Eric Barker – Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Hey Everyone,

Recently I hosted author and blogger Eric Barker, who has been featured in Time Magazine, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, to talk about his latest book Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong.

His talk covers the following topics:

• Filtered un filtered leaders
• Finding your own pond
• Understanding the power of WOOP (Not whoop there it is)
• Why if you’re a drug dealer, you should have a big network to stay out of jail
• Why we choose confidence over expertise and how lower confidence helps us learn
• The emperor of Mexico, who lived in San Francisco
• What are intensifiers, and how can they benefit us
• What we can learn from Glen Gould
• How to become a super connector
• How is success influenced by timing and context
• What four metrics should you monitor to keep your life on track
• Great tips on mentoring and networking
• And much more

If you liked this talk, and you don’t want to miss any other great talks, you can find my other interviews with Tim Ferriss, Gad Saad, Ryan Holiday, and many more here. and make sure to subscribe to my newsletter!

 

Topics covered in the talk:

[00:45] What does Eric do differently after researching a book on success?

[01:30] What are Filtered and unfiltered leaders? How do they impact their societies and organizations?

[03:30] How can you find the right pond (finding a place that values your strengths)?

[04:30] Knowing when to quit? What is WOOP? Why dreams sap our energy.

[08:00] Story about a student who dropped out from princeton to become a kung fu fighter in china. Difference between chinese and american medical stretchers (yes you read that right)

[09:00] What are impacts of networks on our careers? What value does it add to the person and the company? Why drug dealers need bigger networks

[10:10] Quick tips for networking such as the five minute favor.

[13:00] Importance of positive self talk (We’re not talking about The Secret and what dave Chappelle thinks of it)

[15:38] When confidence turns into self delusion . How it prevents us from learning. The importance of self compassion.

[17:47] The ghost arm of WW2, deceiving others, and how people can read you.

[20:24] Patton as an unfiltered leader.

[21:01] How is success influenced by timing and context?

[23:30] Emperor norton the defender of mexico

[25:10] Nassim Taleb wrote “Success isn’t being on top of a hierarchy, it is standing outside all hierarchies.” Given the focus on promotion within many corporate environments, how do you feel about this viewpoint?

[25:57] How a cartoonist celebrates his near death? Tim Kreider’s stabbiversary

[27:12] How do you find the right ponds? What are intensifiers and how can they be positive and negative?

[29:35] Glenn gould strangeness and greatness.

[30:48] Does quantity of production beat quality?