Famous Failures

Scott Amyx is the Chair & Managing Partner at Amyx Ventures, a venture capital firm, and an author. He grew up in South Korea without a father and in deep poverty. After he immigrated to the United States, he was placed in foster care and moved from home to home. He has created an incredibly successful life for himself through doing what makes him uncomfortable, a condition that he calls “strive.” In his recently released book, Strive, he argues that the secret to success is doing the things that make you uncomfortable. His book has been endorsed with great enthusiasm by Tony Robbins, Tribeca Film Festival, Forbes, Singularity University and other global influencers. Scott has been featured on TIME, Forbes, New York Times, TechCrunch, Washington Post, Wired, and other major media outlets. He is also a TEDx speaker on disruption and success. In the episode, Scott shares his personal journey from deep poverty to globe-trotting success as well as the failures he encountered along the way. You’ll learn the s

Bonnie St.John is an Olympic Medalist, bestselling author, highly sought after keynote speaker, and a leadership consultant. Despite having her right leg amputated at age five, Bonnie St. John became the first African-American ever to win medals in Winter Olympic competition, taking home a silver and two bronze medals at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Austria. President Clinton appointed her as a Director for Human Capital Issues on the White House National Economic Council, and NBC Nightly News selected Bonnie St. John as “One of the five most inspiring women in America.” She Bonnie travels the globe as a highly sought after keynote speaker, Fortune 500 business consultant, television and radio personality, and business owner. She’s currently the CEO of the Blue Circle Leadership Institute, where she leads international live and virtual leadership programs. Bonnie is the bestselling author of seven books. Her most recent book is Micro Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, and Energy. You

This week's guest on Famous Failures is Verne Harnish. Verne is the founder of the world renowned Entrepreneurs' Organization, which has over 12,000 members worldwide. For 15 years he chaired the Entrepreneurs' Organization’s premier CEO program which is called the Birthing of Giants held at MIT. He is the Founder and CEO of Gazelles which is a global executive education and coaching company with over 210 partners on six continents. He has spent the past three decades helping companies scale up. He is the author of several bestselling books including Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, which has been translated into nine languages. Along with the editors a Fortune, he authored The Great Business Decisions of All Times. His latest book is called Scaling Up, which has won 7 major international book awards, including the prestigious 2015 International Book Award for Best General Business Book. My conversation with Verne spans a wide range of topics. We begin with Verne's previous life as a magician and discuss wha

A child of entrepreneurs, Bea Arthur has used her tenacity and creativity to become a successful therapist, entrepreneur, and media personality. She’s employed her clinical training to develop innovative companies in the mental-health sphere including In Your Corner, and her new company,The Difference, which uses machine learning to modernize mental health services. As a celebrated woman in tech, she’s been a TedX speaker, Forbes writer, and the first black woman admitted to Y Combinator, the world’s most prestigious start-up incubator. You’ll learn: How you can view your failures as stepping stones Why too much strategizing can be to your detriment How to stay true to yourself as you build your company - Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handbook: 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, you’ll get the Weekly Contrarian — a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom a

Barbara Oakley defied the odds (and her early educators) by overcoming perceived weaknesses in math and science to become a professor of engineering at Oakland University. She’s also the Ramón y Cajal Distinguished Scholar of Global Digital Learning at McMaster University, where she teaches two massive open online courses (MOOCs)—Learning How to Learn and Mindshift—with esteemed neuroscientist, Terrence Sejnowski. Oakley’s most recently published work, Mindshift, discusses overcoming learning “handicaps”—including the impostor syndrome or advancing age—by the simple, yet powerful, act of persistence. - Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handbook: 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, you’ll get the Weekly Contrarian — a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only). Don’t wa

Gretchen Rubin started her career in law—even clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor—before stopping everything to become a writer. Though the transition was pitted with failure, it turned out to be one of the best decisions she made. Not only has she written three New York Times Bestsellers—Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home—she’s also built an enormous readership, sold more than three million books, and started a weekly podcast called Happier with Gretchen Rubin. Her latest book is The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too). Gretchen has sat for dinner with Daniel Kahneman, walked arm-in-arm with the Dalai Lama, been interviewed by Oprah, and now joins me on an episode of Famous Failures. Enjoy! - Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handbook: 8 Principles for Innov

Srinivas Rao is a bestselling author and the host of the wildly successful Unmistakable Creative podcast, where his guests range from Olympic athletes to bank robbers to trailblazing entrepreneurs. He self-published his first book, The Art of Being Unmistakable, which went on to become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. His latest book is Unmistakable: Why Only Is Better Than Best. You’ll learn: -- How an early failure launched Srini’s successful career as an author and speaker -- How Srini’s Facebook status updates turned into a Wall Street Journal bestseller -- How writing 1,000 words a day can change your life - Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handbook: 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, you’ll get the Weekly Contrarian — a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers onl

Isaac Lidsky is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and coveted speaker. But that brief description doesn’t do justice to his remarkable resume. Lidsky was a child television star, appearing as series regular “Weasel” on NBC’s “Saved By The Bell: The New Class.” Lidsky left his acting career and went on to graduate from Harvard at 19 with an honors degree in mathematics and computer science. He returned to Harvard to study law and became the only blind person to clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court (for Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg). He later took charge of a struggling construction company and grew it tenfold. Lidsky was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of the retina. From age 12 to 25, he slowly lost his sight. Using insights from his experiences, he authored the New York Times bestseller, Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can’t See Clearly. He founded a nonprofit organization to fund the development of treatmen

RYAN CARSON Ryan Carson is neither ashamed nor apologetic about his initial failures as an entrepreneur. Rocky beginnings are what spurred Ryan to evaluate his motivations very early in his entrepreneurial journey, and avoid a boatload of heartache down the road. He eventually found a true understanding of his ‘why’, and a professional purpose he was ready to fight for. Today, Ryan is the CEO of Treehouse, an online technology school that aims to revolutionize education by providing debt-free training to aspiring coders. Treehouse’s newest development, Educate Yourself, is a podcast that discusses the latest industry news in the “future of learning, higher ed, and ed tech.” ---- Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handbook: 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, you’ll get the Weekly Contrarian — a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look

HENDRIE WEISINGER, Ph.D. A world-renowned psychologist and pioneer in the field of pressure management. He’s a two-time New York Times bestselling author. He has consulted with and developed programs for dozens of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, and has taught in Executive Education and Executive MBA programs at Wharton, UCLA, NYU, Cornell, Penn State, and MIT. He’s appeared on the Today Show, Oprah, and in The New York Times Sunday Business Section. His latest book is Performing Under Pressure: The Science Of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most. The book introduces the concept of pressure management, offering empirically tested short-term and long-term solutions to help us overcome the debilitating effects of pressure. To sign up for Dr. Weisinger’s online course on pressure management for 50% off, please use the discount code pressureozan. ---- Get your FREE copy of my e-book. Text OZAN to 345345 or navigate to weeklycontrarian.com to download a free copy of my e-book, The Contrarian Handboo