June 2020 – David E. Storey

June 29, 2020June 29, 2020

Episode #12: Tim Richardson (Part 1)

Tim Richardson is a Washington, DC, based multi-client government affairs and media
consultant. After extensive political and business publishing and two congressional aide
stints, Richardson has become the nation’s only private sector consultant that has worked
on Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spill restoration. In addition, he has served
as Wildlife Forever’s Washington, DC representative since 1995.

In our conversation, Tim sings the praises of what he calls “normative careers,” and explains why studying the humanities and philosophy can not only lead to a fulfilling life, but a successful career. Tim has worn many hats throughout his career–journalist, speechwriter, fundraiser, consultant, lobbyist–and worked for a number of politicians, including Lloyd Bentsen. But what unites his efforts is his grounding in philosophy.

June 29, 2020September 5, 2024

Episode #11: Andrew Light (Part 1)

With the possible exception of William Bennett, Andrew Light is the first philosopher to work in a presidential administration.

Andrew has two interrelated careers.

One is as an academic. He is University Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Atmospheric Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at George Mason University. In his academic work, Andrew is the author of over 100 articles and book chapters on climate change, restoration ecology, and urban sustainability, and has authored, co-authored, and edited 19 books.

The other is as a policy expert and advocate where he works on the front lines of international climate and science policy. From 2013-2016 he served as Senior Adviser and India Counselor to the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change, and as a Staff Climate Adviser in Secretary of State John Kerry’s Office of Policy Planning in the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity he was Co-Chair of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Combating Climate Change, Chair of the Climate Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals across all agencies for the U.S. government, and served on the senior strategy team for the UN climate negotiations. He is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the Climate Program at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C.

In short: Andrew helped to negotiate the Paris Agreement.

In our conversation, Andrew tells the story of how he created a parallel professional identity: by first breaking into the think tank and policy community in D.C., and second landing a job in the U.S. government. In Part 1, he gives a report on the state of climate policy in the Trump era, how he got involved in interdisciplinary work, and what he thinks philosophers can contribute in the policy arena.

June 18, 2020June 18, 2020

Episode #10: Greg Sadler (Part 2)

Over the last decade, Greg Sadler has emerged as the “YouTube philosopher.” Someone was inevitably going to fill that role, but the title is well deserved: Greg has produced around 1400 videos, has 84,000 subscribers and, at this writing, has received almost 8,000,000 views.

After leaving a conventional academic career as a philosophy professor, Greg struck out on his own and built a consulting business geared toward putting philosophy into practice. Through his company, ReasonIO, he offers a suite of services–consulting for organizations, counseling and coaching for individuals, curricular design for educational institutions, and more. Greg also edits the popular blog, Stoicism Today, is a prominent voice in the modern Stoic revival, a frequent public speaker, and is involved in oodles of cool philosophy projects.

In Part 2 (Part 1 here), we dive into how Greg developed a presence on YouTube, the simple power of making distinctions in business , and his advice for young philosophers considering leaving academia.

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020

Episode #9: Greg Sadler (Part 1)

Join us as Greg walks us through his reasons for leaving academia, the struggles he faced in the wild building a new professional identity, and how he became the YouTube Philosopher.

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020

Episode #8: Dan Fincke (Part 2)

Dan Fincke is a “Rogue” par excellence. An expert in ethics and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, he runs an online teaching business and offers philosophical counseling from his home in France.

In the second part of our conversation (Part 1 here), Dan walks us through his period of experimentation in starting an online teaching business, and how he learned to think like an entrepreneur and business person. We end by diving into his brilliant interpretation of the Star Wars saga, and how Nietzsche can help us make sense of The Last Jedi.

June 8, 2020June 11, 2020

Episode #7: Dan Fincke (Part 1)

Dan Fincke is a “Rogue” par excellence. An expert in ethics and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, he runs an online teaching business and offers philosophical counseling from his home in France.

Of all the people I met in graduate school–including myself–Dan Fincke is the one who most deserves the title “real philosopher.” His personal story is good proof of concept for the power of philosophy to alter the course of a life: after growing up a devout Christian, his encounter with Nietzsche led him to leave the faith.

At Fordham, Dan had a reputation for being a captivating teacher, and knowing him well, it was easy to see why: his default setting is what David Foster Wallace described as “that special kind of intensity that happens after about the fourth beer.” I remember having an intuition early on that like his favorite philosopher, Nietzsche, Dan’s raw energy would not be contained by the academy, and that he would eventually leave. And he did. After completing his PhD, Dan adjuncted aggressively in the New York City area–at one time teaching a mind-bending 9 courses in a semester at 5 schools across 3 states–all while becoming a luminary in the atheist blogger community.

Join us as Dan shares how upon leaving academia he not only built a sustainable online teaching business, but unexpectedly met the love of his life.

June 1, 2020June 11, 2020

Episode #6: Matthew Stewart

One night, after completing a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University and wondering what he was going to do with his life, Matthew Stewart was shooting pool with a group of graduating seniors. They were going on about the jobs they were about to begin in something called “management consulting.” For lack of a better idea of what to do, he applied to ten jobs and, yada yada yada, found himself plunged into a strange new world that, to his surprise, bore a striking resemblance to the academic one he had just left.

After a short but successful career as a management consultant, Matthew returned to his true passion: writing. He spun his memories in the business world into a rich and riveting book that is not only a history of the very idea of “management” in the 20th century, but a penetrating philosophical analysis and critique of the ideas and values that dominate in the business world.

More recently, Matthew has turned to writing about economic inequality, including what became the most widely read essay in The Atlantic magazine in 2018.

Join us for Matthew’s story, his advice for students interested in entering the business world…and some laughs as we lampoon all those self-help business books you see at the airport!