Podcasts about The Fountainhead

Send us a textIn this value-packed episode of the Customer Success Playbook podcast, Shep Hyken returns for Part 2 of our three-part series to address the billion-dollar question: How do companies balance price sensitivity with the growing demand for exceptional customer experiences? From mentalism to magic moments, Shep draws surprising parallels between sleight-of-hand and customer loyalty while unpacking game-changing insights from his CX research.Detailed Analysis: Kevin Metzger and Roman Trebon dive deep with customer service guru Shep Hyken, and this time it's all about one powerful word: convenience. Drawing from his acclaimed book The Convenience Revolution and the 2025 State of Customer Service and CX report, Shep lays out how brands can make price less relevant by making the customer experience more effortless. And no, that doesn't mean grand gestures—it means smart, consistent, and friction-free experiences.Key insight? A whopping 59% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better experience, but especially for one that's more convenient. Case in point: Shep shares a brilliant Wall Street Journal case study showing how simplifying subscription forms led to a measurable increase in conversions. The takeaway? Every unnecessary field is a friction point that erodes revenue.Shep also explores how the pandemic accelerated customer expectations for convenience—a trend that is here to stay. He uses real-life examples, including Amazon and even a local car dealership in St. Louis, to prove that making things easy builds loyalty that price alone can't buy.And if you thought this was all business, think again. Shep opens the episode with a personal twist—his love for guitar, magic, and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, weaving them seamlessly into his customer service philosophy.Don't miss this episode if you're in customer success, support, or CX leadership. For more context and deeper insights, explore Shep's full CX research at https://hyken.com/research/.Now you can interact with us directly by leaving a voice message at https://www.speakpipe.com/CustomerSuccessPlaybookCheck out https://funnelstory.ai/ for more details about Funnelstory. You can also check out our full video review of the product on YouTube at https://youtu.be/4jChYZBVz2Y.Please Like, Comment, Share and Subscribe. You can also find the CS Playbook Podcast:YouTube - @CustomerSuccessPlaybookPodcastTwitter - @CS_PlaybookYou can find Kevin at:Metzgerbusiness.com - Kevin's person web siteKevin Metzger on Linked In.You can find Roman at:Roman Trebon on Linked In.

In de podcast Wat Blijft een aflevering over Ayn Rand, Amerikaans romancier en filosoof. Ze was de grondlegger van het objectivisme, een filosofische stroming. Rand groeide op in Rusland en vertrok in 1926 naar de Verenigde Staten waar ze niet veel later de Amerikaanse nationaliteit aannam. Haar grootste successen waren The Fountainhead (1943) en Atlas Shrugged (1957), boeken die haar naam en faam brachten, maar ook debat veroorzaakten. Critici verwijten Rand het egoïsme te prediken. Onder conservatieven is ze geliefd, Elon Musk citeert regelmatig uit haar werk.   Maker Annette van Soest praat met NRC-columnist en historica Floor Rusman, tv-regisseur en schrijver Bert van der Veer en politicus Yernaz Ramautarsing, nu lid van Belang van Nederland. 

Sunday Morning Live 9 March 2025In this episode, I tackle the complexities of modern relationships through a listener's breakup influenced by financial expectations. We explore how societal norms shape perceptions of entitlement and responsibilities within partnerships, particularly the contrasts between men and women. I dissect the implications of emotional entitlement and the need for mutual investment, arguing against the belief that mere presence in a relationship justifies demands for support. The discussion also touches on the historical context of the feminist movement and its impact on accountability today. I conclude with a call for self-awareness and reflection on values that shape our interactions in order to foster healthier relationships.GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!https://peacefulparenting.com/Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!See you soon!https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/UPB2025

1. Who Is Babylon in the Book of Revelation?2. Babylon Is Connected to the Tower of Babel and Adam's Raised Hand.3. Babylon Is the Fountainhead of Corrupt Worship.4. I Changed my Mind About the Beast.5. I Believe that Nero Is the Initial Fulfillment of the Beast.6. Asia Minor Was a Center of Emperor Worship. 7. The Book of Revelation Recapitulates its Visions.8. Nero and Rome Do not Exhaust the Prophecies About the Beast.9. The Lord Jesus Christ Has not Yet Returned.10. America in 2025 Is in Great Danger.11. Jesus Is the Only Hero in History.

Hogyan képzeli el a film az építészt, és a vásznon túl hogy néz ki ez a munka? Ezúttal Takács Ákos építész, a Partizán várospolitikai podcastjának a szerkesztője a vendégünk, akivel arról is beszélgettünk, hogy a különböző korok, kultúrák hogyan gondolkodtak az építészetről. Amire számíthattok az adásban: óda a Nemzeti Színházhoz, izmozás rajzolt tornyokkal, és jó pár rendező Lars von Triertől Francis Ford Coppoláig, akik egyaránt hasonlóságot feltételeztek a filmkészítés és az építészet között. Filmekkel is készültünk: amíg A brutalista kompromisszumokkal küzd, addig a Megalopolisz megoldana mindent okosba. Tartsatok velünk! Ez itt a Semmi kóla, valamint A város másik oldalán, aminek a hallgatására mindenkit csak bátorítani tudunk.Kövessétek a Semmi kólát az Instagramon!https://www.instagram.com/semmikolapodcast/És A Város Másik Oldalánt is!https://www.instagram.com/avarosmasikoldalan/Hivatkozott tartalmakHosszan tárgyalt filmek:A brutalista (The Brutalist, 2025)Megalopolisz (Megalopolis, 2024)Röviden említett filmek, sorozatok:A ház, amit Jack épített (The House That Jack Built, 2018)Az ősforrás (The Fountainhead, 1949)Asterix és Obelix - A Kleopátra-küldetés (Astérix et Obélix - Mission Cléopâtre, 2002)Harry Potter (2001-2010)Így jártam anyátokkal (How I Met Your Mother, 2005-2014)Minden, mindenhol, mindenkor (Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022)Star Wars I-III. (1999-2005)Cikkek, egyebek:Ayn Rand: Az ősforrás. Ford. Takácsy Enikő (2018)Andrew Ballantyne: Építészet. Ford. Mahler Zoltán (2004)Táj, ember, tudás – zöldtörténelem. Bevezetés a környezettörténet irodalmába. Szerk. Balogh Róbert - Bodovics Éva - Demeter Gábor - Erdélyi Mátyás - Eszik Veronika - Vadas András (2021)Tájátalakítás, járványok, vizek, birodalmak – zöldtörténelem. Tanulmányok a környezettörténet irodalmából. Szerk. Balogh Róbert - Bodovics Éva - Demeter Gábor - Erdélyi Mátyás - Eszik Veronika - Vadas András (2022)K. Horváth Zsolt: Az emlékezet betegei. A tér-idő társadalomtörténeti morfológiájához (2015)Kránicz Bence: Ki rendezte a Megalopoliszt: A keresztapa szerzője vagy egy kamaszfiú? (2024, 24.hu)Nemes Nikolett: A brutalista, aki ott se volt: az építészetért rajongóknak csalódás a tíz Oscar-díjra jelölt film (2025, HVG 360)Juhani Pallasmaa: A bőr szemei. Építészet és érzékiség. Ford. Veres Bálint (2017)Szily László: A Brutalista: végre itt az első humoros poszt-holokausztfilm, ha nem is annak szánták feltétlenül (2025, 444)

Ayn Rand's philosophical novel The Fountainhead is one of the most-read and most  and quoted books of the 20th century. Dismissed and loved in equal measure, it polarised critics and readers.  The Fountainhead expressed Rand's strong beliefs about the role of the creator, the need for freedom, and the moral imperative of self-interest. One of the few novels dedicated to the profession of architecture, The Fountainhead's ideas about architects and architecture continue to influence how we think about the profession today. In this episode, Antony and Justine discuss the novel, its pros and cons, and why it is still a treasured reference for right-wing thinkers today. Quote: “In reviewing my career to date, I came to the conclusion that I have worked on a true principle: the principle that constant change is a necessity of life.   Since buildings are an indispensable part of life, it follows that architecture must change constantly.  I have never developed architectural prejudices for myself, but insisted on keeping my mind open to all the voices of the times.   The fanatics who went around preaching that all structures must be modern were just as narrow minded as the hidebound conservatives who demanded that we employ nothing but historical styles.   I do not apologise for those of my buildings which were designed in the Classical tradition.   They were an answer to the needs of their era.  Neither do I apologise for the buildings which I designed in the modern style.   They represent the coming better world.  It is my opinion that in the humble realisation of this principle lies the reward and the joy of being an architect.” The character of architect Peter Keating, The Fountainhead Links: John Crace on Ayn Rand, The Guardian, 2009 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/11/ayn-rand Social: Instagram: @lightscitiesarchitecture LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justine-costigan/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/antony-dimase/ Credits: Editor: Justine Costigan This episode was recorded at Image online, Abbotsford, Australia. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/aaron-paul-low/always-for-youLicense code: FKADBZMC5CF0HIR8

https://youtu.be/hPO8IQvENTY Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo interviews, Bud Brigham, a lifelong entrepreneur and the founder of multiple successful companies, most notably Atlas Energy Solutions. Mr. Brigham built his career on a vision of innovation and an uncompromising commitment to individualism, values deeply informed by Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. In this interview, Mr. Brigham shares how The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged inspired him to take bold risks and create lasting value in the energy sector. Among the topics covered: Introduction to the Roundtable and to Bud Brigham; What motivates Brigham's continuing entrepreneurship; How Brigham's companies innovated to overcome economic and technological challenges; Brigham's battle to build the innovative Dune Express, the world's second-longest conveyor belt transporting fracking sand;   How Objectivist ideas have inspired and empowered Brigham's career; How Brigham works to encourage industry peers to stand up on principle against demands for regulation;   Brigham's advice for young entrepreneurs; Brigham's favorite passage from Ayn Rand. The interview with Mr. Brigham occurred at a recent ARI Donor Roundtable on January 25, an event usually available exclusively for donors. If you'd like to participate in the next Roundtable event, consider joining ARI as a supporter.

An atheist, a radical for capitalism, a caricature of a greedy libertarian, a best-selling novelist, a difficult partner and passionate lover, and the self-proclaimed greatest philosopher since Aristotle: Ayn Rand was many things, and we talk about almost all of them in this epic episode. To do so, we called upon historian Jennifer Burns, whose intellectual biography, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right , is enormously helpful in trying to understand an idiosyncratic writer who, both then and now, fits ambiguously into the "fusionist" post-war conservative movement. Rand remains a controversial figure whose ideas permeate our culture and continue to inspire some of the most consequential (and least appealing) political figures in the United States. To understand Rand and her influence, we examine her family's experiences during and after the Russian Revolution, her journey to the U.S. and early success in Hollywood, the arduous path she trod to become a writer, Rand's involvement in anti-New Deal politics in the 1930s and 40s, her ideas, philosophy, and scandalous personal life, and much more.Sources:Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead  (1943)— Atlas Shrugged (1957)— We the Living (1936)Jennifer Burns, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (2009)— Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative (2023)Whittaker Chambers, "Big Sister Is Watching You," National Review, Dec 28, 1957Murray Rothbard, "The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult," (1972)Mary Gaitskill, Two Girls, Fat and Thin (1991)Lisa Duggan, Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed, (2019)— "Ayn Rand and the Cruel Heart of Neoliberalism," Dissent, May 20, 2019.Adam Curtis, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, (2011)Listen again:"Milton Friedman and the Making of Our Times," Dec 3, 2023...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to all of our premium episodes!

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Mishlei 16:22 - How Fools Relate to the Fountainhead of Lifeמְקוֹר חַיִּים שֵׂכֶל בְּעָלָיו וּמוּסַר אֱוִלִים אִוֶּלֶת:Length: 1 hour 23 minutesSynopsis: This evening (1/27/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a surprisingly difficult pasuk about what seems to be the bread and butter of Mishlei: how fools relate to intelligence and mussar. We came up with three approaches on our own, then learned Rabbeinu Yonah's (after not getting anywhere with Metzudas David). The pasuk ended up being relevant to everyone in more ways than usual, and left us with a useful metaphor which can help apply this idea to our lives.-----מקורות:משלי טז:כבתרגום ופירוש רס"גאבות ד:אמצודת דודרבינו יונה - משלי טז:כב; א:כבקהלת ז:כט-----The Torah content for the rest of January is sponsored by Avital, “to continued growth, learning and clarity IY”H. Thank you for all your guidance!”-----If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.-----Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweissYouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweissInstagram: instagram.com/rabbischneeweiss/"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.comOld Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/WhatsApp Content Hub (where I post all my content and announce my public classes): https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0HAmazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel

Today we celebrate Ayn Rand's Birthday. February 2, 1905 will live forever once her ideas gain hold in a culture. Any culture - hopefully America's. The sooner the better.We also discuss other positive cultural trends such as homeschooling, the Progress movement, and other stuff, e.g.,, how to send a RandsDay boostagram (digital telegram wither a donation / super comment with a payment) of 221,905 Satoshis (bits of a Bitcoin).Call-to-Action: After you have listened to this episode, add your $0.02 (two cents) to the conversation, by joining (for free) The Secular Foxhole Town Hall. Feel free to introduce yourself to the other members, discuss the different episodes, give us constructive feedback, or check out the virtual room, Speakers' Corner, and step up on the digital soapbox. Welcome to our new place in cyberspace!Show notes with links to articles, blog posts, products and services:Anthem - CliffNotesEgo - WiktionaryMartin's blog, EGOMartin's podcast, EGO NetCastAyn Rand: A Sense of LifeUrkällan (The Fountainhead in Swedish) - WikipediaThe Fountainhead - CliffNotesThe Fountainhead (film) - WikipediaThe Fountainhead - Warner Bros.The Fountainhead - IMDbWe the Living (movie)We the Living - The Ayn Rand InstituteRoots of Progress Institute Boom SupersonicJames Pethokoukis - The Breakthrough InstituteUp Wing / Down Wing - Faster, Please! newsletterAyn Rand's quote on smokestacks - Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial RevolutionSearch on "Frank Lloyd Wright" - The Secular Foxhole siteAtlas Shrugged - CliffNotesSearch on "homeschool" - The Secular Foxhole site

On Truth & Movies this week after paying tribute to the late, great David Lynch we discuss the truly epic The Brutalist and spoke to it's cinematographer Lol Crawley. We also review Steven Soderbergh's Presence and, for film club, revisit The Fountainhead.Joining host Leila Latif are Hannah Strong and Sophie Monks Kaufman.Truth & Movies is the podcast from the film experts at Little White Lies, where along with selected colleagues and friends, they discuss the latest movie releases. Truth & Movies has all your film needs covered, reviewing the latest releases big and small, talking to some of the most exciting filmmakers, keeping you across important industry news, and reassessing great films from days gone by with the Truth & Movies Film Club.Email: truthandmovies@tcolondon.comTwitter and Instagram: @LWLiesProduced by TCO Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer Burns is a historian of ideas, focusing on the evolution of economic, political, and social ideas in the United States in the 20th century. She wrote two biographies, one on Milton Friedman, and the other on Ayn Rand. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep457-sc See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Jennifer's X: https://x.com/profburns Jennifer's Website: https://www.jenniferburns.org Jennifer's Books: Milton Friedman biography: https://amzn.to/4hfy1HO Ayn Rand biography: https://amzn.to/4afr3A0 SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Brain.fm: Music for focus. Go to https://brain.fm/lex GitHub: Developer platform and AI code editor. Go to https://gh.io/copilot LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (10:05) - Milton Friedman (24:58) - The Great Depression (39:15) - Schools of economic thought (50:22) - Keynesian economics (58:10) - Laissez-faire (1:06:00) - Friedrich Hayek (1:11:18) - Money and monetarism (1:26:03) - Stagflation (1:30:56) - Moral case for capitalism (1:34:53) - Freedom (1:39:51) - Ethics of competition (1:43:37) - Win-win solutions (1:45:26) - Corruption (1:47:51) - Government intervention (1:54:10) - Conservatism (2:00:33) - Donald Trump (2:03:09) - Inflation (2:07:38) - DOGE (2:12:58) - Javier Milei (2:18:03) - Richard Nixon (2:25:17) - Ronald Reagan (2:28:24) - Cryptocurrency (2:43:40) - Ayn Rand (2:51:18) - The Fountainhead (3:02:58) - Sex and power dynamics (3:19:04) - Evolution of ideas in history (3:26:32) - Postmodernism (3:37:33) - Advice to students (3:45:50) - Lex reflects on Volodymyr Zelenskyy interview PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

Atlas Shrugged seems to be everywhere today. Randian villains are in the news. Rand remains influential on the right, from the Reagan era to the modern libertarian movement. Perhaps most significantly, entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen who are moving into government with DOGE, have been influenced by Rand, and, fascinatingly, Andreessen only read the novel four years ago. Hollis Robbins (@Anecdotal) and I talked about how Atlas Shrugged is in conversation with the great novels of the past, Rand's greats skills of plotting, drama, and character, and what makes Atlas Shrugged a serious novel, not just a vehicle for ideology. Love it or loathe it, Atlas Shrugged is having a moment. Everyone brings a preconception of Ayn Rand, but she has been opposed by the right and the left ever since she first published. Other than Jennifer Burns' biography, academic study has largely declined to notice Rand. But Rand deserves our serious attention, both as a novelist, and as an influence on the modern world. Here are a couple of excerpts.We talk a lot these days about, “how can I be my best self?” That's what Rand is saying. She's saying, actually, it's not about earning money, it's not about being rich. It is about the perfection of the moral life. It's about the pursuit of excellence. It's about the cultivation of virtue. These are the important things. This is what Dagny is doing. When all the entrepreneurs at the end, they're in the happy valley, actually, between them, they have not that much money, right?Also this.What would Ayn Rand think about the influencer economy? Oh, she'd despise it. She would despise it… all these little girls wanting to grow up to be influencers, they're caught in some algorithm, which is awful. Why would you want to spend your life influencing others? Go create something. It's a hard medicine.And.Her aesthetic is very classical, draped. She doesn't wear flowery patterns. She wears draped, clearly close-fitting gowns and gray tailored suits and a minimum of jewelry, though she does have this bracelet chain made of Rearden metal. You don't know when she possibly has time to go shopping, but she's perfectly dressed all the time in the fashion that we would understand as feminist. She wears trousers, she wears suits, but when she goes out, this black velvet cape. I think it's important to see her as that, even though nobody talks about that in terms of this novel, what a heroine she is. I know that when I was reading her as a teenage girl, that's it.TranscriptHenry: Today, I am talking with Hollis Robbins, former dean of the humanities at Utah University and special advisor on the humanities and AI. We are talking about Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Hollis, hello.Hollis Robbins: Hello. I'm really glad to have this conversation with you. We've known each other for some years and follow each other's work. I was trained as a scholar of 19th-century American, Victorian, and African-American literature, mostly novels, and love having conversations with you about big, deep novels. When I suggested that we read this book, I was hoping you would be enthusiastic about it, so I'm really happy to be having this conversation. It's hard to know who's interviewing you or what conversation this is, but for you coming at this middle-aged. Not quite middle-aged, what are you?Henry: I'm middle enough. No. This is not going to be an interview as such. We are going to have a conversation about Atlas Shrugged, and we're going to, as you say, talk about it as a novel. It always gets talked about as an ideology. We are very interested in it as a novel and as two people who love the great novels of the 19th century. I've been excited to do this as well. I think that's why it's going to be good. Why don't we start with, why are we doing this?Hollis: I wanted to gesture to that. You are one of the leading public voices on the importance of reading literature and the importance of reading novels particularly, though I saw today, Matt Yglesias had a blog post about Middlemarch, which I think he just recently read. I can credit you with that, or us, or those of us who are telling people read the big novels.My life trajectory was that I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead before I read Dickens, before I read Jane Austen, before I read Harriet Beecher Stowe or Melville or the Brontës. For me, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead were foundational novels as novels. I wondered what it would be like to talk to somebody whose experience was flipped.Henry: Right, I'm 38 and I'd never read this book. I was coming at it partly having read all those other books, but partly for my whole life, people have said, "Oh, that's really a bad book. That's so badly written. That book is no good." The number one thing I can say to people is this book is fun.Hollis: It's really fun. I was going to say usually what I forget to do in talking about books is give the summary. I'm going to hold up my copy, which is my dog-eared copy from high school, which is hilarious. It's got the tiniest print, which I couldn't possibly read now. No underlining, which is interesting. I read this book before I understood that you were supposed to underline when you liked passages in the book.It was interesting to me. I'd probably read it five or six times in my youth and didn't underline anything. The story is--- You can help me fill in the blanks. For readers who haven't read it, there's this young woman, Dagny Taggart, who's the heiress of the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad fortune. She's a woman. This takes place in about, I think, the '40s, '50s. Her older brother, Jim Taggart, is CEO. She's COO, so she's the operations person. It is in some ways the story of her-- It's not quite a bildungsroman. This is the way I tell the story. It's the story of her coming to the realization of how the world works. There's many ways to come at this story. She has multiple boyfriends, which is excellent. Her first boyfriend, his name is Francisco d'Anconia. He's the head of d'Anconia Copper. He too is an heir of this longstanding copper fortune. Her second is a metals magnate, Hank Rearden, who invents this great metal, Rearden metal.Really, it's also the story of the decline of America, and the ways that, in this Randian universe, these villainous group of people who run the country are always taking and extracting from producers. As she's creating and building this great railroad and doing wonderful things and using Rearden metal to do it, something is pulling all the producers out of society, and she's like, "What is going on?"It turns out there's this person, John Galt, who is saying, "I don't like the way the country is run. I don't like this extractive philosophy. I am going to take all the producers and lure them voluntarily to a--" It's a hero's lair. It's not like a James Bond villain lair. It's a hero lair in Colorado called Galt's Gulch. He is John Galt. It ends up being a battle between who is right in a wrong world. Is it the ethical person, Dagny Taggart, who continues to strive and try to be a producer and hold on to her ethics in this corrupt world, or is it somebody saying, "To hell with this. I am going on strike. You guys come with me and let the world collapse." How's that for summary?Henry: No, I think that's great. I couldn't have done a better job. One thing that we can say is that the role of reason, of being a rational person, of making reason the sole arbiter of how you make choices, be they practical, ethical, financial, whatever, that's at the heart of the book, right?Hollis: That's the philosophy. We could go there in a second. I think the plot of the book is that she demonstrates this.Henry: What she has to learn, like what is the big lesson for Dagny, is at the beginning, she hasn't fully understood that the good guys use reason and the bad guys do not, as it were.Hollis: Right. I think that's right. I like thinking about this as a bildungsroman. You said that the book is fun. Her part of the book is fun, but not really fun. The fun part of the book, and you can tell me because every time you kept texting me, "Oh my God, Jim Taggart. Oh my God, Jim Taggart. Oh my God, Jim Taggart."--Henry: These guys are so awful. [laughs]Hollis: They're so awful. The fun parts of the book, the Rand villains are the government entities and the cabals of business leaders who she calls looters and second-handers who run the country and all they do is extract value. Marc Andreessen was on a podcast recently and was all about these Rand villains and these looters. I think, again, to get back to why are we doing this and why are we doing this now, Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged is in the air with the second Trump administration.Henry: Yes. In a way, we're doing this because the question is, is this the novel of the future? Right? What we're seeing is it's very influential on the right. Rand's ideas have long been a libertarian inspiration. Elon Musk's read her. You mentioned Andreessen, Peter Thiel, all these people. It goes back to the Reagan days. People in the Republican Party have been quoting Ayn Rand. Then more broadly, we see all these worries about social collapse today. What happens in the plot of Atlas Shrugged is that society does slowly collapse.Dagny has to realize it's because of these people who are not using their reason and they're nationalizing things and taking resource away from proficient entrepreneurs and stuff. It's all about infrastructure, energy, people doing exploitation in the name of the common good, ineffective political leaders, people covering up lies and misdemeanors, people being accepting of what is obviously criminal behavior because it's in the cause of the greater good. We have free speech, all these topics, energy production. We're seeing this in the headlines. When I was reading this book, I was like, "Oh my God, how did she know?"Hollis: How did she know?Henry: How did she know.Hollis: I think the bildungsroman aspect of this as a novel. It's hard to read it as a novel. I think it's hard. By the way, I have to really I applaud you for not, until you got almost to the end of the book, texting me about this person or that person, or how it's political. I admire you for looking at the book and coming to the book as an expert in novels.What she comes to terms with, and it's a real slowly-- It's not even scales falling from her eyes. She doesn't sit and say, "Oh my God, the world is corrupt." She just is like, "That person's corrupt. I'm not going to deal with them. That person's corrupt. I'm not going to deal with them." She just keeps going, but she doesn't ever accept with a fatalism that she's living in this world where every single person who's in charge is going to let her down.Henry: It's also interesting to me that she doesn't complain.Hollis: No.Henry: Now, that reminded me of I wrote about Margaret Thatcher in my book. She was another big one for however hard it was, however difficult it was, why would you complain? Let's just go to work. A lot of people found her difficult for that reason. When I was reading this, I was like, "Ayn Rand clearly has the same idea. You can nationalize every last inch of the economy. I'm going to get up and go to work and try and beat you. I'm not going to sit around and complain." It's a very stern attitude in a way. She's very strict with herself. I found the book to be-- I know Rand is very atheist, but a very Protestant book.Hollis: Yes, it really is.Henry: Intensely Protestant, yes.Hollis: That's a nice way to think about it. A certain kind of Protestant, a Weberian Protestant.Henry: Sure.Hollis: Not a Southern Baptist Protestant who believes in the absence of reason. I was thinking I was teaching in Mississippi years ago. I was teaching a course on Wordsworth and had to do a unit on Voltaire because you can't really understand Wordsworth unless you understand Voltaire. There was a woman in my class. She was a version of Presbyterian who doesn't believe in reason, believes that in the fall, man lost their reason.Therefore, she asked if she could be excused from class because I was talking about Voltaire and the importance of reason. She said, "This is against my religion. If you believe that man has reason, you are actually going about it wrong, so may I be excused?" Which in all the years I've had people ask for excuses to miss class, that was a memorable one.Henry: That's unique. [laughs]Hollis: It's interesting because, again, I should get back to the novel, the opposition from Rand is as strong on the religious right as it is on the left. In fact, very strong. When Atlas Shrugged came out, William F. Buckley famously had Whittaker Chambers write the review. He hated her. He despised her. He despised the fact that she put reason first.Henry: Yes. I think that's worth emphasizing that some people listening will think, "I'm Rand. These nasty ideas, she's on the right." She's been ideologically described in that way so many times. Deirdre McCloskey in the Literary Review has just in the most recent edition written an absolutely scathing article about Rand. That's libertarian opposition to Rand.McCloskey is saying Hayek is the real thing here and Rand would have hated everything that Hayek did. She got everything wrong. I think the opposition to her, as you say, it's on both sides. One thing that's interesting about this novel is that because she created her own philosophy, which people will have different views on how well that went, but there isn't anyone else like this. All the other people like this are her followers.Hollis: Exactly.Henry: She's outside of the other systems of thought in a way.Hollis: We should talk about Rand. I'm going to quote a little bit from this book on feminist interpretation of Ayn Rand. Let's talk a little bit, if we can, about Dagny as the heroine of a novel, or a hero, because one of the really interesting things about reading Rand at this moment is that she's got one pronoun, he, him, man. She is in this era where man means man and women. That there isn't men and women, he and she, and now it's he, she, and them. She is like, "There's one pronoun." Even she talks about the rights of man or man believes. She means everybody, but she only means man too. It's interesting.I was very much part of the first pronoun wars in the 1980s when women scholars were like, "He and she." Now we're thrown out the window with that binary. Again, we don't need to talk about pronouns, but it's really important to understanding Rand and reading this novel, how much she embraces men and the male pronoun, even while she is using it both ways, and even while her story is led by this woman. She's beautiful. She's beautiful in a very specific way. She's tall, she's slender, she's got great cheekbones, she's got great shoulders, she's got long legs.Her aesthetic is very classical, draped. She doesn't wear flowery patterns. She wears draped, clearly close-fitting gowns and gray tailored suits and a minimum of jewelry, though she does have this bracelet chain made of Rearden metal. You don't know when she possibly has time to go shopping, but she's perfectly dressed all the time in the fashion that we would understand as feminist. She wears trousers, she wears suits, but when she goes out, this black velvet cape. I think it's important to see her as that, even though nobody talks about that in terms of this novel, what a heroine she is. I know that when I was reading her as a teenage girl, that's it.Henry: I want to be Dagny.Hollis: I want to be Dagny. I want to have capes, right?Henry: There's a very important scene, it's not too much of a plot spoiler, where Hank Rearden has invented this new metal. It's very exciting because it's much more efficient and it's much stronger and you can build new bridges for the trains and everything. He makes a bracelet of his new metal. It's a new steel alloy, I think, and gives it to his wife. His wife basically doesn't care.She's not really interested in what it takes to earn the money, she just wants to have the money. You get the strong impression throughout the book that some of the people that Rand is most scathingly disapproving of are wives who don't work. None of those people come out well. When Dagny goes to a party at the Rearden house and she is romantically involved with Hank Rearden, she sees the bracelet.Hollis: She isn't then, right? Isn't she not then?Henry: No, but they have feelings for each otherHollis: Right. Reasonable feelings for each other.Henry: That's right, reasonable feelings, but they're not currently acting on those feelings. She sees the bracelet and she exchanges her, I think, diamonds-Hollis: Diamond bracelet.Henry: -for the Rearden metal bracelet with the wife. It's this wonderful moment where these two opposite ideals of womanhood that Rand is presenting. It's a great moment of heroism for Dagny because she is saying, "Who cares about glittering diamonds when you have a new steel alloy that can make this incredible bridge?" It sounds crazy, but this is 1957. Dagny is very much what you might call one of the new women.Hollis: Right.Henry: I think in some ways, Rand-- I don't like the phrase she's ahead of her time. I've read a lot of 1950s fiction. This is not the typical woman.Hollis: No, this is not Cheever. This is not a bored suburban housewife at a time when the way the '50s are taught, certainly in America, it's like women could work during the war, then they were suburban housewives, there was bored, there were key parties and all sorts of Cheever sorts of things. This is not that. I read this first. I was only 15 years after it was published, I think, in the '60s, early '70s reading it.This, to me, seemed perfectly normal and everything else seemed regressive and strange and whiny. There's a lot to be said for reading this novel first. I think if we can talk a little bit about these set pieces because I think for me reading it as a novel and hearing you talk about it as a novel, that novels, whether we're thinking about-- I want to see if you want to compare her to Dorothea or just to any other Victorian women novel that you can think of. That's the closest, right? Is there anybody that's closest to Dorothea from Middlemarch? Is that there are these set pieces. People think that Rand-- the idea is that she's not a great writer. She is a great writer. She started in Hollywood. Her first book, The Fountainhead, was made into a movie. She understands plotting and keeping the reader's attention. We go forward, we go backwards. There's her relationship with Francisco d'Anconia that we see her now, years after, then we have flashbacks to growing up and how they became lovers.There are big meeting set pieces where everybody's in the room, and we have all the backstories of the people in the room, what is going to happen. There are these big party scenes, as you say. For example, this big, glorious, glamorous party at the Rearden house, Francisco is there. Francisco and Hank Rearden get in a conversation, and she's like, "I want to go see what my old boyfriend is talking to the guy I like about."There are these moments where you're not supposed to come at the book that way in this serious philosophical way. Then later on when there's this wonderful scene where Francisco comes to see Dagny. This is much later. Hank and Dagny are lovers, so he has a key to her apartment. He walks in and everybody sees immediately what's going on. It's as good as any other farce moment of somebody hiding behind a curtain, right?Henry: Yes.Hollis: Everything is revealed all at once. She's very good at scenes like that.Henry: Yes, very good. She's very good at high drama. One of the phrases that kept coming back to me was that this book is a melodrama of ideas.Hollis: Yes.Henry: Right? It's not a novel of ideas as such, it's a melodrama of ideas. I think one thing that people who think she's a bad writer will say is it's melodrama, the characters are flat, the prose is not lyrical, all these different things. Whereas when I read it, I was like, "She's so good at melodrama." I feel like, in some ways, it does not feel like a 1950s novel because there's so much excitement about technology, so much feminism, just so many things that I do not associate--Maybe I'm being too English, but I don't read John Cheever, for example, and think, "Oh, he loves the train." Whereas this book is very, very exciting as a story about inventing a new kind of train that goes really fast," which sounds silly, but that's a really Dickensian theme, that's in Middlemarch. Actually, that's what Matt Yglesias was talking about in his excellent piece today. What does feel very 1950s is you've got the Hollywood influence. The dialogue, I think, is not always great, but it is often great.I often would read pages and think, "This would actually be really good in, not an A++ movie, but in a decent crime movie or something. This would be quite good dialogue." There's a comic book aesthetic to it in the way that the scenes play out. Just a lot of these '50s aesthetics actually are present in the book. I'm going to read one paragraph. It's from part one. I think we should read out loud a few bits to give people a sense.Hollis: Yes.Henry: This is when Dagny has built a new train line using grid and metal to make the bridge so that it can go over a valley. I think that's right. The train can do 100 miles an hour. It's this very, very exciting new development. It means that energy can be supplied to factories, and so it's a huge, big deal. This is when she's on the train going at 100 miles an hour and she just can't believe it's happening."Things streaked past a water tank, a tree, a shanty, a grain silo. They had a windshield wiper motion. They were rising, describing a curve, and dropping back. The telegraph wires ran a race with the train, rising and falling from pole to pole, in an even rhythm like the cardiograph record of a steady heartbeat written across the sky. She looked ahead at the haze that melted rail and distance, a haze that could rip apart at any moment to some shape of disaster.""She wondered why she felt safer than she had ever felt in a car behind the engine. Safer here where it seemed as if should an obstacle rise, her breast and the glass shield would be the first to smash against it. She smiled, grasping the answer. It was the security of being first with full sight and full knowledge of one's own course, not the blind sense of being pulled into the unknown by some unknown power ahead."That's not MFA prose or whatever, but it turns the pages. I think she's very good at relating we're on the train and it's going very fast to how Dagny is thinking through the philosophical conundrum that is basically going to drive the whole plot forwards. I was reminded again and again of what Virginia Woolf said about Walter Scott, where she compared Scott to Robert Louis Stevenson. She said that Stevenson had beautiful sentences and dapper little adjectives. It was all jeweled and carefully done. You could marvel over each sentence.She said, "Whereas Scott, it's just page after page and no sentence is beautiful," but she says, "He writes at the level of the page. He's not like Stevenson. He's not writing at the level of the sentence. You have to step into the world." You can say, 'Oh, that wasn't a very good sentence,' but my goodness, the pages keep turning and you're there in the world, right?Hollis: Exactly.Henry: I think she made a really important point there and we just undervalue that so much when we say, oh, so-and-so is not a good writer. What we mean is they're not a Robert Louis Stevenson, they're a Walter Scott. It's like, sure, but Walter Scott was great at what he did. Ayn Rand is in the Walter Scott inheritance in the sense that it's a romance, it's not strictly realistic novel. You have to step into the world. You can't spend your whole time going, "Was that a great sentence? Do I really agree with what she just--" It's like, no, you have to go into this utopian sci-fi universe and you have to keep turning the pages. You get caught up and you go, "Wow, this is this is working for me."Hollis: Let me push back on that-Henry: Yes, good.Hollis: -because I think that was a beautiful passage, one of my favorite passages in this book, which is hard to say because it's a really, really big book. It's a memorable passage because here she is in a place at this moment. She is questioning herself. Isn't she questioning why? Why do I feel safe? Then it strikes her. In this moment, all interior while all this stuff is happening. This whole Rearden metal train bridge set piece is one of the highlights of at least the first half of the book. You come away, even if we've had our entire life up to her, understanding her as a philosophical this woman. How is that different from Dorothea or from Elizabeth Bennet? Yes, Elizabeth Bennet, right?Henry: Oh, no, I agree. My point was purely about prose style, which was to say if you say, "Oh, she writes like a Walter Scott, not like a Robert Louis Stevenson," you're going to deny yourself seeing what you've just said, which is that actually, yes, she has the ability to write philosophical characters.Hollis: When I first read Pride and Prejudice, I read it through the lens of Rand. Now, clearly, these heroines had fewer choices. Dorothea marries Casaubon, I don't know how you pronounce it, because she thinks he's a Randian expert, somebody who's got this grand idea. She's like, "Whoa, I want to be part of this endeavor, the key to all mythologies." Then she's so let down. In the Randian sense, you can see why she would have wanted him.Henry: That's right. I think George Eliot would have strongly disagreed with Rand philosophically. The heroines, as you say, what they're doing in the novel is having to realize that there are social conventions I have to understand and there are things I have to learn how to do, but actually, the key to working all that out is more at the moral philosophical level. This is what happens to Dagny. I think it's on the next page from what I just read. There's another passage where it says that she's in the train and she's enjoying. It's working and she's thrilled that her train is working. She was trying not to think, but she couldn't help herself.She said, "Who made the train. Is it the brute force of muscle? Who can make all the dials and the levers? How is it possible that this thing has even been put together?" Then she starts thinking to herself, "We've got a government who's saying it's wrong to do this, you're taking resources, you're not doing it for the common good." She says, "How can they regard this as evil? How can they believe that this is ignoble to have created this incredible thing?"She says she wants to be able to toss the subject out of the window and let it get shattered somewhere along the track. She wants the thoughts to go past like the telegraph poles, but obviously, she can't. She has this moment of realization that this can't be wrong. This type of human accomplishment can't be against the common good. It can't be considered to be ignoble. I think that is like the Victorian heroines.To me, it was more like Fanny Price, which is that someone turns up into a relatively closed system of ideas and keeps their own counsel for a long time, and has to admit sometimes when they haven't got it right or whatever. Basically, in the end, they are vindicated on fairly straightforward grounds. Dagny comes to realize that, "I was right. I was using my reason. I was working hard. I was being productive. Yes, I was right about that." Fanny, it's more like a Christian insight into good behavior, but I felt the pattern was the same.Hollis: Sure. I'll also bring up Jane Eyre here, right?Henry: Yes.Hollis: Jane Eyre, her relationship, there's a lot to be said of both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Rochester with Hank Rearden because Hank Rearden has to come to his sense. He's married. He doesn't like his wife. He doesn't like this whole system that he's in. He wants to be with a woman that's a meeting of the mind, but he's got all this social convention he has to deal with. Rochester has to struggle, and of course, Bertha Mason has to die in that book. He ends up leaving his wife, but too late. If we're going to look at this novel as a novel, we can see that there are these moments that I think have some resonance. I know you don't seem to want to go to the Mr. Darcy part of it.Henry: No. I had also thought about Jane Eyre. My thought was that, obviously, other than being secular because Jane Eyre is very Christian, the difference is that Hank Rearden and Dagny basically agree that we can't conduct our relationship in a way that would be morally compromising to her. They go through this very difficult process of reasoning like, "How can we do this in a good way?"They're a little bit self-sacrificing about it because they don't want to upset the moral balance. Whereas Mr. Rochester, at least for the first part of the book, has an attitude that's more like, "Yes, but she's in the attic. Why does it matter if we get married?" He doesn't really see the problem of morally compromising Jane, and so Jane has to run away.Hollis: Right.Henry: One of the interesting things about Rand, what is different from like Austen and the Brontës and whatever, is that Dagny and Hank are not in opposition before they get together. They have actually this unusual thing in romance and literature, which is that they have a meeting of minds. What gets in the way is that the way their minds agree is contra mundum and the world has made this problem for them.Hollis: I think in a way, that's the central relationship in--Henry: Yes. That was how I read it, yes.Hollis: Yes. The fact as we think about what the complications are in reading this novel as a novel is that here is this great central romance and they've got obstacles. She's got an old boyfriend, he's married. They've got all these things that are classic obstacles to a love story. Rand understands that enough to build it, that that will keep a lot of readers' interest, but then it's like, "That's actually not the point of my book," which is how the second half or the last third of the novel just gets really wiggy." Again, spoiler alert, but Hank is blackmailed to be, as the society is collapsing, as things are collapsing--Henry: We should say that the government has taken over in a nationalizing program by this point.Hollis: Right, because as John Galt is pulling all the thought leaders and the industrialists and all the movers of the world into his lair, things are getting harder and harder and harder, things are getting nationalized. Some of these big meetings in Washington where these horrible people are deciding how to redistribute wealth, again, which is part of the reason somebody like Congressman Paul Ryan would give out copies of Atlas Shrugged to all of his staffers. He's like, "You've got to read this book because we can't go to Washington and be like this. The Trumpian idea is we've got to get rid of people who are covering up and not doing the right thing."They've blackmailed Hank Rearden into giving up Rearden Metal by saying, "We know you've been sleeping with Dagny Taggart." It's a very dramatic point. How is this going to go down?Henry: Right. I think that's interesting. What I loved about the way she handled that romance was that romance is clearly part of what she sees as important to a flourishing life. She has to constantly yoke it to this idea that reason is everything, so human passion has to be conducted on the basis that it's logically reasonable, but that it therefore becomes self-sacrificing. There is something really sad and a little bit tragic about Hank being blackmailed like that, right?Hollis: Yes. I have to say their first road trip together, it's like, "Let's just get out of here and go have a road trip and stay in hotels and have sex and it'll be awesome." That their road trip is like, "Let's go also see some abandoned factories and see what treasures we might find there." To turn this love road trip into also the plot twist that gets them closer to John Galt is a magnificent piece of plot.Henry: Yes. I loved that. I know you want to talk about the big John Galt speech later, but I'm going to quote one line because this all relates to what I think is one of the most central lines of the book. "The damned and the guiltiest among you are the men who had the capacity to know yet chose to blank out reality." A lot of the time, like in Brontë or whatever, there are characters like Rochester's like that. The center of their romance is that they will never do that to each other because that's what they believe philosophically, ethically. It's how they conduct themselves at business. It's how they expect other people to conduct themselves. They will never sacrifice that for each other.That for them is a really high form of love and it's what enables huge mutual respect. Again, it's one of those things I'm amazed-- I used to work in Westminster. I knew I was a bit of a libertarian. I knew lots of Rand adjacent or just very, very Randian people. I thought they were all insane, but that's because no one would ever say this. No one would ever say she took an idea like that and turned it into a huge romance across hundreds of pages. Who else has done that in the novel? I think that's great.Hollis: It really is hard. It really is a hard book. The thing that people say about the book, as you say, and the reason you hadn't read it up until now, is it's like, "Oh, yes, I toyed with Rand as a teenager and then I put that aside." I put away my childish things, right? That's what everybody says on the left, on the right. You have to think about it's actually really hard. My theory would be that people put it away because it's really, really hard, what she tried is hard. Whether she succeeded or not is also hard. As we were just, before we jumped on, talking about Rand's appearance on Johnny Carson, a full half hour segment of him taking her very seriously, this is a woman who clearly succeeded. I recently read Jennifer Burn's biography of her, which is great. Shout out to Jennifer.What I came away with is this is a woman who made her living as a writer, which is hard to do. That is a hard thing to do, is to make your living as a writer, as a woman in the time difference between 1942, The Fountainhead, which was huge, and 57, Atlas Shrugged. She was blogging, she had newsletters, she had a media operation that's really, really impressive. This whole package doesn't really get looked at, she as a novelist. Again, let me also say it was later on when I came to Harriet Beecher Stowe, who is another extraordinary woman novelist in America who wrote this groundbreaking book, which is filled--I particularly want to shout out to George Harris, the slave inventor who carried himself like a Rand hero as a minor character and escapes. His wife is Eliza, who famously runs across the ice flows in a brave Randian heroine escape to freedom where nobody's going to tell them what to do. These women who changed literature in many ways who have a really vexed relationship or a vexed place in academia. Certainly Stowe is studied.Some 20 years ago, I was at an event with the great Elaine Showalter, who was coming out with an anthology of American women writers. I was in the audience and I raised my hand, I said, "Where's Ayn Rand?" She was like, "Ha, ha, ha." Of course, what a question is that? There is no good reason that Ayn Rand should not be studied in academia. There is no good reason. These are influential novels that actually, as we've talked about here, can be talked about in the context of other novels.Henry: I think one relevant comparison is let's say you study English 19th-century literature on a course, a state-of-the-nation novel or the novel of ideas would be included as routine, I think very few people would say, "Oh, those novels are aesthetically excellent. We read them because they're beautifully written, and they're as fun as Dickens." No one's saying that. Some of them are good, some of them are not good. They're important because of what they are and the barrier to saying why Rand is important for what she is because, I think, people believe her ideas are evil, basically.One central idea is she thinks selfishness is good, but I think we've slightly dealt with the fact that Dagny and Hank actually aren't selfish some of the time, and that they are forced by their ethical system into not being selfish. The other thing that people say is that it's all free-market billionaire stuff, basically. I'm going to read out a passage from-- It's a speech by Francisco in the second part. It's a long speech, so I'm not going to read all eight pages. I'm going to read this speech because I think this theme that I'm about to read out, it's a motif, it's again and again and again.Hollis: Is this where he's speaking to Hank or to Dagny?Henry: I think when he's speaking to Dagny and he says this."Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he want. Money will not give him a code of values if he has evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose if he has evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent."The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him with his money replacing his judgment ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered, that no man may be smaller than his money."Hollis: That's a good--Henry: Right? It's a great paragraph. I feel like she says that in dozens of ways throughout the book, and she wants you to be very clear when you leave that this book is not a creed in the name of just make money and have free market capitalism so you can be rich. That paragraph and so many others, it's almost biblical in the way she writes it. She's really hammering the rhythms, and the tones, and the parallels. She's also, I think, trying to appropriate some of the way the Bible talks about money and turn it into her own secular pseudo-Aristotelian idea, right?Hollis: Yes.Henry: We talk a lot these days about, how can I be my best self? That's what Rand is saying. She's saying, actually, it's not about earning money, it's not about being rich. It is about the perfection of the moral life. It's about the pursuit of excellence. It's about the cultivation of virtue. These are the important things. This is what Dagny is doing. When all the entrepreneurs at the end, they're in the happy valley, actually, between them, they have not that much money, right?Hollis: Right.Henry: The book does not end in a rich utopia, it's important to say.Hollis: It's interesting. A couple of things. I want to get this back since we're still in the novel. Let me say when we get to Galt's great speech, which is bizarre. He says a similar thing that I'll bring in now. He says, "The mother who buys milk for her baby instead of a hat is not sacrificing because her values are feeding the baby. The woman who sacrifices the hat to feed her baby, but really wants the hat and is only feeding the baby out of duty is sacrificing." That's bad. She's saying get your values in order. Understand what it is you want and do that thing, but don't do it because somebody says you have to. She says this over and over in many ways, or the book says this.Henry: We should say, that example of the mother is incidental. The point she's always making is you must think this through for yourself, you must not do it because you've been told to do it.Hollis: Right, exactly. To get back to the love story aspects of the book because they don't sit and say they love each other, even all the great romances. It's not like, "I love you. I love you." It's straight to sex or looks and meetings of the minds. It's interesting. We should deal with the fact that from The Fountainhead and a little bit in this book, the sex is a little rapey. It's a difficult thing to talk about. It's certainly one of the reasons that feminists, women writers don't approve of her. In the book, it's consensual. Whatever one wants to think about the ways that people have sex, it is consensual in the book. Also in The Fountainhead.I'm sure I'll get hate mail for even saying that, but in her universe, that's where it is. What's interesting, Francisco as a character is so interesting. He's conflicted, he's charming, he's her first lover. He's utterly good in every way. He ends up without her. Hank is good. Hank goes through his struggles and learning curve about women prioritizing. If you don't like your wife, don't be married to your wife. It's like he goes through his own what are my values and how do I live them.I know you think that this is bizarre, but there's a lot of writing about the relationship of Hank and Francisco because they find themselves in the same room a lot. They happen to have both been Dagny's lovers or ex-lovers, and they really, really like each other. There's a way that that bonding-- Homosexuality does not exist in her novels, whatever, but that's a relationship of two people that really are hot for one another. There is a lot of writing. There are queer readings of Rand that make a lot of that relationship.Again, this isn't my particular lens of criticism, but I do see that the energy, which is why I asked you which speech you were reading because some of Francisco's best speeches are for Hank because he's trying to woo Hank to happy valley. Toward the end when they're all hanging out together in Galt's Gulch, there's clearly a relationship there.Henry: Oh, yes. No, once you pointed out to me, I was like, "That makes sense of so many passages." That's clearly there. What I don't understand is why she did that. I feel like, and this is quite an accomplishment because it's a big novel with a lot of moving parts, everything else is resolved both in terms of the plot, but also in terms of how it fits her philosophical idea. That, I think, is pretty much the only thing where you're left wondering, "Why was that in there? She hasn't made a point about it. They haven't done anything about it." This I don't understand. That's my query.Hollis: Getting ready to have this conversation, I spent a lot of time on some Reddit threads. I ran Atlas Shrugged Reddit threads where there's some fantastic conversations.Henry: Yes, there is.Hollis: One of them is about, how come Francisco didn't end up with anybody? That's just too bad. He's such a great character and he ends up alone. I would say he doesn't end up alone, he ends up with his boyfriend Hank, whatever that looks like. Two guys that believe in the same things, they can have whatever life they want. Go on.Henry: Are you saying that now that they're in the valley, they will be more free to pursue that relationship?Hollis: There's a lot of things that she has said about men's and women's bodies. She said in other places, "I don't think there'll ever be a woman president because why would a woman want to be president? What a woman really wants is a great man, and we can't have a president who's looking for a great man. She has to be a president." She's got a lot of lunacy about women. Whatever. I don't understand. Someplace I've read that she understands male homosexuality, but not female homosexuality. Again, I am not a Rand scholar. Having read and seen some of that in the ether, I see it in the book, and I can see how her novel would invite that analysis.I do want to say, let's spend a few seconds on some of the minor characters. There are some really wonderful minor characters. One of them is Cherryl Taggart, this shop girl that evil Jim Taggart meets one night in a rainstorm, and she's like, "Oh, you're so awesome," and they get married. It's like he's got all this praise for marrying the shop girl. It's a funny Eliza Doolittle situation because she is brought into this very wealthy society, which we have been told and we have been shown is corrupt, is evil, everybody's lying all the time, it's pretentious, Dagny hates it.Here's the Cherryl Taggart who's brought into this. In the beginning, she hates Dagny because she's told by everybody, "Hate Dagny, she's horrible." Then she comes to her own mini understanding of the corruption that we understand because Dagny's shown it in the novel, has shown it to us this entire time. She comes to it and she's like, "Oh my God," and she goes to Dagny. Dagny's so wonderful to her like, "Yes. You had to come to this on your own, I wasn't going to tell you, but you were 100% right." That's the end of her.Henry: Right. When she meets Taggart, there's this really interesting speech she has where she says, "I want to make something of myself and get somewhere." He's like, "What? What do you want to do?" Red flag. "What? Where?" She says, "I don't know, but people do things in this world. I've seen pictures of New York," and she's pointing at like the skyscrapers, right? Whatever. "I know that someone's built that. They didn't sit around and whine, but like the kitchen was filthy and the roof was leaking." She gets very emotional at this point. She says to him, "We were stinking poor and we didn't give a damn. I've dragged myself here, and I'm going to do something."Her story is very sad because she then gets mired in the corruption of Taggart's. He's basically bit lazy and a bit of a thief, and he will throw anyone under the bus for his own self-advancement. He is revealed to be a really sinister guy. I was absolutely hissing about him most of the time. Then, let's just do the plot spoiler and say what happens to Cherryl, right? Because it's important. When she has this realization and Taggart turns on her and reveals himself as this snake, and he's like, "Well, what did you expect, you idiot? This is the way the world is."Hollis: Oh, it's a horrible fight. It's the worst fight.Henry: Right? This is where the melodrama is so good. She goes running out into the streets, and it's the night and there are shadows. She's in the alleyway. Rand, I don't have the page marked, but it's like a noir film. She's so good at that atmosphere. Then it gets a little bit gothic as well. She's running through the street, and she's like, "I've got to go somewhere, anywhere. I'll work. I'll pick up trash. I'll work in a shop. I'll do anything. I've just got to get out of this."Hollis: Go work at the Panda Express. Henry: Yes. She's like, "I've got to get out of this system," because she's realized how morally corrupting it is. By this time, this is very late. Society is in a-- it's like Great Depression style economic collapse by this point. There really isn't a lot that she could do. She literally runs into a social worker and the social-- Rand makes this leering dramatic moment where the social worker reaches out to grab her and Cherryl thinks, "Oh, my God, I'm going to be taken prisoner in. I'm going back into the system," so she jumps off the bridge.This was the moment when I was like, I've had this lurking feeling about how Russian this novel is. At this point, I was like, "That could be a short story by Gogol," right? The way she set that up. That is very often the trap that a Gogol character or maybe a Dostoevsky character finds themselves in, right? That you suddenly see that the world is against you. Maybe you're crazy and paranoid. Maybe you're not. Depends which story we're reading. You run around trying to get out and you realize, "Oh, my God, I'm more trapped than I thought. Actually, maybe there is no way out." Cherryl does not get a lot of pages. She is, as you say, quite a minor character, but she illustrates the whole story so, so well, so dramatically.Hollis: Oh, wow.Henry: When it happens, you just, "Oh, Cherryl, oh, my goodness."Hollis: Thank you for reading that. Yes, you could tell from the very beginning that the seeds of what could have been a really good person were there. Thank you for reading that.Henry: When she died, I went back and I was like, "Oh, my God, I knew it."Hollis: How can you say Rand is a bad writer, right? That is careful, careful plotting, because she's just a shop girl in the rain. You've got this, the gun on the wall in that act. You know she's going to end up being good. Is she going to be rewarded for it? Let me just say, as an aside, I know we don't have time to talk about it here. My field, as I said, is 19th century African American novels, primarily now.This, usually, a woman, enslaved woman, the character who's like, "I can't deal with this," and jumps off a bridge and drowns herself is a fairly common and character. That is the only thing to do. One also sees Rand heroes. Stowe's Dred, for example, is very much, "I would rather live in the woods with a knife and then, be on the plantation and be a slave." When you think about, even the sort of into the 20th century, the Malcolm X figure, that, "I'm going to throw out all of this and be on my own," is very Randian, which I will also say very Byronic, too, Rand didn't invent this figure, but she put it front and center in these novels, and so when you think about how Atlas Shrugged could be brought into a curriculum in a network of other novels, how many of we've discussed so far, she's there, she's influenced by and continues to influence. Let's talk about your favorite minor character, the Wet Nurse.Henry: This is another great death scene.Hollis: Let's say who he is, so the government sends this young man to work at the Rearden Mills to keep an eye on Hank Rearden.Henry: Once they nationalize him, he's the bureaucrat reporting back, and Rearden calls him the Wet Nurse as an insult.Hollis: Right, and his job, he's the Communist Party person that's in every factory to make sure that everything is--Henry: That's right, he's the petty bureaucrat reporting back and making sure everyone's complying.Hollis: He's a young recent college graduate that, Hank, I think, early on, if it's possible even to find the Wet Nurse early scene, you could tell in the beginning, too, he's bright and sparkly right out of college, and this is, it seems like a good job for him. He's like, "Woohoo, I get to be here, and I get to be--" Yes, go ahead.Henry: What happens to him is, similarly to Cherryl, he has a conversion, but his conversion is not away from the corruption of the system he's been in, he is converted by what he sees in the Rearden plant, the hard work, the dedication, the idealism, the deep focus on making the metal, and he starts to see that if we don't make stuff, then all the other arguments downstream of that about how to appropriate, how to redistribute, whatever, are secondary, and so he becomes, he goes native, as it were. He becomes a Reardenite, and then at the end, when there's a crowd storming the place, and this crowd has been sent by the government, it's a fake thing to sort of--Hollis: Also, a very good scene, very dramatic.Henry: She's very good at mobs, very good at mobs, and they kill, they kill the Wet Nurse, they throw him over. He has a couple of speeches in dialogue with Rearden while he's dying, and he says--Hollis: You have to say, they throw him, they leave him on this pile of slag. He crawls up to the street where Rearden happens to be driving by, and car stops, and so that finding the Wet Nurse there and carrying him in his arms, yes.Henry: That's right, it's very dramatic, and then they have this dialogue, and he says, "I'd like to live, Mr. Rearden, God, how I'd like to, not because I'm dying, but because I've just discovered tonight what it means to be alive, and it's funny, do when I discovered it? In the office, when I stuck my neck out, when I told the bastards to go to hell, there's so many things I wish I'd known sooner, but it's no use crying over spilt milk," and then Rearden, he goes, "Listen, kid, said Rearden sternly, I want you to do me a favor." "Now, Mr. Rearden?" "Yes, now." "Of course, Mr. Rearden, if I can," and Rearden says, "You were willing to die to save my mills, will you try and live for me?"I think this is one of those great moments where, okay, maybe this isn't like George Eliot style dialogue, but you could put that straight in a movie, that would work really well, that would be great, right? I can hear Humphrey Bogart saying these things. It would work, wouldn't it?She knows that, and that's why she's doing that, she's got that technique. He's another minor character, and Rand is saying, the system is eating people up. We are setting people up for a spiritual destruction that then leads to physical destruction. This point, again, about it's not just about the material world. It's about your inner life and your own mind.I find it very moving.Hollis: These minor characters are fantastic. Then let's talk a little bit about Eddie Willers, because I think a lot about Eddie Willers. Eddie Willers, the childhood three, there were three young people, we keep going back to this childhood. We have Dagny, Francisco, because their parents were friends, and then Eddie Willers, who's like a neighborhood kid, right?Henry: He's down the street.Hollis: He lives down the street. He's like the neighborhood kid. I don't know about you. We had a neighborhood kid. There's always neighborhood kids, right? You end up spending time with this-- Eddie's just sort of always there. Then when they turn 15, 16, 17, and when there's clearly something going on between Dagny and Francisco, Eddie does take a step back, and he doesn't want to see.There's the class issues, the status issues aren't really-- they're present but not discussed by Rand. Here we have these two children heirs, and they don't say like, "You're not one of us, Eddie, because you're not an heir or an heiress." He's there, and he's got a pretty good position as Dagny's right-hand man in Taggart Transcontinental. We don't know where he went to college. We don't know what he does, but we know that he's super loyal, right?Then when she goes and takes a break for a bit, he steps in to be COO. James is like, "Eddie Willers, how can Eddie Willers be a COO?" She's like, "It's really going to be me, but he's going to be fine." We're not really supposed to identify with Eddie, but Eddie's there. Eddie has, all through the novel, all through the big old novel, Eddie eats lunch in the cafeteria. There's always this one guy he's having lunch with. This is, I don't know, like a Greek chorus thing, I don't quite know, but there's Eddie's conversations with this unknown person in the cafeteria give us a sense, maybe it's a narrator voice, like, "Meanwhile, this is going on in the world." We have these conversations. This guy he's having lunch with asks a lot of questions and starts asking a lot of personal questions about Dagny. Then we have to talk to-- I know we've gone for over an hour and 15 minutes, we've got to talk about Galt's Speech, right? When John Galt, toward the end, takes over the airwaves and gives this big three-hour speech, the big three-hour podcast as I tweeted the other day, Eddie is with Dagny.Henry: He's in the radio studio.Hollis: He's in the studio along with one of John Galt's former professors. We hear this voice. Rand says, or the narrator says, three people in the room recognize that voice. I don't know about you, did you guess that it was Galt before that moment that Eddie was having lunch with in the cafeteria?Henry: No, no, no, I didn't.Hollis: Okay, so you knew at that moment.Henry: That was when I was like, "Oh, Eddie was talking, right?" It took me a minute.Hollis: Okay, were you excited? Was that like a moment? Was that a big reveal?Henry: It was a reveal, but it made me-- Eddie's whole character puzzles me because, to me, he feels like a Watson.Hollis: Yes, that's nice, that's good.Henry: He's met Galt, who's been under their noses the whole time. He's been going through an almost Socratic method with Galt, right? If only he could have paid a little bit more attention, he would have realized what was going on. He doesn't, why is this guy so interested in Dagny, like all these things. Even after Galt's big speech, I don't think Eddie quite takes the lesson. He also comes to a more ambiguous but a bad end.Hollis: Eddie's been right there, the most loyal person. The Reddit threads on Eddie Willers, if anybody's interested, are really interesting.Henry: Yes, they are, they're so good.Hollis: Clearly, Eddie recognizes greatness, and he recognizes production, and he recognizes that Dagny is better than Jim. He recognizes Galt. They've been having these conversations for 12 years in the cafeteria. Every time he goes to the cafeteria, he's like, "Where's my friend, where's my friend?" When his friend disappears, but he also tells Galt a few things about Dagny that are personal and private. When everybody in the world, all the great people in the world, this is a big spoiler, go to Galt's Gulch at the end.Henry: He's not there.Hollis: He doesn't get to go. Is it because of the compromises he made along the way? Rand had the power to reward everybody. Hank's secretary gets to go, right?Henry: Yes.Hollis: She's gone throughout the whole thing.Henry: Eddie never thinks for himself. I think that's the-- He's a very, I think, maybe one of the more tragic victims of the whole thing because-- sorry. In a way, because, Cherryl and the Wet Nurse, they try and do the right thing and they end up dying. That's like a more normal tragedy in the sense that they made a mistake. At the moment of realization, they got toppled.Eddie, in a way, is more upsetting because he never makes a mistake and he never has a moment of realization. Rand is, I think this is maybe one of the cruelest parts of the book where she's almost saying, "This guy's never going to think for himself, and he hasn't got a hope." In a novel, if this was like a realistic novel, and she was saying, "Such is the cruelty of the world, what can we do for this person?" That would be one thing. In a novel that's like ending in a utopia or in a sort of utopia, it's one of the points where she's really harsh.Hollis: She's really harsh. I'd love to go and look at her notes at some point in time when I have an idle hour, which I won't, to say like, did she sit around? It's like, "What should I do with Eddie?" To have him die, probably, in the desert with a broken down Taggart transcontinental engine, screaming in terror and crying.Henry: Even at that stage, he can't think for himself and see that the system isn't worth supporting.Hollis: Right. He's just going to be a company man to the end.Henry: It's as cruel as those fables we tell children, like the grasshopper and the ants. He will freeze to death in the winter. There's nothing you can do about it. There are times when she gets really, really tough. I think is why people hate her.Hollis: We were talking about this, about Dickens and minor characters and coming to redemption and Dickens, except Jo. Jo and Jo All Alones, there are people who have redemption and die. Again, I don't know.Henry: There's Cherryl and the Wet Nurse are like Jo. They're tragic victims of the system. She's doing it to say, "Look how bad this is. Look how bad things are." To me, Eddie is more like Mr. Micawber. He's hopeless. It's a little bit comic. It's not a bad thing. Whereas Dickens, at the end, will just say, "Oh, screw the integrity of the plot and the morals. Let's just let Mr. Micawber-- let's find a way out for him." Everyone wants this guy to do well. Rand is like, "No, I'm sticking to my principles. He's dead in the desert, man. He's going to he's going to burn to death." He's like, "Wow, that's okay."Hollis: The funny thing is poor John Galt doesn't even care about him. John Galt has been a bad guy. John Galt is a complicated figure. Let's spend a bit on him.Henry: Before we do that, I actually want to do a very short segment contextualizing her in the 50s because then what you say about Galt will be against this background of what are some of the other ideas in the 50s, right?Hollis: Got it.Henry: I think sometimes the Galt stuff is held up as what's wrong with this novel. When you abstract it and just say it, maybe that's an easier case to make. I think once you understand that this is 1957, she's been writing the book for what, 12 years, I think, or 15 years, the Galt speech takes her 3 years to write, I think. This is, I think the most important label we can give the novel is it's a Cold War novel. She's Russian. What she's doing, in some ways, is saying to America, "This is what will happen to us if we adopt the system of our Cold War enemies." It's like, "This is animal farm, but in America with real people with trains and energy plants and industry, no pigs. This is real life." We've had books like that in our own time. The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver said, that book said, "If the 2008 crash had actually gone really badly wrong and society collapsed, how would it go?" I think that's what she's reacting to. The year before it was published, there was a sociology book called The Organization Man.Hollis: Oh, yes. William Whyte.Henry: A great book. Everyone should read that book. He is worrying, the whole book is basically him saying, "I've surveyed all these people in corporate America. They're losing the Protestant work ethic. They're losing the entrepreneurial spirit. They're losing their individual drive. Instead of wanting to make a name for themselves and invent something and do great things," he says, "they've all got this managerial spirit. All the young men coming from college, they're like, 'Everything's been done. We just need to manage it now.'" He's like, "America is collapsing." Yes, he thinks it's this awful. Obviously, that problem got solved.That, I think, that gives some sense of why, at that moment, is Ayn Rand writing the Galt speech? Because this is the background. We're in the Cold War, and there's this looming sense of the cold, dead hand of bureaucracy and managerialism is. Other people are saying, "Actually, this might be a serious problem."Hollis: I think that's right. Thank you for bringing up Whyte. I think there's so much in the background. There's so much that she's in conversation with. There's so much about this speech, so that when you ask somebody on the street-- Again, let me say this, make the comparison again to Uncle Tom's Cabin, people go through life feeling like they know Uncle Tom's Cabin, Simon Legree, Eliza Crossing the Ice, without having ever read it.Not to name drop a bit, but when I did my annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin, this big, huge book, and it got reviewed by John Updike in The New Yorker, and I was like, "This is freaking John Updike." He's like, "I never read it. I never read it." Henry Louis Gates and then whoever this young grad student was, Hollis Robbins, are writing this book, I guess I'll read it. It was interesting to me, when I talk about Uncle Tom's Cabin, "I've never read it," because it's a book you know about without reading. A lot of people know about Atlas Shrugged without having read it. I think Marc Andreessen said-- didn't he say on this podcast that he only recently read it?Henry: I was fascinated by this. He read it four years ago.Hollis: Right, during COVID.Henry: In the bibliography for the Techno-Optimist Manifesto, and I assumed he was one of those people, he was like you, he'd read it as a teenager, it had been informative. No, he came to it very recently. Something's happening with this book, right?Hollis: Huge things are happening, but the people who know about it, there's certain things that you know, you know it's long, you know that the sex is perhaps not what you would have wanted. You know that there's this big, really long thing called John Galt's Speech, and that it's like the whaling chapters in Moby-Dick. People read Moby-Dick, you're like, "Oh, yes, but I skipped all the chapters on cetology." That's the thing that you say, right? The thing that you say is like, "Yes, but I skipped all the John Galt's Speech." I was very interested when we were texting over the last month or so, what you would say when you got to John Galt's Speech. As on cue, one day, I get this text and it's like, "Oh, my God, this speech is really long." I'm like, "Yes, you are the perfect reader."Henry: I was like, "Hollis, this might be where I drop out of the book."Hollis: I'm like, "Yes, you and the world, okay?" This is why you're an excellent reader of this book, because it is a frigging slog. Just because I'm having eye issues these days, I had decided instead of rereading my copy, and I do have a newer copy than this tiny print thing, I decided to listen on audiobook. It was 62 hours or whatever, it was 45 hours, because I listen at 1.4. The speech is awesome listening to it. It, at 1.4, it's not quite 3 hours. It's really good. In the last few days, I was listening to it again, okay? I really wanted to understand somebody who's such a good plotter, and somebody who really understands how to keep people's interest, why are you doing this, Rand? Why are you doing this, Ms. Rand? I love the fact that she's always called Miss. Rand, because Miss., that is a term that we

Anne and Ryan digest the architectural drama, THE BRUTALIST starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, and Joe Alwyn. Directed by Brady Corbet and written by Corbet and Mona Fastvold, THE BRUTALIST follows a fictional Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth (Brody) as he immigrates to America and falls under the patronage of a wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Pearce). A critical hit and Oscar front-runner, THE BRUTALIST is undoubtedly epic in its ambition, length, and use of VistaVision, but is the film as monumental as the hype? Join us for a brutally honest discussion that takes some diversions into Wicked, Babygirl, Dave Eggers, Bradley Cooper, Funny Games, The Godfather, The Fountainhead and much, much more! THE BRUTALIST is currently in theaters.

https://youtu.be/duUDf-WuSVk Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how to make one's life purposeful, without falling for the sacrificial tropes popular in our culture. Among the topics covered: Why aiming at a challenging, effortful life should not be equated with suffering; How to evaluate Jordan Peterson's notion that meaning is found outside of one's life; What is wrong with pursuing purpose by bearing others' burdens; Why achievement, not suffering, is the essence of human life and morality. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. The podcast was recorded on December 17, 2024 and released on January 1, 2025. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.

Freedomain FLASH Livestream 21 December 2024In this holiday episode, I reflect on our absence and invite listeners to support Freedomain. I introduce a song quiz on Roger Miller's "King of the Road," leading to a discussion on the evolution of music and its creativity. I delve into deep conversations about familial challenges and touch on diverse topics, including Canada's household debt and the impact of parenting styles.As literature influences my views, I discuss "The Fountainhead" and its connection to creativity and aging. The conversation explores societal expectations around masculinity and femininity, modern dating, and emotional labor. I address listener inquiries, urging critical examination of personal experiences.I conclude by expressing gratitude for audience support and inviting contributions, offering exclusive content as a holiday incentive. This episode blends music, philosophy, and introspection while celebrating the season's spirit.GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND AUDIOBOOK!https://peacefulparenting.com/Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!Also get the Truth About the French Revolution, multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material, as well as targeted AIs for Real-Time Relationships, BitCoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-Ins. Don't miss the private livestreams, premium call in shows, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!See you soon!https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/UPB2022

In this episode of The Art of SBA Lending, Ray Drew sits down with Chris Hurn to explore the complexities of entrepreneurship, leadership, and finance. Chris shares the story of winding down his previous company, Fountainhead, navigating the challenges of partnerships, and transitioning to his latest venture—a business bank in West Georgia. From educating clients about SBA loans to building a team that aligns with company culture, Chris highlights the balancing act between growth, innovation, and risk. He also offers insights into: The risks and rewards of entrepreneurship Effective marketing strategies for the modern business landscape Navigating the competitive world of SBA lending and business acquisitions Join Ray and Chris for a candid conversation about the evolving business world, and gain valuable takeaways for your own journey. Be sure to subscribe to keep up with the rest of our Vegas interview series from NAGGL 2024! This episode is sponsored by: The Content Store The Content Store is a video content agency specialized in podcast, YouTube, and short form video editing. Elevate your brand with premium video content today. Go to www.thecontentstore.com to get in touch.   Rapid Business Plans Rapid Business Plans is the go-to provider of business plans and feasibility studies for government guaranteed small business lenders. For more information, or to set up a Get Acquainted call go to http://www.rapidbusinessplans.com/art-of-sba   SBA Jobs Board Hiring for your SBA department? We've got you covered! SBA Jobs Board is here to bridge the gap between you and top SBA talent. Our Art of SBA Lending audience is packed with experts ready for their next career move. List your openings with us to connect with the best in the industry and find the right fit for your team. Live now on our new Art of SBA Website | https://www.artofsba.com/job-board   BDO's…let's start your weeks strong! Sign up for our weekly sales advice series, Sales Ammo. Every Monday morning wake up to a piece of Rays sales advice in your inbox to help you rise to the top. Subscribe here: https://www.artofsba.com/army-of-bdos Loving The Art of SBA Lending episodes? Make sure to follow along with our sister shows, The BDO Show and SBA Today, each week with the links below! https://www.youtube.com/@TheBDOShow http://www.youtube.com/@SBAToday Head to http://www.artofsba.com   for more information and to sign up for our must-read monthly newsletter to stay up to date with The Art of SBA Lending.

Originally Published August 11, 2022. Dr. Allen Lycka sits down with Chris Hurn, the founder and CEO of Fountainhead, a leading non-bank commercial lending firm. With over 23 years of expertise in SBA loan programs, Chris shares his journey of building a thriving business, navigating economic challenges, and helping small businesses secure essential financing. Tune in for a conversation that inspires action and provides invaluable insights into overcoming obstacles, adapting to change, and moving forward with purpose.   Chris Hurn is the Founder and CEO of Fountainhead, the nation's leading non-bank lender specializing in SBA 7(a) and 504 loans. He is also an Amazon best-selling author of The Entrepreneur's Secret to Creating Wealth, a guide to financial success for small business owners.   With a reputation as a thought leader in small business finance, Chris has appeared on PBS, FOX Business News (seven times), and numerous local TV and radio outlets. His insights have been featured in prestigious publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and many others.   In addition to his work with Fountainhead, Chris co-founded Kennedy's All-American Barber Club, a franchised men's barbershop concept. Kennedy's offers premium haircuts, the timeless art of straight-razor shaves, and a curated selection of grooming products, all delivered in a nostalgic, membership-based club environment. With 16 locations across Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, Kennedy's continues to redefine the barbershop experience for modern gentlemen.   Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishurn/   X: https://x.com/thechrishurn   Fountainhead LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fountainhead-commercial-capital   Fountainhead X: https://x.com/Fountainhead504  Fountainhead Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fountainhead504/   Fountainhead Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fountainhead504/    Thanks for listening to the show! It means so much to us that you listened to our podcast! If you would like to continue the conversation, please email me at allen@drallenlycka.com or visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/drallenlycka. We would love to have you join us there, and welcome your messages. We check our Messenger often.   This show is built on “The Secrets to Living A Fantastic Life.” Get your copy by visiting: https://secretsbook.now.site/home   We are building a community of like-minded people in the personal development/self-help/professional development industries, and are always looking for wonderful guests for our show. If you have any recommendations, please email us!   Dr. Allen Lycka's Social Media Links Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drallenlycka Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_allen_lycka/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drallenlycka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenlycka YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/c/drallenlycka   Subscribe to the show. We would be honored to have you subscribe to the show - you can subscribe on the podcast app on your mobile device

Darla is joined by Stephanie Mahaney, an accomplished interior designer, to discuss the challenges and triumphs associated with relocating her business from Florida to Maine. Stephanie shares her journey, including rebranding efforts, digital and PR strategies, and the differences in design and client expectations between the two regions. The conversation also delves into Maine's project-based dynamics, sustainable design, and local networking efforts. Stephanie also offers valuable advice for designers contemplating a similar move. Originally from Bronxville, NY, Stephanie Mahaney moved to South Florida in her early teens where she discovered her love for design. Stephanie started her career at Kemble Interiors, Inc. in Palm Beach, and founded Stephanie Rae Interiors in 2014. Over its 10 years in business, the company has amassed an impressive portfolio. She divides her time between Jupiter, FL and Maine where she lives with her husband and three children. ***

Ep.225 Mario Moore, a Detroit native, received a BFA from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI in 2009 and an MFA in Painting from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT in 2013. He is a recent Kresge Arts Fellow (2023) and a recipient of the prestigious Princeton Hodder Fellowship (2018-2019). He also has been awarded residencies at Duke University, Josef and Annie Albers Foundation, Fountainhead, and Knox College. Moore's work is in the permanent collections of but not limited to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Princeton University Art Museum and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Moore's work has been widely exhibited, including at the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA; The Cleveland Museum of Art, and Colby College Museum of Art. Mario Moore / Enshrined: Presence & Preservation exhibition—Moore's largest survey of work to date—opened at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit in June 2021 and traveled to the California African American Museum (CAAM) in March 2022, his first solo exhibition on the West Coast]. Moore's most recent traveling museum exhibition, Revolutionary Times opened at the Flint Institute of Arts in January 2024 and closed at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in August 2024. Mario Moore currently works and lives in Detroit, MI. Headshot by Danielle Eliska Artist https://www.mariomoorestudio.com/ ABC news https://www.abc12.com/video/detroit-native-brings-revolutionary-times-to-the-flint-institute-of-arts/video_1a604728-0a2e-5a4b-969d-f0304557c2a1.html Hour Detroit https://www.hourdetroit.com/art-topics/two-new-exhibitions-at-cranbrook-art-museum-highlight-detroit-artists/ Canvas Rebel https://canvasrebel.com/meet-mario-moore/ David Klein Gallery https://www.dkgallery.com/artists/45-mario-moore/ Grand Rapids Art Museum https://www.artmuseumgr.org/press-releases/artist-mario-moore-bridges-untold-stories-of-americas-past-and-present-at-the-grand-rapids-art-museum Kresege Arts https://kresgeartsindetroit.org/artist/mario-moore/ Shondaland https://www.shondaland.com/act/a40458000/detroit-artist-mario-moore-interview/ Outlier Media https://outliermedia.org/mario-moore-artist-detroit-painter-interview/ LSU Museum of Art https://www.lsumoa.org/mario-moore-responding-to-history CAA Museum https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2022/enshrined-presence-preservation Duke Arts https://arts.duke.edu/projects/mario-moore/ Duke Form https://www.dukeform.co/all-content/mario-moore Sakehile & Me https://www.sakhileandme.com/artists/mario-moore.htm Cranbrook Art Museum https://cranbrookartmuseum.org/events/artist-led-tour-skilled-labor-mario-moore-sabrina-nelson-richard-lewis/ CCS Detroit https://www.ccsdetroit.edu/news/mario-moore-honored-with-ccss-2023-distinguished-alumni-award/ Detroit Metro Times https://www.metrotimes.com/arts/mario-moore-tells-detroits-underground-railroad-history-in-new-exhibit-midnight-and-canaan-31303155 Cultured Mag https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2022/11/02/mario-moore-painting-black-history Princeton University https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/us/princeton-university-portraits-workers-trnd/index.html The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/01/20/princeton-artist-fellow-mario-moore-celebrates-african-american-workers

https://youtu.be/vCiKkxLAFJY Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Sam Weaver and Tristan de Liège discuss Atlantic writer Derek Thompson's idea that Americans are afflicted by a religious obsession with work that he calls “workism” and their view of the role of work in human life. Among the topics covered: Thompson's view on work and why it's worth talking about; Why making work central to one's life doesn't entail adopting a religious perspective; Understanding what causes burnout and lack of fulfillment in work; The Objectivist perspective on work. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand's novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, her essay “Causality Versus Duty”, Gregory Salmieri's essay “The Act of Valuing (and the Objectivity of Values)” in A Companion to Ayn Rand edited by Allan Gotthelf and Salmieri, and de Liège's Ayn Rand University course Philosophical Perspectives on Work. This podcast was recorded on November 7, 2024, and released on November 20, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.

On the 417th episode of Piecing It Together, Josh Bell joins me to talk about Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis. After decades of trying to bring his passion project to the big screen, it's finally here... And it's kind of a goof. Puzzle pieces include Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Fateful Findings, Idiocracy and The Fountainhead.As always, SPOILER ALERT for Megalopolis and the movies we discuss!Written by Francis Ford CoppolaDirected by Francis Ford CoppolaStarring Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie EmmauelLionsgatehttps://www.lionsgate.com/movies/megalopolisJosh Bell is a film critic whose reviews can be read at CBR, Crooked Marquee, The Inlander and elsewhere. With comedian and filmmaker Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year, at awesomemovieyear.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.Like Him on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/And Follow him on Twitter @SignalBleedMy sixth album, MORE CONTENT is available NOW on iTunes, Bandcamp and all other digital music stores! Make sure to check it out!My latest music is the 24 for 2024 series in which I'm releasing a new single on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month in 2024. 24 new songs total. Follow along on the Spotify Playlist at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PDKoUQ1CoFpiogLu2Sz4D?si=3cb1df0dd0384968My latest music video “Burn" which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxKAWFm0gAoThe song at the end of the episode is "The New World," a bonus track from my first album of bonus tracks Further Into The Dark.Make sure to “Like” Piecing It Together on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PiecingPodAnd “Follow” us on Twitter @PiecingPodAnd Join the Conversation in our Facebook Group, Piecing It Together – A Movie Discussion Group.And check out https://www.piecingpod.com for more about our show!And if you want to SUPPORT THE SHOW, you can now sign up for our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosenYou can also support the show by checking out our TeePublic store to buy shirts and more featuring Piecing It Together logos, movie designs, and artwork for my various music projects at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/piecing-it-togetherShare the episode, comment and...

Hello our wonderful, winningest, winsome and wonderful audience.We watched a number of music videos on which we share our unvarnished views from:Lenny Kravitz : HoneyG-Dragon : PowerPharrell Williams : Piece By PieceWretch ft. Little Simz & Benjamin AD - Black and BritishTyla : Push 2 StartWe watched, read, played and listened to:Renegade Nell - Disney+Past Lives - NetflixBoarders - BBC 3 / iPlayerAgatha All Along - Disney +Only Murders in The Building - Apple TVDr Odyssey- Disney +All 3 Ari Lennox Albums (FO EP Deluxe, Sheabutter Baby, ASL Age Sex Location)Keith Sweat - TwistedPaper Mario and the Thousand-Year Door - Nintendo SwitchWoman of the Hour - NetflixSimone Biles Still Rising Pt.2 - NetflixDan DanDan - NetflixRun Like the Wind - CrunchyrollHow to Keep a Mummy - Crunchyroll We are Looking Forward toWatching Deji lose his mind over watching Dr Odyssey and just enjoying trash TV like back in the day before reality TV shows.Re-reading Fountainhead by Ayn Rand off the back of the result of the American election. Reading The Value of Everything making and taking in the global economy by Mariana MazzucatoWatching Rivals on Disney + Watching Nobody Wants This on NetflixWatching Silo Season 2 on Apple +Watching Before on Apple +Image courtesy of lookoutpoint.tvFind us at www.popgram.co.ukEmail us at : popgrampodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @popgrampodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/PopgramPodcast

In episode 12 of (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Ajay and Isi tackle Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis (2024). Kicking off with a review of a few recent pop-cultural engagements—including an assemblage of classic vampire films (Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), among them), Mubi's restoration of The Fall (2006), Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and a pair of streaming series about professional wrestling—the conversation turns to Coppola's reactionary would-be summa about an architect attempting to construct a techno-futuristic utopia on a plot of land in “New Rome,” an alternate-world New York City as played against Roman and early American history. Along the way, Ajay and Isi discuss Neri Oxman's faux-ecological contributions to the film's central animating macguffin, the mysterious “megalon;” the film's antipathy for the marginalized masses; its protagonist as synthesis of Caesar, Robert Moses, Walter Gropius, and The Fountainhead's Howard Roark; accidentally timely narratives of the “good guy” billionaire pitted against the “bad-guy” billionaire; and the ecofascist inclination to marry the romanticization of nature with authoritarian techno-optimism. Among the topics at hand are Coppola's disturbing, “secretly autobiographical” efforts to reaffirm himself as auteur, his baffling postmodern pastiche, the classic right-wing themes of patriarchy as a sign of order and non-normative sexual expression as a sign of decline and decadence, the film's shocking ugliness, and how Megalopolis's strange incorporation of current events betrays “a baby boomer [having read] a bunch of airport history books.”

Monika Rogers is the VP of growth strategy at CMB which is a top U.S. insights and analytics firm that provides world-class market research across Media/Entertainment/Culture, Technology, and Financial Services. Prior to joining CMB she had a role at Illuminas as head of client services and operations from 2022 to 2024. From 2014 to 2022 she was an entrepreneur who raised over $2M in funding to build an innovative SaaS platform Digisite with both a consumer-facing insights community and B2B testing/analytics platform. The Digsite platform was sold to QuestionPro in August of 2022 and integrated into their Customer Experience research portfolio. Leading up to that she built the Fountainhead Brand consulting business from 2007 to 2014 which was a boutique innovation and brand consulting firm. Clients included Organic Valley, U.S. Bank, and Kohler. Core services included strategic insights, uncovering new market opportunities, brand positioning, new product strategy, and shopper insights. Research methods included segmentation, conjoint, ethnography, online communities, and brand tracking. Fountainhead was sold to a regional ad agency in 2015. What you will learn Unconventional methods for finding untapped markets and validating business ideas quickly. Advanced techniques for using AI in lead generation, content creation, and customer engagement to save time and maximize impact. A roadmap for transitioning from a side hustle to a full-time venture, including financial milestones and scaling strategies. Tactics for creating unique, value-driven offers that differentiate your brand in competitive spaces. Insights into using data analytics to refine and optimize your business decisions as you grow.

The author Jacob Bacharach returns to continue this podcast's look at Megalopolis. On this episode we compare Coppola's latest to another overheated epic about a visionary architect, King Vidor's ludicrous 1949 adaptation of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Coppola has acknowledged the film version of The Fountainhead as a key influence on Megalopolis, but what Jacob and I value about these two films is how they each rebuke the reactionary source material: Vidor does it through hyperbole while Coppola rejects Rand's philosophy outright in his parable about America as a near-future Roman Empire. And both films are intensely personal projects with Vidor pointing the way towards the future of cinematic language (no doubt inspiring Paul Verhoeven and the Coen Brothers) and Coppola emptying out his bag of tricks to finally finish a deranged project he spent half his life hoping to make. And Jacob and I contrast the ways we each saw Megalopolis: from a packed out IMAX cinema in Toronto with a live-streamed Coppola q&a and the full “immersive” presentation to being the only people in a suburban cinema in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was the best time we each had in a movie theatre in eons. Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilter Follow Jacob Bacharach on Twitter and visit jacobbacharach.com “Ayn Rand Made Me a Communist”, by Jacob Bacharach for the New Republic, January 27, 2016 Trailer for The Fountainhead (King Vidor, 1949) Second trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis (that got pulled by Lionsgate)

Ayn Rand's novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have been called gateway drugs to rightwing ideas for so many Americans. And while the works of the writer and philosopher have seen a resurgence since the global economic crisis, her influence has been undeniably huge and sustained since those books were originally published in mid-century. Historian Lisa Duggan examines what is at the heart of Rand's enduring appeal. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Lisa Duggan, Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed UC Press, 2019 The post Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed appeared first on KPFA.

Timeline et liste des Sujets : 00:00:00 Introduction : The Fountainhead (La Source vive). 00:02:54 Frank Lloyd Wright : un modèle de génie et d'audace à l'ancienne. 00:06:16 L'Université a tué l'architecture : un retour nécessaire à l'apprentissage. 00:10:49 Petite anecdote au sujet du niveau de formation catastrophique des écoles d'architecture. 00:26:49 Ayn Rand et The Fountainhead : une vision naïve et idéalisée de l'architecture. 00:38:37 L'architecte est un jongleur. 00:46:38 Triste réalité du métier d'architecte et la maîtrise d'œuvre d'exécution. 00:55:33 La Machine à habiter des banlieues françaises : Le Corbusier, cette sombre merde starisée. 00:59:19 The Line, le délire saoudien inspiré de la Cité radieuse de Le Corbusier. 01:12:13 The Line, un désastre technique, logistique, sécuritaire et écologique annoncé. 01:27:07 Le mimétisme : Ils copient la forme mais n'ont rien compris au fond. 01:32:25 Quel est le secret derrière la beauté des villes médiévales ? L'Art de bâtir les villes : Camillo Sitte. 01:39:52 Pour conclure. ----------------- Ne manquez rien ! Inscrivez-vous à ma newsletter pour recevoir toutes les mises à jour

Catching Up Over Coffee and ArchitectureIn this episode, Jamie and Kurt return after a brief hiatus, recovering from illness. They discuss the challenges of recording live, share their recent travel experiences, and dive into a detailed discussion about the architectural significance of the 1936 Hall of State in Dallas, Texas. The conversation spans the importance of reusing historical sites, touches on the architectural impacts of global events like the Olympics and World's Fairs, and highlights the sketching process of capturing monumental buildings. They tease upcoming plans for more in-situ sketching at conferences and events.00:00 Introduction and Greetings00:20 Recovering from Sickness02:17 Coffee Talk04:42 Vacation Stories: Savannah and Hilton Head06:04 Architectural Insights: Savannah's Grid and Bed & Breakfast13:19 Sketching and the Hall of State22:25 Olympics and Architectural Reuse28:22 Conclusion and Future Plans Support the showBuy some Coffee! Support the Show!https://ko-fi.com/coffeesketchpodcast/shop Our Links Follow Jamie on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/falloutstudio/ Follow Kurt on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kurtneiswender/ Kurt's Practice - https://www.instagram.com/urbancolabarchitecture/ Coffee Sketch on Twitter - https://twitter.com/coffeesketch Jamie on Twitter - https://twitter.com/falloutstudio Kurt on Twitter - https://twitter.com/kurtneiswender

#295: On this episode with guest Stephanie Taormina, Emily dives into the deeper questions around marriage, divorce, female friendships, navigating life in your 20s and 30s, and lots more, with her very own high school best friend's mom.If you're someone that wants to take time to consciously make decisions, especially as you're navigating your relationships, career, and your own goals in your 20s and 30s, you'll find this episode helpful.Book mentioned in this episode:Fountainhead by Ayn RandTopics discussed:The signs prior to marriage that this was not the right life partner and what Steph wish she asked herself priorNavigating divorce in a small town and facing judgementHow self-awareness and knowing your own life goals and interests play a role in a healthy long-term relationshipWhen certain friendships are no longer worth fighting forReceive weekly personal insights from Emily's email newsletter and subscribe hereWatch Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatfulfillsyou/videosBILT Credit Card Info (Pay Rent and Earn Points):https://bilt.page/r/HQ06-ZV7OENJOY 10% OFF THE WHAT FULFILLS YOU? CARD GAME AT www.whatfulfillsyou.com - code "WHATFULFILLSYOU10"Follow the What Fulfills You? Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatfulfillsyouFollow Emily Elizabeth's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyeduong/Read more on the blog: https://emilyelizabeth.blog/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/what-fulfills-you-podcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Fracas by Robert Piguet (1948) + Xeryus by Givenchy (1986) + Odalisque by Nettie Rosenstein (1946) + The Fountainhead (1943), Atlas Shrugged (1957), We the Living (1936), and Anthem (1937) by Ayn Rand + King Vidor's The Fountainhead (1949) + Goffredo Alessandrini's We the Living (1942) with Alec Mouhibian of Filthy Armenian Adventures and The Back Wall  8/1/21, 3/17/23, 8/15/24 S3E27, S5E26, S6E60 8/15/24 S6E61 To hear this episode and the complete continuing story of The Perfume Nationalist please subscribe on Patreon. 

Unveiling Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead: A Deep Dive into Individualism and IntegrityIn this episode of The Jason Wright Show, Jason conducts an in-depth review of Ayn Rand's novel 'The Fountainhead.' He explores Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, which emphasizes rational self-interest and the pursuit of personal happiness as life's highest moral purpose. Jason discusses the primary themes of the book, focusing on the characters Howard Roark and Peter Keating, who represent individual integrity versus societal conformity. The review also examines the story's critique of collectivism, the struggle for artistic and personal freedom, and Rand's enduring impact on conservative and libertarian circles.00:00 Introduction to the Jason Wright Show00:43 Who is Ayn Rand?01:27 Understanding Objectivism02:39 Ayn Rand's Influence and Works03:32 The Fountainhead: Initial Impressions08:32 Howard Rourke's Journey Begins12:12 The Mentor and the Golden Boy16:20 Ellsworth Toohey's Influence19:14 The Temple for Humanity24:16 Peter Keating's Dilemma28:14 The Philosophy of Howard Roark28:50 The Uncompromising Architect31:01 The Government Project Dilemma31:57 The Explosive Consequence36:42 The Trial and Roark's Speech42:25 Modern Parallels and Reflections

What if you could balance a flourishing career, meaningful personal relationships, and top-notch self-care, all without compromise? Join us as we uncover the extraordinary story of Jeff Lerner, who skyrocketed from a struggling jazz musician to a digital mogul with over a hundred million in sales. Jeff shares his unique philosophy on blending success in life and business, emphasizing the importance of personal improvement over wishing for an easier path. Discover how his motto, "don't wish it was easier, wish you were better," can transform your approach to achieving greatness.Ever wondered why some people seem to attract success while others struggle despite their efforts? In this episode, Jeff and I tackle the mindset required to truly deserve success through service and personal growth. We highlight the pitfalls of unearned wealth and the critical role of building sustainable habits for long-term change. Drawing inspiration from Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead," we discuss how understanding life's fundamental principles can lead to a meaningful and intentional existence, much like the structured complexity of music.Lastly, we explore the profound question of whether fulfillment in life is achievable by aligning with one's intrinsic design. Borrowing insights from existentialist philosopher Albert Camus and Bronnie Ware's "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying," Jeff underscores the importance of living according to one's true calling rather than societal expectations. We talk about the significance of proactive ownership over one's life, and how entrepreneurship can bridge the gap between making a living and making a difference. This conversation is not just an episode; it's a blueprint for living a life full of purpose, freedom, and impact.Join the What if it Did Work movement on FacebookGet the Book!www.omarmedrano.comwww.calendly.com/omarmedrano/15min

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was one of America's most provocative writers of the 20th century. Her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have influenced three generations of Americans.Join us with Alexandra Popoff, author of the new Jewish Lives biography Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success, as we explore Rand's defense ofAmerican capitalism, individualism, and creativity.Music in this episode: George Gershwin - "Rhapsody in Blue"

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Based on what she called "rational self-interest", Rand believed in prosperity-seeking individualism above all.  Alexandra Popoff's deeply researched biography traces Rand's journey from her early life as a privileged secular Jew in pre-revolution St. Petersburg, through the deprivations of life in Crimea during the Russian Civil War, and across the world to a new life in the United States in the 1920s. These early experiences influenced Rand's views, which she expressed in her sharp critique of Soviet Russia in her first major novel, We The Living. In Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success (Yale UP, 2024) We follow Rand's extraordinary career in early Hollywood as an apprentice scriptwriter with Cecil DeMille and her evolution into an accomplished novelist of tightly plotted, intellectual stories. Her strong promotion of laissez-fair capitalism and creative, high achieving "supermen" willing to risk everything to achieve their goals came through in her two best selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  Following her literary career Rand focused on her philosophical theory of Objectivism and became a cult-like figure to many of her devoted followers.  Video: Mike Wallace interview with Ayn Rand from 1959.  Recommended reading: Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Ep.210 For Gerald Lovell (b. 1992), painting is an act of biography. Combining flat and impressionistic painting with thick daubs of impasto, Lovell's monumental portraits depict loving scenes often lost to the abyss of memory. Lovell's portraits refuse the notion that all Black figures put down on canvas are somehow political. Rather, his work records a deep commitment to fostering alternative community narratives by imbuing his subjects with social agency and self determinative power, while also revealing individualistic details that lay their essential humanity bare. Born in Chicago to Puerto Rican and Black parents, Lovell began painting at the age of 22 after dropping out of the graphic design program at the University of West Georgia. He has exhibited at P·P·O·W, New York; Jeffrey Deitch, Moore Building, Miami, FL; Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL; Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC; MINT, Atlanta, GA; and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, among others. In 2022, Lovell's work was on view in What is Left Unspoken, Love at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, and is in the museum's permanent collection. Lovell completed the Fountainhead Artists Residency in October 2023. His second exhibition with P·P·O·W, verde, was held in Spring 2024. Portrait ~ Courtesy of Fountainhead, Miami. Photo, Cornelius Tulloch PPOW Gallery https://www.ppowgallery.com/artists/gerald-lovell#tab:thumbnails https://www.ppowgallery.com/exhibitions/gerald-lovell2#tab:thumbnails;tab-1:slideshow Anthony Gallery https://anthonygallery.com/exhibition/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/ Juxtapoz https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/painting/gerald-lovell-verde-p-p-o-w-gallery-nyc/ Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/2024/03/02/new-york-closing-soon-5-gallery-shows-featuring-works-by-nathaniel-oliver-tuli-mekondjo-theaster-gates-richmond-barthe-christopher-udemezue-and-gerald-lovell/ The Atlantic Journal-Constitution https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/atlanta-painter-gerald-lovell-creates-portraits-of-family-friends-black-life/2PBC7PXW65AGLAGW4EI5U3K5SE/ whitewall https://whitewall.art/art/gerald-lovells-exhibition-at-ppow-captures-all-that-he-has/ Anderson Ranch https://www.andersonranch.org/people/gerald-lovell/ Artrabbit https://www.artrabbit.com/events/gerald-lovell-verde-ppow-390-broadway Black Art and Design https://www.blackartanddesign.com/artists/gerald-lovell-artist-overview/ The Galllery | Wish https://www.wishatlgallery.com/gerald-lovell Office Magazine https://officemagazine.net/gerald-lovell-finds-beauty-mundane Art in NYC https://artinnewyorkcity.com/2021/01/23/all-that-i-have-paintings-by-gerald-lovell-at-p-p-o-w/

The twins are back -ruminating about turning 61, discussing recording gear and software, computers and e-bikes. That's just the beginning. There's also their work at a well-known cigar shop in Myrtle Beach, recent concerts, reads, gigs and so much more - including a gem from the musical archive.  SHOW NOTES: 0:00 - "What Might Have Been" by Chris Yale 3:40 - Greetings / July 4th Fireworks / About the song and Chris' album, "Well Enough Alone" 4:37 - On turning 61 5:09 - Chris' upgrade to Logic Pro 11 / New used iMac (2019) / Old Apogee Duet / Apple Loops 6:20 - "He had to be shown" / AA Big Book / "The Beer Experiment" / "The Milk Experiment"  7:22 - Chris' and Betsy's new KBO e-bikes /  Hoop skirts and step-throughs 8:54 - Chris at home without supervision 9:25 - "The Season" is back in Myrtle Beach / Cigar events at Tinder Box Myrtle Beach / Tinder Box memories 1970s and 1980s / Roger's first imported cigar - Macanudo Portofino / Chris' first imported cigar - Macanudo Baron de Rothschild / Domestic cigars 12:03 - Cigar snobs / $60 cigar versus a $12 cigar / Diminishing returns / $100 shots / Blowhards / Roger's take on cigar blends and aging  14:05 - "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" streaming / Hollywood exteriors / "Lucifer" series - Sunset Tower on Sunset Strip 15:06 - The Rolling Stones in Atlanta / Mercedes Benz Stadium / Chuck Leavell / Steve Jordan / Edify yourself / Darryl Jones / Wyman, lately  17:37 - "Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple" documentary / The duster and the bandana / Paul Stanley-ish? / Chris Lord-Alge  19:53 - Cubase / 64-gig memory on Chris' iMac / ZOOM LiveTrak L-8 / Logic Pro  21:00 - Roger's writing efforts / Post and Courier Myrtle Beach / Georgetown Times / Charles Perry / Roger's work with Grand Strand Magazine  21:39 - Queen sells music for $1.2 billion  22:05 -LuLu's North Myrtle Beach gigs 23:04 - Intracoastal Waterway / Bird Island / Sick Stooges / Brandon Toms / Freedom Boat Club 25:05 - Roger hits 10 years of sobriety / Getting stuff done 24:40 - "Turning Pro" by Steven Pressfield / Lao Tzu versus Sun Tzu / "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand / "A Tramp Across the Continent" by Charles Fletcher Lummis  27:03 - Parting shots / Our jobs at Tinder Box / Chris' slow internet / Chris' grandkids 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 11, 2024 is: fountainhead • FOUN-tun-hed • noun Fountainhead is a word usually encountered in literary contexts that refers to the origin or source of something. // Ragtime, popularized by such performers as Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake, is considered one of the musical fountainheads of jazz. See the entry > Examples: “In Marbury, in 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall proclaimed, ‘It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.' There, the Supreme Court, for the first time, declared an act of Congress unconstitutional and ‘entirely void.' Because the Court implied that its own authority to interpret the Constitution is superior to that of the other branches, the case is the fountainhead of judicial supremacy.” — Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2023 Did you know? In Walden, widely considered Henry David Thoreau's masterwork, the poet-philosopher extolled one major—nay, transcendent—perk of being an early bird: “Morning air! If men will not drink of this at the fountainhead of the day, why, then, we must even bottle up some and sell it in the shops, for the benefit of those who have lost their subscription ticket to morning time in this world.” Thoreau was using fountainhead in its figurative sense—referring to morning as the “origin” of the day to follow—while also paying homage to its literal meaning, “the source of a stream” (the earliest sense of fountain being “a natural spring”). As someone who spent two years living, writing, and meditating in a cabin, Thoreau was nothing, after all, if not thorough.

In this episode of The Relaxed Male, host and certified men's coach Brian Goodwin delves into the character of Peter Keating from Ayn Rand's novel, The Fountainhead. Peter Keating epitomizes the 'nice guy' who struggles with self-identity and decision-making, always seeking approval from others rather than living life on his own terms. Brian discusses how Keating's actions and associations lead to his downfall, contrasting him with the novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, who remains steadfast in his ideals and vision.Brian explores the broader implications of Keating's character for men today, emphasizing the pitfalls of people-pleasing and the importance of living authentically. He draws parallels between Keating's career in architecture and the challenges men face in their personal and professional lives when they fail to assert their own ideas and values.The episode also touches on the dynamics between Keating and other characters, such as his manipulative mother, his genuine but ultimately neglected girlfriend Catherine Halsey, and his complex relationship with Dominique Francon. Brian uses these relationships to illustrate the consequences of not standing firm in one's beliefs and the impact it has on personal growth and success.Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own lives and consider whether they are living authentically or merely seeking approval from others. Brian offers practical advice and coaching opportunities for men who want to break free from the 'nice guy' syndrome and build more fulfilling relationships and careers. If you would like to reclaim your bride and leave the mediocrity of roommate syndrome behind, then it is time to take the next step.Take The Next Step

In 1949, a college junior named Barbara Beattie wrote a letter for a school journalism assignment. We can only speculate on Beattie's youthful expectations: Was she so naive to expect a response, or were these different times? She'd written playwright Arthur Miller at a time when the Broadway run of his most famous work, The Death of a Salesman, was in full swing. He had every reason to ignore a college student's inquiries into the “formal genesis” of his now-legendary work. What Beattie received–a sprawling and deeply thoughtful essay on man's common and timeless tragedies–must have impacted her greatly. After all, she's kept it for seventy-five years. Beattie's daughter found the letter when helping her mother, now 94, move out of her home. Support this project: Buy Me a CoffeeSubscribe to the newsletter: SUBSCRIBE ME!Show Notes and Links at Clippingchains.com

Elon Musk is to 2024 what Howard Roark was to 1943. In Ayn Rand's book Fountainhead, her hero Roark was brilliant, single-minded and flawed. Musk is a modern day Roark and yet despite his remarkable entrepreneurial success, from SpaceX to Neuralink, he may not have the Midas touch after all. Tesla's share price has dropped 30% since January, and its market share is dwindling in China. Musk's investments in China have also led to intellectual property theft and challenges in navigating the Chinese market. But standing back, Tesla's tribulations could be a microcosm of broader geopolitical tensions of trade disputes and intellectual property wars. The world is looking at the Mid East, the China/America rivalry echoes previous clashes Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recognizing the power of stories, Mike Fallat founded Dreamstarters Publishing to help individuals share their unique narratives and make a lasting impact. He believes in the importance of being vulnerable and authentic, understanding that true connection comes from sharing one's genuine experiences. Throughout his journey, Mike emphasizes the price one must pay to achieve the desired character, advocating for shifting perspectives and embracing life as a game. He draws inspiration from the Hero's Journey, guiding others through their own quests for success and fulfillment. Despite the challenges, Mike encourages overcoming the Impostor Syndrome, recognizing one's worth and embracing self-confidence. Through his experiences and insights, Mike empowers others to pursue their dreams, navigate obstacles, and achieve their fullest potential. 0.00:    Mike's early journey that led him to founding “Dreamstarters Publishing” 4.21:    Impact of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” (and ‘The Fountainhead” for Lawrence) 9.20:    Mike's early years growing up in Pennsylvania 15.00: The Power of stories 24.00: Being vulnerable and authentic 31.43:  Price to pay to achieve the character you seek (shifting perspectives) 36.20:  Idea of life as a game 40.00:  The Hero's Journey 47.00:  Getting the right clients for your business (that are aligned with your mindset) 52.50:  Being authentic and tell the truth 55.30: Overcoming the Imposture Syndrome “Your income is directly tied to how well you articulate your solutions.” Connect with Mike to write your book: https://dreamstarterspublishing.com/?fpr=lawrence46 Follow Mike on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedreamstarter/ Follow Mike on FB: https://www.facebook.com/thedreamstarter Until next time, love and good vibes.  Podcast Website: https://enterthelionheart.com/ Check out the latest episode here: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enter-the-lionheart/id1554904704 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tD7VvMUvnOgChoNYShbcI

Always a pleasure to chat to my friend, Former Paramedic, EMT Instructor, Photographer & Host of “I Am Consciously Curious” Podcast, Victor Chan 1:00: What is Our Essence 8:30: Overcoming Imposture Syndrome 16:00: Keeping an Open Mind 25:00: Fulfillment and the Concept of Ikigai 30:00: Approaches of Money and Health 41:00: Does Life get better with Age 50:00: Ayn Rand's Fountainhead 1.01:00: Finding your Niche 1.09.00: Keeping your Word 1.18.30: Comparison and Envy 1.26.20: Communication in Relationships 1.30:30: Vulnerability Until next time, love and good vibes.  Podcast Website: https://enterthelionheart.com/ Check out the latest episode here: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enter-the-lionheart/id1554904704 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tD7VvMUvnOgChoNYShbcI