The Message Makeover

Inside the "Varsity Blues" Scandal, with ex-Stanford Sailing Coach John Vandemoer

In this episode of The Message Makeover, we dip into the waters of one of the most widely publicized scandals in recent US history. We interview John Vandemoer, the former sailing coach at Stanford University who was caught up in the college admissions scandal that ensnared coaches at many schools including Yale, Georgetown and USC, as well as several well-known celebrity parents. John was the among the first people indicted, and he ultimately pled guilty to a federal racketeering charge. But there is a lot to this story, and nothing is as it seems. We will also plead "guilty" to the fact that John is a friend, and that we believe his involvement in this story has been widely misunderstood. In this wide-ranging discussion, John takes inside what the US criminal justice system is really like, and how the fundraising machine at colleges and universities has become a huge business with lots of inevitable "side doors" into schools. Ultimately, John was caught in between two powerful institutions... The Justice Department, and Stanford University, one of the most high-profile academic institutions in the world. We hope you will give it a listen. #varsityblues #riggedjustice #johnvandemoer #collegesailing #admissionsscandal #collegesports #coaching -- Dean and Dan

The Digital Tells Podcast: Virtual Human Connection with Dean Brenner

I recently had the chance to appear as a guest on the Digital Tells podcast... Host Sam Norton and I had a great conversation about what COVID-19 could mean for your digital communication strategy... Among the topics we discussed was the crucial importance of being clear and compelling while navigating the new all-digital, sometimes-hybrid frontier we'll continue to live in. Thanks to Sam for the great discussion... Hope you enjoy. Dean

Dean Brenner on the Ebb and Flow Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on the Ebb and Flow Podcast, hosted by Paul Leeming of Long River Wealth Management. In this episode, Paul and I have a wide-ranging conversation on the challenges of communication in today’s world, and we broke the discussion down into four areas (all of which start with the letter “p”… I swear that was not intentional!): professional, personal, political and parental. And in each case, we kept coming back to the same core themes of great communication: listen and meet people where they are. Paul is an outstanding interviewer, and we covered a lot of ground in less than 30 minutes. This episode is called, “Learning to Speak (and Listen) All Over Again.”

Building Bridges between Worlds, with Dr. Jared Horvath

This is a killer episode, we say that with great humility 😊 We really did love our conversation with Dr. Jared Horvath, an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist who has lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School and the University of Melbourne. He tells us that great communicators build a bridge between your world A and your audience’s world B. We show appropriate gratitude and admiration for so many teachers who have pivoted masterfully in the face of a pandemic and Dr. Horvath has news for folks who think zoom is just as good as being there. Give a listen!

On Politics, Social Media and the NBA, with Chris Kelly

In this episode we interview Chris Kelly on a range of fascinating issues, from owning an NBA team during a pandemic, to the rise of social media echo chambers and the loss of privacy, with a little bit of light politics thrown in. Currently, Chris is a co-owner of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. Previously, Chris served as Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy, among several other roles at the company. And in 2010, Chris ran as a Democratic candidate for Attorney General in the state of California, losing to the eventual winner, now Vice President Kamala Harris. All of these experiences have made Chris a widely known and well-respected expert on corporate strategy, intellectual property and privacy and data protection. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, speaking on a range of business, government, tech and privacy topics. Chris received his BA from Georgetown University, and then a JD from Harvard and an MA in Political Science from Yale.