On this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris talk with Deborah Wahl, Global CMO at General Motors. Growing up, Deborah earned the nickname “Big D” from her siblings for her go-getter attitude and unrelenting pursuit of success. Deborah was born and raised in Detroit. Her father was in the auto industry and she did her first internship at GM back in the 80s. She told Bill and Chris, “I looked around and said ‘wow, this is a tough industry for women.’” Undeterred, she pressed on and triumphed. She received her MBA from Wharton and spent four years in the world of finance, travelling the world while working at Chase Bank. Later, she worked in Paris on a project for an anti-allergy bed sheet company that taught her important lessons on how to grow and develop a business.

On this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris bring on Lizzie Widhelm, SVP Ad Innovation and B2B Marketing at Pandora. Lizzie is a witty and influential executive in media technology whose experiences as a mother have helped guide her career and vice-versa. As she told the hosts, “Raising boys is like running a sales team. You set clear expectations.” Lizzie grew up living the surfer lifestyle in Newport Beach, California before leaving to study finance and accounting at University of Arizona. Her career path was unique. Lizzie worked as a Hooters server until her early 20s with plans to dive into the finance world post-graduation. Just before going off to New York City to take on Wall Street, a friend urged her to apply for a job at CBS Interactive. She interviewed for an assistant position at CBS Sports Line and took it. That marked the beginning of Lizzie’s media career.

On this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris talk with Howard Lindzon, Founder and Partner at Social Leverage. A product of his Jewish upbringing in Toronto, Howard calls himself a “Larry David meets venture capital.” He had a lot of side hustles as a kid and tried his hand at stand-up comedy as a teen. Eventually he earned his MBA from ASU and started his career as a stockbroker in Dallas. One day Howard cold-called an entrepreneur to pitch stocks, but the conversation took a turn. He ended up partnering with the businessman on a stress ball startup called, “The Grip.” That experience taught Howard valuable lessons in running a business, which he applied when founding a hedge fund shortly after, only to discover quickly that he preferred the lifestyle of angel investing.

In this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris bring on Ian Rapoport, author of the Boston Herald blog, “The RapSheet” and National Insider at the NFL Network. Ian had aspired to follow in the footsteps of his favorite writers at sports-centric publications like Sports Illustrated even before attending Columbia University, where he covered sports for the institution’s storied student newspaper. “I always loved sports,” Ian told Bill and Chris before cautioning young writers who want to follow in his footsteps: “You have to like the writing more than sports.”

On this Episode of the Superpowers Podcast, Bill and Chris talk with Matt Lombardi, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of beam, a CBD wellness startup. Matt went from winning two NCAA Division I Hockey championships at Boston College, to a brief professional career in the NHL’s minor leagues, to becoming a passionate entrepreneur. Matt shared his experiences playing hockey at BC and how discipline and practice played a massive role in his personal growth. The lessons he learned from his athletic career have helped shape everything that came after. “Sports are the ultimate life metaphor. You learn how to be a part of a team, work towards goals, and leadership.”

In this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris talk with Jeff Nicholson, the charismatic and fiercely passionate CEO of the data processing platform, Tracer. A Boston native and former basketball standout at Babson College, Jeff has an entrepreneurial spirit that led him from starting a small lobster business with his dad to becoming a top name in data software. When his first post-college job in finance failed to inspire, Jeff had an epiphany: He didn’t want his career to “be sitting in a cubicle with no direction.” So, he joined an MIT incubator and over four years, developed two successful AdTech companies that sold for millions. He then moved to New York to help build Social Code, an AdTech firm that became the first-ever Facebook Ads API partner, pioneering digital-first marketing.

On this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris have a passionate conversation with the infectiously optimistic David Kidder, New York Times Best-selling author of The Startup Playbook and The Intellectual Devotional, and the co-founder of Bionic Solution, a company that installs models and strategies to help large businesses grow. David’s professional journey began at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied industrial design, played lacrosse and began his decades-long career as a founder and entrepreneur. A self-proclaimed “interdisciplinary nerd” with a love for making things, by age 28 David had founded and sold personalized mobile content provider Smart Ray for $40 million...

In this episode of the Superpowers podcast, Bill and Chris talk with the hilarious Terence Kawaja, Founder and CEO of the investment bank LUMA Partners. Terence brightened the video conference with his engaging storytelling and unique views on the intersection between digital media and marketing. A native of Quebec, Terence was an entrepreneur from an early age. From running a paper route at 9 years old to building a prominent investment bank, he has always been a driven and creative problem solver. Terence graduated from the University of Western Ontario, then went on to both law school and business school before starting his career on Wall Street at 26.