People I (Mostly) Admire Celebrates 100th Episode With A Special Show

 Steven Levitt of Freakonomics is an anti-interviewer. He doesn't yell or trap guests with gotcha questions. Levitt's voice is soft, and his tone is sedate and thoughtful. He's no Joe Rogan, and thank goodness for that. 

Levitt doesn't bring "attitude" to interviews like so many hosts believe they must to garner ratings and downloads. Instead of skimming the surface in his interviews, Levitt goes deep, probing for insights, inspiration, and information.

That's probably why People I (Mostly) Admire, the podcast from Freakonomics Radio Network hosted by Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt, is looking back on its first 100 shows with a retrospective episode titled “Celebrating 100 People I (Mostly) Admire.” 

 In the episode, Levitt reflects on speaking with 100 high achievers across a wide range of disciplines: thinkers, researchers, government leaders, authors, and the occasional celebrity. "The perfect guest for me is someone who's not only wildly intelligent, but also a little bit off the rails," Levitt has said. "Someone who thinks differently and who doesn't care at all how the world perceives him or her."

The episode looks back at the highs and the lows of the first 100 episodes, highlighting memorable moments with everyone from Nobel laureates to professional poker players. Levitt shares some exchanges that surprised him, and some that led him to think in new ways. “I know from experience that I often think differently about questions than other people,” Levitt says, later adding, “The fact that I don't know much about the areas of expertise of my guests serves as a smokescreen to ask questions that are a little edgy or even outright blasphemous,”

The episode also investigates the direct impacts the show has had on its listeners. One listener, for instance, calls in to say he quit his job after listening to an episode with Annie Duke — the former professional poker player and quitting advocate. He was only one of many who wrote in about leaving their jobs after that episode. The “kill criteria” and “timestamp” he references are both recommendations by Duke to help you know why you should quit and when is the best time to do so.

“Your conversation with Annie Duke inspired me and my own job to set some kill criteria and a timestamp as a result. I can say that after 13 years with the same company, I'm now looking for my next career opportunity. But I can do so knowing that I happily left before I got so miserable that it wasn't really a choice by.”

Another listener referenced a study that data-scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz presented in his episode.

“I recall an episode where you told us about a study where people were randomly required to comment on their location and how happy they were at that given time. From these results, even if I had zero construction expertise, I decided to take a year off from work and build a house in the middle of a national park. It is a beautiful experience and I now live there full time.”

But no one has been changed more by 100 episodes of People I (Mostly) Admire than its host. Levitt wraps up the celebration by talking about specific changes he’s made – eating less meat after a conversation with philosopher Peter Singer, for instance – and also broader ones. “This show has definitely changed my outlook around accomplishment,” he says. To explain what he means by that, Levitt shares a clip of him telling psychologist Dan Gilbert how the show has helped him evolve into a more curious and open person:

“Interestingly, this podcast is something I can only do because I’m full. For 30 years, I single-mindedly, almost with an addictive sort of focus, tried to produce knowledge. I had to. It was my job to have ideas, to write these ideas down, to break ground. And what has been very liberating for me is I no longer have any illusion that I will create ideas. I want to learn. I want to become a consumer of ideas. I didn't read for pleasure for 30 years. What I love about this podcast is, I don't want to embarrass myself. So before I talk to you, I want to really learn about you and what you've thought about. And I never spent any time doing that, even though it's something I know I enjoy and I loved to do when I was young. And it just got crowded out. So one of the beauties for me of being full is that this is an activity that I can only enjoy because I've sated that other desire.”

As Levitt notes, that revelation has influenced how he conducts his interviews: “I used to ask my guests for advice, but honestly, their advice didn't seem very good to me. So I stopped asking for advice and instead I began to ask my guests whether they’re full.”

Listen to the episode “Celebrating 100 People I (Mostly) Admire” at freakonomics.com or wherever you get podcasts.

People I (Mostly) Admire is hosted by Steven Levitt, the unorthodox University of Chicago economist and co-author of the Freakonomics book series, who tracks down other high achievers and asks questions that only he would think to ask. Guests have included all-time Jeopardy! champion (and now host) Ken Jennings, YouTube C.E.O. Susan Wojcicki, W.N.B.A. champion Sue Bird, Operation Warp Speed chief Moncef Slaoui, and neuroscientist/actress (also now Jeopardy! host) Mayim Bialik. 

 People I (Mostly) Admire is the Winner of Adweek‘s 2021 Best Interview Podcast of the Year. 

Photo by Lina Kivaka