#77 Josh Mohrer Disruptions and Feedback Loops
“At the end of the day, I’m just trying to communicate ideas to other people. I want to be understood.”
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. You can also watch the interview on YouTube.
BIO:
Josh is the Head of Global Operations at Levels Health, a software company that helps you see how food affects your health. Josh was previously the New York General Manager of Uber, where over five years, he helped grow Uber's largest and most profitable market from a few dozen rides a week to over 3 million and incubated a number of product ideas including UberEATS, and UberRUSH. After his time at Uber, Josh spent a few years on the investor side as an active angel investor, managing director at Tusk Ventures, and co-founder of Shine Capital. Now, at Levels, Josh leads several strategic projects, such as membership and launch strategies.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
0:00 - 03:31 Intro
03:31 - 06:26 What comes to mind…
06:26 -11:19 Early school experiences
11:19 - 13:29 Childhood discoveries, math and technology
13:29 - 16:47 Dr. Phil and years later with Uri Schneider and Malka Burton @SchneiderSpeech
16:47 - 20:33 When stuttering makes it hard to say your name, or your company name
20:33 -24:18 Pioneering remote asynchronous work
24:18 - 30:41 Levels mission and being a corporate leader who stutters
30:41- 36:37 Dealing with stuttering as an adult
36:32- 44:22 Cutting off the physiological middleman
44:22 - 46:29 “Name it, don’t shame it”
46:29 - 54:52 Advocating for others
54:52 -55:27 Feedback Loops
55:27- 1:00:24 The Internet and Human Connection
RESOURCE LIST
MORE QUOTES
“You don't have to pretend this isn't happening. This is happening. We're having this exchange. You're standing in front of me. I'm about to ask you a question and I'm going to try and you're gonna see me struggling. I'm going to get it out. You're going to answer it. It's all good.” -Josh Mohrer
“We all thrive on feedback . We need to create safe cultures and spaces. If we have enough positive feedback, we can create a safe space for hard feedback too. It can be very well received and very productive. The most unproductive is when no one can say what they really need to say, which is a sort of stuttering. Whether you stutter or not, it is the feeling that you can't say what needs to be said.” - Uri Schneider
TRANSCRIPTION:
Uri Schneider: Well, this is an awesome episode, a wide-ranging conversation with my good friend. Josh Mohrer. Uh, today's at levelshealth.com is the former general manager of Uber in New York City. You might've heard of them. Uh, this wide-raiding conversation touches on his personal journey growing up with a stutter.
Uri Schneider: All the way he was a professional success and everything in between. He's a husband, a dad, and all around, just down-to-earth guy. And I know you're gonna enjoy this conversation. So without further ado, Josh Mohrer episode 77 disruptions And feedback loops!
Uri Schneider: Boom. There we are. The
Josh Mohrer: live streaming. All right.
Uri Schneider: I think we're live. When's the last time you were live, Josh.
Josh Mohrer: Ooh, I haven't done a live one of these and maybe even ever I've done a bunch of podcasts, but they tend to be edited. Cause I, I need to be edited down. You know, if we're doing it live, who knows what's going to happen.
Josh Mohrer: Come on, man.
Uri Schneider: All right, let's jump right in and I'll explain why we're jumping right in, but a quick intro. It's a, it's a big treat. My name is uri Schneider. Your host here at transcending stuttering and the head of Schneider speech. Now our guest today is a friend and, uh, advisor and mentor in many ways.
Uri Schneider: Josh is the head of global operations at levels health, a software company that helps you see how food affects your health. It was previously the New York general manager, Uber for over five years. He helped grow Uber's largest and most profitable market from a few dozen rides a week to over 3 million.
Uri Schneider: He also incubated a number of product ideas you may have heard of, including Uber eats Uber rush. And after his time at Uber, he spent a few years, the investors side as an active angel investor, managing director at tusk ventures. And co-founder at shine capital. Now at levels, Josh leads several strategic projects such as membership and launch strategies, and you can check out levels, health.com.
Uri Schneider: It's a big treat to have you join us. Thanks a lot, Josh.
Josh Mohrer: My pleasure. Good to see ya.
Uri Schneider: Yeah. So the reason I was so prompt to jump right in is I was borrowing something that I'll be taking off from that Josh shared with me. He has a, uh, at levels health, they have a user's manual. And so he's got a user's manual.
Uri Schneider: It's like an internal memo for everything you need to know about Josh. And one of the things he writes there, I love this. This was awesome. He says, just so you know, I can also be extremely direct. And sometimes lack the necessary gentle touch. This works for some people and not for others. So I'm going to adapt to Josh's style and be a little bit more and we'll move things through because Josh is a treasure trove and I can't wait to pick his brain and hear what he has to drop for us today.
Uri Schneider: We'll stop on certain things, including his personal journey. Okay. We'll talk about the value of self knowledge. I love what he wrote about strengths and weaknesses in his user guide. Um, we'll talk about openness and self-advocacy and how he deals with stuttering in an open way and puts it out front and communication and high stakes situations in terms of leadership at companies, and also dealing with politics and confrontational situations.
Uri Schneider: And of course it would also be awesome to talk about tips that he may have for people entering the workforce, especially corporate startup spaces and last but not least thoughts about the future of stuttering therapy. So let's start with a quick game. All right, Josh you're game for game I'm game for.
Uri Schneider: First three words that come to mind, I'm just going to throw out a word, we're going to do four different words. And I just want to get three quick words, associations that come to mind. So I say, okay. I say ice cream, just as a sample, you say
Josh Mohrer: Sunday? Yeah. Oh, well,
Uri Schneider: no, you got it. You're already on the roll.
Uri Schneider: So the next one is going to be a good one. And the first three words that come to mind and that word is stutter
Josh Mohrer: block. Uh, speaking, um, maybe my wife, because she's a speech language pathologist. Um, but yeah.
Uri Schneider: Yeah, by the way, I meant to tell you, we should have invited your wife to be on, but
Josh Mohrer: our younger daughter finished school yesterday.
Josh Mohrer: And so now it's, it's full on summer vacation mode here. Um, and so I don't actually think she could have joined us. She, uh,
Uri Schneider: it's just that she should know that as much as we want it to have you we'd really?
Josh Mohrer: Of course, of course she would enjoy that
Uri Schneider: too. Awesome. Okay. Another word, three words that come to mind, Uber.
Josh Mohrer: Um, uh, well, I don't know. That's a tough one. I knew it would be for, I mean, my, uh, my job for many years, lots of cars, something that I talk about all the time, it comes up a lot.
Uri Schneider: That's costly. We won't spend too much time on it today. Cause I know you've exhausted that no,
Josh Mohrer: it's all right,
Uri Schneider: whatever you want.
Uri Schneider: How about a shared love Josh? I know we both love this three words that you think of when you hear running
Josh Mohrer: ooh, Strava, um, sweaty and a marathon.
Uri Schneider: Awesome. And the last one, and I lo I know you won't hold back speech therapy,
Josh Mohrer: um, speech therapy, well, broad. It means a lot of different things. Um, you know, there's a lot of things that can use therapy in speech.
Josh Mohrer: So that's sort of like a broad name. Um, maybe my wife again, she's who I think about for a lot of things. Uh, yeah. Sorry. Was it, it was speech therapy. Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah,
Uri Schneider: you can modify it to stuttering therapy. I wanted to kind of think about in your journey, both as a person who stutters growing up and so on, but also where you stand now kind of looking at things from your vantage point.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. Um, you know, useful. Something that's worthwhile for folks in that situation. Um, maybe misunderstood in some ways, particular centered, you know,
Uri Schneider: that was great. Um, this is a new game we're trying out and I thought you'd be awesome. So thank you. Um, personal journey. So, you know, you tell a little bit in this, um, user's guide, but maybe like, you know, you read the bio.
Uri Schneider: I don't know if you get bored of hearing that bio, but for a lot of people, it's very impressive. Um, and I always find it interesting to kind of like connect the dots, which we can only see in hindsight. But if you were going back to like eight year old, Josh, can you bring us back to eight year old? Just what, what he's doing, what he's thinking, what he's feeling, what he's worried about, what he's dreaming of and kind of connect the dots for us going forward.
Josh Mohrer: I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I mean, probably spending some time with your dad back in the day, all the way back um, you know, I think you'll speak about this, but I've known you guys for a very long time. I'm 40. So, you know, I probably met your dad Phil more than 30 years ago in New York. Um, I don't really, like I watching old videos of myself from as young as age five or six.
Josh Mohrer: Like it's very clear that I stutter. Um, I don't know that it, my first memory of it being a true frustration for me was when I was in like, maybe not even until third or fourth grade. So even a little bit older than that, like older than eight, maybe more like nine or 10, uh, or maybe like 11. So, um, sorry, what, what was the question like I'm I'm eight years old.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. Yeah.
Uri Schneider: You're eight years old. School years. Yeah. School years. What was Josh like in those school years? You know, where you crushing it socially? Did you have the confidence and.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. So
Uri Schneider: style that you have today, what did it look like?
Josh Mohrer: I'm an unlucky, the, you know, I I'm in certain ways and very smart. And so, like, I remember I was always good at math and I think like, it's hard to know, did I go towards something like math because I stuttered or like, did I know that there were certain, I think generally speaking, my school experience, even in college was difficult because there were certain things I wouldn't want to do, like reading in front of the class.
Josh Mohrer: That's kind of like a classic one. I really didn't want to do that. And it would just, you know, take up so much extra cognitive load of just like, thinking about what am I gonna say? How am I gonna say it? I'm just doing gymnastics. Like you said earlier that in my bio it's that I'm direct. I wonder am I direct?
Josh Mohrer: Because it is just a little bit harder for me to say something than the average. And sometimes a lot harder. And so like, I'm not necessarily being thoughtful about the words that I use. I'm just trying to get them out. I'm just trying to go for it.
Uri Schneider: Like small talk, small talk.
Uri Schneider: Doesn't come cheap, see,
Josh Mohrer: It does not come cheap. And it's just, yeah, it's more just like, I always kind of wonder if I could say anything easily. It is actually hard for me to imagine what it's like to be able to just speak and just say exactly what you think to have no block, to have no like barrier or separation between the intent of the thing you want to say and what you want to say.
Josh Mohrer: And like saying the thing I find that hard to imagine for most people that that is what it's like. So I think that, um, it became a bit ingrained, like school didn't agree with me for a bunch of reasons. Like I did fine, but it wasn't, you know, I wasn't raising my hand. I don't think any of the teachers.
Josh Mohrer: But I had more or less ever, it would be like, yes, Josh is like the star pupil. There's just, there's just no way. And that wasn't an intellect issue. It was just like a participation. I think I kind of spaced out a lot because I wasn't going to participate. And then I would get nervous that I missed something.
Josh Mohrer: And if I asked a question, it would be clear that I wasn't paying attention and it sort of just like a cycle. And so I tended to be worse at, or I performed worse in things like English and social studies, because it was heavy on that kind of stuff, talking and conversation. Like, I look at someone who can just talk about nothing for a long time and I'm like, wow, that is like a very interesting skill, you know, who could just shoot who and just sort of schmooze for, you know, a long time and, and be like effortless in that and just sort of talk and about a thing or a subject or a book or a character or a historical figure or whatever.
Josh Mohrer: Whereas like math is like, there's an answer, that's it? Um, I don't think I chose math because of stuttering. I think I was good at it anyway. But that's one of the things I like about it is that it's quite objective. It's like there is a right and there's a wrong, and so that's a little bit easier, but I don't really remember.
Josh Mohrer: I know I don't, I don't, I don't know that. I mean, this is a long time ago, you know, I'm old.
Uri Schneider: Yeah. Well, you're not old. Come on, man. Everything's relative. Right. It's all numbers. Um, the way you run and yeah. You know, you've gotten back a few years in your life. We could talk about that later, but levels, health, um,
Josh Mohrer: totally, totally.
Uri Schneider: What would you say would be your, what would be like a standout memory either of, uh, a low point or of a breakthrough moment, you know, in your,
Josh Mohrer: the reason that computers and tech, like that has always been a thing I gravitated early in, you know, we had a computer in my house, like my dad got a computer in his office and then we got internet at home.
Josh Mohrer: Like we got a computer at home pretty early. We got internet probably before anyone I knew. And I was really, really into that. And I, I would suspect that one of the reasons that. Using my fingers on a computer, I can communicate in a way that I can't always, when I speak. And I remember, you know, I could just go for it.
Josh Mohrer: I can give a beautiful and like articulate thing in a way that I probably couldn't in speech, but, you know, without like editing and all this. So I remember at some point I don't actually know the age, but some, probably in the eighties or nineties, it was sort of like a scifi article of like someday computers are going to have video chat and we're all not even going to type anymore.
Josh Mohrer: We're just gonna talk into our computers. Um, and that was concerning. I was concerned about that. I was like, oh, that's going to be not great. And things like Siri and Alexa non-starters I have zero success with that. Um, you know, I think some of the better versions are accepting of a pause of block. The thing that sounds unclear.
Josh Mohrer: You know, but sometimes Alexa will like start to respond to me before I'm done. So I'm just like, not even, I don't really use any of that stuff. So that was ,
Uri Schneider: Alexa, and Siri also interrupted. They could use some,
Josh Mohrer: but also just like the concepts behind them is that for the average user, it is easier to give a computer and instruction verbally than the other way.
Josh Mohrer: But for me, that's not really true. And so I just don't, you know, so I, but, but you asked about like, um, you know, the memory I don't, uh, I, I remember being like, oh my gosh, is video chat going to be a thing? Like, man, that's really too bad because I'm really good at it this way. And that'll be a struggle. Um, yeah, so.
Uri Schneider: I remember, I remember another time we met and you said everything's on the table. Everything's open. So we met at a later date. Do you want to give the context of that meeting?
Josh Mohrer: Sure. So, I mean, like I mentioned, my folks brought me to your dad in the eighties and nineties, and I always remembered that as a good experience.
Josh Mohrer: And then later in life, like right around probably like, '07 '08 before any kids though, as I was an adult, I went back for some stuttering therapy at like a local organization. And then, uh, you know, I did that for a bit, but then we got back in touch and then my wife became an SLP and she spent some time in this world and I guess met you.
Josh Mohrer: I think, and then my daughter, my older daughter at age two or three, I couldn't really hear it, but my wife was like, oh my God, like she she's, I don't want to make it. Like, she was like, oh my God sound the alarm. She was like, I noticed that Lily is stuttering a little bit. And I was like, can here. You're right.
Josh Mohrer: That is. And so we, um, we came and saw you, um, and some folks that you work with and, uh, that issue, you know, I think the sciences suggest that at a very young age, which she was, it can resolve and after a certain age, and she was sort of in that before. And so it has resolved and, um, you don't hear it anymore with her.
Josh Mohrer: She's now eight. So this must've been at least five years ago because there was no hand at this point. So this must've been, she wasn't in two or 3, 5, 6 years ago. And we came and saw you in Brooklyn somewhere. And, um, and, and it's, and it's resolved because of that early interview. And I think that's kind of how we reconnected.
Josh Mohrer: Right. And so, and my daughter went with someone for a while for like a year and it was helpful. And, um, you know, now she is graduating second grade and was asked to, uh, at the graduation, like read a paragraph, actually memorize a paragraph and recite. And we've been like practicing all week. It's funny.
Josh Mohrer: Cause she tells me she's nervous and I believe it or not similarly cannot understand why someone would be nervous if they know that physiologically the words will come out. Like if you forget, I get it, that's bad. But you know, we're going to be, we're going to be drilling those six sentences for the next week and she's going to go, she'll be gonna be able to wake her up at 3:00 AM and be like, tell me the paragraph.
Josh Mohrer: And she'll be able to recite a perfect, like, that's kind of where we're at already. And now I'm realizing like you're kind of nervous, but like I don't, she is very clear. She, my kids both understand that I stutter because I don't really hold back at all. So they hear it all the time. My younger daughter, my older daughter is, is, you know, she totally understands my younger daughter still kind of ask some things about it.
Josh Mohrer: Like what, why did you make that sound? Why couldn't you say the word? Just like, not in like a mean way. Just she at the time was like three or four and wanted to know. Um, but I don't think she, I don't think Lily knows that she did. I don't think she knows. She went to see someone. I don't think at the time she knew why he was like, it's a helper.
Josh Mohrer: He's gonna just play with you. She's like, great. I love attention from young adults. Right. And so, uh, we did that for awhile. Yeah. But that's, I mean, that's just the answer. That's how we reconnected after, after a long time. So there's a
Uri Schneider: lot that I'd love to unpack there, but we'll just hit a couple of touch points.
Uri Schneider: Cause there are some other amazing things that we want to get to. I would ask, do you remember, I vividly do you came in in a hoodie and um, I did not do my homework. I had no idea what you do or your history. And I kind of accidentally said, oh, you know, like. What's the story. Tell me a little bit about your background.
Uri Schneider: And you mentioned that you stuttered and you mentioned that whole story that you just shared. And then you said to me, um, I just want you to know, like my whole life, I wondered like, you know, wife, kids, and you went through this checklist. I kind of vividly remember you're telling me like, a lot of things have really clicked, you know, like I always wondered what I wife yep.
Uri Schneider: Check got that. Um, job. Thank God I'm employed. Um, you know, this, that, and then you said, thank God. I have a job at a company where I can say the name you said to me, you were grateful that you worked at Uber. Do you remember that comment? Yeah. Yeah.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. Well, because what sent me back into speech therapist that I couldn't say the name of Bob, where I worked and now it's just like, you know, that's a problem.
Josh Mohrer: I was actually daydreaming on the subway. Like what if my name was something? I couldn't say that that's right. I'm glad that's not the case. I mean, I just, uh, yeah, like it is, um, it's unfortunate because I think even now that I would think about that if I, you know, I love the work I do now, if I were going to go and work somewhere else and it was called, you know, it started with a, like a, B or a P M may not be, but a, B or a T.
Josh Mohrer: Like there are certain sounds that are just by default. It's kind of hard for me at the beginning of a word and that, uh, I might not admit that that's the reason out loud, but I think that is, um, that would be a deterrent. Like I just, where do you work? Busted tees, like what busted team, but it's just like, and I'm feeling very comfortable right now.
Josh Mohrer: And so this is, you know, but sometimes I don't feel comfortable and sometimes it happens more and like, I just, people want to know what it's sort of commonplace when you meet them. That's what their name and what they do. It's just what people talk about. And maybe they shouldn't, but it is, it's what people talk about.
Uri Schneider: So, all right. That's
Josh Mohrer: really real. That's real. And that's what I always loved. That's what I always loved. That's what I want to bring out is that for, for as much success that you have, you also keep it real, you know, as a dad, as a husband and as a person who stutters.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And I also can, I can appreciate the absurdity of the, of the whole thing.
Josh Mohrer: Like I, you know, I'll probably send this around when it's done to some folks that I work with and that, cause we do podcasts. We'll talk about levels in a bit, but how we're all like remote in sync and do all this stuff. Tons of podcasts, like internally, just talk about it now. Just, just be right in there now I'll circle back on that in a second, but I think it would probably blow people's minds, right?
Josh Mohrer: To think that this guy that. I'm not, I'm not the head of the company, but I'm relatively senior and people know what I've done. No, but I mean, like, I work with people where like 20 years younger than me, and I know more than them because I'm 20 years older than them. And I've been doing this for longer.
Josh Mohrer: I think it was more than your age. You've been around the block. I've been around the block. I think it would surprise people that like a criteria for me to work out levels was that I can say the L sound like, I think that probably would blow some people's minds, but that is just the reality. And I, you know, I just, and I'll go back to what levels does in a second.
Josh Mohrer: I think everyone has something, some issue that whether like an objective, the it's a big deal or not, it is for that person. And so I think everyone has their thing. Everyone has a thing. That's an issue for them. And for me that, you know, this is one of mine, but, but anyway, a little bit about levels, um, what's probably more interesting here is not what we do, but, but, um, how we do.
Josh Mohrer: And so we are by design, not like a COVID response. From the beginning, we were built as a company that is fully remote and fully asynchronous. And so I want to define both of those things because they're kind of different. Remote is obviously a, it just means everyone works from, from home and what that, or from somewhere that's not an office that we all share.
Josh Mohrer: And the benefit of that is, uh, you know, there's several one is that we hire people from all over the world. And so the city, uh, our location is not a limiting factor for who can work with us, which makes these situations sort of fun when everyone kinda like all the engineers are going to come to New York for this week.
Josh Mohrer: And, uh, see each other. And then if you're lucky enough to live in New York, you can see them too. Um, so that's the remote piece. And then the asynchronous piece is that we try to not just take office life and put it online and remote and just do zooms all day. Instead of doing meetings all day. Instead, we try to do as few meetings as possible and keep things in writing or video.
Josh Mohrer: So instead of having a 30 minute meeting about a thing, I might record a quick video on loom. That's one of our favorite tools like zoom, but with an L and it's basically just a screen recorder that puts your face in it. Very, very simple. But when the recording is done, it immediately appears on a website that you can share the link and people can see it and you can speed it up, which is often like.
Josh Mohrer: I play really well, like 1.7 X, you know what I mean? And so just like podcasts that everyone does that. And so, um, so that's the async part. And as a result, you know, it's a lot of sort of deep work and we do a lot of writing and, and the execution, you know, we do do zooms too. I do plenty of zooms and we recorded, but we record everything, not in a creepy spy.
Josh Mohrer: Judgy way, but because if we have a conversation it's like, oh, I really wish Scott were in this thing. And I'm like, okay, well, listen, let's like, let's just send him the recording. He can watch it at two X. And it's like, he was here, but it took him half the time and he didn't have to be there at that time.
Josh Mohrer: And so that is kind of simultaneous to the what, of like what we do. That's, that's the how, and it's very interesting. And, um, I was skeptical of it at first, but it's actually been delightful partially because I think typical office work is less effective and less efficient than people think you travel to the office.
Josh Mohrer: You get, there, you take off your thing. You have a cup of coffee, say hi to Jimmy. You go, you have a meeting about this thing. You're just gonna sit there. It doesn't matter. And then the actual work, like we used to joke when I was at Uber. I do like meetings all day. And then I work at home, like in the evenings, because that was often, you know, I was like managing a lot of people and they all want a piece of me.
Josh Mohrer: It's like, I have a problem. I have a problem. Like give me a raise. Like I want a different job. Like I'll, you know, I'll just all this stuff. And so that is, um, just a different kind of thing. So this is very different. It's nice. It gives me a lot of flexibility. I think I'm working as hard. I produce as much, but I have, I don't commute anymore.
Josh Mohrer: Uh, and I don't do meetings that seem like a waste of time anymore. That's which is nice.
Uri Schneider: So your side gig is being an evangelical for remote work.
Josh Mohrer: Um, it's not, I mean, actually like where that is, the side gig of the company is that we are promoting a way of work because there have not been many situations like this.
Josh Mohrer: It's more common now given our world, but we are a bit evangelical about that. It's like, we think this really makes. If your default remote, we actually don't think that a hybrid system works for some of you can come to work. Some of you don't,
Uri Schneider: No, but if we'll riff and we'll come back to my, we'll go back to that visit in, in, in Brooklyn in a minute, but maybe what level's actually does in addition to how you do it.
Uri Schneider: And secondly, your experience as a guy who stutters as a leader, as a speaker, the kid who dreaded video calls and all of a sudden, it's a big topic now, especially with COVID, but even just contemporary work, like dealing with zoom calls. Yeah. So any thoughts on that, but first, what does levels do? Cause I'm really fascinated by the whole feedback loop and the value.
Josh Mohrer: Yes. So levels helps you see how food affects your health. Um, as a starting point, you know, they're in modern Western living, um, you know, specifically in the United States, uh, lifestyles can be pretty unhealthy. Some of that is just the food that's available in the world is not great for us. We're more sedentary.
Josh Mohrer: We don't have to go and hunt for our food. We sleep in rooms that are warm. Cause we have heat, just all these things that are very nice. You know, our society has evolved much faster than our bodies. And so you have these health crises basically coming up where we've solved the, you know, people aren't at least in the U S that God like starving and they're sort of, the basics are by and large covered.
Josh Mohrer: But now we're developing things like cancer and heart disease and sort of like these like Western diseases that are often the result of just bad lifestyle choices over the long haul. And so. Um, what level's does is do create software that pairs with biosensors, um, like a glucose monitor that sits on your arm.
Josh Mohrer: It's traditionally worn by diabetics who need to monitor their glucose levels for, for like acute health reasons or like, you know, they need to know they might need to inject some insulin in them to bring down their, their levels or they might, uh, just, you know, there's usually there has, so the FDA approves those monitors for use by diabetics, but because that's what they were, that's where the money is.
Josh Mohrer: Essentially the insight of levels is that actually those devices can be useful for everybody. Not just people who are sick, because they sh they give you a really interesting piece of data in an ongoing way, which is like how much. Sugar is in your blood. It's sort of like driving a car. It's like your fuel gauge or your, or your odometer or your speedometer.
Josh Mohrer: Like we as modern humans in 2022 have computers with dozens or hundreds of sensors about the temperature of this and the shape of this. And we have all this, all these things and our cars have hundreds , a thousand sensors, like the air pressure in your front left tire is it's all the stuff it's all instrumented.
Josh Mohrer: But people go to the doctor once a year, they get a blood test. They get a one moment in time view of a few things. A guy in a white coat tells them if they're cool or not cool. And then they come back next year. And a lot of what kills people naturally are things that if caught earlier would not kill them.
Josh Mohrer: And so just the broad idea as that, we should be able to know more about what's happening in our bodies all the time. It shouldn't just be, I go to the doctor and so the glucose. Piece. It's a, it's a molecule that's relatively easy to measure because of its size. And the sensors are common and relatively inexpensive for the magic that they bring.
Josh Mohrer: And so our business, we don't make those, but we help people get them. And then we provide software that helps them, that sort of sits on top of it to help them understand specifically how food is affecting their health. So for example, you might log all of your meals in our app, and then we'll tell you, we'll give you basically give each meal a score based on the blood sugar response.
Josh Mohrer: You know, you basically the, at a very, very high level, you just, you want to not be spiky one variants to be low. And, uh, I think there's a bunch of different reasons. Someone would enjoy this, you know, there, we there's all these sort of different versions of this, but like one is the guy who thinks that eating the huge bowl.
Josh Mohrer: Oatmeal and berries in the morning is extremely healthy for them. And it turns out that's just kind of a misconception or it could be for that person. Every person is different. There's a famous study that came out of Israel. Actually that someone had a banana, someone ate something like a cookie or, uh, a banana and each like had a response and it was like the opposite.
Josh Mohrer: I'm telling the story, not everyone is the same. So one person's response to banana might be like their response to, uh, sweets. You know, like it's not exactly, not every human is the same is the point. And so doing it yourself and measuring yourself can help you see if the conventional wisdom of like oatmeal in the morning is good.
Josh Mohrer: Like it actually probably isn't and we're coming also out of an era. If you're like roughly our age, you might remember the, like the cereal boxes that have. You know, eat a lot of carbs on the bottom and like eat a little bit of fats and oils. And they're like the kind of food pyramid, the food pyramid, it turns out it's probably the exact opposite.
Josh Mohrer: So they're just like, we're just, there's partially, there's just an information issue. Like people don't know, but then there's someone like me who does know, but sometimes can find it hard to be, to like hold myself accountable, to not have, you know, a brownie at, at 11 at night. Like having a thing that comes the next day and is like, Hey, what'd you do that at 11, you had a spike bad, Josh.
Josh Mohrer: You know, it doesn't quite say that, but the accountability is, it is a new idea. Being able to, you know, it's more than a scale. You stand on a scale. That's a very blunt thing. It's like, there's like, Water weight all these components that sort of make the scale, not a very good measurement tool, but blood glucose is a pretty good measurement.
Josh Mohrer: So anyway, that's the long version of what we do. The idea is to help people improve their health on their own terms, using all the technology that we have
Josh Mohrer: I think it was really cool about it is like in that wearable tech space, you know, having that ongoing feedback and data, which also gives you your metabolic profile, like you said, not to, not everybody responds to the carbs the same way.
Josh Mohrer: Not everybody responds to a keto diet the same way. It really gives each person their individualized dashboard
Josh Mohrer: 100%. So you figure out what makes you go and what you know, and what doesn't. And there you go.
Uri Schneider: And that's what we need for stuttering therapy, but that's for the next conversation. All right. Um, so back back to that day, I remember you said something along these lines that Sunday morning that we met in Brooklyn, there you are in your hoodie and you said to me, listen, I just want to tell you, like I used to stutter and it was a big deal.
Uri Schneider: And now I'm the head of this company called Uber in New York city. And, um, I do tons of interviews on television. In fact, I think that morning you were, did an interview with the today show or something like that. You're like, yeah, I was wearing the hoodie. I put on a suit for that night. I I put a hoodie for you and a.
Uri Schneider: So, I, I, I, I don't stutter anymore. You, you said a sentence like that and stuttered while saying it
Josh Mohrer: you've told me this story before you've given me the read back on this, I'd be surprised.
Uri Schneider: And then you said, I know last mile, it goes Malika Burton, shout out that she was the amazing therapist in the room. And then, and then you said, and I just want you to know at the same time, you know, I don't hold back anymore.
Uri Schneider: But last night I went with my wife and just so you know what? Get the read back. Right. We went to the Pearl jam concert at MSG. I remember.
Josh Mohrer: All right.
Uri Schneider: And, uh, we took the subway back uptown. Now, first of all, that was always curious to me, the guy that runs Uber is taking the subway, but that's another story.
Josh Mohrer: That's not a secret. I was I'm. I will almost always prefer a subway than Uber, because it's almost always faster. But anyway, I mean, I just sort of depends, but yes, continue.
Uri Schneider: We're not going to knock Uber. And then you said, and I just want to tell you that the whole write-up I knew I had the today show and I knew that we had this big announcement that we're going to the outer boroughs .
Uri Schneider: We're expanding to the outer boroughs. And I was kind of obsessed over the fact that B has always been tough for me. And so on the one hand you're sharing in the same breath, how you don't hold back and then in the same breath you're sharing how there's this occupation in your mind. And I just think that's really, again, the nuance and the reality of it.
Uri Schneider: And I'm just wondering if you could riff on that, like on the one hand being beyond it, and on the other hand, it's still occupying a certain amount of bandwidth of the automatic system.
Josh Mohrer: So yeah. So I'm trying to figure out, I mean, this must've been 2016 because that's like roughly when Lily would have been seeing you, when I would have had the clouded Uber to go on a talk show or like Uber was interesting enough a duty want us when we were doing borough lunches and stuff like that.
Josh Mohrer: What I was reflecting on there is like, well, so first of all, everyone's stutter is different. I find that when. When the adrenaline really cranks, when, you know, the moment comes that tends to work out for me, it hasn't always, and I have some clear memories of like big issues in front of a thousand people.
Josh Mohrer: I was a youth leader of a youth group and had like a national role at, at a convention in like my freshman year of college, as I was sort of finishing the role, I went and just had to like read a speech and it was a nightmare. Like I still think about it sometimes, but I think with television and like the really exciting moments for it and go like I can, for whatever reason, I've, I've put it to you this way.
Josh Mohrer: There's almost an inverse relationship between how many people on standing in front of and how bad my blocks are. And it's never worse than, um, than when I'm with one person. Like with my wife, with my parents, with my brother, With one person when it, that can sometimes be the worst. Whereas like in a moment of gravitas, when I'm presenting something, I can sort of put on a different thing and it's like, and it doesn't happen, um, for whatever reason, but yeah, I mean, these are concerns.
Josh Mohrer: And I think like I referred to earlier, like Lily is, is going to read the, is going to actually recite about a minute of texts at her graduate ceremony for second grade. It's basically like welcoming the first graders to second grade. Like, you know, in second grade you're gonna do this kind of math or whatever.
Josh Mohrer: So, and she's nervous about it. And I guess it's, it's, she's not worried that she's gonna block, she's worried about there's thing. Everyone's worried about public speaking. It's like the number it's one of the top things people worry about for us kind of a different reason, but also kind of the similar reason.
Josh Mohrer: So yeah, I mean, I think there was a part of the Uber years. There were like the middle to later part of the Uber years where my confidence just got so high. In the, in that context that it just didn't feel like as much of an issue. And I was getting older. That's been a part of it. I think you like care less what people think as you age a little bit, but also I would never, I guess on some level I've always worried that like, people who don't understand stuttering, which I think is a lot of people, I don't think it's particularly well understood.
Josh Mohrer: Um, just amongst people and that it could be confused for a lack of intelligence, a lack of understanding, not being, you know, not using words in a concise and coherent manner. One of my least favorite things is giving an interview in voice and then having it typed out and put in a newspaper. Cause I always feel like I sound like an idiot because I like use some I'll like kind of, I don't know.
Josh Mohrer: The words just are tight. Cause I'm not reciting a sentence. I'm just trying to get an idea across. And that's not always as easy for me. And so I, like, I never enjoy when it's written back. I kind of feel like invoice. It's fine. Like if I watch like a recording, I'm usually fine to do that. But, um, it's always hard to sort of, uh, if they want to like exactly quote me and include all the us and I'm just like, come on.
Josh Mohrer: Or if I just say something, it doesn't really make sense. Or it sounds over simplified. I'm using more like worse words to say an idea rather than just like being precise about it. Like those are all on the fly sub are just almost automatic
Josh Mohrer: decisions that I make that, you know, don't always look good in writing. So there's that, I mean, that's where I was at that point.
Uri Schneider: One of the things I picked up from your a user's manual user's guide, you said I credit the. With allowing me to facilitate much of my communication and writing throughout my career, cutting out the physiological middleman and kind about this, right?
Uri Schneider: In other words, your written communication, you can choose to be as precise and wordsmith it as you choose. And you're saying that when you see your, your spoken word transcribed, there is a discrepancy between the way you'd like to be seeing it written, uh, you would have written it differently. So your verbal performance, there's a discrepancy between what you feel if your, your acumen, your, your clarity in your spoken word for a C written.
Josh Mohrer: Yeah. And sometimes I just get on a roll and I can be fluent and it's no problem. And you can almost feel it. It's sort of hard to, it's hard to understand, like, what is, what does lifting your arm up feel like, like you can't really describe that. I don't know. I just do it. I just lift my arm up and we know what happens.
Josh Mohrer: It's your brain sending a signal in the muscles. They can, and they will be withdrawn, but you don't think about it that way. I can get a feeling that I'm going to be fluent for the next minute. I just know, I'm like, oh, I'm like in some kind of groove, my brain is doing something a little bit different.
Josh Mohrer: And I just know that I could say busted tees, whatever. Like, it doesn't matter. I could say anything and I just know the feeling. And so sometimes I get into, I can feel that and that's good. And on the async, you know, we're fully asynch. So even though we'll do videos, you get a second chance. If you can, if you watch.
Josh Mohrer: And you're like, oh, I I'm going to do that again. And I think most people probably don't do that. I think they just go and that's fine. And I don't, I take an extra minute. I go back, I might use an app to remove ums and AHS. I might feel like I'm saying something and I'd be like, mm, I'm going to be like, okay, I'm going to edit right here.
Josh Mohrer: And then I'll just start it again and I'll go back and I'll clip it. And I think that's, that's all fine. Not just like a tool at the end of the day. I'm just trying to Communicate ideas to other people like that's, you know, and I want to be, I want to be understood. That's what I do right
Uri Schneider: there. If anybody got that, that's the quote of the day.
Uri Schneider: I just want to get my ideas across to other people and be understood. Yeah. At the end of the day, thinking about the final, the final outcome that we're all looking for, you know, sometimes how we get there is a little less important and we get caught up on the details, but it did focus on the product. So I'm going to share what you write in this user's manual about stuttering.
Uri Schneider: It's quite profound. A lot of people wonder how to be open about stuttering. How will it be perceived? And as I'm reading it, Josh, what I'm wondering for you is number one, three questions. When did you start doing things like this? Like being open and putting it out front too. What has it done for you?
Uri Schneider: Like how does it change things for you and three, what does it do for others? Like how do others respond to it. Yeah, a little interruption there. So I'm going to read this out this out
Josh Mohrer: go ahead.
Uri Schneider: I'll read it out. Perfect. And let people reflect on this because this is just so good. Um, you write in here, you may notice when speaking with me that, uh, I stutter, um, the term stuttering is mostly associated and you give a little Wikipedia definition and then you say I've stuttered for as long as I've been able to talk.
Uri Schneider: And I've undergone many years of therapy not to fix it, but to become comfortable with it and develop techniques to make it less disruptive to my communication. One such technique, self advertising is what I've just done here. Now that it's out in the open, I'll never be nervous about it when we speak.
Uri Schneider: And you'll never wonder what you're looking at. If I get a block, you may have conversations with me and not notice this at all. You may think I'm being inefficient with a word or searching for what I want to say or sound a bit on crisp. It will sometimes take me an extra second or two to get a word out and I prefer you.
Uri Schneider: Let me do that rather than complete. My sentence for me tends to be not much rhyme or reason to when I get these blocks, I've fluently delivered speeches to hundreds of people appeared on TV interviews countless times, but I can sometimes struggle in the one-on-one discussions. There's both a physiological and emotional component and the area is under-researched after we got married, my wife decided to leave her career as a speech educator, a special education teacher and become a speech language pathologist.
Uri Schneider: That is so epic. Uh, so when did you start doing this? What has it done for you and how do people receive
Josh Mohrer: it? So, in, in my adult life, when I went back to therapy, I don't know. It's, it's sort of like, I think maybe every stutter has the moment where they realize, oh, like this is not going to get fixed. And I think at 27, when I went back and started doing this, I don't think I knew that yet.
Josh Mohrer: I don't think I knew that yet. I think I still had a fantasy. There's going to be a pill, a shot, a surgery, a technique, an audio device. You know, there's been little research about like, if you give yourself audio feedback and confuse yourself, it's easier to be floated. Just like, I don't know, like I think a hundred years ago they would slit your tongue.
Josh Mohrer: Like we've been trying to figure this one out for awhile and we're, and we're not going to, and it's just, you know, so I think coming to terms with the fact that this is going to be a thing, right. Is an interesting reframe. And so when I went back to therapy, the first that was clear and what we spent the first little while doing this is in like flat iron in Manhattan.
Josh Mohrer: And we would go to like a department store and I would just go up to clerks and be like, I need to ask them a question and any questions about anything, like where's the bathroom. But before I did that, I'd be like, hi, I stutter, when I speak, can you help me find the bathroom or help me find anything and says I would do.
Josh Mohrer: And where I know him. And I'm going to like, hold eye contact with you and struggle and get the word out. And first I'm going to tell I'm gonna do the advertising and then I'm gonna do that. I'm going to intentionally do it. And it's like a desensitization, a little bit of that moment because you're giving permission to the person to notice it.
Josh Mohrer: You don't have to pretend this isn't happening. This is happening. We're having this exchange. You're standing in front of me. I'm about to ask you a question and I can't, and I'm going to try and you're gonna see me struggling. I'm going to get it out. You're going to answer it. It's all good. And some of it is for the benefit of the person.
Josh Mohrer: It's mostly the, for the benefit of me, of the person saying it of the stutter. And, and I think that was really interesting. And so I have used that, um, you know, I have, I have experimented within, in a bunch of different ways. I think the user guide ended up being the perfect place because it wasn't because in some ways it's like, So an example of when it didn't work super well for me, um, in between Uber and this, I was an investor and I started this firm and we raised a bunch of money and I didn't end up really liking it very much.
Josh Mohrer: And so I left for levels, but when we did about a year of pitching where we'd go to like university endowments or, um, retirement fund managers and give them like a pitch on why they should invest in our fund. And this is a very bad experience for me, because I think a planned scripted thing, and the guy I was working with is a very good speaker and sales men.
Josh Mohrer: And it would be very robust in what he says. And it would sort of like leave spaces for me. And it was just like the worst of everything. And we tried some, we, we tried some, um, some advertising because it was bad. I mean, it was, it was really the worst period of adult stuttering I'd ever had. It was, I mean, I don't, I'm not gonna use.
Josh Mohrer: Language on this, but I mean, I have a lot of things to say, like it was, it was really bad. And, um, you know, I think for a bunch of reasons, I was out of my element. It wasn't a good fit for me. Anyway, I was self-conscious about it. The was working with was much stronger at it than I was. I felt like a little bit of dead weight.
Josh Mohrer: It was just the opposite of Uber. Like the story you told earlier, where I had like, the confidence is the opposite of that. And so I would, we, I tried advertising for a little bit and it just like, I don't know, it wasn't. It didn't work for whatever reason. It was just, I don't know. I didn't like that, but the, the manual has been great.
Josh Mohrer: Like doing what I did here is so great because I know that people are going to see it. Or if they're curious, they're going to look and see it. It's a much better way because also I got to just say it exactly how I want, I got to have the long form. It's not just a one sentence thing. It's a clerk in a store.
Josh Mohrer: It doesn't really matter necessarily what they come away with. But if it's a pitcher going to be in for 90 minutes and you've sort of opened with that, it's like, I don't know what to do with that. I don't know. Just I could be imagining it. It just, it didn't really feel good. It didn't, it didn't really work for me, but the.
Josh Mohrer: But, but after the, you know, going back a little bit after that incident, you know, after I practiced this in the department store, I did become more open about it. I would tell people that I work with, um, it's just sort of like, why not, why not put a label on the thing that the other person has seen? Like you're seeing that
Uri Schneider: name.
Uri Schneider: It don't shame it. Just name the elephant in the room.
Josh Mohrer: Don't shame. I love that. That's great. And it just like, just get it out there and move on. Like, yup. There's this thing I got no control over it. It happens. Don't worry. It's almost like the positioning for the, it was almost like, don't worry if this happens, this is going to happen.
Josh Mohrer: Don't worry about it.
Uri Schneider: I talk about it. I broke it down into three stages and you did it and I could have taken it straight out of your piece. I talk about, you got to give it a name, whatever name you want to use for it. Number two, tell them what to expect, like what might happen or what might not happen.
Uri Schneider: One of the things people do is they advertise and they don't stutter. And the person's like, yeah, I told you, it's no big deal. You don't stutter. Like, no, no trust me. I do in many other places. And so like, there's, that's a bit, but to say what you said, you might not even notice it, but other times you might, so you put that out there, you told them what to expect, and number three, you tell them what you want them to do.
Uri Schneider: Just hang in there. You know, don't complete my words. Other people might have other preferences they want to put out there. So we're coming down the home stretch. Cause I know you've got another meeting in a hard stop, but I do want to touch on.
Josh Mohrer: Yes. Yeah. I told the 1130 that I might be five minutes late.
Josh Mohrer: So if it's like 1131, don't worry. Oh,
Uri Schneider: okay. I got one extra minute. Perfect.
Uri Schneider: I got you. I got you.
Uri Schneider: I got you. Like, we can just pull them into this meeting if you want. They might, they might be
Uri Schneider: watching this Facebook live.
Josh Mohrer: It would be a very boring meeting for you and for all the listeners. But yes, I'll go.
Uri Schneider: I'd be dead weight over there. Um, Josh, you know, one of the things that we've teamed up on is, for example, I'm thinking of one person in particular, I'm gonna tell a story about this guy and then I'd love for you to shed a little bit of light. Some young people going into the beginning of their career, their first job, you know, high school was one thing.
Uri Schneider: College is another, and then stepping into your first job, especially if it's in corporate settings or whatever professional setting, there's a certain amount of like, okay, you know, we're not in Kansas anymore. And, um, there's a great deal of fear and angst that kind of ramps up with that new chapter in life.
Uri Schneider: So I'm thinking of one person in particular, I want to give a quick story about, and then maybe you could just shed a little light on the kind of things people have talked to you about and the kind of advice that you've shared. And maybe that could be helpful to some of the people that are listening, but they have one guy that you know, who you chatted with.
Uri Schneider: And he was just before he was starting his job, one of the biggest banks in New York and, uh, super antsy about, okay, I got it. They know I stuttered, but like, are they really going to accept me? Are they really gonna treat me like an equal? Are they not going to judge me and kind of, you know, stigmatize and say, oh yeah, here's the guy who stutters.
Uri Schneider: And, um, at the beginning of his journey, he was so. Fearful of his stutter. He [told me that at the very beginning, he would search on the internet and he would clear his browser and do it incognito. He didn't want anyone to even know that he searched for browsing stuttering. He said it was a big step forward after his third or fourth meeting.
Uri Schneider: He's like, yeah, I'm actually not doing it in incognito anymore. I'm not clearing my cache anymore. And you know, that's like a 20, 22 version of desensitization, an example of measurable progress. So this young man, then he spoke with you before he started this job at the bank and he found it super helpful.
Uri Schneider: More than anything I could have ever done was talking to another person. Who's walked the walk, who's talked the talk who's, who's gone through the fire and it's a year later and he's in this community. We have transcending stuttering, transcending x.com. He's in the community. And a guy from Nigeria pops up.
Uri Schneider: I didn't even tell you this story. This is fresh. A guy from Nigeria posts in the community, getting a job in Nigeria with a stutter is so hard. I'm in such hard knocks. If anyone could send me a loan. Of like 500 bucks. I'll pay it back in a few weeks. And I didn't know what to do. You know, this is not a micro lending platform.
Uri Schneider: I didn't want people soliciting funds. On the other hand, my heart goes out to the guy. So how do I support him, but also set kind of the code of conduct here hadn't happened before. So on one hand I told the fellow, you know, here's a platform for micro-lending for creating a campaign and I'm sure we can find some people that could help you out short term.
Uri Schneider: But at the same time, what you can find in this community is people that have been through similar experiences and you can hear what they've done and kind of also just have the comfort of knowing that you're not the only person on the planet dealing with this very challenging situation of feeling stigmatized and judged unfavorably, and some of it's in your head.
Uri Schneider: And some of it's real, you know, the world, isn't always a friendly place. There are a lot of jerks out there. So I said, that's what I said to him publicly privately. I messaged a group of people in the platform, including our friend who went to the bank. Let's call them. Yeah. And Jessie pops in and gives this guy such an encouraging message.
Uri Schneider: She says, listen, buddy, I've been there. It's hard. Let me tell you something. The best thing would be, you could send me your resume. I'll help you Polish it up. You could send me any of your interviewing stuff. We can get on a zoom call. I can help you. So this guy from New York is voluntarily helping this guy in Nigeria, lending him his heart, lending him his ear, or lending him his time.
Uri Schneider: I think it was experience. So this guy feels a little bit less alone. And the funniest thing is the guy that's hiding his browser says to him. And by the way, the best thing to do is just put it out there. Just let them know what's up and how you're going to deal with it. And so, you know where he was at when he was starting at the bank, he was hiding beyond belief.
Uri Schneider: So to see him advocating for others, to see the benefit of that is just remarkable. So what would you say, Josh? What are some of the things that people bring to you in that conversation and what are some of the tips that you offer.
Josh Mohrer: Well, I think, um, and in that, you know, in, in this situation, I, what I was surprised after to learn is that he had never had a conversation with another actual stutter before, like he talks to you, but he has never, um, had that kind of like heart to heart with another person.
Josh Mohrer: And I, I know where he went to high school too, like I'm familiar with it. And I was just kind of surprised about that, but for whatever reason, he, I mean, maybe he would just didn't want to do that. He wasn't ready to do that, but, uh, but it, it sounded like just having the heart to heart with someone who gets it, um, in a first-person way was effective was, was a, uh, a useful experience for him.
Josh Mohrer: I had that early on because I, I got it from my uncle. I mean, that's obviously not what I mean, but the fact that my uncle stutters is related to the fact that I do. And so I had at that prototype, and then I also had a guy in my elementary school who who stuttered and kind of a different way than me. Um, but I just, I guess I just had some more exposure to people who had the situation.
Josh Mohrer: Um, and I didn't really need it, but I, but I think I, you know, it was clear to me from after speaking with him that everybody in that situation needs to have another, as to have a sound board for like, you know, I'm concerned about XYZ. And I don't think necessarily the message I gave him was like, don't, don't worry about those things.
Josh Mohrer: No one will notice or care like that actually is not the message. Um, and I don't, I remember the zoom and I remember the background of the zoom and what the room he was in looks like, but I can't remember what we talked about, unfortunately. Uh, but I think it was just, you know, the empathy it's like, yeah, I get it.
Josh Mohrer: You know? Um, it's not good. Um, but. I did. I, it was kind of, don't worry because I, I did, I think in now, as I think about it, like remembering some of the concerns that like the scenarios he shared, like I'm going to be in this situation at this bank and I'm going to be doing this and like, this is going to happen.
Josh Mohrer: I'm like, no, that's not going to happen. Don't worry. These are like worldly folks. They're going to have met people. Not saying they're going to be necessarily all nice, but they're going to be worldly enough to know, like, you've got a job there, you went through a process that wasn't an accident. You deserve it.
Josh Mohrer: You have what it takes. You probably even have a little more than what it takes because he's still got it, despite all this. And so I think, um, you know, it's going to be okay, you're going to work it out. Um, you did the hard part. He was coming to talk after he got the big job. I was like, you got the big job right out of school.
Josh Mohrer: So it's gonna, you know, and, um, I guess just sorta hearing that was probably good for him and just, uh, the incognito stuff. I do remember that. And that is, I mean that's wild. There is something there that was good to dislodge because that's, that's very difficult to hear that he felt like someone might get as if it's like an, as he's doing something like elicit.
Josh Mohrer: Um, that's a little bit disturbing to be honest. And so I'm glad that he was able to like dislodge that and not feel that way anymore and be more open look at, I, I don't know that going into his first day at that bank. I mean, like ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to tell you something, but I think what I said, I was like, but over time you start to let people know people that you spend a lot of time with.
Josh Mohrer: Maybe let your manager know upfront. It's almost just like you're assuring them. It's like, don't worry. I think I, you know, I don't know you
Uri Schneider: said it all there, you know, you're not even sure what. That's all right. Like sometimes it's not about the substance. It's about the experience. It's about feeling the comfort of having someone that gets it.
Uri Schneider: And we underestimate how powerful that can be in so many arenas in life. Um, we're coming down the home stretch and I appreciate your extra time. So we'll just come home with this. I think we'll circle back. Maybe we'll have around two. Um, but that'd be awesome. Thank you. I think levels. And what I'm thinking about is feedback loops and you talk about in your user's manual, how much you love feedback.
Uri Schneider: And we all thrive on feedback and what the research tells us about feedback. Specifically, we need to create cultures and spaces, and I'm gonna be talking at national stuttering association about how do we create safe spaces? And if we have enough positive feedback, we can create a safe space for hard feedback too.
Uri Schneider: And, and it can be very well received and very productive. The most unproductive is when no one can say what they really need to say, um, which is a sort of stuttering, whether you stutter or not feeling that you can't say what needs to be said, having. But, uh, we'll skip that. Let's just circle back to, like, what would you say would be the most important thing you'd like to see in the stuttering therapy universe in terms of a disruption as a guy who comes from Uber, one of the greatest disruptors out there, um, what would be something that you think could be really something that could take things to the next level, into the future of stuttering therapy opportunities for people who stutter
Josh Mohrer: it's clearly you're already on the path.
Josh Mohrer: I mean, and I think a lot of it is internet and digital, like being able, you know, I've, I've only, I think I've gotten to one session of like all the stutters get together and like sit on a couch and have a conversation. And I was like, add a place to go. And it was there. And like, you know, now we're all zoom in and that's probably an easier way to do that kind of thing.
Josh Mohrer: I think there is a role the, the, the internet can do something here. Like I'm not. So the analog is like, so I lost a lot of weight, probably. Since I saw you that first time, like after Lily's birth, I wasn't the pregnant one, but I still gained a lot of weight. And I was at Uber in like the thick of it and gained a lot of weight there too, and ended up like losing a lot of weight.
Josh Mohrer: Uh, and that turned me on to a lot of the concepts that level's is into that was sort of my onboarding for it. I lost the weight in like 20 19 a little bit before that too, but a lot of it in 2019 and I joke, but it's really true, but like I lost weight on the internet. Like I was able to access information and experiences of other people in a decentralized way that was really effective for me.
Josh Mohrer: The fasting movement, you know, for me, I fasting always felt like a religious thing that you do a few times a year and as generally unpleasant, and this is like, well, actually this is like sort of, you know, water fasting, and it can be. You skipped breakfast and it's like things that are maybe like metabolically healthy because they are how we evolved.
Josh Mohrer: Like did humans 5,000 years ago or 3000, is your testers going to necessarily eat three square meals a day? Like, no. For sure not. And so, and the fact that fasting appears in basically every major world, religion just suggests that there is some there, there. And so I reading people, people would post their experiences.
Josh Mohrer: I did this thing. Here's what happened. I, you know, and I was into testing, my blood for a bit different sort of like level of monitoring to monitor the levels. And that's when I've met levels. I was like, oh, like, yes, I'm going to blow my life up and come and do this because this is going to be the thing.
Josh Mohrer: And, um, I think there's an analog, you know, I think giving more voice, you know, decentralizing this a little bit, where in the past your organization might be, everyone's interacting with you. You've now created a space that other people can interact with each other and sort of a way that you're not necessarily involved in all the time.
Josh Mohrer: And I think there's something there in terms of. You know, there are now therapy outs, forget about speech therapy, but there, there are therapy apps, there's apps for everything. And behavior change is something that we think about a lot at levels. Like how do we get people to not eat the bagel? Like, cause it's not just knowing to not eat a bagel.
Josh Mohrer: It's also getting yourself to eat the bagel and habits and behavior changes. And so I think there are, and the techniques, you know, there are still to, even though it's not a solvable problem, there are techniques. One could learn, um, that can make things a little bit better so that you just, you know, you get through the block and you move on, not going to overnight make you fluent, but there are, there is as with most things, there are techniques that have been developed by people who have been through it before and have been thinking about it, .
Josh Mohrer: So I think there is just a better way to disseminate information, to share experiences, to connect people. The Nigeria thing was a beautiful example that doesn't happen without the internet. By by any long shot. And so people that are in isolated places that are maybe like less enlightened, who are not around people who know this, isn't her not, you know, like living on the upper west side, which I view as a, rather than like in place, like most of the rest of the world, maybe not be on the same page,
Josh Mohrer: like on the east
Josh Mohrer: side, on the east side, if you crossed the park, these are there.
Josh Mohrer: Like, what is, I'm just kidding. I just mean in communities where I just might not be on people's radars, for whatever reason someone think there is a, that is the opportunity set. I think it's just like, the internet is great. I'm not exactly, you know, a lot of connectivity you can do you connect different people who stutter with each other.
Josh Mohrer: You can put them in groups. There should. I think there's some, there, there that's maybe topic for our, our second call a second podcast. But, um, but yeah, but there's definitely something to do there. I unfortunately do have to go down, go
Uri Schneider: closing, closing line, you know, the closing line. What would be your one?
Uri Schneider: Thing you would tell your younger self, just that one short nugget of wisdom that you wish you knew, then you know now, and you wish you could share.
Josh Mohrer: Um, oh gosh, I don't know. Don't worry. You know,
Josh Mohrer: you got it. Don't worry level up.
Uri Schneider: Josh. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for the extra time. Have an awesome day regards to everybody.
Uri Schneider: Hope. Maybe Petra join you for around to
Josh Mohrer: awesome, really great chatting. See you all soon. Bye bye.