The Success "Formula" Nobody Warns You About: Why One-Size-Fits-All Advice Fails | John Cousins

In this episode of Unconventional Wisdom About Conventional Wisdom, Kim Miller-Hershon sits down with John Cousins investor, tech founder, and best-selling author of Corporate Finance ASAP and, remarkably, over 60 other books. John is the founder of MBA ASAP, which has trained more than 30,000 students across 165 countries, along with corporations like Adidas, Apple, General Mills, Kaiser Permanente, Lyft, PayPal, Pinterest, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. He's also taught MBA students at universities around the world. Outside of business, he's a lifelong jazz pianist — and the conversation opens with a rich detour into how jazz, for all its improvisation, is built on tight, shared structure.  In this conversation, John challenges one of the deepest lessons school drills into us: that success means never failing. As an engineer turned entrepreneur, he had to unlearn the test-taking mindset entirely.  A turning point in John's story is his slow, deliberate walk away from corporate life. He started as an electrical engineer, studied at MIT, and spent the 1980s at ABC producing Wide World of Sports, World News Tonight, Olympics, and space shuttle launches — a dream job for a guy in his 20s. But he chafed under being told what to do, so he left, got his MBA, and hasn't had a boss since 1988. Over the following decades he shed the parts of business that constrained him — investors, partners, employees, big customers — until he built something he could run solo. Digital downloads and the internet let him reach a global "long tail" of students with no working capital and no accounts receivable. As he puts it, it's a wonderful time to be alive. John and Kim also dig into the gap between what we know and what we actually do — Kim's real fascination as a coach. They explore DISC as a tool for communication and negotiation,And when the talk turns to imposter syndrome, John flips it on its head. Rather than talking himself out of it with credentials, he treats it as a signal of the Dunning-Kruger effect in reverse — proof you know enough to know you don't know everything. His grounded answer to any gap: "I don't know, and I'll find out." Strong convictions, loosely held. This episode explores:  * Why school's "never fail" lesson is the wrong mindset for building anything   * Failing fast and forward as the real engine of entrepreneurship  * How jazz's structure mirrors the constraints inside creative work  * John's decades-long move away from bosses, partners, and investors  * Building a global, solo business on digital downloads and no working capital  * DISC as a tool for better communication and negotiation  * Why revenue growth can be a vanity metric — and simplicity scales   * Reframing imposter syndrome through Dunning-Kruger and Socratic humility John's perspective is a powerful reminder that there's no single recipe for success — only the willingness to fail, adapt, and stay honest about what you don't know. His arc from MIT engineer to boss-free global educator shows that you can build a business shaped entirely around who you actually are, if you're patient enough to let the path reveal itself.  If you're an entrepreneur, creative, lifelong learner, or anyone tired of the "shoulds" that pass for business advice, this conversation offers practical insight, candid honesty about imposter syndrome, and a refreshing case that the smartest thing you can say is often "I don't know — let me find out." Connect with me here:  * Website: https://www.kimmillerhershon.com  * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmillerhershon  * Newsletter: https://link.kimmillerhershon.com/widget/form/aEdmdA1W5MhoMCMfy5O8  * Webinar: https://webinar.kimmillerhershon.com/?utm_source=Podcast  Guest Details:  * Guest: John Cousins  * Company: MBA ASAP  * Books: Corporate Finance ASAP and 60+ others (including titles on Miles Davis, the Great American Songbook, and focus Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.