Before he was California Poet Laureate or leading the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia marketed Jell-O. Possessing both a Stanford MBA and a Harvard MA, he combined his creativity and facility with numbers to climb the corporate ladder at General Foods to the second highest rung before abruptly quitting to become a poet and writer. That unique professional experience and a lifelong “hunger for beauty” have made him into what Tyler calls an “information billionaire,” or someone who can answer all of Tyler’s questions. In his new memoir, Dana describes the six people who sent him on this unlikely journey.
In this conversation, Dana and Tyler discuss his latest book and more, including how he transformed several businesses as a corporate executive, why going to business school made him a better poet, the only two obscene topics left in American poetry, why narrative is necessary for coping with life’s hardships, how Virgil influenced Catholic traditions, what Augustus understood about the cultural power of art, the reasons most libretti are so bad, the optimism of the Beach Boys, the best art museum you’ve never heard of, the Jungianism of Star Trek, his favorite Tolstoy work, depictions of Catholicism in American pop culture, what he finds fascinating about Houellebecq, why we stopped building cathedrals, how he was able to effectively lead the National Endowment for the Arts, the aesthetic differences between him and his brother Ted, his advice for young people who want to cultivate their minds, and what he wants to learn next.
Follow us on Twitter and IG: @cowenconvos
Email: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Follow Dana on Twitter
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Newsletter
Barkha Dutt on the Nuances of Indian Life
Marc Andreessen on Learning to Love the Humanities
Jamal Greene on Reconceiving Rights
Tyler and Daniel Gross Talk Talent
Chris Blattman on War and Centralized Power
Thomas Piketty on the Politics of Equality
Roy Foster on Ireland’s Many Unmade Futures
Lydia Davis on Language and Literature
Sam Bankman-Fried on Arbitrage and Altruism
Chuck Klosterman on Writing the Past and Relishing the Present
Sebastian Mallaby on Venture Capital
Stewart Brand on Starting Things and Staying Curious
Russ Roberts on Israel and Life as an Immigrant
Ana Vidović on Prodigies, Performance, and Perseverance
Conversations with Tyler 2021 Retrospective
Ray Dalio on Investing, Management, and the Changing World Order
Ruth Scurr on the Art of Biography
David Rubenstein on Private Equity, Public Art, and Philanthropy
David Salle on the Experience of Art
Stanley McChrystal on the Military, Leadership, and Risk
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast