← Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Bookmarks 2025
00:32:12
This week, it’s our annual “Bookmarks” episode. We read a lot of books to research this show, and often we stumble on great stories that don’t fit our regular episodes. So we save t…
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- [00:02]
Terry O'Reilly
Did you know that if you subscribe to our But Wait, There's More option, you get a bonus story in every episode of under the Influence. But Wait, There's More. For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you get early access so you hear every episode a full week before everybody else. Plus you enjoy that episode ad free. Tsk tsk. And by subscribing you support our podcast. Just go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe to under the Influences. But Wait, There's More.
- [00:40]
Grainger Voice
If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. This that's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [01:10]
McDonald's Voice
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- [01:26]
Progressive Insurance Voice
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- [01:48]
Terry O'Reilly
This is an apostrophe podcast production.
- [01:58]
McDonald's Voice
We're going to show you our big new Studebaker.
- [02:00]
LinkedIn Voice
Start the Car.
- [02:07]
McDonald's Voice
Mamma mia, that's a spicy meatball. What love doesn't conquer.
- [02:12]
Terry O'Reilly
Alka sells her will.
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Grainger Voice
What a relief.
- [02:23]
Adam Grant
You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly.
- [02:34]
Terry O'Reilly
Johannes Gutenberg was an enterprising guy. He had developed a huge breakthrough in printing the invention of movable type. Prior to that, each block of type had to be created specifically for each page of a book, and once it had been used, it could not be employed again for any other book. Movable type meant the letters could be rearranged and reused again and again and again. And unlike the earlier block print technology, which was set in stone once, movable type meant mistakes could be easily corrected on each page. With his invention, Gutenberg needed to attract rich investors to expand his new printing company, and by 1492 he had a Big lucrative idea. He wanted to produce the first printed Bible. What is now known as the Gutenberg Bible was a landmark in human history. It was the first time biblical scripture could be read instead of just being passed along verbally. But each Gutenberg Bible was expensive to purchase and it was printed in Latin. It would take many years before an English version of the Bible was printed. It took that long because the prosperous religious establishment kept trying to block the English printing for fear the public would revolt once it read in the Bible that clergy were supposed to live humbly and simply without wealth. But the march of technology could not be stopped. In 1611, the King James Bible was finally printed in English. In England, regular people could finally read the Old and New Testaments for themselves. The King had a royal printer named Robert Barker, who prepared and printed the various editions of what would be referred to as the King James bible. Then, in 1631, a mistake happened. Barker printed a new edition of the Bible. About 1,000 copies were distributed. A year later, someone noticed a typo. And it wasn't just an incidental typo. It occurred in the list of the Ten Commandments between thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not kill. This new edition said, thou shalt commit adultery. Hmm, who knew? Clearly, it was a typo, a historic typo. You would think that when proofreading a Bible, the list of Ten Commandments would be right up there near the top of the list, but no. When the mistake was discovered, Barker was summoned to the High Court, tried and found guilty of negligence. He was fined £300 a ton of cash back then, and his printing license was revoked. All the Bibles were ordered returned and destroyed. Robert Barker would end up penniless and despondent and would later die in the King's bench prison. In 1645, while the Bibles were order destroyed, between 10 and 15 managed to survive to this day. That edition of the Good Book is now known as the Wicked Bible. And existing copies of the Wicked Bible fetch a pretty penny on auction sites. Some have been sold for as much as $100,000. Auction house Bonham's sold a wicked Bible recently and had something very interesting to say about it. Bonhams said the typo may not have been an error, but rather an act of sabotage by a rival printer who wanted to discredit Barker and claim his lucrative Royal Printing License. Proving two things. The printing business was nasty back then and it really pays to proofread today. We talk about good books. Not the good Book, but good books. We read a lot to research this show, and often we come across fascinating stories that don't fit into our regular season, so we saved them up. For this episode. We'll take a late night peek at Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. We'll borrow a chapter from Arkel's lead singer Max Kerman. We'll steal an insight from a legendary Jiu jitsu fighter and thou shalt take a few notes from the composer who wrote Wichita Lineman.
- [07:33]
Adam Grant
You're under the influence.
- [07:47]
Terry O'Reilly
I am currently reading a biography of Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels titled Lorne the man who Invented Saturday Night Live by author Susan Morrison. I've been a fan of SNL since it began back in 1975 and was curious to read a biography about Canadian Lorne Michaels, and I was interested to learn how Michaels and his team put an episode of SNL together in just one week. Every week the SNL writers pitch rough ideas to Lorne on Monday. Then they work around the clock on Tuesday night writing scripts to present to Lorne on Wednesday morning. And this is the interesting part, lorne Michaels says. When you're tired, it wears down critical faculties. In other words, it stops that inner editor that would otherwise squash ideas so the humor flows more easily. Working his writers into the wee hours preserves ideas, but Michaels feels working that late serves another purpose, too. He believes the comedy created during those late hours will eventually have to work during the same wee hours on Saturday nights. As you know, I'm a huge Beatles fan and I just read an excellent book titled John and A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie. Leslie has a fascinating premise that John and Paul communicated to each other in their songs during the Beatle years. He believes that John Lennon and Paul McCartney never really told each other how important they were to each other. Men of their generation just didn't communicate emotions back in the 60s, so they expressed their true feelings in songs. For example, Ian Leslie says Lennon and McCartney started to argue for the first time in 1965. Paul had written yesterday, and none of the other Beatles were involved in the recording. There was even talk of releasing the song as a McCartney solo record. Leslie suspects that was a fault line in the relationship that made John insecure. He didn't want to lose Paul, and John had already lost a lot of people in his life his mother, his father, and his best friend Stuart Sutcliffe. So John and Paul started to argue. In response, Paul wrote, we can work it out. The partnership starts to show the first signs of fracturing. So Paul writes the song. I'm looking through you the Lyrics say, you don't look different, but you have changed. I'm looking through you. You're not the same. When John, George and Ringo dropped acid for the first time, Paul refused. He was a holdout. That's when John wrote Day Tripper, a song about someone who won't go all the way, but it was camouflaged. Ian Leslie maintains that one of John's most beautiful compositions was again a camouflaged message to Paul. In My Life talks about their shared background in Liverpool and the fact that Paul is the most important person in his life at that point. Paul has always said that hey Jude was a song he wrote for John's son Julian, when John and Cynthia Lennon were divorcing. But in subsequent interviews, John believed Paul was really writing about him and encouraging him to pursue Yoko. John was hurt when Paul wrote the soundtrack for a movie without him and when Paul would record Beatles songs on the White Album without him. Yoko once said that nobody hurt John more than Paul. When John wrote Don't Let Me Down, Leslie says Paul responded to that by saying, I'll never let you down. In the song oh Darling, when the Beatles were arguing about Apple and their business issues, Paul wrote you never give me your money as a message to John. And in the film Let It Be and the documentary Get Back, we see John and Paul sharing the vocal on Two of Us. Paul said it was a song for Linda, but the lyric we have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead can't be about Linda. He has only recently met her. Leslie says that song is clearly about the Lennon McCartney relationship. It is a well researched book and Leslie does use incredible detail to prove his premise. And even when the Beatles broke up, John and Paul sniped at each other in song. It was always their way of communicating. By the way, you can listen to my chat with Ian Leslie on our beatleology Interviews podcast. I've mentioned this next book before, but it may be the best book on leadership I've ever read. It's titled the Captain the Hidden Force that Creates the World's Greatest Teams by Sam Walker. In this terrific book, Walker studies and analyzes the greatest captains of various sports teams throughout history and how vital they are to the team's success. Walker maintains that the greatest leaders have an uncommon willingness to persevere and give everything all the time. They don't care about how they are perceived. They only care about dragging their teams through challenges by any means necessary. Walker says that a team can't only have architects, it needs bricklayers too. And many Leaders are bricklayers. The superstars score the goals, but they rely on the bricklayers to make the passes. Often the best leaders seem to lead from behind. They perform the difficult and thankless jobs in the shadows. Sometimes that means having clashes with the coach on behalf of the team or bumping heads with the toughest player on the opposing team, the dirty work no one else has the guts or clout to do. Often a leader must disrupt the team's routines and challenge its definition of what's normal. This usually produces resistance and anger, so leaders have to have personal courage. Leaders don't make speeches, don't seek attention, don't pursue a claim, and are not comfortable in the power spotlight. A great leader is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make success more likely, even if it's unpopular, controversial, outrageous, or even invisible to others. Interesting that Walker says in his book that leaders are made, not born. He says leaders are like the verb in a sentence, not as memorable as the nouns, not as evocative as the adjectives, and not as expressive as punctuation. But in the closed unit of a great sentence, it's the only essential component. Walker also maintains that salary and market value is not leadership. The proof in the pudding? A lot of teams with expensive superstars don't win Stanley Cups I'm a fan of the band Arkells, and lead singer Max Kerman has just written a new book. It's titled Try Creative Work in Progress. In this insightful book, Max tries to demystify creativity. Many people think creativity is some kind of magic or a divine thunderbolt that only strikes the very few. But Max argues that true creativity is a process that involves exploring ideas with curiosity, enthusiasm, and hard work. Max uses his experience being in a band to make his points, talking about the nuts and bolts of songwriting, marketing a band, and using storytelling on stage. For example, he says it is important to delight in other people's skills. He talks about being in awe of the musical skills his bandmates have. He marvels at their ability both on stage and when they're writing songs together. I think that's a very important insight. Everyone has a superpower, and it's unique to that person, and smart organizations recognize that. On the other hand, I've often seen people be jealous of other people's skills, or they feel insecure around them, or in the worst moments, try to sabotage them, even to the detriment of their own company. But Max is right. Smart groups delight in each other's skills. Max Kerman is also a big believer in playing what if games when trying to blue sky ideas, having a safe and unfettered period of being able to say what if we did this? Or what if we did that? Is incredibly beneficial in that moment. All bad ideas are welcome. All nutty notions are acceptable. No judging, no editing, just let the ideas fly. I'm a big believer in that too. In the writing room at our production company, we always floated what if scenarios. We did this because I always wanted to hear everything our writers were thinking. What if is a starting point. There will be plenty of time to weed out the bad ideas down the road. But Max and I agree on this point. Some of the best ideas we've ever been part of came as a direct result of the worst idea of the day. It was either a big idea in disguise or it was the stepping stone to a great idea. I read a very good marketing book recently titled Dim Sum Strategy Bite Sized Tools to Build Stronger Brands by Peter Wilkin. Wilkin has a long history in the advertising business and his insights are not just academic theory, they're battle tested ideas you can implement directly into your business. Of the many insightful points Wilkin makes, he implores advertisers not to over promise. We see so much of that in advertising. Banks who say they listen, airlines who say they care. Hotel room ads that never look like the room you actually get. Will can believes that broken promises result in broken relationships. It's the reason why people lose respect for politicians. They make promises they often never deliver. He believes that good marketing isn't about superficial things like logos and fonts. Strong brands keep their customers front and center and keep their promises. Brand building means commitment. As Wilkins says, the taller you want your building, the deeper you have to dig the foundation. Peter's book is a kind of marketing bible, giving you the commandments to building a great brand. And by the way, you can listen to my conversation with Peter Wilkin as a bonus podcast. When we return, Mozart writes a letter about his creative process.
- [20:05]
Elise Hu
Hi, I'm Adam Grant, host of the podcast Work Life. For over 20 years, Paylocity has been simplifying work with innovative solutions that teams love. Like on demand payment which offers employees access to wages prior to payday flexible time tracking features which enable staff to clock in and out through their mobile device and numerous other cutting edge solutions that simplify collaboration across hr, finance and it. Learn more about how Paylocity can help streamline work and enhance business outcomes for your organization@paylocity.com simplified when you think of.
- [20:39]
Adam Grant
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- [21:08]
LinkedIn Voice
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- [21:51]
Terry O'Reilly
Max Kerman's book reminded me of another book that I keep coming back to. It's titled how to Fly a the Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton. The book begins with a letter written by Mozart. In the letter, Mozart describes his creative process. He said when he was alone and in a good mood, his greatest symphonies, concertos and operas all came to him fully formed. All he had to do was write them down. Mozart said, my ideas stand almost finished and complete in my mind so I can survey it like a fine picture or a beautiful statue at a glance. That letter was used to explain creativity for over 100 years and has been cited by many of the world's greatest artists. Except for one thing. It was a forgery. Ashton points out that Mozart never wrote that letter. As a matter of fact, Mozart's real letters reveal his true creative process. He revised. He often got stuck. He would set work aside and come back to it later. He struggled with certain pieces. Nothing ever came to him in uninterrupted streams of magic. In other words, his work was work. Ashton believes there is no magic moment of creation. Creative ideas are the result of iteration. It requires a series of multiple hops to arrive at a great idea. It's not the size of your strides that determine your success, it's how many you take. There is no trick. To create is to work. It's that easy and that hard. Like Max Kerman says, waiting for inspiration creates writer's block. True inspiration is all about rolling up your sleeves and getting to work. Because persistence often finds fortune. Author K. Kevin Ashton also wrote an interesting story about the Origins of the Light Bulb as a Symbol of Inspiration way back in 1919, a decade before the arrival of Mickey Mouse, there was a cartoon called Felix the Cat. In the cartoon, symbols and numbers would appear above his head. Felix would grab them and use them as props. Question marks became ladders, musical notes became vehicles, and exclamation marks became baseball bats. But there was one symbol that lived long after the cat. When Felix had an idea, a light bulb appeared over his head. Light bulbs have represented ideas ever since, and that's why having an idea is often called illumination. As a writer, I too have my Bibles. One is the Elements of Style by Strunk and White. That thin book is a treasure trove containing the principles of composition. It was Originally written in 1918 by William Strunk, who was a professor at Cornell University. It was Then updated in 1959 by E.B. white of the New Yorker Magazine Writing is hard, even for writers who do it every day. This radio show is a 25 page essay I write every week. My fourth book is coming out in October. I write every day and I lean on the elements of style when I have a question about punctuation or words or expressions that are commonly misused, like was the bell rung or range? The book is indispensable to me. Another book I love is titled Dictionary of Fine Distinctions by Eli Bernstein. The subtitle is Nuances, Niceties and Subtle Shades of Meaning, another must have book for writers. It defines the subtle but important differences between things like a bay and a cove, a meadow and a pasture, a pier and a wharf, and the difference between the words convince and persuade. What is the difference between a couch and a sofa or a bog and a swamp? Well, Bernstein answers those questions and does it with style and wit. I'm a big believer that subtle shades of meaning can make writing more vivid and enjoyable. So I'd like to convince you to believe in good writing and persuade you to look for his book. See what I did there when we return. A little mindful jiu jitsu.
- [27:00]
Adam Grant
God help us, but Canada has never been more interesting. What is happening now is urgent and important, and you need to stay on top of it. Every day on Canadaland, we bring you.
- [27:10]
Progressive Insurance Voice
The information you need about Canadian politics.
- [27:13]
LinkedIn Voice
And Canadian media through smart conversations and original investigations.
- [27:19]
Adam Grant
This is Canada like you've never heard it before. Listen to Canadaland wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:34]
LinkedIn Voice
Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads you can know you're reaching the right decision maker. You can even target buyers by job title, industry company seniority skills. Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started at LinkedIn.com results terms and conditions apply.
- [28:04]
Grainger Voice
If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [28:47]
Terry O'Reilly
I studied martial arts for many years, first Japanese karate, then Chinese Kung fu and I have great respect for martial artists. There is a famous family in Brazil that changed the martial arts forever. They are the Gracies father, Helio Gracie started studying Jiu Jitsu back in the 1930s. He was small and weak so he didn't have the option of using power. He had to rely on leverage, sensitivity and timing instead. By doing so, he reinvented Jiu Jitsu, which has come to be known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The Gracies believed their style of martial art could defeat any other style, so they challenged karate experts, judo masters, wrestlers and even boxers and defeated them all, sometimes in under a minute. Today the UFC is dominated by practitioners of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. One of Helio's sons, Hickson, wrote a book not long ago titled A Life in Flow. Hickson was a Jiu jitsu legend. He fought in tournaments before there were rules or weight divisions. He took on all comers from all styles and disciplines and retired undefeated. In his book, Hickson says curiosity coupled with courage allows you to go beyond your limits and establishes new limits that you never thought were possible. He talks about his first no holds barred fighting. Hickson weighed 160 pounds. His opponent tipped the scales at 215. Hickson struggled through the first round and suffered a full on panic attack when he got back to his corner. His father, Helio told a hyperventilating Hickson that the big guy was more tired than he was and because of that his son would win. He told him to dig deep his confidence in Hickson and literally saved him. He won that fight in the next round. In that moment, Hickson said he learned to cross the river even when he felt like he couldn't. Hickson said that in order to cross the river, you have to face the biggest opponent. That opponent is inside our own minds. Hickson learned that when you face a challenge, you can't be divided in two. If your heart is ready to confront the problem but your mind is walking backwards, you're in trouble. Both have to be in sync, he says. Listen to your heart. Otherwise, doubt eats your future. Because I have spent most of my career in the sound business, I'm drawn to books written by people who also spend their lives in recording studios. One such book is titled the Cake and the Rain, by songwriter Jimmy Webb. Webb has written a long list of huge hits. The book's title comes from the song MacArthur Park. Yes, it was Jimmy Webb who left the cake out in the rain. When Glen Campbell had a hit with a web song called by the Time I Get To Phoenix, he phoned Webb and asked him to write another song with a city in the title. So by 4pm that very day, Jimmy Webb wrote Wichita Lineman, one of my favorite songs of all time. Webb also wrote a big hit for the Fifth Dimension called Up, up and Away. I liked that song, but I always thought the lyrics up, up and Away in My beautiful Balloon were kooky until I read his book. Webb says he was asked to write a song for a movie that was all about hot air balloons. But that movie was never made. Now it all makes sense. Here's a fun story about the Fifth Dimension. Group member Billy Davis was in New York in 1969 and wanted to see the popular musical Hair, but he couldn't get a ticket. The show was constantly sold out. One day, Davis forgot his wallet in a cab. A little while later, a man found it and called Davis. The man graciously offered to return the wallet. When they met, Davis was so grateful he offered the man money, but he wouldn't take any. So Davis invited him to see the Fifth Dimension performed that night. After the show, the man came backstage to say thank you, then said, you should come and see our show. Davis asked, what's your show? The man said, hair. It was a moment of complete serendipity. So the Fifth Dimension went to see Hare that night and heard a song called Age of Aquarius, which they instantly thought could be a number one hit. So they recorded it. One of the biggest hits of 1969. All due to a lost wallet. I read a book recently by a famous sound engineer titled Al Schmidt on the the Magic behind the Music. Schmidt has recorded Elvis, Sinatra, Dylan, Neil Young, Steely Dan, Madonna, and many other legendary artists. Over his career, Schmidt won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement. He tells many amusing stories in his book. One of my favorites involves the Grammys. Schmidt's grandson asked him to bring one of his Grammy Awards to his first grade class for a Career day show and tell. So Schmidt went to the class, told them about his recording career and and passed one of his Grammy Awards around the room. Then a kid at the back of the class piped up and said, my father has one of these too. Schmidt figured his father must be a musician. He asked the kid what he got it for. The kid said, bowling. You gotta love perspective. I'm always a little sad when I walk into someone's home and there is not one book to be found. There is such joy, imagination and incredible learning to be had in reading hardcover, softcover fiction or nonfiction. Books are the how to manuals of life. When people give me a book, it's the best gift in the world. If you like this show, know that much of it is based on reading and research. I love to connect the dots from book to book. As I often say, the best books on marketing are not on marketing. They are biographies, books on music, humor, sports, movies, business, philosophy and history, and even books on writing. There's gold in those pages. Wicked typos aside, when you're under the influence I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine under the Influence themed by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick and James Ayton. Tunes provided by APM Music Follow Me Terry oinfluence this podcast is powered by acast. See you next week. Fun Fact hi, this is Drew from the beautiful beaches of Toronto. The musical Hair became famous in 1968 because at the end of Act 1, the entire cast appeared naked. It was a first for a Broadway play.
- [37:07]
Grainger Voice
Foreign.
- [37:19]
H
Hey, I'm Elise Hu, host of the podcast TED Talks Daily. For more than 20 years, Paylocity has been leading the way with cutting edge work solutions like On Demand Payment, which offers employees access to wages prior to payday flexible time tracking features which enable staff to clock in and out through their mobile device and numerous other cutting edge solutions that simplify collaboration across hr, finance and it. Learn more about how Paylocity can help streamline work and enhance business outcomes for your organization@paylocity.com simplified when you think of.
- [37:54]
Adam Grant
Hot you might think about the tragic time you ate too much wasabi, or about getting into your car on a summer day when it feels more like stepping into a sauna. But heat can work in your favor, like during Verizon Red Hot Deal Days. Get hundreds of hot deals on all your favorites, like iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence, Apple Watch Series 10, and iPad on any plan only until May 28th for new and existing customers. Offer available on my plan only at Verizon.
- [38:23]
McDonald's Voice
McCrispy strips are now at McDonald's tender juicy and its own sauce. Would you look at that? Well, you can't see it, but trust me, it looks delicious. New McCrispy strips now at McDonald's.
- [38:38]
Progressive Insurance Voice
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