The Worst Advice I Ever Got

“It’s all in your head” isn’t helpful advice. It’s dismissive.

It takes a real struggle and turns it into a personal failure: if nothing’s physically wrong, why can’t you just get over it?

On this episode of The Worst Advice I Ever Got, brought to you by Smith + Howard, Sean and JB are joined by sports psychiatrist Dr. Jimmy Moley to unpack why that phrase can do more harm than people reali...

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Ann Curry on Her Worst Advice Ever Got
• (00:00:52) - Best Advice You Ever Got
• (00:07:02) - Cox Curry CEO on the Business
• (00:08:37) - Don't Sell Your Business: Barbara Cox
• (00:12:13) - In the Elevator With Barbara Cox
• (00:14:36) - When Did You Give Up Volunteering?
• (00:16:06) - Part 6: Responsibility Beyond Yourself
• (00:17:55) - Ann Cox Curry on Volunteerism
• (00:21:03) - Anne Cox Curry on Her Worst Advice ...

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - The Worst Advice I Ever Got
• (00:00:57) - The Worst Advice You Ever Got
• (00:04:04) - In the Elevator With Apple's Board
• (00:06:51) - When Did the Board Decide to Play It Safe?
• (00:08:27) - Inventors Take a Risk
• (00:09:30) - In the Elevator With the Company's CEO
• (00:10:12) - What You Need to Do Now to Win
• (00:13:22) - In the Elevator With Business Advisors
• (00:14:53) - Disruption: The Signs That Are Coming
• ...

In this conversation, Kirk explains why he believes entrepreneurial success comes from adaptability, salesmanship, coachability, and frontline experience, not spreadsheets and analysis paralysis. He shares stories about growing businesses from the loading docks up, surviving major legal battles, pivoting his company during COVID in less than a day, and why he’d take a gritty former athlete over a polished Ivy League MBA in a ...

Actor and musician Johnny Sneed (Fever Pitch, Love & Mercy, Outer Range, Painkiller, Parks and Recreation) is joining us on The Worst Advice I Ever Got to talk about the worst advice he’s ever received and why he wishes he never listened to it in the first place. From sharing the screen with Bryan Cranston and Josh Brolin to portraying legendary drummer Hal Blaine in Love & Mercy, Johnny’s career has blended mus...

She was told to lead from the back.

It sounded thoughtful. Humble. Empowering.

It didn’t work.

In this episode of The Worst Advice I Ever Got, Manya Whitaker shares how that advice led to confusion, stalled teams, and zero direction… and why real leadership can’t come from hiding in the background.

As a college president and CEO, Manya breaks down what actually works:
clear direction, visible leadership, and c...

Early in his career, Jamie Mantzouridis was told something that actually made sense.

If you want to be taken seriously as a trainer, you need to look the part.

So he went all in.

He transformed his body, built credibility fast, and started getting results. But the deeper he went, the harder it became to see where the line was between discipline and damage.

This episode is about what happens when the thing that makes you credible st...

Early in her career, one comment from a CEO changed how Kacie Lett Gordon showed up at work. And like a lot of bad advice, it worked. She climbed fast, became a senior leader, and checked all the boxes.

But over time, that version of success started to cost her.

This episode is about what happens when you realize the advice that helped you succeed isn’t something you want to keep.

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - The Worst ...

What happens when a single test score starts shaping your entire life?
This week’s guest, Tyler Zachem, grew up hearing that he should avoid anything involving numbers. Bad math grades. Low SAT scores. All of it pointed him away from finance and toward a career he did not actually want.

Tyler shares how that early message boxed him in and how he slowly learned to trust something deeper than a score. He takes us inside his ...

It’s the first ever holiday panel on The Worst Advice I Ever Got. Sean and JB sit down with four members of the Smith + Howard family of companies to talk through the bad holiday advice that shaped their most memorable seasons. From the pressure to keep the magic of Santa alive, to gift giving lessons that go sideways, to the chaos of Elf on the Shelf, each guest brings a story that starts with good intentions and ends with a...

Actor, comedian, filmmaker, and college-football-internet legend Josh Mancuso joins us to unpack the classic piece of bad advice: “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”

Josh breaks down why that mindset almost boxed him in, how trying lots of things actually moved his career forward, and why it’s never too late to start the project you’ve been sitting on. He talks family, creativity, burnout, mascots, v...

On the surface, it sounds perfect. Work hard and you will be successful. How could that possibly be bad advice? That is exactly what Ovie Mughelli believed. He carried that idea through high school, college football, and then into the NFL. Hard work was the plan. Hard work was supposed to be enough.

Except it wasn’t.

Ovie learned the hard truth. Hard work does not speak for itself. Hard work puts you in the room, but it does ...

Roy Keely grew up being told that college was the only path that mattered. The worst advice he ever got was to chase the traditional route at all costs, even when it didn’t fit. He tried to follow it. He tried to force it. It never worked.

What did work was everything he learned outside the classroom. Roy built his career through experience, curiosity, and a willingness to step into the unknown. Today he is the founder of Fir...

Carla McCall spent years believing the worst advice she ever got: “Don’t laugh so much.” It came early in her career and it came from someone she thought she had to listen to. The message was simple. Fit in. Blend in. Tone it down.

Carla did the opposite. Today she is the Managing Partner of AAFCPAs, a top firm known for innovation, inclusion, and a culture that actually values people for who they are. She has bee...

When Ripley Rader was told to trust consultants and experts instead of her own instincts, she almost lost sight of what made her brand special. Instead, she doubled down on her vision—building her company from a $100 Shopify template into one of fashion’s fastest-growing names.

In this episode, Ripley shares how trusting herself over “the pros” became her biggest competitive edge. She talks about the myth of...

Mehrnush Saadat grew up with one message: to be somebody, you had to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. She followed that path into real estate law, even merging her firm with a larger one, but found herself burned out, in pain, and questioning everything. A herniated disc, a New Year’s Eve epiphany, and her passion for plant-based health led her to launch Sober ish, a cannabis and non-alcoholic bottle shop redefining what suc...