When the wildfires struck Los Angeles, turmoil quickly consumed the city. People were desperate for clear, reliable information—unsure of evacuation routes or how to track the fires as they spread in a history-making wind storm. Then, we found Watch Duty. This intuitive app became our lifeline.
Mar 17
Revisited: What Dying Teaches Us About Living with Death Doula Alua Arthur
Team Simon here! While A Bit of Optimism is on a short break, we’re revisiting a few episodes you helped make some of our favorites. We’ll be back with brand-new conversations next week, on March 24th, 2026. In the meantime, we’re bringing back an episode that explores a word mos ... Show More
45m 7s
Mar 10
Revisited: The Kennedy Family and the Search for Self with Journalist Maria Shriver
Hello from Team Simon! We’re taking a short hiatus, but A Bit of Optimism will return with brand-new episodes March 24th. In the meantime, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Episodes that many of you who listened, shared them, and told us what resonated. This week, w ... Show More
43m 48s
Mar 3
Revisited: How to Turn Stress Into Creativity With Grammy-Winner Jacob Collier
Team Simon here! As we take a short hiatus, A Bit of Optimism will return with brand-new episodes on March 24, 2026. Until then, we’re revisiting some of the conversations you loved and we still think about long after the microphones turned off. This week, we’re rewinding to Simo ... Show More
58m 33s
Apr 2025
Purpose Isn’t Found, It’s Built with Aaron Hurst
In episode 230 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy is joined by Aaron Hurst, bestselling author of The Purpose Economy and a pioneer in the field of meaningful work. Together, they explore the idea that purpose isn’t something we find, but something we intentionall ... Show More
1h 6m
Feb 2025
A more compassionate capitalism, with Cotopaxi’s Davis Smith
<p>Cotopaxi founder Davis Smith believes business can be a force for change. He built a world-class outdoor brand around a simple but powerful motto: Do Good. In this conversation with host Jeff Berman, Smith shares the spark of inspiration that set Cotopaxi in motion, the hard-w ... Show More
30m 36s
Apr 2025
From Cop to Millionaire: How Paul Alex Built a 7-Figure Business with Automation
<p>We sat down with Paul Alex, the founder of MerchantAutomation.com and a former award-winning detective, to talk about his incredible journey from law enforcement to building multimillion-dollar businesses. In this interview, Paul shares how he made the bold decision to leave a ... Show More
1h 9m
Jun 2025
Building AI tools to outsmart wildfires
In 1994, Joaquin Ramirez took a job with a wildland fire-fighting crew in his native Spain. That year, Spain saw some of the most destructive fires in its history, and Joaquin quickly realized he just wasn’t cut out to be a wildland firefighter.He left the crew, but he kept think ... Show More
21m 12s
Dec 2024
S10 Bonus: Andrey Kudievskiy, Distillery
Andrey Kudievskiy has always been fascinated by technology, and when asked about himself, he identifies as an entrepreneur. He has been a software engineer, database developer, administrator and then jumped accidentally into management. Outside of his professional life, he is mar ... Show More
32m 58s
Jul 2024
694: How to Build a "People-First" Culture (with Unicorn Founder and CEO of One Planet Group, Payam Zamani)
Welcome to an interview with the author of Crossing the Desert: The Power of Embracing Life's Difficult Journeys, Payam Zamani. In this episode, Payam shares the most important lessons he learned from building a record-breaking billion-dollar IPO called AutoWeb, and how it fell a ... Show More
47m 40s
<p><strong>When I think about Elie Medawar, </strong>four ideas come to mind:</p>
<ul>
<li>Behavioural flexibility<br>
</li>
<li>Leveraging strengths<br>
</li>
<li>Learning machine<br>
</li>
<li>Contagious enthusiasm<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Elie started Medbox at a very challeng ... Show More
