June 2020 marked the 4th year of me living in Iceland and the 2nd year anniversary of the podcast. I think that with all that is going on in the world right now, I found myself reflecting on how much has changed for the podcast and in my personal life since moving to Iceland in 2016. During this episode, I plan to share some of my favorite moments during interviews this year, some of the places in Iceland that have a special place in my heart, an update about the podcast and a big announcement.
Favorite Moments during interviews in 2020
Starting out with some of my favorite moments while out on interviews, one of the most memorable is when I met Kári Stefánsson, which is episode 50. Kári is the CEO and founder of deCode genetics, which is, in their words “ a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome. Using our unique expertise and population resources, deCODE has discovered key genetic risk factors for dozens of common diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancer.”
Kári Stefánsson - Episode 50
Kári is known for being very direct and can come off as abrasive. I wouldn’t be surprised if people consider him to be a curmudgeon. I knew before meeting him that he is very opinionated and could potentially not be very nice. Regardless, I was willing to take that chance because he is a fascinating person who has accomplished some extraordinary things in his life. After arriving to deCode for the interview, I was given a pass to enter the parts of the building that are locked off to the general public. When I arrived at his office, he was in the middle of a meeting with one of his colleagues. They stopped talking when I entered and I immediately thought, “holy crap”, I just walked in on a meeting and he is going to think I am so rude. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.
However, a moment or so after he introduced me to his colleague, he said something to me that totally caught me off guard. Before our meeting, I had offered to send him the questions I intended to ask him. This has been requested by people in the past, so I thought it would be fine to offer that to be going forward in the event that they want to think a little bit about what they want to say beforehand.
Confrontation with Kári
Well, he flat out told me that it is a stupid idea to send questions to people before the interview because they will rehearse their answers and it would mess up the interview. I immediately said to him that it has worked out just fine so far. He quickly replied that I think it has been working out so far but I don’t really know. My rebuttal was that “Well, people keep listening to the podcast, so I must be doing something right.” At that he just stopped talking about it and said we should just get started. All of this was before I hit record. My first thought was damn, this is going to be a difficult interview and I might have to scrap it. While he did start out a bit stiff, I was able to crack a few jokes and he loosened up.
It ended up being a great interview and I was so grateful that it turned out well. After recording, we continued to talk about when he was living and working in Chicago. I was incredibly sweaty when I left that interview because I was constantly on guard. It might be strange that I find this to be one of my favorite moments but I think I find this one interesting because it was a challe...
