The Jordan Harbinger Show - 438: How to Straighten Out Your Crooked Boss | Feedback Friday

Episode Date: November 27, 2020

Your boss is a low-down dirty sidewinder whose corruption seemingly knows no bounds, and you're on his radar because you've begun to piece together the extent of his malfeasance. If you're wondering how to straighten out your crooked boss (or at least dodge whatever wrath he's trying to dole out as you collect the evidence that will be his undoing), this Feedback Friday is a good place to start! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at [e-mail]. Now let's dive in! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/438 On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: As a new, proud firefighter, you're wondering how to straighten out your crooked boss before his malfeasance brings the whole department down or gets someone killed. We have thoughts! As a European woman working for an American tech company, you were unpleasantly surprised to discover one of your equal-role male coworkers makes $1,500 more per year than you. How might you negotiate for fairer pay at your upcoming evaluation? You "won" an auction to go on a golf trip with your company's least likable VP, which is made all the more awkward by the fact that you've never even played the game before. What are your best options here? Your Robinhood account was hacked, your $6,000 worth of stocks and options were sold, and the cash was transferred out of reach. Even though you reported this within an hour of it happening, Robinhood still hasn't given you definitive answers about what can be done to remedy the situation. What should be your next course of action? [Thanks to Corbin Payne, Esq. and Nathan Perry for helping us with this one!] Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [e-mail]! Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger. Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi. Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is sponsored in part by Conspiruality Podcast. You know how I'm always talking about critical thinking and spotting manipulation? Well, there's a podcast that's all about dismantling new age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy mad yogis, basically the wild overlap of spirituality and misinformation. It's called the Conspiruality Podcast. The hosts, a journalist, cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic, dive deep into how this stuff spreads, from Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation's dystopian vision of the future to how former leftists get pulled into far-right conspiracies.

An interesting episode to check out is called Speaking Truth to Goop, where Jen Gunter breaks down the pseudoscience behind the wellness industry in a way that is super entertaining and eye-opening. It's sharp, funny, and makes you a lot harder to fool, which, if you listen to this show, you know I'm all about that. From exploring cults to analyzing our cultural and political landscape, the Conspiratuality Podcast will help you stay informed against misinformation and resist fear tactics.

Find Conspirality on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Feedback Friday. I'm your host, Jordan Harbinger. Today I'm here with my Feedback Friday producer, my equerry and inquiry, Gabriel Mizrahi, equerry, look it up, E-Q-U-E-R-R-R-Y. On the Jordan Harbinger show,

we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. We want to help you see the Matrix when it comes to how these amazing people think and behave, and our mission is to help you become

a better-informed, critical thinker so you can get a much deeper understanding of how the world works and make sense of what's really happening even inside your own mind. If you're new to the show on Fridays, we give advice to you and answer listener questions. The rest of the week, we have long-form interviews and conversations with a variety of amazing folks from spies to CEOs, athletes to authors, to thinkers and performers. For a selection of featured episodes to get you started with some of our favorite guests and popular topics, go on over to Jordan Harbinger.com and we'll hook you up. This week on the show, we had Stuart Ritchie talking about bad science and the fact that a lot of the studies we hear about,

they're often exaggerated, they're even outright fake. You know, Gabe, like those articles where it's like, turns out eating pineapple three times a week can lower your risk of heart disease and can, you can eat some watermelon and it'll make you younger by 10 years according to like, and it's all just a lot of that is just cherry picking results and just kind of BS or just totally fabricated bull crap. Surprise. So there's like this crisis in study. So we talked about that on the show.

We also had Charles Coke with Brian Hooks as co-author on the show. Yeah, that Charles Coke. So controversial episode, but I thought it was a really interesting conversation, and I think you will as well. So make sure you've had to listen to all of that. For these advice shows, you can reach us at Friday at jordanharbinger.com. Please keep your emails as concise as you can. Try to include a descriptive subject line that makes our job a whole lot easier.

If there's something you're going through any big decision you're wrestling with, or you just need a new perspective on stuff, life, love, work, what to do about your sister's Nazi boyfriend, whatever's got you staying up at night lately, hit us up Friday at Jordan Harbinger.com. We're here to help. We keep every email anonymous. Gabe, this is a beast of a first question. What's the first thing out of the mailback? Hey, Jordan and Gabe. I started working full-time as a firefighter early this year at the age of 22, and I could not be prouder of that accomplishment. I live in a town near some of the ski mountains of Colorado, so my department is quite small. I am one of the five paid firefighters in the

apartment, so I was very lucky to beat out all of the other candidates to get this job. Congratulations. That's pretty huge. I would imagine a lot of people want to be a firefighter, especially a paid one, instead of a volunteer. However, soon after I started working here, I began to notice some odd behavior from our fire chief. He takes any form of constructive criticism or feedback as a personal attack, getting extremely defensive when you question him. As an example, he insisted we should go back to using paper maps instead of smartphones because new technology is just a fad and unreliable. He also can't take any responsibility for his actions and often blames his wrongdoings on my partner slash shift captain, who has 15 years of experience

firefighting in the Air Force and is an overall great guy. The chief also ordered me to stop volunteering for my first fire department or else I was at risk of being fired, citing an out-of-date bylaw that was written back when the department was strictly volunteer. I had to fight back with my first department's attorneys who sent him to statutes that specifically said that I could not be fired for volunteering in my off time and that as my boss, he could not regulate how I chose to spend my off time. It turns out he had personal beef with the chief of my other department and I felt like he took it as me siding with his rival by wanting to do both. He took this personally and told me that he had lost all faith and trust in me because I defied

him. Yikes. Okay, that's not a good side. Whenever anybody says, I've lost all faith and trust in you because you defied me and they're doing something wrong, look, a petty vindictive Luddite never makes a great bus. Yikes. Here's another issue. Our department covers our local airport, and sometimes the military comes there to test aircraft. The military pays us when we cover the runway for them, and the chief told them that we were aircraft, rescue, and firefighting capable, which earns us almost an extra $10 per hour. The only problem is, we aren't. My partner used to be ARFF certified, but isn't anymore, and I had just signed up to take an ARFF class to earn my certification. But in order to get more money, Chief said this was good enough and told the military we had the certifications to do it.

I'm not sure that scamming the armed forces is a good idea, but he got away with it. He's getting away with it currently. And yeah, that's definitely fraud. And you're doing it against the U.S. government that has unlimited resources to prosecute you? Not wise. This guy's a barrel of laughs so far. Go ahead. But the thing I have the biggest issue with is this mechanic he hired before anyone else started working there.

this mechanic is supposed to perform regular maintenance on the trucks two nights a week, but we found that he maybe spends an hour and a half maximum looking at the trucks before going back into his office for the rest of the day. I occasionally do overnight shifts at the station, and I've even recorded time-lapse footage that shows him staying for only four hours, and even looking at pictures of topless women on his work computer. I haven't told our chief about all that, but we did go to him with our complaints that the mechanic wasn't doing his job. The chief, though, he just insists that he knows this mechanic very well and that he's doing a good job. Here's where the illegal part comes in.

Our fire chief is responsible for reviewing our timesheets before he sends them to town hall to get paid. And if I'm even a half hour off, he will, without fail, pull me aside and question me about it. So me and my partner were shocked when we found out that this mechanic, who only works two nights a week, was putting down over 12 hours shifts at a rate of $53 an hour. By comparison, I'm only making $18 an hour working full-time. Our office administrator even flagged it, but the chief said that they looked totally fine to him. So this is scam after scam. This guy's a pathological con artist and a petty little turd to boot.

But wait, there's more. So I can't bring this up to Chief since he's the one allowing it. At this point, I would go above the Chief's head and contact the town administrator, but it turns out that the firefighter I replaced here, That guy built a case against the chief sometime back, and the town administrator then had a conversation with the chief and told him who came to see him and what he said, and the chief promptly fired that other firefighter. At this point, I should mention that we are all at-will employees, so the only reason I can't be fired are discriminatory ones like race, gender, or religion. My question to you is, who do I have to speak with to successfully report my chief without getting fired myself?

The best outcome would be to get him out of here, and I am determined to see this through before I look for other departments. Or, in the more likely event that I'll be stuck with him for the foreseeable future, how do I deal with a superior I cannot trust? A big part of this job is trusting the people around you with your life, and I can't do that with him. In fact, he has actually attempted to sabotage me by hiding my bunker gear after throwing a temper tantrum over my days off. He even told me he was planning on throwing it in the dumpster if it weren't so expensive. Clearly, he does not respect me or value my safety, so any advice that won't get me fired or killed would be great. Signed, battling backdraft. Wow.

Okay. Well, I feel like I just heard the plot of a new show on FX. Because the story is, or maybe like Bravo reality TV, where half of it's scripted and the chief is fine. This story is wild. I'm kind of shocked that this kind of malfeasance is happening at a fire department. I feel like this is the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from a dirty police person. precinct in the Bronx or Detroit in 1970s or something like that. But here it is. It's actually happening. And I'm so sorry that you're in this situation, bud. You sound like a hardworking and

conscientious person. You're basically the epitome of what a firefighter should be, what any public servant should be, really? And here you are facing off against the Colonel Kurtz of the firefighting world. And that sucks. It's hurtful. It's worrisome. And it should not be happening. There is a lot to unpack in your letter. So let's get into it here. First, I just want to confirm that what you are going through here is absolutely not okay at all. This chief is a narcissist. He's a Luddite. He's a manipulator. He's a liar. He's arguably a criminal. I mean, I don't even know how arguable that is if you're scamming the armed forces. It's incredibly egotistical. He's massively insecure. He's putting his employees and the public at risk with his petty and reckless behavior. He's wasting public funds.

He's maybe even misappropriating public funds. He's trying to control how you spend your personal time, which is just baffling. He's also compromising your ability to do your job safely. He's fighting with other departments. This guy just sounds like a cancer, honestly. The fact that he hasn't been disciplined or fired by now is insane. I think there's some small town politicking and old boys network going on here, but I think it speaks also to how much power this guy wields and how afraid most people are to stand up to people like this. And, you know, I get it. Going up against your boss, that's pretty daunting in any setting. In a small fire department, where there's a strong chain of command, and it's kind of like a family, and you don't want to

compromise your relationships. In those places, it's even more intimidating. So I understand how tricky this is, and I admire you for having the courage to take this guy on at all. So look, given everything you've shared with us, I got to say, there are some very good reasons for you to report this guy, because in a very real way, any public servant who chooses to say nothing in a situation like this owns some responsibility for the results of that silence. If this were a typical office job, if you were working payroll at ADP or something like that, I'd probably tell you, just look the other way, avoid this guy,

make some minor changes from the inside out. But like you said, this is a career where the judgment of your superiors is a matter of life or death, not just for you, but you're firefighters. You can't have trucks that don't work and things like that. When you're getting orders literally to run into a burning building, It has to be from somebody you trust. It has to be from somebody you respect.

You are in a rare position to stop this guy before he does more serious damage. And not to get all west wing on you here, but that's a theme we're seeing at all levels of the government these days, standing up and saying something when we witness something that is clearly wrong. I don't think there's much of a middle ground here. You either need to attack this problem full bore or walk away completely. That said, there are some very significant risks as well in reporting someone like this. And I know you said you're determined to see this through before you look for other departments.

There's a lot at stake in that decision. So let's get into it. And just so you know, we consulted with a firefighter, a police officer, and an employment attorney on your question to make sure we were really understanding all of the nuances of a job like yours. So look, if you decide to stay at this department and do something, here is what I would do. First, you need to document everything that has happened since you started this job. Go back, write down every significant event, conversation, decision that took place, write down the dates they occurred, the people who were involved, the outcomes of those events. This is going to be a crucial document no matter what you do.

And if somebody was around, if somebody was in the room, write their name down to, even if they weren't involved, any kind of witness, potential witness. I've said it on the show before, document, document, document. Once you decide to file a report, you're going to have to decide what to include and not to include. And in your case, there are different degrees of malfeasance going on here. Lying about being ARFF certified to the military, hiding your equipment, failing to make sure trucks are getting repaired. That is all very serious. These are decisions that are directly putting you at risk.

The stuff about the mechanic getting paid too much and watching porn in his office, that's messed up for sure. The guy's a turd. But to me, he's in a different category. Since that has nothing to do with your safety or your job debatably, look, the truck's not working, fine, whatever, but this guy fluffing his hours, maybe pick your battles and stay out of that one. You have plenty more serious corruption to report, so I would keep the focus on that. And by the way, about the volunteer stuff, you probably know this, but paid fire departments typically don't like volunteer departments, according to the firefighter we consulted with. That hatred probably stems from unions, but who knows why your chief has a bug up his ass about that?

Possibly he's territorial. Probably he's territorial. So the fact that your chief doesn't want you to volunteer, apparently that's very common. And there are tons of volunteer firefighters around the country who have to leave their volunteer departments or they won't get hired at full-time paid departments. The whole thing sounds kind of absurd, but I don't know a lot about it. It's supposed to be getting better. Only 10 to 15% of fire stations in the states are 100% paid full time.

So on-call and volunteer firefighters right now, they are the norm, as you probably know. And that's sort of tangential to the main issue, but I just wanted to give that context here for everyone else. After you document everything, put together a game plan for how to report this guy. Also, document things in the cloud. Don't write it down in a notebook and then bring it to work and then it goes missing. Document things in Google Docs or somewhere where you can get a copy. even if somebody else grabs your notebook. Put together a game plan for how to report this guy.

If you're at a station that is union, you're going to want to go through your union rep. They have enormous resources and retaliation laws in place to protect their members. Based on your email and the fact that another firefighter before you went to the city and did not prevail at all on this and got ratted out and got fired, I'm going to go ahead and guess you're not union.

In that case, you should look at OSHA. OSHA has a whistleblower protection program for employees to safely report unsafe or unhealthful working conditions. Lying about being properly certified to work on an airport would certainly qualify for that. So what hiding your equipment when you need it? Of course, you can also go directly to the city just like your old colleague did, but given the history with that town administrator, I worry it's not going to go your way. The town administrator, I don't know, I'm not an expert in municipal government,

but it doesn't sound like that person's going to be in your corner or do much about this. sounds like him and the chief are old buddies. OSHA will be more in your court, most likely. No matter what you do, though, I would seriously recommend talking to a whistleblower attorney. Even if you just consult with one on the phone to talk about your game plan, that's going to be money very well spent. If they even charge you for something like this, get a lay of the land, find out the best channels and resources for somebody in your shoes,

ask them what the biggest risks are, what you can expect to happen when you report this guy, how to handle it in the department when word gets out, because you're going to need someone experienced on your side here. The labor lawyer we consulted with for this question. By the way, he usually represents companies against whistleblowers like you, which makes the advice probably even more credible because he knows what works against him when he's trying to defend a company. Anyway, he recommended getting a whistleblower attorney,

ideally with experience in public sector cases. I know it's a bit of an investment or it could be, but I'd rather have somebody like that guiding me from the get-go, especially in a high-pressure situation like this. start with a phone call, spend a couple hundred bucks. Sometimes consults can even be inexpensive or free. That's never a waste of money, though, if you do get charged. What about the risks, Gabe?

Do you think there's going to be any blowback? Oh, backdraft here? I'm so pissed I missed the chance to use that. Is there going to be backdraft on this one? Well, retaliation against whistleblowers, as we all know, is extremely common. It's one of the biggest risks of speaking up when you see something like this going down. It takes a lot of strength to deal with it. And I'm not saying that your life is going to be a living hell because of this.

You're not, I don't know, you're not Edward Snowden or whatever. But you might be in for some serious blowback from this chief and anybody else in the department who supports him, in the town even, who supports him. I don't see this guy quietly cooperating with the investigation and, you know, treating you respectfully while it unfolds according to plan. You know, he will probably chew you out. He could ice you out. He could talk shit about you to other colleagues.

He could withhold shifts or overtime or benefits. I don't know. He could continue to mess. with you or put you in danger or basically undermine you in any number of ways. Anything is possible with this guy. It's just another reason why you should have an attorney guiding you here, somebody who could look out for you and take legal action if necessary. Yeah, I don't think the chief that wanted to fire you for being a part of a volunteer department because he has beef with another chief is going to go, yeah, it seems like we have a reasonable difference of

opinion here. Let's talk about it. Yeah, let's let the process unfold. Right. Everything's fine. Yeah, no, not going to happen. The other big risk for whistleblowers is stigma. know, what people will think about you after you blow the whistle on your chief. And even if you are in the right here, which it sounds like you most definitely are, even if this all works out perfectly, you still might have that label attached to you. Snitch? Yeah, the snitch jacket. That's what cops call it, right? When one of the fellow cops turns and tells on them when they did something wrong or whatever, they get a label and it follows them from locker room to shift to the car to, I mean, it's a big problem. Your colleagues, both at your current department and at other agencies, they might look at you

and look at what you did and ask themselves, you know, is this guy going to be a liability for me? Can I trust him to be a team player in a dangerous situation? Even if that's completely unfounded, they might be wondering that. You know, they're going to be thinking also really petty stuff. Like if I make an off-color joke on the truck, am I going to have to worry that he's going to file a complaint against me? I mean, once you have that so-called snitch jacket on, it's very hard to take it off, maybe impossible. There are just too many personal relationships in this world. In law enforcement and firefighting, it's similar culture.

it's just like Jordan said, too much back slapping going on. It's just one of the many, many reasons that change is so slow to come to to jobs like this. So you have to understand that if you report your chief, you might, might. I'm not saying it will happen, but it could happen. You might have trouble getting a job at another agency after this. It's totally unfair, but it is the reality. So you should know that if you apply to another agency after this, they're almost certainly going to call your department and they're probably going to find out what happened. You're going to have to find another chief at another department who's willing to roll the dice on you. which is tough, it's asking a lot. In the firefighting world, as I'm sure you know, there's always someone else in line who doesn't have the same baggage that you do. You might have more luck finding a job at another small agency,

since smaller agencies, they tend to see their people as people, rather than just as a file full of information. You could tell your story about what happened with this guy in a way that makes them understand it and understand what happened and give you another shot, but they would still be rolling the dice on you. And as you said, this job depends on trust

and people who are not trusted in your line of work, sadly, they're often ostracized. So maybe you know all that, but I just really wanted to spell it out because you're 22, you're young. Got your whole life ahead of you, as they say. Got his whole life ahead of him, which is encouraging, actually, because I think this guy has a lot of good stuff up ahead. But he might not be fully immersed in the culture, so you might not know how that stigma actually works. And I'm not saying that that means you shouldn't say something, but if you're going to say something, you need to know what those implications are. And if you listen to everything we just said and thought to yourself, yeah, no, I'm not willing to take that on.

That's way too much. I just want to put my head down and find another job. I can certainly understand why you would feel that way. So, Jordan, what does he do if he decides not to report this chief? Well, in that case, I would find another job ASAP and get the hell out of that agency. Your chief has told you that he doesn't have any faith in you. So your prospects at this place, not great, especially in a department this small where the chief probably stays in his job for years and years and years.

If you still want to do something, though, then you have another option, which is go to the media. My recommendation is to find a good investigative reporter, somebody who works at a local newspaper in the closest big city to you, not your local town gazette that writes about the farmer's market, but like the nearest big town near you. Get the document that you created into their hands. I can almost guarantee you that they'd run with it. Public corruption, always a great story. And if it gets published, I'm pretty sure the city would be forced to take a hard look at this chief and take some kind of action. And by the way, you could always go to the media in addition to formally reporting this guy.

If you feel the case needs some extra attention, you can always go that route. But when and how to do that would be a great question for your lawyer. And your lawyer, by the way, they might also have media contacts that they like to work with, that they trust, that they know we'll put it out there.

So definitely consult with them on this question too. And I have one more option for you. Maybe it's the best of both worlds. What if you applied to another department, worked there for six months, even a year, you build your reputation, and then you reported your old chief. That way, you're out of the line of fire,

you've already got another job secured, your new colleagues will get to know you, they'll trust you without the snitch jacket, and then you'll be in a much safer position to blow the whistle. There will still be risks here. Your new colleagues might still find out and look at you in a different way,

but I think that might put you in the strongest possible position. I'm a big fan of that option personally, but it's up to you. Also, you might even find support from your new department and say, look, this other guy's putting people at risk, what should I do? And he might say, well, normally we don't like snitches around here, but what we really don't like are dead firefighters.

So maybe you should do this. And then maybe they will then understand. And if anyone goes, oh, that's the snitch, the chief can go, well, he came to me before about this. I'm the one that told him to report it. Right? You kind of maybe measure it out with your new department and see, hey, what should I do here? Again, bounce that off your lawyer because you don't want them to then fire you or some other weirdness happening. So my advice here, really think carefully about your options. Get super clear on your goals, your values, your priorities. Take some time to really think about this.

Nobody's life is an immediate danger, hopefully, so you don't have to decide tomorrow. You really want to have a clear grasp of the upside and the risks before you make any big moves. Again, I'm very sorry that you're in this situation, but you're also in a position to do a lot of good here. This could get somebody killed. At the very least, it's illegal activity.

and I hope you find the confidence and the resources you need to make the right decisions for yourself. Good luck, brother. All right. Wow. What a doozy that was. You're listening to Feedback Friday here on the Jordan Harbinger Show. We'll be right back. And now, back to Feedback Friday on the Jordan Harbinger Show. All right, Gabe, what's next? Dear Jordan, I'm a 30-year-old European woman working for an American tech company in Europe for the last two years. This was my first job in the industry, which I got headhunted for out of the blue. Until recently, I was content with my salary until my teammate, a man, who has been working in the same position with the same responsibility and the same title for a few months less than me, told me in passing that he makes approximately $1,500 more than me per year.

It's important to note that by every metric our job performance is measured, I'm consistently performing better than him. That is not to say he is not doing a good job, but the numbers don't lie. We are the same age. The only difference is how we got our jobs. While I was headhunted for this position, he applied from a lower position in the number. the company. I also have better academic credentials and an overall more impressive resume. In fact, my colleague also told me that he did not actually finish university. While a degree is not a requirement for the position we have, it only makes me feel even more discontent with the wage difference. I do have to blame myself for not negotiating for a higher salary when I first got hired, but with no solid reference points from the industry and the company being fairly unknown in Europe at the time,

I thought I did all right. And I do need to say that I am by no means unsatisfied with the great and steady job and salary that I do have, if only I never found out. My next evaluation is scheduled for three weeks from now. Is there any way for me to negotiate to match my salary to that of my colleague? After all, shouldn't equal or even slightly better work get you equal pay? Do I just suck it up, or do I stand up for myself, signed inexperienced negotiator? Well, first of all, I can only imagine how frustrating it is to find out that you get paid less than a male colleague when you're doing a better job than he is. And I can promise you that tons of women and probably many men are listening right now and nodding their heads along to your letter, having been in a similar

situation at some point or another. And it is incredibly annoying. On one hand, the metrics don't lie and it should be obvious that you deserve the same or better salary. On the other hand, you're not getting it. So now you have to advocate for yourself, which probably also feels unfair. So before we dive in, let's separate out a couple things here. First, is a man with your same job who's not performing at your level making more than you? Yes. Is it because he's a man? Maybe. Could totally be the case. But as you point out, there are variables here that worked in his favor and not in yours. And those variables, they're not necessarily about you as a person or about your gender. They might be, but they also might not be. And in the grand scheme of things, $1,500, which, while significant,

that's like two plain tickets to Bali when the Panny D ends or seven years of Netflix. While that amount is significant, it's not like this guy's making five, ten grand more than you are. That would be grossly unjust and would probably indicate a much more systemic discrimination inside your company. I guess it all depends on what percentage of your total salary that $1,500 is. But the reason I'm bringing it up is this. As you prepare for this negotiation, I think you should be primarily focused on your qualifications and your performance. rather than on this other guy's lack of qualifications or his inferior performance. You should negotiate for what you deserve because you deserve it, not because somebody else

doesn't deserve it. Not because you're wrong. You're absolutely right. But because I think it'll help you make the strongest case. But I'll get into that in just a second. So the bottom line is, yes, I think you can and should ask for what you deserve. Here's how I'd make that happen. And by the way, we consulted with my friend Michelle Laterman. We'll link to her in the show notes. We wanted to make sure we were covering all of our angles here. Michelle is a fantastic executive coach and the author of The Connectors' Advantage, among many other books. She has tons of experience working with professionals on getting what they want in their

careers and in the workplace. If you need a referral to her for any reason, you know, let me know that as well. But we'll link her in the show notes. The good news is you have an evaluation coming up in three weeks. So since you've been crushing it, I assume they're going to give you a pretty glowing review. At which point, your managers will basically be setting you up to say, cool, glad you all agree that I'm doing a great job. Here's what I'd like to get paid. Gabe, how does she execute on this without creating the wrong impression or like a sense of entitlement or the kind of

disgruntled employee that she doesn't really want to come across as being? Well, like you said, she's actually set up in a really nice position by having this evaluation come up right around the time that she wants to ask for a raise. So I actually think she's a lot of the heavy lifting of making the case is already going to be made for her when she decides to schedule this conversation. But that is the first step. Schedule the conversation. With your managers and or HR, if they're involved, to talk about compensation, I would try to schedule that as soon after your performance review as possible so that, you know, a week or two doesn't go by and then everyone forgets how awesome you are. In this conversation, share your perspective on your performance, share your perspective on your

tenure, your experience. Get them to agree on your assessment of how you've been performing. In other words, establish from them that you're doing a great job in general. And as much as possible, make them recognize that you are doing a better job than your peer is. Now, at the same time, you're going to have to decide whether you want to bring up your colleagues pay at all in the situation. This is a little delicate. I mean, you don't want to sound petty by saying like, oh, John is making $1,500 more per year than I am. Like, what's what that? Like, you should pay me this. You know, that could really come across the wrong way. But pointing out the difference might force your company to do what's right here. Now, look, there are different schools of thought

about this, but here's how I would handle it. I would make your case for what you want to get paid without mentioning the disparity between what you're making what this guy's making. If your managers agree to a raise, then you will have gotten what you wanted. If they don't agree to it, though, then I would bring up your colleagues pay as a final factor. You know, like, look, I know there are a lot of variables in this decision, and I really do feel that I should be compensated on my merits alone. But I also happen to know that my colleague, who's in my same role, is making more than I am when I'm doing a much stronger job, as you just said yourself.

And I think we can both agree that that doesn't really make sense. Now, another thing you have to take into account is whether your friend is going to mind if you bring up his salary. This is also a little bit delicate. It might be a bit awkward. Maybe they'll resent him for sharing that with you, but honestly, I'm not sure that's really your problem. He openly told you what he makes. It's not like you can just ignore that. Just be mindful about how you frame it, and I would frame it as wanting to be paid equally to or more than this guy based on your performance,

rather than complaining about the injustice of being paid less than he is. once you've gotten them to agree to your assessment, then I would ask them how they're going to reflect that in your compensation. Let them solve this problem for you. If salaries at your company are based solely on rank and title, then yours should be equal. If they're based on merit and you just established with them that your merit is higher, then you should be paid more. End of story. You can let them know that you will accept that rectification in your bonus in the current year, but that you expect your base salary to be corrected for next year. I would definitely set clear expectations there. And if a bonus is impossible for whatever reason, then maybe explore other opportunities for you to be made whole.

I don't know what those look like at your company. Is it stock options? Is it a bump in another quarter? Or is it some kind of like project by project based incentive or something like that? You know, there are lots of options. Now, they might try and pass the buck here when you ask for your raise. I wouldn't let them do that. In this conversation, ask them what they can do, not what they can't do. That was one of the best pieces of advice we got from Michelle. Ask them to speak up for you if they agree with you. And if they refuse to make you whole for this year, but agree to raise your salary next year, then decide what you will and won't put up with. Like Jordan said, if this were $5,000, $10,000, I would have zero qualms about pushing to be made whole for the year.

But since it's $1,500 and I'm guessing that's probably a relatively small percent of your overall salary, honestly, I would probably let that go for the past year and just hold firm on getting your raise next year. Treat that lost money, if you want to think of it that way. Treat it as a small price to pay for learning how to negotiate like this, which I'm pretty sure you will have to do again at some point in your career. Now, if you do all of that and they still refuse to pay you what you deserve, then it's going to be time to think about other options. My advice is always to look for another job because if you get a competing offer,

that is always the best leverage in a situation like this. Or you just take the offer that you get instead of leveraging it and you think, all right, this is a great learning experience. You got pushed out of the nest and into a better gig. But I know you enjoy your job and you want to keep it. and so I hope you get to keep it. I'm sorry that you're in this situation. I know it's frustrating and unfair,

but I'm also happy that you now have a chance to work on your negotiation. This is a really critical and crucial skill for anyone of any gender at any stage in their career. And if you negotiate well, you are going to make a lot more than just the $1,500 deficit.

You're going to be able to renegotiate every year and you're going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars more over the course of your career, most likely. So good luck with it. All right, what's next? Hey Jordan, our company does an auction every year to raise funds for local charity. I happen to bid $17 on a $360 golf trip with one of the vice presidents of the company. And I'm assuming because of COVID, no one outbid me.

And now I'm stuck playing golf with this guy. Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second. First of all, how much of a knob do you have to be to be like, well, it's a $360 golf trip. But I bet it's going to go for a lot more money because they get to play with. with this guy, right? Like, who wants to go golfing with, well, a lot of people do, but very few people want to pay to go golfing with their boss on their off time? Well, it just gets better after this, because the letter goes on. Okay. The thing is, he is one of the less likable VPs. Well, that's why it was $17. No, thanks. Not going to go with that guy. He sucks.

There were two other golf trips that auctioned for $150 or more, which goes to show how people feel about this guy. pay $150 to go golfing with another boss, then pay $18 and go golfing with that guy. I hope this guy didn't check the little sign-in sheet beneath this section on the silent auction. That's so painful. Okay, the letter goes on. It says, I've never played golf. This gets worse.

I've never played golf before. And I also wouldn't really know how to find common ground with a 50-year-old conservative white man. So here's my question. How can I find some common ground to not make this round of golf a bad experience and get on the sky's radar. This company is all about who you know if you want to move up. And I would love to have this guy at my side. Signed, dreading the divot. This is just brutal. I don't mean to laugh, but it's kind of funny. It's just like this is like a sitcom situation. This is 100% a curbiour enthusiasm. Right. Like you have to bid on something. Fine. I'll put $17 down. No one's going to want

that. And then cut to bursting in the door like, I won. What am I going to do? Exactly. This is just, it's rough. One night after a couple of whiskey sodas. You bid $17 to support a children's charity. You know, kids with cancer, not thinking you're going to win. Next thing, you know, you're playing 18 holes

with Jim Blanders from finance. Awkward. At the same time, this is a guy who's important in your company and who would be good to know. So it's a good opportunity, right? Here's the thing.

If you've never played golf before, this game is going to be awful. It's going to be painful. You're going to hate it. He's going to get annoyed that he has to do it with you. I doubt it's going to build your relationship. He's just going to be.

be like, oh, this is painful. I'm sitting here waiting for this idiot to... Yeah, giving him notes on his putt. Yeah, like, you're on your 17th stroke on a part three, and he's just like, get me out of here. You've got a couple moves here. The first move, you can write him an email or better, in my opinion, pop into his office. I don't even know if you can do that now, but just tell him you've never played golf before. And since you don't want to force him to hit the links with a noob, would he like to take the golf game and just invite someone else? That way, you're being gracious to him. You're giving yourself an out, you're giving him an out. And who knows? Maybe that's actually the best way to build a

relationship with this guy by sparing him the obligation and giving him a nice game with somebody else that he actually likes if there is anybody like that. Just know that if he doesn't take you up on that offer, like he goes, well, I'd love to, but the company's paying for it. So it has to be with you because that's the rules. It's going to be hard for you to say, well, I was just being polite. I really can't stand the thought of spending three, four hours alone with you. You're a terrible person. You might be stuck doing this. You do have another option here, though, which is this. You could ask Jim Blanders over in finance if he'd be willing to teach you how to play, and you could make this experience a lesson. He might not want to do that, which fair enough, fine, but if he's willing

to teach you, then it would definitely give you guys something to do and to talk about, and that could change your whole dynamic. You might not have the time of your life, but if it gives you some face time with this guy, it's probably a good investment. You could also ask if he wants to do something else. Maybe instead of golf, you know, if it's not purchased already, just go get a super badass meal at a steakhouse or something. Maybe your fillette mignon game, your seafood tower game might be a little tighter than your golf game. Gabe, what do you think? I mean, there's, am I leaving anything out here? I mean, I'm just wrapping my head around the idea of a seafood tower game. Sounds pretty good right now, though. What does that mean, though? Like,

you're just excellent with seafood tower. Your seafood tower game. It means you can house a prawn. Oh, got it. Okay, cool. Or in an oyster. Yeah. Like nobody's bit. That's what you need in corporate America to get ahead. Well, listen, whether you end up playing golf with this guy or not, I might consider shifting your thinking on this just a little bit. You're thinking of it as a horrible obligation, which I can understand. But you could also think of it as an opportunity to learn how to connect with someone who's

different from you. I mean, I know this guy sucks. I get it. It's not how I would want to spend a Saturday either. But life is full of people who are different from us and who seem kind of difficult to approach and get to know. And part of our job, I think, is to figure out how to bridge those gaps. The truth is, everybody, no matter who they are, they're interesting in some way deep down.

And the fact that nobody wanted to play with this guy, that tells me that he's probably pretty lonely. He probably feels isolated in the office. And my guess is that he probably struggles with his social skills, too. So if you play golf with this guy, and even if you don't, even if you work on your seafood tower game with this guy at a Ruth Chris Steakhouse, I would give this guy a shot. Ask him some good questions, listen to what he says, follow up with more good questions. Just get curious about him. Get curious about his past and what he does.

does it work and how he does it? I mean, there are some pretty basic good questions you could ask him that would probably make you a little bit better at your job. We all have things that are universal about us, right? We have goals and experiences and feelings and family and whatever else he's been through. He might not be your BFF in the office. You probably won't be yucking it up by the Kyrig machine in the break room anytime soon, not just because of COVID, but because he sucks, as we've said over and over again. Because he's awful. But that doesn't mean that you can't have one good conversation with him. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one person who actually manages to connect with this guy. And like you said, that's important at your company. So I think it's definitely worth trying.

Or maybe this guy really does suck and he's a boring old coot whose most interesting quality is that he knows every Excel shortcut. Right. And then it'll just be a few hours one Saturday. You can tell your friends how terrible and awkward it was, but I bet you can make it okay. Just make sure you do it over an activity that brings you together rather than one that actually drives you apart. So one that build social capital instead of costing you, social capital. You're listening to Feedback Friday here on the Jordan Harbinger show. We'll be right back. Thanks for listening and supporting the show. Your support of our advertisers keeps us going. Who doesn't love some good products and or services? You can always visit Jordan Harbinger.com slash deals for all the details on everybody that helps

support the show. And now for the conclusion of Feedback Friday. All right, last but not least. Hey Jordan, I've had a Robin Hood account for about five years and have used it to invest in stocks and options. Robin Hood, by the way, for those of you who don't know, it lets you invest in stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrency with no-feas very popular service slash app right now. It's kind of like an online bank. Three weeks ago, I signed up for Robin Hood's cash management feature, which sends you a debit card so that you can access the cash in your account. Days after signing up for it, a hacker gained access to my account sold my $6,000 worth of stocks and options

then transferred the cash to the debit card that had not yet arrived to me all in five minutes. I notified Robin Hood within an hour of this happening. Two weeks have passed, and even though I've emailed them for updates every few days, Robin Hood's customer service sends me generic responses that don't really tell me if my funds will be returned or when my account will be unrestricted. I cannot make any trades or withdrawals until this is resolved. So my questions for you are, is there anything I can do in the meantime to help ensure that my funds will be returned to me?

Is Robin Hood responsible for returning the stocks and options that were sold without my authorization, or just responsible for returning the funds that were stolen? If they are only responsible for returning the funds, then what are the tax implications of the gains from the unauthorized trades? It doesn't seem fair that I might be on the hook for them. And if Robin Hood does not return my funds, do I have any legal recourse that I can pursue? Signed, Robin Hood winked. Nice. Well, I'm very sorry to hear this happen to you. as someone who thought his phone was being hacked into by Scarlett Johansson from the movie

her, I know how gross it is to feel like someone's all up in your stuff, stolen a significant amount of money from you on top of it. Look, you're not alone here. Robin Hood hacks have been in the news a lot lately. In fact, a couple weeks ago, Bloomberg ran an article, which we'll link in the show notes about a bunch of people who are in your exact same situation. Their Robin Hood accounts were liquidated, a huge headache trying to get Robin Hood to make them whole. By the way, I actually kind of dig Robin Hood's a great idea. I think they're a company that's trying pretty hard right now, so I don't want this to be like slamming on them. I also wanted to give you some solid advice here, so I consulted with Corbin Payne, defense attorney, and good friend of the show. I also called up

Robin Hood to run your situation by them anonymously, of course, and I got an interesting response from them as well. And before I dive in, just a quick disclaimer, as you know, I'm a lawyer, I am not your lawyer, but in this case, I'm stepping even further outside of my tiny, tiny legal wheelhouse. So as I share my thoughts, please keep in mind that I'm just looking at the plain language in the Robin Hood customer agreement where we're applicable. I am not offering you a super deep or sophisticated legal argument. Anything I say should be interpreted in that light. If you need further counsel, I highly recommend hiring a lawyer with very specific expertise in consumer financial products and in the laws that govern your state, especially since the

Robin Hood Agreement has several jurisdiction clauses in there because they operate all over the country. All right. Starting with your main question, is there anything I can do to help ensure that my funds will be returned to me? Well, I went looking at the latest Robin Hood customer agreement, revised June 22nd, 2020, and in subsection 1 of Appendix A, I went deep, it provides that they will reimburse you if you think your card or pin has been lost or stolen, or if you believe that an electronic fund transfer has been made without your permission, and you can, you can, can lose no more than $50. There is a caveat here, though.

You have to let them know within two business days of finding out about the theft. If you wait longer than two days, Robin Hood's share of the liability may be lowered, and you could lose as much as $500. Since you notified Robin Hood within, what, an hour or so of finding out about the theft, you should get most of your money back, less that $50. In fact, they'll probably give it all back because, I don't know, Gabe, there's something like super cheap about them being like, well, by law, we're allowed to keep $50 of these dollars, it's just kind of crappy customer service. Credit card companies are the same. They just give

you all your money back. They don't keep the 50 bucks. At the same time, Robin Hood is within its rights to take some time to conduct an investigation to ensure that that fraud actually did occur. But after a reasonable period, a week, 10 days, whatever, which is actually Robin Hood's policy, after that, they need to either pay up or demand further documentation from you about what happened. If Robin Hood is not responding reasonably to your case, if they're just completely completely out of order here, then you should consider escalating this within the company. Ask to speak with the fraud department. Demand to speak to supervisors.

If that doesn't work, demand to speak to legal. That should get their attention. If you do escalate this all the way to legal on the phone, I recommend that you write a certified letter to the legal department, basically just restating what has been discussed with legal during that call. That way, if they don't bother to respond to this certified letter, they don't get to come back later and say, oh, that wasn't our position.

You misunderstood. They can't do that because you summarize their position as you understood it, put it in a certified letter, and then they got it and you have proof that they did. If they respond with some different reason, that becomes your proof that the company won't pony up in violation of law, honestly. Either way, you need to start building a case for yourself.

Keep good documentation of all your emails, phone calls, and all other communication with Robin Hood or any bank where this happens. the timeline of your case and how it's unfolding day to day. Basically, create a super clear and detailed record of this whole experience. This will be a huge asset to you no matter what you do. If Robin Hood doesn't return your funds, then yeah, you have other avenues to pursue. The next step is to gear up for making a consumer financial protection bureau complaint. Robin Hood has an SEC probe going on right now over some other questionable practices, so this might be a good

time to bring a complaint like this. If you do file a complaint with the CFPB, then include a copy of all that documentation so they can really understand your case. We'll link to the CFPB's complaint page in the show notes here as well. Another option available to you is the consumer fraud division in your state. A state entity conducting an investigation into an out-of-state bank can get tricky, but it would be worth bringing this issue to your state's attention. If nothing else, the state could impact Robin Hood's ability to do business in that state if it turns out that they're systematically failing to respond to cases like yours. They have to respond.

A third option is to just report this to the police. This might not do anything. Probably won't result in any action. It might even be redundant if you do everything else we just mentioned, but it could come in handy for tax purposes. I'll come back to that in a second. If all else fails, consider taking legal action. Now, look, I realize the amount of money in question here is probably going to be less

than what you'd spend on a lawyer. It's certainly less than what your time is worth. So you're going to have to make that call. My hope is that you can lean on Robin Hood hard enough to get them to resolve this for you. But taking legal action, that can sometimes be a great way to affect change if nothing else will. Maybe all you need is a strong letter from an attorney to force them to pay attention to you in the first place. Now, is Robin Hood responsible for returning the stocks and options that were sold without your authorization or just responsible for returning the funds that were stolen? That's a good question. question for Robin Hood. I'm fairly sure they're only on the hook for returning the stolen funds. If they refund your six grand, they're not also going to refund you some additional amount

in the form of stocks or options. They're not going to try and repurchase securities for you instead of giving you cash. I would imagine it's just like getting reimbursed by an insurance company after an earthquake. They don't go, sorry your vase broke. Here's some money and also another vase from someone else's grandma. With the money you recover, you can simply buy the stocks and the options again, although I recognize the price might have changed since this all happened, which brings us to your last question, will you be on the hook tax-wise for gains from these unauthorized trades? Well, we consulted a tax attorney on this question, too, and the answer is, of course, it depends. Since the hackers stole your assets, you might be able to claim a

deduction for theft loss, your CPA, whoever does your taxes, they're going to know about that. However, if Robin Hood does end up reimbursing you, then that could offset the losses. It might even create a gain, and I think that's what you're worried about. In that case, you could be looking at what is called a personal casualty gain. That means any gain from an involuntary conversion theft of your property arising from a theft. But there are caveats here, too. The property in question cannot be connected with a trade, business, or transaction entered into for profit, which unfortunately might include your stocks and options. So it's tricky. You need someone who can figure this out for you at the time, depending on what Robin Hood does. Since there are so many specific limitations

around these deductions, you just got to do your homework. Make sure your accountant is well-versed in the latest regs. They probably should be. To save you a little time, we'll link to the relevant theft and casualty loss statutes, the IRS publications, the tax form for you. That's all in the show notes. You're welcome. According to the attorney we consulted, his name is Nathan Perry, by the way. The most important thing is to report your case to the police and document it so that if the IRS ever comes about asking about the deduction, you got some proof. Again, document, document, document. Like I said, we called Robin Hood to talk about your case, and a Robin Hood spokesperson said that whenever they are made aware of account issues, they work directly with customers to resolve

any issues as quickly as possible. In other words, they're not going to tell me what was going on with your case. They told me a lot of things. I'm going to skip to the highlights here. Whenever a customer reports fraudulent debit card account activity, they investigate and determine whether there is fraud within 10 business days. And if they need more time, they'll provide you, the consumer, with provisional credit for the full disputed amount. They should be giving you their freaking money back, your money back, that is. Have they done that?

If they haven't, escalate. For debit card transactions, they will finalize their investigation within 90 days from the time you reported the fraud to them. So they have more time, but they should be giving you a provisional credit here. What was described was not stemming from a breach of Robin Hood system, so they didn't get hacked. it may be related to an overall increase in targeted cybercrime against users of financial products. A lot of people are getting, having this happen to them, and it's not like they went and stole the data.

They got your password somehow. Who knows? Because of this increase in cybercrime, this week in an effort to help consumers continue to protect their accounts, Robin Hood has rolled out all these different communications, including two-factor authentication, which you should be definitely using on anything important. That's where they text you, and they, you know, text you a code to log into things, like LinkedIn or whatever. They're trying to verify personal information. They're encouraging strong password practices. Don't use the same password everywhere. We've talked about that a million times.

Robin Hood is working on their communication. They're working on customer service. They're doubled the size of their customer support team this year. So they're really working at this. I think they're overwhelmed. Again, I think they're a good company that's probably trying hard and is just getting slammed right now. So you'll get your money back.

It just might take longer. Keep in mind, platforms like Robin Hood, they're still new. They're still a little bit risky, kind of. They're cool, though, and they're exciting. And you're taking a risk by using them, kind of, but not really, right? They're going to give you your money back. I actually like Robin Hood for what it's worth. Like I said, they're getting hit hard by cyber lately.

I think it's growing pains from what's essentially a modern bank. I think they'll eventually do right by you as they're insured. They want to keep their customers, perhaps even more than most big banks. They probably care about you more than most commercial banks. So sit tight, escalate if you need to, circle back if you need to. I think they've got you on this. I hope you all enjoyed that. I want to thank everyone that wrote in this week.

Go back and check out the episodes with Stuart Ritchie and Charles Koch with Brian Hooks, if you haven't checked those out yet. Highly recommended. If you want to know how I managed to book all these great folks, manage my relationships using systems and tiny habits, check out our six-minute networking course. It's free. There's no upsells. It's on the thinkific platform at Jordan Harbinger.com slash course.

Dig the well before you get thirsty. That way you don't have to pay for an auction to go to a golf game in order to network. You're going to build those relationships before you need. them in the way that you want to do it. The drills take a few minutes a day, ignore it at your own peril. I wish I knew this stuff a couple of decades ago. It's been crucial for my personal life, my business. You can find that all at Jordan Harbinger.com slash course. A link to the show notes for the episode can be found at Jordan Harbinger.com. Transcripts are in the show notes. There's a video of this feedback Friday episode on our YouTube at Jordan Harbinger.com slash YouTube. I'm at Jordan

Harbinger on both Twitter and Instagram or just hit me on LinkedIn. You can find Gabe on Twitter at Gabe Mizrahi or on Instagram at Gabriel Mizrahi. You got to change one of them. You got it. Why, just because you don't want to say it twice? Yeah, primarily for my own benefit. Nothing to do with your convenience. I'll just drop a line to Twitter and have them snatch that away.

Instagram might be, you got to be able to change it, right? I don't know. I don't know how it works. This show is created in association with podcast one. And my amazing team includes Jen Harbinger, J. Sanderson, Robert Fogarty, Ian Baird, Millie Ocampo, Josh Ballard, and of course, Gabe Mizrahi. Keep sending in those questions to Friday at Jordan Harbinger.com. Our advice and opinions and those of our guests are their own.

And I'm a lawyer, but I am not your lawyer. So do your own research before implementing anything you hear on this show. Remember, we rise by lifting others. Share the show with those you love. And if you found this episode useful, please share it with somebody who can use the advice we gave here today. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show so you can live what you listen.

And we'll see you next time. Now, I've got some thoughts on this episode. but before we get into that, I wanted to give you a quick bite of the episode I did a while back with skating legend Tony Hawk. Tony virtually defined the entire sport of skating and was innovating in the niche before anyone even gave it a second look. His marketing and business savvy and stories of some very close calls really made this a good one. I picked up skating at the tail end of its first boom in the 70s.

That was the trend. And then when I discovered the possibilities and I literally saw people flying out of empty swimming pools, That was my wow moment. There was like a danger factor. There was this edgy factor. And I just devoted myself to it. I want to learn how to fly. For guys who considered yourselves nerds and outcast, you were pretty tough.

That is the defining moment if you want to do this seriously or continue to do it is the moment you get hurt. One of my worst injuries in the beginning was I got a concussion. I knocked my teeth out. I knew when I woke up in the pro shop of the skate park that I wanted to get back out there and do it. I can't believe people still recognize me. I can't believe that I get recognized for skating because that was never something. There was a goal. There was never something that was an option when I was younger.

The most famous skaters when I started skating were only known to a very small group of skateboarders. They were in the skate magazines. They were definitely not on TV. They weren't considered sports stars. I still feel strange that I get recognized. You know, it's weird. Skateboarding now, some people get into it to be rich or famous. When I got into it, neither one of those things was even.

possible. For more with Tony Hawk, including how he almost lost control of his brand entirely, check out episode 324 of the Jordan Harbinger Show. This episode is sponsored in part by Something You Should Know podcast. Finding a new great podcast shouldn't be this hard, so let me save you some time. If you like the Jordan Harbinger show, you'll probably like something you should know with Mike Carruthers. It's one of those shows that makes you smarter in a practical, useful way.

Same curiosity vibe we go for here, just in a fast-focused format. Mike brings on top experts and asks the exact questions that you'd want to ask, and the topics are all over the place in the best way. Recently, they've covered things like why we care so much what other people think, the benefits of laughter, why sports fans get so invested, and what makes people like you or not. The through line is always the same. Smart ideas you can actually use in real life. Something you should know has been featured in Apple's shows we love, and it's got thousands of five-star reviews because it's consistently interesting. So if you want another show that scratches that

I want to understand how people in the world really work itch, search for for something you should know wherever you get your podcasts. Look for the bright yellow light bulb and start listening. You can thank me later.