After the surprise success of Liar’s Poker, publishers urged Michael Lewis to try his hand at fiction. It was a bad idea. But even award-winning fiction authors have struggled with failure. Michael speaks with Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders about the urge to imitate other writers, and what we all can learn from bad first drafts. We also hear why Saunders was identified early as a gifted student, while Michael Lewis was – emphatically – not.You can order the new Liar’s Poker audiobook at Pushkin.fm/LiarsPoker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Lewis did not rest long on his laurels after publishing Liar’s Poker. In the 1990s, he hit the presidential campaign trail, writing a series of magazine pieces. Some of his dispatches got adapted for audio by a then-new public radio show called “This American Life.” Michael speaks with the show’s creator, Ira Glass, about how they both found their voices as storytellers. Trigger warning: this episode contains vintage NPR sounds.You can order the new Liar’s Poker audiobook at Pushkin.fm/LiarsPoker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liar’s Poker is set on a Wall Street where women were the last hired and first fired — and that was probably the least of their worries. Is Wall Street today any better for women? Michael speaks with Anne Clarke Wolff, who was in the training class at Salomon Brothers a few years after him. She is starting an investment bank that will be majority owned and managed by women and minorities. The firm’s nickname? “Salomon Sisters.”You can order the new Liar’s Poker audiobook at Pushkin.fm/LiarsPoker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liar’s Poker describes many of the mentors Michael Lewis had at the investment bank Salomon Brothers. He chose to keep some of their identities secret, out of a well-founded fear that the book might cost them their cushy Wall Street jobs. Now for the first time, we get to hear their side of the story and learn their names.You can order the new Liar’s Poker audiobook at Pushkin.fm/LiarsPoker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Michael Lewis has re-read Liar’s Poker. That experience brought up a lot of questions — especially, why is a book set in the pre-Internet Wall Street of the 1980s still relevant today? So Michael turned to Jacob Goldstein, finance reporter and host of the Pushkin show "What’s Your Problem?". They discuss how Liar’s Poker foreshadowed the ups and downs of the world we live in now.You can listen to Jacob Goldstein’s new show “What’s Your Problem?” here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-your-problem/id1602541473And you can order the new Liar’s Poker audiobook here: https://www.pushkin.fm/audiobook/liars-poker Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks interviews Michael Lewis about his new book “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.” They also discuss how Michael started his writing career and why growing up in New Orleans made him a better storyteller. This conversation was recorded as part of the Live Talks Los Angeles series and posted May 19, 2021. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special bonus episode of Against the Rules, Michael Lewis reads a chapter from his new book about the pandemic, The Premonition —available now wherever books are sold. This episode includes the voice of Charity Dean, former Assistant Director of the California Department of Public Health and one of the medical visionaries featured in the book. And stay around for an exclusive author interview.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can everyone be coached — or are some people beyond help?The transformative power of coaching is put to the test as Michael enlists a coach to help him tackle his greatest fear. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back when coaching didn’t do very much, it didn’t matter who got it and who didn’t. But coaching is clearly getting better and better, and spreading into more areas of life, which means it matters a great deal who gets it and who does not. And the people who don’t get it are often the ones who need it most. A professor attempts to teach the art of landing a joke to America’s next generation of business leaders, but will she tip the scales of privilege even more along the way? We see the other darker side of data coaching in sports, when the weaponization of information enables a cheating scandal that puts an end to a promising pitching career.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We explore the quantitative, scientific, and data-driven new frontier of coaching.  Major League baseball is undergoing a coaching revolution from old-school to new tech. We talk to players whose careers were turned around not by a charismatic coach, but by data, and the techies who coach them. We see how data coaching is creeping into the workspace with a computerized conversation coach that has pinned the successful sales pitch down to a science.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colleges today talk a big game about valuing diversity — so why are so many of them failing to retain first-generation students? We meet a homeless straight-A track star and her ad-hoc college application coach to look at why it’s so hard to get into college while rural, poor, and uncoached. We go deep with coaches and students at a non-profit called ScholarMatch, founded by novelist David Eggers, to find out just what it can take to get first-generation college students over the graduation finish line. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just about anyone today can call themselves a coach. Michael traces this trend back to its source and finds out that the secret to effective coaching lies not in retraining the body, but the mind. We meet the original guru of “the inner game”: Timothy Gallwey, author of the 1974 classic, “The Inner Game of Tennis.” We find out how mental skills coaches only need one coaching toolkit to work with everyone from New York City firefighters, youth softball players, professional musicians, and even writers with a podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael revisits his high school days in New Orleans to tell the story of Billy Fitzgerald, the baseball coach who changed his life; and makes the case for the old-school, tough- love coaching that many parents find hard to take these days. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Lewis interviews the Co-Founders of Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg, as part of Dell Technologies Small Business Podference, Hear what it's like to start a business with a close friend and how Pushkin Industries is navigating the COVID-19 crisis.Find more episodes from the Small Business Podference at https://delltechnologiespodference.com/. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Credit card companies are making billions of dollars off of people who don’t understand the rules of the money game. Can a good coach help level the playing field? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While working on the next season of Against the Rules coming later this spring, Michael Lewis has had some conversations that we didn’t want to hold. Conversations with people who are helping others through the Covid-19 crisis. We’ll hear from a software developer focused on helping the 40 million Americans on food assistance manage their benefits, as well as a teacher on the frontlines of the crisis in New York State. To help those in need, go to givedirectly.org/covid-19. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new show from Pushkin Industries: Cautionary Tales. We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable life lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the grown ups – and they are all true. Tim Harford (Financial Times, BBC, author of “Messy” and “The Undercover Economist”) brings you stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, daring heists and hilarious fiascos. They'll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser. Featuring original music and an award-winning cast including Alan Cumming and Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife), Toby Stephens (Die Another Day), Russell Tovey (Quantico) – and Malcolm Gladwell. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Around the launch of Against the Rules, Michael spoke with his friend and co-producer, the author Malcolm Gladwell, at the 92Y in New York. Hear them talk about podcasting, referees, and the magic of “conversational delight.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where is a millisecond worth a million dollars? The New York Stock Exchange.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Judges now want us to know they’re human. But maybe we’d be better off if we didn’t know. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What kind of person makes a neutral referee? It’s not the kind of person you think. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The authenticator ref absolves everyone of blame. And sometimes generates money out of thin air. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone hates grammar and ethics cops. Until they need one. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.