571. Music, Artistry and Taste in an AI Era with Benjamin Groff

What if the difference between a hit song and a forgotten one has almost nothing to do with talent? My guest, Benjamin Groff, has spent his career finding out. He's a music publisher who's signed artists like Ryan Tedder, Tiësto, Kelly Clarkson, and Kid Cudi, built Kobalt's first U.S. office from the ground up, and now runs his own boutique publishing company, Brill Building — which just landed its first Billboard Hot 100 #1 with Beyoncé's "Break My Soul." Back in 2016, Benjamin and I had a conversation on a bus tour of NASA about whether AI would ever replace musicians. He was certain it wouldn't. By the time we got off that bus, he wasn't so sure. Nearly a decade later, he's now a private investor in the AI music platform Suno — and still finding tomorrow's biggest stars in the noise. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Benjamin breaks down: ✅ How he still finds emerging artists before anyone else notices them ✅ Why data and virality metrics can't replace real taste and curation ✅ What 100+ years of "the new technology will ruin everything" panics — player pianos, drum machines, Napster, now AI — actually teach us ✅ Why 85% of success comes down to identity and mindset, not raw skill ✅ The Tony Robbins framework for why only "outstanding" work gets rewarded anymore If you've ever wondered whether AI is coming for your creative career, this conversation will change how you think about it. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at getyourselfoptimized.com/571.  

There are around five people who dislike uncertainty for every one person who actually likes it. My guest this episode, Scott Stirrett, wants to help you become the one. Scott is the author of The Uncertainty Advantage, founder of Venture for Canada (which he grew from a $300K budget in 2016 to $14 million by 2022), and a former Goldman Sachs analyst. He's also refreshingly candid about his own struggle with OCD — and how learning to tolerate uncertainty didn't just help him manage that, it reshaped how he approaches risk, career, and resilience entirely. In this episode, we get into: ➡️ Why "the only way out is through" is Scott's core message for tolerating uncertainty ➡️ How to catch a "ritual" before it quietly takes over your life ➡️ Why self-compassion — not toughness — is what actually builds resilience ➡️ Scott's simple weekly practice for building your "risk-taking muscles" ➡️ Why he believes solopreneurship, taste, and face-to-face relationships will define the AI era ➡️ The AI risk that actually keeps him up at night — and it's probably not the one you'd guess If you've ever felt like uncertainty is something to survive rather than use, this conversation will shift that. 🎧 Listen now The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at getyourselfoptimized.com/570.

What if the second most important organ system in your body isn't your heart, lungs, or liver — but your skeleton? That's the case my guest, Peter Simonson, makes in this episode. Peter trained as a mechanical engineer at Georgia Tech, then spent years designing spinal implants for Medtronic before discovering — almost by accident — a dormant bone technology company called Juvent after its founder passed away. He and his brother revived it, and what he's since learned about bone as a metabolic, hormone-producing organ (not just a structural frame) reshapes how you think about aging, mobility, and even things like blood pressure and balance. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Peter breaks down: ➡️ Why your skeleton functions more like an endocrine organ than scaffolding ➡️ How osteoporosis can show up in children, not just the elderly ➡️ Why more "powerful" vibration platforms can actually be dangerous ➡️ The JAMA-published, placebo-controlled study that found a 10% bone density increase from safe microimpact therapy ➡️ Peter's own daily biohacks — from seasonal fasting to reframing walking as "a luxury," not a chore If you've ever taken your mobility for granted, this conversation will change that.  

In the age of AI, what is the one thing you still cannot outsource? According to Eric Ries, author of the mega-bestseller The Lean Startup and the new book Incorruptible, it is the hard work of learning itself. Eric has spent 15 years helping founders build companies, and the deepest lesson he has taken from it applies to anyone trying to grow: the real bottleneck is still how fast your own mind can learn. You can let tools build and summarize for you, but no one can lift the heavy weights of understanding on your behalf. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Eric shares: ✅ Why learning, not technology, is still the real bottleneck in the AI era ✅ How to escape the trap of reading summaries of summaries and go deep on what actually matters ✅ Why booking real time to think is a tool almost everyone underuses ✅ How to refine your vision without losing your commitment to it, and why morale is a resource worth guarding ✅ The surprising power of equanimity when life seems to go wrong Whether you are building a company or building yourself, Eric's approach to learning, focus, and staying the course is worth your time. Tune in!  

Cameron Herold sold everything he owned and has visited 54 countries in 39 months. The biggest lesson he brought back? None of it really matters. We're all just walking each other home. Cameron is the operator who scaled 1-800-GOT-JUNK to $100 million, founded the COO Alliance, and wrote the book on Vivid Vision. In this episode, he sits down with me to talk about what actually moves the needle in business and in life. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Cameron breaks down: ✅ Vivid Vision: how a four- or five-page description of your future gets your whole team, and your whole life, aligned ✅ The flywheel: how obsessing over one or two things built a company people called a cult ✅ R&D, or rip-off and duplicate, and why you never have to be the smartest person in the room ✅ Why the only people who should fear AI are those not using it, and how to get your team playing with it weekly ✅ The stop-doing list, and why killing off half-finished projects can free up more energy than finishing them He also gets personal about refocusing on his marriage, raising two grounded sons, and becoming the chief energizing officer in every role of his life. Tune in! The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at getyourselfoptimized.com/567

What if the hardest thing in the world isn't earning money or finding success, but trusting the process when you have every reason not to? My guest, Adrien Fournier, went from being a corporate business lawyer in Geneva to spending the last fifteen years doing energy work, and he offers his healing sessions for free. We met through Yanik Silver's Maverick mastermind, and in this conversation Adrien walks through a worldview where everything, from your body to your bank account to the stock market, is a form of energy that reflects who you are. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Adrien breaks down: ✅ Why you are made of more than a physical body, and how you're already equipped to perceive it ✅ Why darkness and contrast are what give light and love their meaning ✅ The reason he refuses to do energy work for money, and why that keeps it clean ✅ How to treat money as neutral energy and become a steward rather than an owner ✅ The Viking concept of destiny and causality, and why your effort is at most 49 percent of the equation If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right and life still isn't cooperating, Adrien's take on faith, surrender, and getting back on the horse is worth your time. Tune in! The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at getyourselfoptimized.com/566    

Your biggest business problem probably is not a business problem at all. That is the reframe my guest, Dr. Patty Ann Tublin, has built an entire career around. Dr. Patty Ann is a clinical psychologist who does high-level executive and business coaching for entrepreneurs, founders, and C-suite leaders. Her core belief is that all success is predicated upon the ability to create, nurture, and sustain healthy relationships. As she puts it, business problems are rarely business problems. They are relationship problems that show up as business problems. She shared the story of a Silicon Valley app company that should have been crushing it during COVID and was not. The processes were fine. The real issue was that the head engineer and the head salesperson despised each other, and that mistrust trickled down through the entire organization. In this Get Yourself Optimized episode, Dr. Patty Ann breaks down: ✅ Why nothing changes until the unspoken is spoken ✅ How your internal reality quietly overrides your external results ✅ Why AI does not create incompetence or weak leadership, but it will reveal it ✅ How to rebuild trust after it has been broken, in business and at home ✅ Why taking responsibility for your role in any conflict (even just 1 percent) changes everything This is not about working harder. It is about getting honest about the human side of success. What unspoken truth in your business or your relationships is waiting to be said out loud? The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at getyourselfoptimized.com/565  

Most people think jet lag is just about time zones. What if the real problem is inflammation? In this episode of Get Yourself Optimized, I sat down with Andrew Herr, founder and CEO of FlyKitt, a former human performance strategist for the U.S. military, and twice named a Mad Scientist by the U.S. Army, and he completely reframes how you think about travel, recovery, and peak performance. "When your body runs cleaner, when it's being more efficient, when it's not inflamed, you can just catch the signal better." Andrew doesn't just help road warriors arrive feeling sharp. He goes deep on the physiology of sleep, the underrated power of polyphenols, the psychological tools that break self-sabotage, and the surprising spiritual dimension of optimizing your health. In this episode, we cover: 🔥 Why inflammation, not just circadian rhythm, is the real driver of jet lag 💤 Blue light, sleep supplements (glycine, 5-HTP, melatonin), and the pre-bed shower hack 💪 The 10x10 kettlebell swing workout you can do in under 10 minutes 🧠 The Downward Arrow tool and exposure therapy for breaking through self-sabotage ✨ How a cleaner, less inflamed body becomes a clearer vessel for guidance and purpose If you travel frequently, run on insufficient sleep, or feel like you're not performing at your best, this episode is packed with practical tools you can use today. 🎧 Listen now at getyourselfoptimized.com/564   🎁 Try FlyKitt at flykitt.com - use code GYOPod for 15% off

You've been told to grow your reach. But what if the real problem is resonance? Jay Acunzo spent years at Google, HubSpot, and a VC firm before building a keynote speaking career from scratch, only to lose it all in five days when the pandemic hit. What came out of that reinvention was something far more powerful: a clear mission to help experts stop being commodities and start being irreplaceable. In Episode 563 of Get Yourself Optimized, Jay pulls back the curtain on the craft of storytelling, resonance, and what it actually takes to make people care in an age defined by noise. What we got into: → Why being a great speaker is the closest thing to an "increase the odds of success" button → The "That's the thing about" device, a single phrase that turns a good story into one that inspires action → Align, Agitate, Assert, Invite, the four-part story structure that moves people from where they are to where you want them to be → Why your competitive edge will never come from a $20/month AI subscription tool → The two things every great interviewer must master to capture real, specific, powerful stories If you have something genuinely worth saying, this episode will help you say it in a way that actually lands. 🎧 Listen now at getyourselfoptimized.com/563 📚 Read more at jayacunzo.com

What if the secret to getting paid more as a speaker had nothing to do with your speaking fee? Majeed Mogharreban — known as Majeed Like Magic — went from getting laughed off a stage in New Orleans to making $250,000 from a single talk. In Episode 562 of Get Yourself Optimized, he pulls back the curtain on the exact frameworks, storytelling strategies, and AI workflows that are helping speakers and business owners turn their words into revenue. Here's a taste of what we got into: → Why the highest-paid speakers make most of their money not from fees, but from revenues generated because of speaking → The three questions every speaker must answer before stepping on stage → Pain Island vs. Pleasure Island — the storytelling framework that sells without pitching → How Majeed uses ChatGPT and Fathom to write a full personalized speech in minutes — and bring clients to tears → The "blank for blank who blank" formula to position yourself as the only choice in your market Whether you speak on stages, lead sales calls, or simply want to tell a better story, this episode will change how you show up. 🎧 Listen now at getyourselfoptimized.com/562 📚 Get the free book at expertspeaker.com/book