Jon Rothstein, College Basketball Insider for CBS Sports, is the guest this week. Here’s some of the stuff we talked about: where does that “Stay Humble, Stay Hungry” tweet come from? (1:26), how studying leaders from history has helped shape him into the worker/person he is today (2:26), how and why his job became an all-day, every-day grind (4:17), the importance of creating and having a niche when starting out in this industry (5:54), the career path that took him from Ithaca to ESPN Radio’s Dream Job competition to real estate to the current day, including the failures along the way (7:52), why/how he paid for air time at a local radio station as an up-and-comer (10:44), how being uncomfortable and envious of other people with connections drove him to work even harder (11:40), did doubt ever creep in about his career choice or after rejections piled up early on? (13:43), how he was able to build respect for himself as the new guy that had just won the competition (15:38), the interview with Billy Donovan that finally made him think he was “getting close” (19:04), why you can’t just do one thing in this industry (20:31), the importance of focusing on excelling just one day at a time (26:36), how his personal life–relationships with family, friends, women–has been impacted by his commitment to his job (28:10), the great advice he got from Bo Ryan (32:17), why he doesn’t see this everyday grind coming to a halt any time soon and his thoughts on vacations (35:40), how he turned a wedding invitation in San Francisco to a way to build relationships with three different schools (39:30), the approach you take when you’re not looking just for one story, but to do the job for the next 45 years (41:12) and Jon takes his turn to ask me a question–we discuss my favorite Rocky movie (47:15).
scott spinelli 