The James Altucher Show

Ken Langone is a billionaire. He co-founded Home Depot and he's also been on the boards of some of America's most renowned companies. Ken talked to me about capitalism, (his book is called "I Love Capitalism!: An American Story"), corporate governance, morality, and picking good people to invest in. But I also always say that this podcast is not just about business. I also got to learn from Ken about self-respect, death, having a good outlook on life and following your gut. His success is proof that you can live well and live true to yourself. That's what I hope to keep learning for myself.   Links and Resources I Love Capitalism!: An American Story by Ken Langone   Also Mentioned My interview with Garry Kasparov  My interview with Sara Blakely My interview with Arianna Huffington Seinfeld Amy Schumer's SNL monologue Giuliani Pete Cunningham Frank Blake Sam Walton Jack Welch Bernie Madoff Home Depot NYU Langone Health Centers Robert De Niro Walmart The Bible GE Jeff Bezos Warren Buffet quote, "It takes a

We're mixing up the format! You already know Steve Cohen (my podcast producer) from a recent episode. Well, in this episode, Steve and I talk about the impact of creativity, BUT we get really specific and focussed totally on one historic moment... just before The Beatles fell apart.    Links and Resources Let It Be by the Beatles Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell Paul McCartney John Lennon George Harrison Yoko Ono Phil Spector - the producer of the album Let It Be Ringo Starr Jimmy Fallon The Roots Jay-Z Kanye West Behind the Music The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger Keith Richards Charlie Watts Richard Ben Cramer Brian Epstein Curious Mind by Brian Grazer The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - a documentary directed by Ron Howard Eye Contact by Brian Grazer  Tom Bodett In Conversation: Quincy Jones Andy Warhol The Comedy Store Robin Williams Jay Leno David Letterman Spielberg on HBO James on Ice T's podcast Break In - Ice T's first appearance George Lucas Judy Blume Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan American Pie Ep. 340

Hey! There's a new podcast out from my good friend Seth Godin. If you haven't had a chance to check out it, then here's your chance. I think you'll really enjoy it. It's called Akimbo.    ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subs

Tom Papa was afraid to follow his dream (like everyone else). But he put it to the test. He went up on stage, got laughs, and kept going. Now he has 5 different income streams (all because he took that first leap). He's got a new TV show coming up, a podcast, a radio show, live events and comedy tours, plus he also just wrote a book, "Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas." These opportunities didn't come to him over night. He's been doing comedy for 25 years. He put his dream to the test. It was the scariest thing he'd ever done. I wanted him to share his story. And the courage.   Links and Resources Read "Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas" by Tom Papa Watch Tom's Specials, "Tom Papa: Human Mule," "Tom Papa: Live in New York City," and "Tom Papa: Freaked Out" Listen to Tom on the radio "Live From Here" Listen to Tom's podcast "Come to Papa" Check out Tom's website to see where he's touring right now Follow Tom on Twitter   Also Mentioned Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld  Tom's inte

Allison Task is a businesswoman. She was in the dot-com industry for nearly a decade. But she didn't want to run a tech business. She wanted a more creative career... cooking. So that's what she did. First, she went to culinary school, then she worked for Martha Stewart. and now, Allison is a premier chef, life coach, TV personality and podcaster. She's also the author of recent book, "Personal Revolution: How to Be Happy, Change Your Life, and Do That Thing You've Always Wanted to Do." And that's what she'll teach you in this episode... how to have a personal revolution. Links and Resources Personal Revolution: How to Be Happy, Change Your Life, and Do That Thing You've Always Wanted to Do by Allison Task You Can Trust a Skinny Cook by Allison Fishman   Cooking Light Lighten Up, America!: Favorite American Foods Made Guilt-Free by Allison Fishman Task   Also Mentioned Yahoos Blue Ribbon Hunter Spam Jam Cook Yourself Thin Jean-Georges Martha Stewart Everyday Food Choose Yourself by James Altucher T

I'd always been interested in comedy, but I was completely terrified to go up on stage. But now  I'm obsessed. I interview as many of my favorite comedians on the show as I can, so I could learn from them. I want to know everything. Not just from comedians. But from everyone in the industry. And Dani Zoldan, owner of Stand Up NY, is the one who convinced me go on stage consistently. So I went up 6x a week. I got good. Stand-up comedy is by far the hardest skill I've ever wanted  to learn. And now, I needed to reflect. I've been doing stand up close to 3 years now. I own part of a comedy club. I've gone all in. I wanted Dani to interview me because he was the person who encouraged me the most in the beginning. This is my stand up journey...   Links and Resources Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner   The Bell House  Stand Up NY - go to standupny.com/thetightfive for a course to develop your best 5 minutes of stand up  Ep. 316 - Aaron

Jesse doesn't remember anything he learned from college except for ONE lesson. He calls it "the $160,000 lesson." He almost breezed by it. I had to stop him. "What was the lesson?" It's a strong lesson. And if I try to write the whole story in this box, it'll lose it's power. I wrote about it here. Or you can listen to the podcast now [it's in the first 2 mins]. It's worth it. Jesse is one of the most naturally motivating people I've ever met. And it's contagious.   I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast. Show Notes: Living with the Monks: What Turning Off My Phone Taught Me about Happiness, Gratitude, and Focus by Jesse Itzler Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler My first interview with Jesse Itzler: Ep.163: 6 Simple Steps to Becoming Self-Made Vanilla Ice (rapper) Marquis Jet (a company Jessie founded, which was then sold to NetJets) Zico coconut water (Jesse's a partner) My interview

Joey Coleman knows relationships. Business relationships, romantic relationships. "It's all part of the human condition," he says. He also got himself out of 76 traffic tickets. And it's all because of this one trick: he goes a level deeper. And then another level and another. Anytime I've made money, it's because of this trick. Joey's book is called, "Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days" and I trust Joey. His book and his talks all offer some of greatest value you'll find for relationships, friendships, entrepreneurship, friendships, solo-preneurship, being an employee. Anywhere and in every area. Links and Resources Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman   Also Mentioned Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini My interview with Robert Cialdini  Scott Adams  Tucker Max Tim Ferriss Ryan Holiday Lewis Howes my interview with Barry Michels  Mastermind Talks (created by Jayson Gaignard)   Delta

Keith Hernandez is arguably one of the best baseball players of all time. He played first baseman for the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals the majority of his career. He won two World Series titles (one with each team). He's now apart of the broadcasting team for the Mets. And he just wrote a new book, "I'm Keith Hernandez: A Memoir." He's multi-talented. But before there was broadcasting and books there was no plan B for Keith. Everything he did was baseball. And he was sent to the majors when he was only 2 and a half years out of high school. So I wanted to know what transformed him from being a talented, obsessed kid to one of the best players of all time. And what kept him there for almost 20 years. This is the Keith Hernandez story...     Links and Resources I'm Keith Hernandez: A Memoir by Keith Hernandez Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez and Mike Bryan If at First: A Season With the Mets By Keith Hernandez and Mike Bryan Shea Good-Bye: The Untold Inside Story of the Historic 2008 Season by Keith H

Heather Monahan told me that with every decision you make, you're either going to be building confidence or chipping away at it. So I wanted to learn how to be building it more often than I am destroying it. Because according to Heather, author of "Confidence Creator," confidence is not static. It's a muscle. And you can work on it at any stage of life. She says, "It's not a natural gift. It's practice." Links and Resources Confidence Creator by Heather Monahan Also Mentioned Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini   My upcoming interview with Keith Hernandez (subscribe to the podcast to make sure you hear it) Compilation video of Eddie Murphy on David Letterman  Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg  The song "Glorious" by Macklemore  The Honda Civic Effect My YouTube Channel which just launched   I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.   Thanks so much for listenin

Jordan Harbinger built a successful brand from podcasting for 12 years. He's done close to 900 interviews with top performers. But something changed recently. He reached out to me via email. And I knew I needed to get him on the show right away. He told me that he didn't like his brand anymore. He didn't like what it was morphing into. "I was becoming disillusioned," Jordan said. So he took a step back. And after what he thought was an amicable split from his partners, he and his team got fired. PAUSE. This is awful. I've been through my own terrible losses before. So I can say fully that what Jordan did next was the definition of a true entrepreneur. Links and Resources The Jordan Harbinger Show Also Mentioned PodcastOne Network Howard Stern Opie and Anthony Podcast Listeners Really Are the Holy Grail Advertisers Hoped They'd Be by Miranda Katz on WIRED Dan Harris Missing Richard Simmons Seth Godin Larry King Gary Vaynerchuk Jerry Seinfeld Talk Pages of Wikipedia Mike Rowe: The Way I Heard It (Episode 597)

I hired Steve Cohen. He produces this podcast. And I wanted him to be on the show because he has a mutant superpower. All my guests do. But his superpower really blows me away. I can barely understand how it comes so natural to him. But it does. Steve is a friend to thousands and thousands of people. He knows everyone and their mom, their manager, their business. He's built up genuine goodwill with so many people. And I look at that as a superpower because it's not your typical "networking." It's more than that. It's networking with meaning. Or as Steve says, "it's friendship." I wanted to interview Steve about how he got this talent. And he kept me laughing the whole way through. Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing: Steve Cohen!   Also Mentioned Howard Stern Dan Rather Walter Cronkite 60 Minutes Madonna Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need by Harvey Mackay Mother Teresa Matt Lauer J.B. Smoove Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 1 Seth Godin Wolfgang Puck The Wolf Of Wall St

This is Shane Snow's third time on the podcast. And we had a lot to cover. Shane is the author of, "Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success." (An incredibly intelligent book.) And he's also the cofounder of "Contently," a content strategy company that helps businesses grow. Shane's taught me a lot about solving problems in unconventional ways. And in this episode he teaches me about the 4 elements that make someone "ideal to work with." See, he's been studying teams. And just wrote a book about it (coming out in June) called "Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart." Links and Resources Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success by Shane Snow Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart by Shane Snow Contently - the company Shane co-founded Take The Open Mindedness Test on Shane's Website   Also Mentioned Ep. 168 - Tony Hawk: Don't Stand Still The Peekaboo Paradox by Gene Weingarten Alias Malcolm Gladwell The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

It took Mike Massimino 11 years to achieve his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. He was rejected 3 times. But he never stopped his pursuit to achieve his dream. He writes about it in his New York Times bestselling book "Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe". This is Mike's 2nd time on the podcast and I wanted to ask him all the questions that have stuck with me ever since that first interview. Like how he kept trying even after that 1st rejection.   Links and Resources Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe by Mike Massimino Also Mentioned The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe The Right Stuff (the movie) Jurassic Park Science Channel Neil deGrasse Tyson's Podcast, StarTalk Radio StarTalk on the National Geographic Channel The Planets and Beyond on Science Channel One Strange Rock on the National Geographic Channel The Big Bang Theory Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Elon Musk Jeff Bezos Richard Branson    I write about all

Maria Konnikova is a journalist. She's written two New York Times best sellers. One about con artists and having the confidence to get away something. The other is about how detectives think. But now she's immersed in poker (for her next book). And making big money (she made $200,000 in her first year playing). That WAS NOT the plan. She wanted to write a book about luck. Now, she's on her way to play in the world series. She taught me about "game theory," which is "when you look at the world like a game, where everyone has certain payoffs for certain decisions," she said.   Links and Resources The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time by Maria Konnikova Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova My first podcast interview with Maria Konnikova   Also Mentioned Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Josh Foer My inter

Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder AND world champion for 12 years in a row. Every single day, since he was 11 years old, he's done what he loves to do: skateboarding. I interviewed him at an event in 2016. And Tony was skating before the interview. It's what's most natural to him. But he also built a brand and an empire from his success. He's sold over a billion dollars worth of video games with his name on it.    Show Notes: Follow Tony Hawk on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (username: tonyfrankhawk) Watch videos at TonyHawk.com Learn about The Tony Hawk Foundation Jason Gaynor's Mastermind Talks Conference my interview with Freeway RickRoss   I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast. Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify   Follow me on Social Media: Twitter Fa

Sherrod Small is a comedian, all around personality, actor, writer, producer, podcast host of "RaceWars". He's done everything. He grew up in the comedy clubs with his cousins, Chris Rock and Tony Rock. And he could've taken a shortcut, but he chose not to. "We wanted to start from the bottom of the bottom," he said. "We wanted to know every aspect of this business. And we wanted to grow our own voice." He told me his path to success. It's applicable to more than just someone who wants to pursue stand-up. He talked to me about enthusiasm and experience. And why he recommends you skip taking shortcuts when you feel the excitement. Links and Resources:  My interview with Tony Rock: Ep. 343 - Tony Rock: The Process to Get ANY Idea Off the Ground Greg Giraldo Lucian Hold who ran The Comic Strip   Rick Newman owned The Catch Robbin Williams Rosie O'Donnell Some of Sherrod's biggest influences: Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Bobcat Goldthwait Michelle Wolf's performance at the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner

You've heard of the book,"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life."  It's the #3 most read book on Amazon and a "New York Times" bestseller. And the book, written by Mark Manson, is still skyrocketing. But ENOUGH. Mark is ready to move on. He's been doing press for the book for over a year. And it's pulling him back from getting to a place where his brain can look for new ideas. So I asked what he's curious about. I wanted to know what's next. "I'm fixated on this idea of hope and meaning right now," Mark said. He broke it down. And revealed his opinion on why there's so much hopelessness and meaningless now. Our conversation went deep. And we got into topics I haven't talked about much on this podcast. And now... thanks to Mark, I have new ideas, too. Links and Resources The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson 6 Things People Should Give Fewer Fucks About by Mark Manson Check Out Mark's website Follo

There are very few times in my life that I am so incredibly grateful to meet someone. And this was definitely one of those top 10 moments for me. Jon Morrow has created several multi-million dollar businesses. He's the founder of Smart Blogger and written several viral articles including "On dying mothers and fighting for your ideas" and "How to quit your job, move to paradise and get paid to change the world." Jon is the epitome of overcoming obstacle. He was paralyzed from the neck down at birth. That didn't stop him. It motivated him. Because he knew he could end up in a nursing home. And nothing scared him more. I asked him everything: how he built his businesses, consulting practice, how he wrote without being able to type. And with every question I asked, he had an answer. He had a story. Or experience to share. And I'm grateful I can share it with you.   Show Notes: Jon's website SmartBlogger.com Jon's most popular blogs that went viral: "On dying mothers and fighting for your ideas" and "How to quit

Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL. Jocko has taken what he learned from the military and is teaching others how to live their life the same way, including our kids. He lives by a code. A code that anyone can develop for themselves. Jocko holds himself to these standards everyday. This is the Way of the Warrior...   He's also written books about this code: "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win," a book I loved and highly recommend. And most recently he published two books in his children's series: "Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way" and "Marc's Mission: Way of the Warrior Kid."   Links and Resources Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way by Jocko Willink Marc's Mission: Way of the Warrior Kid by Jocko Willink The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (releasing September 25) J