar, and a passionate cook of Hellenic cuisine. Listen to hear his vision of what modern life in America, and what higher education, can and should be. Join me for one of the most wide-ranging and fascinating conversations in the history of the Finally podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com

Sara Mauskopf is a successful Founder and CEO in Silicon Valley. A devoted entrepreneur, wife, and mom of three, she was faced with her husband’s surprise cancer diagnosis shortly after the birth of their first child. More lately, Sara, who has spent years championing diversity and inclusion, has found herself shocked by the silence and even antisemitism and anti-Israel posture of the “hard left.” We catch her at a time of introspection and reflection. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelfertik.substack.com