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Simon SinekSimon Sinek

Where Is Simon Going? with journalist Cal Fussman | A Bit of Optimism Podcast

Sometimes in life, we must stop and ask ourselves, “Where am I going next?” Other times, it’s more fun to do a podcast takeover. No one has ever interviewed me quite like Cal Fussman. Cal has a gift – he pulls things out of you that you didn’t even know were there. A prolific Writer At Large for Esquire, Cal has interviewed legends like Muhammad Ali and Mikhail Gorbachev, and he’s the host of the podcast Big Questions. So, to mark 15 years since writing Start With Why, I invited Cal to take over my podcast and ask me the questions I don’t usually get asked. Cal did get me to open up in this conversation, but not in the way you might expect. We talk about where I’ve been, where I’m going, the infinite game, creativity in AI…and why I’ve become so obsessed with friendship lately. This…is A Bit of Optimism. For more on Cal and his work, check out: https://www.calfussman.com/podcast/ ⏰ Timestamps 0:00 How Simon met Cal 9:36 The evolution of the news media 14:49 Fear and AI 24:40 ChatGPT's opinion on Simon Sinek 29:57 AI Therapists 41:05 Simon has an epiphany + + + Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do. Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and The Infinite Game. + + + Website: http://simonsinek.com/ Live Online Classes: https://simonsinek.com/classes/ Podcast: http://apple.co/simonsinek Instagram: https://instagram.com/simonsinek/ Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/simonsinek/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonsinek Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simonsinek Simon’s books: The Infinite Game: https://simonsinek.com/books/the-infinite-game/ Start With Why: https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/ Find Your Why: https://simonsinek.com/books/find-your-why/ Leaders Eat Last: https://simonsinek.com/books/leaders-eat-last/ Together is Better: https://simonsinek.com/books/together-is-better/ + + + #SimonSinek

Simon SinekguestCal Fussmanhost
May 13, 202551mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:009:36

    How Simon met Cal

    1. SS

      The common thread in all of my work was a friend there to support me, was a friend there to hold me up, and I know who those people are. It's Jen, it's Jonny Quest, it's Johnny Bravo, it's Kendra. I'm writing about friendship now because it's my... Oh, it's gonna bring me to tears. It's a letter of gratitude. I'm writing this book to say thank you.

    2. CF

      [music] Hi. I am not Simon Sinek. I'm Cal Fussman, and today I'm taking over for Simon to interview Simon. It's been 15 years since the release of Start With Why, and so we thought it'd be fun to flip the script and let me interview Simon about where we've been and where we're going. I first met Simon in 2019 when he came on my podcast, and that conversation was a feast of epiphanies. Today, I came back for more, but my overriding question is, where is Simon going? And you're gonna find out, but in a most circuitous way. You're gonna hear two older gentlemen, who are not technologists, talk about AI. You're gonna hear some things that may surprise you, even if you are a technologist. And in the end, you're gonna run into the moment where Simon answers the question. After Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, and my personal favorite, The Infinite Game, this is where he's going. And of course, it contains a bit of optimism. [music] The takeover. I'll let Simon explain. [laughs]

    3. SS

      [laughs] So a bunch of years ago, what did we say? Like pre, definitely pre-

    4. CF

      2019

    5. SS

      ... 2019, I was, I, The Infinite Game had just come out, and I was doing the podcast tour, interview tour, and, um, I was invited onto your show, onto your podcast. You got more out of me than probably any interview I've ever done before, and probably since. There were new ideas that were com- coming out, revelations, and then when we thought about who we can have on this podcast, I thought, "I can't let Cal Fussman go to waste."

    6. CF

      [laughs]

    7. SS

      You know, we, we have to do it. So we decided to do a podcast takeover where you are now the host, and I am now the guest. [laughs] And we'll see how this goes.

    8. CF

      Oh, it feels good.

    9. SS

      [laughs]

    10. CF

      It feels good. We'll pick up where we left off.

    11. SS

      Okay.

    12. CF

      When we last spoke, you had basically, in my words, climbed the staircase from Start With Why to-

    13. SS

      Leaders Eat Last. Yeah

    14. CF

      ... Leaders Eat Last, and then The Infinite Game-

    15. SS

      Yep

    16. CF

      ... which was the one that really impacted my life the most. And now there are reasons for all this. Uh, and, and right after that came COVID in 2020.

    17. SS

      Yep.

    18. CF

      And I'm wondering, like, where the staircase took Simon [chuckles] after that.

    19. SS

      [laughs]

    20. CF

      Because you had just impacted my life in, in such a huge way, and then the world kind of separated us, and only now do I get a chance to see where things have gone.

    21. SS

      Where things have gone.

    22. CF

      And, and I got something to tell you that I hope you will shed some light on, so...

    23. SS

      What was the impact, just out of curiosity?

    24. CF

      The Infinite Game was a message that allowed me to see myself in the largest possible way, because, like as you pointed out to me, like when people introduce themselves, they might say, "Hey, I've been a writer for Esquire for 20 years," or, "I've written a book with Larry King," when, the CNN broadcaster, that was a New York Times bestseller. And you helped me realize that it wasn't just being in a specific zone and making myself, that's who I am. It was part of a long road that I wasn't really conscious of, because at the time, you know, things start blowing up in, in front of you. You know, all the magazines, uh, you remember the newsstands in, like, Beverly Hi- they're not there, or if they're there, many of them are selling Playboys from 1972.

    25. SS

      Yeah.

    26. CF

      Uh, the, the world has changed.

    27. SS

      Mm.

    28. CF

      And so w- when you need to reinvent yourself, you have to understand the infinite game.

    29. SS

      Mm.

    30. CF

      If you don't understand that, it's gonna be really hard to pivot.

  2. 9:3614:49

    The evolution of the news media

    1. CF

      When I went to college, as a journalist, we were taught there is a separation between the marketing and between editorial.

    2. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    3. CF

      If you wanna do the editorial, you can never step over that line towards sales or marketing. Nobody's gonna trust you, and you're gonna lose what you love. Well, that was ingrained in me from [laughs] like the time I was 17. All right? Well, fast-forward to the Kardashians, and, like, the world is a, a completely different place. People are putting out their messaging on the internet, uh, b- and marketing themselves at the same time.

    4. SS

      Uh, it don't even have to go as far as the Kardashians. I mean, you can look at Fox News or CNN or all of these, uh, quote-unquote "news organizations," and, you know, they are technically news organizations, but the integration of the business side and the editorial side is fully integrated, and that's because their business model is advertising. When the whole system changed was actually Nightline. Do you know about this?

    5. CF

      Uh, Ted Koppel.

    6. SS

      Yeah. So-

    7. CF

      Explain.

    8. SS

      Yeah. So back in the day when radio and television started to become a thing, the government owns the airwaves, and obviously the private sector says, "We wanna use the airwaves 'cause we wanna entertain people and make money." And the government said, "Fine. We'll make you a deal. You can use the public airwaves at no cost. You don't have to pay the government a fee. But the deal is if you use the public airwaves to make money, you have to offer a public service in return," and that was the news, right? And so everybody knew that, and they made money off of the entertainment, the Lucille Ball show or whatever, and they never made money on the news. Just wasn't a thing. And that's why you could have people like Walter Cronkite, where everybody trusted Walter Cronkite, because there was no business model. It was just a public service that was offered as a part of the deal, right? There was no business model.

    9. CF

      Wow.

    10. SS

      And it all changed in 1979 with the Iran, uh, hostage crisis, and Ted Koppel, uh, was covering the Iran, and for the first time ever, the ratings for the news skyrocketed.

    11. CF

      [whistles]

    12. SS

      Skyrocketed. Became some of the most popular television that there was. And so on the business side, they're going, "Huh?"

    13. CF

      Oh, man.

    14. SS

      And, and it didn't happen overnight, but you started to see a slow disintegration of the separation of church and state, where things like the fairness doctrine. We used to have something that the FCC ran-

    15. CF

      Right

    16. SS

      ... called the fairness doctrine, which is, it did things like if you showed five minutes of a Republican candidate, you had to show five minutes of the Democratic candidate, right? You had to keep it equal. It was fair. It was a fair, it was par... And it was, um-I can't remember which administration. I think it might have been in the Reagan administration, where in the name of, in the name of corporate profitability, they started to break down... In other words, you started to see the break of the, of business and, and, and news, right? And now we get to the point now where they rate the news like they rate any other TV program, and they sell advertising on the news like any other program, and so the incentive is to get people to watch no matter what you have to say. So it's no longer a public service, it's now part of a business model, right? And this is part of the problem, which is... So people control about, you know, fake news or the traditional news media. The, it's not, the problem isn't the journalists. The problem is the business model. 'Cause you get the behavior you reward, and if you reward eyeballs over everything, then you have to say and do anything, and the news is now competing against each other, which has created a, a business competition thing.

    17. CF

      But you can imagine somebody who grew up in that old school way of thinking. Back in the, in the '70s, I was taught, you know, there is this world and you can never cross this line and, and-

    18. SS

      Right

    19. CF

      ... try to-

    20. SS

      It was sacrilege.

    21. CF

      Yeah. You, you just don't do that.

    22. SS

      You'd, you'd lose your job.

    23. CF

      That's right.

    24. SS

      You'd lose your job.

    25. CF

      And so that, that stayed with me all those years, even as the internet came about and, like, everybody, there's no line there anymore.

    26. SS

      Right.

    27. CF

      And I, I can't cross this line that doesn't even exist. When you talk about the infinite game-

    28. SS

      Yep

    29. CF

      ... you could see how helpful that is because it says, "Hold it. You're not that person. You're not identifying yourself as a University of Missouri journalism school graduate and president in 1978." [laughs] Like, you had that experience. You learn from it.

    30. SS

      It's part of your story.

  3. 14:4924:40

    Fear and AI

    1. CF

      When AI came about, I would have been one of those people who got frightened by it.

    2. SS

      Mm.

    3. CF

      I mean, the first time you're at the screen, you ask it a question, and then there is this dump of information.

    4. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    5. CF

      Like, faster than you could possibly-

    6. SS

      Mm-hmm

    7. CF

      ... read, think, and you're, "Oh my God. Well, how, how am I gonna compete with this?"

    8. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    9. CF

      And of course, you can't.

    10. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    11. CF

      But it's scary a- at the moment.

    12. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    13. CF

      But w- what, what I realized when I started to get into it was, hold it, this is going to remember everything.

    14. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    15. CF

      And not only what happened to me-

    16. SS

      Mm-hmm

    17. CF

      ... but what happened to everybody whose information-

    18. SS

      Mm-hmm

    19. CF

      ... g- gets dumped into it.

    20. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    21. CF

      And I saw that as this am- amazing power.

    22. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    23. CF

      And not as something to be afraid of.

    24. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    25. CF

      And so at a time where a lot of people shrunk from it, I kinda dove into it.

    26. SS

      It's a good metaphor, right? Which if you think Google, Google's kinda like, uh, your high school library, or Library of Congress is probably more accurate. Like, it's got, it's got one of everything. You have to go searching, but it just gives you the book. Like, what is the thing? Well, here's the book. Here you go.

    27. CF

      That's right.

    28. SS

      Here's the article you're looking for.

    29. CF

      That, that's right.

    30. SS

      Right? That's all it is.

  4. 24:4029:57

    ChatGPT's opinion on Simon Sinek

    1. CF

      You know what? ChatGPT told me the same thing-

    2. SS

      [laughs]

    3. CF

      ... in its own words about you. I asked it.

    4. SS

      Mm-hmm.

    5. CF

      I said, "You know, I'm going out to talk to Simon, and-"

    6. SS

      Yeah

    7. CF

      ... "I, like, I'm wondering, could you give me a parallel in history between Simon's life and artificial intelligence? Like, what's transpired-"

    8. SS

      Right

    9. CF

      ... "since Simon was born?"

    10. SS

      Right.

    11. CF

      And, and it went through possibilities.

    12. SS

      Sure.

    13. CF

      I don't think it knew you well enough.

    14. SS

      Well, that's, that's... Yeah.

    15. CF

      At the end, this is what it came up with. It said, "In a way, Simon represents what machines still can't do: build trust by feeling purpose. AI, no matter how advanced, still relies on inputs and outputs, not belief." And-

    16. SS

      Hmm

    17. CF

      ... it s- seemed to me to be so on point.

    18. SS

      That's good.

    19. CF

      It understood you pretty well.

    20. SS

      It's good. But it's good. Yeah, no debate. It's good.

    21. CF

      Is there anything you would quibble with there?

    22. SS

      I mean, again, i- i- sort of the irony is it's sort of doing exactly what I said it would do, which is it can only talk about me a- and refer t- to purpose. And my most famous book is Start With Why.

    23. CF

      Right.

    24. SS

      But it's not the only part of my work, and it's not the only thing I talk about, though it is foundational. And so it, it did exactly what I expected it would do, which is it cannot talk about me without talking about purpose. It can't, it can't think one step f- further. But, but i- it's accurate.

    25. CF

      Y- you know what?

    26. SS

      It's pretty real.

    27. CF

      It needs to read The Infinite Game again. [laughs]

    28. SS

      It's pretty good. It's, it... What it's doing is it's saying it's, it's the human elements. You know, if somebody gave you a wedding speech that they wrote with ChatGPT, it wouldn't make you feel loved. ChatGPT is like money, right? Money is a redeemable commodity. We make money, we spend money, we w- waste money, we make more money. AI's like money, and it's a redeemable commodity. It just spits it out, spits it out, spits it out. There's no sacrifice of time or energy on the part of the person who's trying to do something. Which is why getting advice from ChatGPT, totally fine. I'm totally fine with using technology for shortcuts, for efficiencies. It's all great. But at the end of the day, the thing that makes people feel loved is that someone s- went through the difficult journey of trying to be your friend. I can hijack and shortcut all of those things with ChatGPT, but it won't make me feel loved. Like I said, I'd rather have a bumbly, fumbly fight with you.

    29. CF

      [laughs]

    30. SS

      Imperfect. Because at the end of the day, I know we're both trying to get to resolution, versus you reading me the perfect script. And I guess this goes to the core of authenticity.

  5. 29:5741:05

    AI Therapists

    1. CF

      There's a, a company, [lips smack] uh, it's called Slingshot AI. It basically, uh, gives therapy. It was started during-

    2. SS

      Yeah

    3. CF

      ... COVID, where people were, like, in hospitals in need of, like, emotional help, and there was nobody to see them. When I talked to the founder, he said that [lips smack] there are, like, many people who, within seven minutes, are divulging things about themselves that, like, normally in a, in an appointment with a therapist would, might take the second or the third meeting eye to eye.

    4. SS

      Uh, at least a couple hours.

    5. CF

      Right.

    6. SS

      Yeah.

    7. CF

      And this is happening within seven minutes, and-

    8. SS

      Yeah

    9. CF

      ... you, 'cause you've got a whole generation of people coming. They have trouble... communicating eye to eye with other people. And not only that, I me- I, I remember talking to a woman who, she ti- tipped me off to this. She said, "You know, I have a son who can text the pizzeria to order takeout and have the pizza del- delivered, but cannot call up the pizzeria to talk to somebody to ask for it to be deliver-" There's anxiety there. And so you're gonna have all, or, or many young people-

    10. SS

      Mm

    11. CF

      ... who are more comfortable talking to-

    12. SS

      Yeah, yeah, the computer

    13. CF

      ... the computer. And now you're telling me, hold it, look, th- this is The Wizard of Oz. Pull, you know, we need Toto to pull back the curtain.

    14. SS

      This becomes a s- a self-fulfilling-

    15. CF

      Whew

    16. SS

      ... spiral, right? Because I've, I'm grown up with so much technology, and technology helps me, that I haven't learned the skills of talking to people. And so when I have to talk to people, I find anxiety or I get anxious. And so for me to combat the anxiety, I want us to p- talk to people even less. Or if I am feeling anxious, I can ask the technology to make me feel better because it's been trained in the therapy.

    17. CF

      Right.

    18. SS

      Right? And all the time it becomes self-proving. See, the technology does make me feel better. That's why it's good to have therapists. And what they're not getting to is the root of the problem, which is there's an unsocial, or dare I say antisocial component, which is you, you're a social animal who doesn't know how to interact with your own species, right? And this, over the course of time, is gonna be a problem. And it's, it's no different than any other addiction where I feel extreme amounts of social, financial, career stress, and so if I drink, the stress goes away. It's, so it works, so why wouldn't I drink more? But for the fact that too much alcohol is bad for you. You and I aren't saying, we're not Luddites here. You and I are both embracers of technology and are using the technology. We're not anti the technology. But we are saying there is a balance. And the question we're asking is where's that line of too much? And the thing that I'm learning about sort of AI friends and AI therapists and all of these things, they've been trained in all of the skills of every therapist. And unlike your therapist, they don't have bad days. They're not tired. They don't think you're an idiot.

    19. CF

      Right.

    20. SS

      Right? And yet they have all the skills that, that, that PhD psychologist has. They are affirmation machines, right? I'm feeling depressed. Tell me more about it. Well, I had a fight with my partner. Oh, that's hard. Tell me more. Well, you know, we went down this road and, you know, I just realized I said some things I regret. Oh, it must feel frustrating to say things you regret. I'm sure you hurt her and that feels bad. Yeah, I do. Thank you. But you, you still know, I know, I still know you're trying hard. Yes, thank you. And it's an affirmation machine. It, it's doing all the things that a good therapist or a good friend or a good partner does, which is they make you feel heard, they make you feel seen, and they provide a safe space for you to let it all out. The machine is doing all of that, right? And it is run by a for-profit company that wants to keep you affirmed and keep you coming back for more.

    21. CF

      On the screen, right. Yeah, yeah.

    22. SS

      Keep you, keep you either staying on the screen for longer or coming back more frequently, and one of the best ways to do it is this affirmation machine. Now, we know social media and, and the internet fires our dopamine receptors. We know that. You know, dopamine is the feeling you get when you find the thing you're looking for or, like, win something. It's why it's likes and it's views and, and, and scroll, scroll, scroll. We know how our dopamine system can be hijacked by technology. But what you have here is now oxytocin being fired, and oxytocin is the chemical for, and serotonin, for all the warm and fuzzies, the real, the real love we feel with friends. Which is not-

    23. CF

      And when you hug somebody for 30 seconds-

    24. SS

      Right

    25. CF

      ... you get that.

    26. SS

      All of that stuff.

    27. CF

      Right. Yeah, yeah.

    28. SS

      That's all do- that's all oxytocin.

    29. CF

      Right.

    30. SS

      So the problem is, is with these affirmation machines, it's not just dopamine that's firing. You feel good. You feel seen. You feel heard.

  6. 41:0551:17

    Simon has an epiphany

    1. CF

      Start With Why.

    2. SS

      Yep.

    3. CF

      That came from a conflict in your life.

    4. SS

      Yep.

    5. CF

      After that, you described to me how you had somebody you thought was a friend.

    6. SS

      Yep.

    7. CF

      You know, interesting w-

    8. SS

      Good friend

    9. CF

      ... friend, friend, friend. That caused like [laughs] a conflict or crisis that set in motion your second book.

    10. SS

      Yep. You just put piece... This is why I love you, Cal Fussman.

    11. CF

      [laughs]

    12. SS

      You're helping me see things that I've never seen before.

    13. CF

      Wh- which is-

    14. SS

      This is why I'm getting excited. These are epiphanies.

    15. CF

      O- okay. And so I'm starting to wonder if there, like, would need to be some moment with AI, some kind of crisis or conflict that, you know, went beyond the filter-

    16. SS

      Yeah

    17. CF

      ... and, and took you to a place where, like, all right, I've, I've gotta sit down, think this out, think it through, get it in a book, and put this out for the world.

    18. SS

      You just helped me see something that I never saw before this moment. I always say my work is semi-autobiographical. My work is the sum total of me finding solutions to the problems that I've had, and turns out those solutions have benefit to other people who are having similar problems, right? Turns out. And I'm very clear that Start With Why exists because I lost my passion, and it was the refining of my passion that became Start With Why. That was the solution that I found. As my life progressed, I was having trust issues with people, personally and professionally. Most started off professionally. There are very specific stories that I can tell that explain, and then simultaneously I'm spending time with folks in the military and I'm meeting these people who would give their lives for people they don't even like, right? And I wanted to understand trust for my own selfish purposes, and the solutions that I was finding as I was learning about trustI was out for dinner with my publisher, and he's like, "What are you up to?" And I was telling him this, all this amazing learning, and he said, "Let's publish that." Like, that wasn't supposed to be a book. Leaders and L- Le- Last wasn't supposed to be a book. It was my trying to solve my own problems. Infinite Game, same thing. Like, I'm an idealist, and all I got was criticism from people, especially in the business world, saying, "You gotta stop being an idealist. You need to start focusing on these things." And I always felt insecure that maybe I was doing something wrong being the idealist, and these people are smarter than me, wealthier than me, more successful than me, however you wanna define it, you know? And then I discovered The Infinite Game. I was like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. They're all the finite players. No, no, no, no. They're doing it wrong."

    19. CF

      [laughs]

    20. SS

      "I'm onto something here."

    21. CF

      [laughs]

    22. SS

      By accident. And so I, I could tell you the s- the, the things that were going on in my life that the books that I wrote man- came out of those experiences. And now I'm writing a v- a book about friendship, and somebody's like, "Why are you writing about friendship?" And the answer is, the honest answer if I'm honest, like, and I go onto this lo- you know, sort of little diatribe about, you know, depression and anxiety in the world and friendship fixes all those things. But that's not my experience. I haven't gone through a depression recently that a friend fixed, and I'm actually pretty good at making friends, and I have some remarkably close friendships. I haven't been struggling in the friendship department, and I honestly haven't known, I have no clue why I wanna write... And I've had a couple fits and starts at things that I thought I was gonna write about, and I've become obsessed with friendship, and I couldn't... I don't know the story as to why I'm writing about friendship now. But I go back to my own journey. What is it in my own life journey that I'm writing about friendship right now? It's not idle curiosity, 'cause I wouldn't be obsessed if it was just idle curiosity. I only write about things I'm obsessed about. And I realize as we're sitting here talking that every single one of those other experiences, that my crisis of purpose and loss of passion was interrupted by a friend who cared about me and said, "I'm worried about you." And that gave me permission, and it gave me the mental head space, and more important, the psychological safety. Like, my friend would, when, when, when I came clean that I was struggling, she said to me, "You are not alone." She would send me texts that said, "You're not alone," as I went on the journey of trying to rediscover my passion. And it was a friend's intervention that became Start With Why. It was the impetus. And then Leaders Eat Last, right? What I realized, it was, that was the place where I thought I had a friend, and I realized it wasn't a friend. It was somebody working me for access and all of this stuff, that it gave me a crisis of friendship, and I retreated and didn't know who my friends were. And it was the fear of losing friendships and not knowing how to trust, who to trust, what trust even is, and would I even be able to ever make a friend again? That became Leaders Eat Last. And it was The Infinite Game, the insecurity I had around some of other, some of my other friends who were doing things in a way, and they were giving me advice that just made me feel more and more and more insecure, and yet they're supposed to be my friends. What is it inside me that I'm struggling to even relate to my own friends anymore 'cause I feel inse- so insecure when I'm around my own friends? That became The Infinite Game. It gave me a huge boost of confidence, right? Knowing that there's this other way of seeing the world called the infinite mindset. And I'm realizing the common thread in all of my work was a friend there to support me, was a friend there to hold me up. Even, I talk about, I tell the story of Leaders Eat Last nearly didn't happen. I, it was so difficult to write that I actually got to the point of giving up, and it was in that trying to e- extract myself from the project, and I was preparing to quit, that I called a friend, and that friend basically said, "I got you." And that was all I needed to go back and finish that excruciatingly difficult book. And all of these situations, I'm realizing what m- what helped me get through them all was a friend standing beside me in every single case. And I know who those people are. It's Jen. It's Johnny Quest. It's Johnny Bravo. It's Kendra. Like, I know who all those people are every step along the way. And that's what I realize I'm writing about friendship now because it's my... Oh, it's gonna bring me to tears. It's my, it's my... It's a letter of gratitude. I'm writing this book to say thank you, and I think the best way I can say thank you to my friends is, in typical Simon fashion, make it an act of service, which is if I write down what I've learned about great friends so that hopefully I can give something to other people so they can have the kinds of friendships and support that I've had my whole life. That's why I'm writing about friends. I'm just realizing it right now. It's just, it's just an extended love letter. And I'm just gonna make that love letter available to everybody in the world.

    23. CF

      I'm happy to be the first to read it. [laughs] It's-

    24. SS

      This is why I wanted you to take over my podcast.

    25. CF

      [laughs]

    26. SS

      You, you are able to get things out of me. I don't know how you do it, but you are able to get things out of me, and I have, I have realizations. And it's not like you, you and I have only met w- and it's, let's be clear. This is the second time we've ever met-

    27. CF

      The second time

    28. SS

      ... in six years.

    29. CF

      Yes. That's correct.

    30. SS

      The first time is when I came on your podcast. The second time is right now.

Episode duration: 51:18

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