Title: 51, Grateful, and Balancing Confidence with Humility Subtitle: On birthday reflections, upcoming celebrity guests, structured interviews as the secret to books and courses, and showing up meaningfully Description: Forty-five days until summer, and Matt’s celebrating his birthday today—51 years old, grateful to be healthy with so many wonderful people in his life. He shares the same birth date (year and day) with Enrique Iglesias. After trivia about Harry Truman (1884), Don Rickles the roaster (1926), Melissa Gilbert (1964), and Coca-Cola going on sale (1886), he dives into what’s been a consequential week. The Bigger Stage podcast has exciting guests coming: an executive at a music AI company (focusing on his journey through the industry, not the company itself), a founder from the Dominican Republic who built a global business helping small businesses with loans, and a Hollywood celebrity—former game show host and contestant (won over $100k many years ago), came through improv at Second City, had a show on Travel Channel, been in movies, TV, lots of voice acting. Won’t say the name yet. The conversation will be about reinvention, creativity, human psychology—staying curious, being a generalist, learning things you didn’t before. That’s how we adapt, apply creativity. Several episodes in the can waiting to be edited, sticking with every-other-Saturday cadence for now. Working with clients, he’s seeing that everyone—regardless of pinnacle reached—faces some level of imposter syndrome, a view of themselves that’s not completely accurate. One of the great joys of this work is helping people reframe how they look at and talk about themselves, balancing humility with confidence. You can be highly confident and still humble. That combination of confidence, clarity, and humility is powerful. Right now there’s going to be increasing thirst for people who embody this—because we’re not seeing it from certain people with levers of power. Arrogance blinds you, makes you less self-aware, the bubble gets thicker, obscures reality, kills the feedback loop. Why do you want to be well-known? For fame or to make a difference? In-person events are coming into picture—curating the right IRL experiences will be more important. That’s a priority for later this year. And here’s the confirmation of a founding assumption: busy business owners wanting to write books, handbooks, workbooks, courses struggle with blank pages. Structured interviews over time are a great place to start. The data you collect, the transcripts—with the right AI tools—give you an incredible way to start filling out outlines for books, courses, keynotes, articles. Doesn’t do the whole job, but makes it easier to move forward. A refuge where you can reflect verbally and be far ahead of the game. This is proving really effective. On his birthday, the biggest feeling is gratitude—for his amazing wife, the clients, the partners. Moved to NYC over four years ago with wonderful friends around the world, and now has a New York metro group of creative, brilliant people he’s honored to call friends. Life keeps getting richer. His job is to give the world his very best and show up in the best way he can. The question: How do you want to show up this weekend and beyond? What would be most meaningful for you? Iconic Conversations in May—only 20 slots, email matt@mattstone.co to get on the list. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mattstone.substack.com
