#62 - Lambda School for Secretaries, Billionaire of The Week, Deepfakes & More

**Shaan Puri** (0:00)
Okay, we got a friend of the show, Jordan Harbinger is here. Jordan, how are you doing, man?

**Jordan Harbinger** (0:04)
Thanks for having me on, man. I'm just chilling, self-isolating, you know, the uge.

**Shaan Puri** (0:09)
We are all isolating, but I appreciate you dropping in on the show, just parachuting in, just for a couple minutes. It's always fun to have you. You know, this is a crazy time, 2020's been a crazy year. We got coronavirus, and we also had, you know, the sad, tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, who was a guest on your show.
How did that happen? How do you get Kobe?

**Jordan Harbinger** (0:28)
Yeah, you know what was funny is I was pitching a publicity team for a different guest that I can't even remember now, because he was about 1% as famous as Kobe Bryant. And they booked it, and it was like some comedian, which I, of course, was really excited about. They booked it and they canceled it, and I got really annoyed, and they said, well, would you consider interviewing Kobe Bryant instead? And I said, yeah, of course I would consider that. Let's do that. So we set it up, and I flew down to Kobe's office and went over there and hung out for a while and did the interview right there. And it was incredible. It was a really interesting experience to be there with his team as well for that day.
And honestly, it was probably September of 2019, so the timing was interesting. And you know me, I asked him all kinds of questions that had nothing to do with basketball, including about creativity, business, hiring and firing, because you wonder how a guy like Kobe Bryant decides who to hire and how he lets people go. I don't know if I'd want to be on the wrong side of him.
And I did end up asking him about his life and what he's gonna do for his second act. And if he ever creepily, I asked him if he ever thinks about what he's gonna do if he were gone, because he has kids. And he was really, really honest in the interview. He was really, really straightforward. And I admire that. It was a really good interview, in my opinion.

**Shaan Puri** (1:48)
Yeah, that is intense, high stakes interviewing, to say the least. And was he like an idol of yours before you did the interview?

**Jordan Harbinger** (1:55)
No, man, honestly, look, who doesn't love watching basketball? But I wasn't even, I'm just not a fanboy of athletes in general. So it was a great, unique opportunity. But I wasn't nervous because of that. I was more nervous because you just never know if your audio equipment's gonna screw up. So I was more nervous, like, make sure it's recording, than I was nervous to be sitting in front of Kobe Bryant. Honestly, he was so friendly and unassuming.
And not very loud. In fact, we even had audio issues recording it, because we're like, hey, we gotta turn him up really high. And I said, you're really quiet. And he goes, yeah, I'm just not a loud guy, man. And I was like, oh my God, can you be loud for like the next 45 minutes?
So it was a really unique experience. I'll be thankful for that for a long time to come.

**Shaan Puri** (2:39)
That is amazing. When we started this show, we were doing the interview style thing, and I made a bucket list, a wish list, of all the guests that I would want. Kobe was on there. And when I look at your show, and I've been plowing through the archive of episodes that you've got, you've had a bunch of them. So you've had Tony Hawk, you've had Kobe Bryant. Who are some of the other awesome episodes that people should check out if they do binge your show like I'm doing?

**Jordan Harbinger** (3:03)
Sure, yeah. Howie Mandel was really good, the comedian. He was very open about things like mental illness and how he doesn't shake people's hands. I've had Dennis Rodman, Malcolm Gladwell.
And I also had Frank Abagnale, which a lot of people haven't heard about or from. But he-

**Shaan Puri** (3:18)
Is that the Catch Me If You Can guy?

**Jordan Harbinger** (3:20)
He is the Catch Me If You Can guy. So he's the real guy that was played by Leo DiCaprio. And we talked about the psychology behind how he was able to trick so many people. And now he teaches, of course, FBI and intelligence agencies how that's done as well.

**Shaan Puri** (3:35)
That is amazing. So if you're one of the listeners to the show who misses when we used to do the interviews and bring in guests, well, this is my recommendation for you. You should go check out the Jordan Harbinger show.