01:13
Jad Abumrad Highlight
There's a feeling of dread and a feeling of anxiety that you have at this point, and there's a tendency to want to curtail the uncertainty…but premature certainty is the enemy-it's always the enemy.
About Jad
- Went to school to study music composition and specifically wanted to write music for films.
- Eventually realized he just wasn't good enough to do music professionally.
- His girlfriend pointed out that while he might not be great at either, he was good at both writing and music; pointed him towards radio.
- He was making no money, couldn't see a career ahead, but had fun, felt immediate satisfaction when he did interviews.
- Now produces/hosts the show Radiolab and says he's stunned by how closely it resembles his original dreams.
- Says he constantly faced fear and dread, but he'd be more worried about young people who don't feel uncertainty than those who do.
- Uses the "adjacent possible" as a metaphor for building a passion or talent; ask, "What is possible right outside my border?"
- When he started doing the show, he received hundreds of hate-calls; says he's come to terms with that, part of his job is to "ruffle feathers."
