The Sydcast Sydney Finkelstein

Episode Summary

In this final episode of Season 4, I bring you Rob Kapilow. A musical savant, innovator, and global presence, listening to Rob is like taking a master class in music, and in life. From Duke Ellington to Joseph Campbell, from Beethoven to the Beatles, and from Yale to Paris to Native American reservations, Rob Kapilow will take you on the classic Sydcast journey of discovery, creativity, and learning.




Sydney Finkelstein 

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 100 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, as well as a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world. His latest projects include the leading podcast, The Sydcast, that uncovers and shares the stories of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life, as well as a new series of online courses based on his life’s work available at Coursera.




Rob Kapilow

For over 30 years, Rob Kapilow has brought the joy and wonder of classical music – and unraveled some of its mysteries – to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Characterized by his unique ability to create an “aha” moment for his audiences and collaborators, whatever their musical sophistication or naiveté, Kapilow’s work brings music into people’s lives: opening new ears to musical experiences and helping people to listen actively rather than just hear.

Kapilow’s range of activities is astonishingly broad, including his What Makes It Great?® presentations (now for over 20 seasons in New York and Boston), his family compositions and Family Musik® events, his Citypieces, corporate programs, and residencies with institutions as diverse as the National Gallery of Canada and Stanford University. The reach of his interactive events and activities is wide, from Native American tribal communities in Montana and inner-city high school students in Louisiana to audiences in Kyoto and Kuala Lumpur and tots barely out of diapers to musicologists in Ivy League programs.




Insights from this episode: Where Rob’s love for music came fromLearning about different genres of musicGrowing his skills in musicGetting the right skills for musicWhat makes a great songWhat is creativity, and how to tap into itThe importance of listeningInsights into American musicHow music connects us


Quotes from the show:“To me, really, I didn’t know there was any difference between The Beatles, jazz, and piano music. To me, there was just music. Only later did I learn that you are in separate niches, separate categories” —Rob Kapilow [7:22]“One of my favorite quotes is from Joseph Campbell, the brilliant writer on mythology, and he says ‘The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are’” —Rob Kapilow [8:42]“Aside from taking apart what actually makes a song like She Loves You by The Beatles great musically, which I can certainly do, there’s also the sense that it often is part of someone’s life experience” —Rob Kapilow [18:34]“At the heart of all great creators, is the kind of ability to pay attention, but not only to just pay attention to what’s happening but to listen for possibilities” —Rob Kapilow [23:17]“I realized that listening is such a larger thing than just hearing” —Rob Kapilow [28:46]“You cannot hate immigrants when you’ve heard their stories. Let's not politicize this, but humanize it” —Rob Kapilow [45:45]​​“The whole purpose of a piece of music is to show that we are all connected. That beneath our surface differences, we are all connected” —Rob Kapilow [58:00]


Stay connected:




Sydney Finkelstein

Website: http://

How does it happen that an English teacher and sports coach becomes a renowned actor?

A life in radio in the “Live Free or Die” state.

Laurie Wallmark, one of the first women at Princeton, has been a software engineer, a computer science professor, and now, an award-winning writer of picture book biographies of women in STEM, for kids.

Erudite and articulate, Alejandro is that unique leader who can share his philosophy about innovation and purpose while grounded in the everyday reality of what works and what doesn’t.

Hannah Kearney - Olympic Gold Medalist – reflects on what it’s like to be the best in the world and how you come down from that high to live a productive, and energizing, life.