Don’t Ever Skip “People I (Mostly) Admire”

I love his show, “People I (Mostly) Admire,” and I keep forgetting that I should never skip an episode.

For example, this latest interview with Pete Docter, Chief Creative Director of Pixar and the Academy Award-winning director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, and Monsters, Inc., was great, but I almost skipped it. The title of the episode, “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?” (UPDATE),” was uninteresting. I didn’t care about monsters. I thought it was one of those shows where he explored myths. I thought he was going to talk to an expert on the Loch Ness Monster or something. Twice I chose not to listen to it until this morning, when I ran out of shows to listen to, so I gave it a go. I am so glad I did, because I loved animations and movies, and I loved Pixar, and I had a great time listening to yet another classic Steve Levitt chat.

Not only were his topics interesting, but his style of interviewing was what I loved the most. He’s very vulnerable and nerdy, which is a very unique combination. In this episode, he shared how one of Pete’s movies changed his view on life, which I thought was a bit dramatic, but that’s who he was. In the same episode, Levitt went on a passionate rant on data science and how he fell in love with data because of horse betting. I thought it was a tad too strange, but that’s who he was.

Also he was very transparent about his failures in other aspects of his life. He wasn’t the best Dad or husband. He even interviewed his own daughters. Those episodes were very powerful because he really exposed the different sides of himself, in addition to him being a best-selling book author and renowned economist. I got to understand him a lot more because he was very transparent about who he was. Unlike other similar type of academics-slash-hosts I admire, such as Tyler Cowen or Stephen Wolfram, Levitt was far more “vivid” podcast host (I actually don’t know what he looks like!). This fuller impression of him has made his shows more enjoyable.

If I were to ever do a podcast, his style would be my North Star.