Ambition Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/ambition Ambition is a podcast about the world's most ambitious people from history and today, and the lessons you can take from their lives and use in your own work and life. Each episode is deeply researched, built around the definitive biography of one person (or in some cases, two), with dozens of hours spent reading, synthesizing, and pulling out what actually matters: what they built, how they thought, the struggles they overcame, and the tactics, strategies, and principles underneath it all. © 2026 Justin Gordon dbadff4c-5d62-5cb4-ad41-1c52eca4d4bd yes Trailer: Welcome to Ambition en Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:30:16 -0700 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:31:04 -0700 https://www.ambition.fm https://img.transistorcdn.com/uUyFtvOmLT8Y12Mm0FGlzti-p4Rh6j4KpCenkLZ9gbw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zOTU0/NDA5M2ZjMGM3N2Mx/N2Y5YmJhMjZmMmE4/NTA4YS5wbmc.jpg Ambition https://www.ambition.fm episodic Justin Gordon Ambition is a podcast about the world's most ambitious people from history and today, and the lessons you can take from their lives and use in your own work and life. Each episode is deeply researched, built around the definitive biography of one person (or in some cases, two), with dozens of hours spent reading, synthesizing, and pulling out what actually matters: what they built, how they thought, the struggles they overcame, and the tactics, strategies, and principles underneath it all. Ambition is a podcast about the world's most ambitious people from history and today, and the lessons you can take from their lives and use in your own work and life. Justin Gordon justin@justgogrind.com No No Roy Thomson (Billionaire Media Baron) 7 7 Roy Thomson (Billionaire Media Baron) full 3007b30e-1121-456f-8631-f07ce80e0de3 https://share.transistor.fm/s/30f89ce6 He was the son of a Toronto barber, still broke at 40 after failing at business after business. Then he bought a small-town radio station and a small-town newspaper with $200 down. 

By the time he died at 82, he owned more than 200 newspapers, including The Times of London, and held the Scottish TV franchise he famously called "a license to print your own money." Today, the Thomson family is the richest family in Canada.


This is the story of Roy Thomson, and we have a lot to learn from him.


Source for this episode:

Links:

]]> He was the son of a Toronto barber, still broke at 40 after failing at business after business. Then he bought a small-town radio station and a small-town newspaper with $200 down. 

By the time he died at 82, he owned more than 200 newspapers, including The Times of London, and held the Scottish TV franchise he famously called "a license to print your own money." Today, the Thomson family is the richest family in Canada.


This is the story of Roy Thomson, and we have a lot to learn from him.


Source for this episode:

Links:

]]> Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:30:10 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 6658 He was the son of a Toronto barber, still broke at 40 after failing at business after business. Then he bought a small-town radio station and a small-town newspaper with $200 down. 

By the time he died at 82, he owned more than 200 newspapers, including The Times of London, and held the Scottish TV franchise he famously called "a license to print your own money." Today, the Thomson family is the richest family in Canada.


This is the story of Roy Thomson, and we have a lot to learn from him.


Source for this episode:

Links:

]]> No Sam Zemurray (America's Banana King) 6 6 Sam Zemurray (America's Banana King) full 718e5798-28d8-44b4-ae9e-02afb919d3e1 https://share.transistor.fm/s/0f3af7a1 The greatness of Zemurray lies in the fact that he never lost faith in his ability to salvage a situation. Bad things happened to him, as bad things happen to everyone, but unlike so many, he was never tempted by failure. He never felt powerless or trapped. 

He was an optimist. He stood in constant defiance. When the Secretary of State teamed up with J.P. Morgan and the Honduran government in a way contrary to Zemurray's interests, he simply changed the Honduran government. When United Fruit drew a line at the Utila River and said, "You shall not cross," he crossed anyway. When he was forbidden to build a bridge, he built a bridge but called it something else. 

For every move, there is a countermove. For every disaster, there is a recovery. He never lost faith in his own agency. With his fortune fast diminishing, it was time to act.


This is the story of Sam Zemurray, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> The greatness of Zemurray lies in the fact that he never lost faith in his ability to salvage a situation. Bad things happened to him, as bad things happen to everyone, but unlike so many, he was never tempted by failure. He never felt powerless or trapped. 

He was an optimist. He stood in constant defiance. When the Secretary of State teamed up with J.P. Morgan and the Honduran government in a way contrary to Zemurray's interests, he simply changed the Honduran government. When United Fruit drew a line at the Utila River and said, "You shall not cross," he crossed anyway. When he was forbidden to build a bridge, he built a bridge but called it something else. 

For every move, there is a countermove. For every disaster, there is a recovery. He never lost faith in his own agency. With his fortune fast diminishing, it was time to act.


This is the story of Sam Zemurray, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Sun, 23 Aug 2026 13:51:55 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 6406 The greatness of Zemurray lies in the fact that he never lost faith in his ability to salvage a situation. Bad things happened to him, as bad things happen to everyone, but unlike so many, he was never tempted by failure. He never felt powerless or trapped. 

He was an optimist. He stood in constant defiance. When the Secretary of State teamed up with J.P. Morgan and the Honduran government in a way contrary to Zemurray's interests, he simply changed the Honduran government. When United Fruit drew a line at the Utila River and said, "You shall not cross," he crossed anyway. When he was forbidden to build a bridge, he built a bridge but called it something else. 

For every move, there is a countermove. For every disaster, there is a recovery. He never lost faith in his own agency. With his fortune fast diminishing, it was time to act.


This is the story of Sam Zemurray, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No Estée Lauder 5 5 Estée Lauder full f9b1157a-f471-4444-b41e-53a008b81a22 https://share.transistor.fm/s/a8e08d9f The company she started in 1946 is today worth more than $30 billion. Her story? It's one of obsession and persistence, and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. 

This is the story of Estée Lauder, and we have a lot to learn from her.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> The company she started in 1946 is today worth more than $30 billion. Her story? It's one of obsession and persistence, and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. 

This is the story of Estée Lauder, and we have a lot to learn from her.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Sun, 09 Aug 2026 07:29:24 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 5617 The company she started in 1946 is today worth more than $30 billion. Her story? It's one of obsession and persistence, and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. 

This is the story of Estée Lauder, and we have a lot to learn from her.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No Steve Jobs 4 4 Steve Jobs full 24338a86-f4a3-4d57-a02e-320888db2e6d https://share.transistor.fm/s/6d2c80a3 In 1968, a thirteen-year-old kid in Cupertino was building a frequency counter and needed parts. So he opened the phone book, found the home number of Bill Hewlett, the founder of Hewlett-Packard, and called him. Hewlett talked with him for 20 minutes, got him the parts, and gave him a summer job.

More than four decades later, when HP abandoned its Cupertino campus, that same kid quietly bought the land, a hundred and fifty acres. By then, his company had passed Microsoft to become the most valuable technology company in the world. But he admired the way Hewlett and Packard had built a company that lasted, and he prided himself on having done the same.

In June 2011, he stood before the Cupertino City Council and unveiled the plans for what would become his company's new home on that ground. It was one of his last public appearances. Four months later, he was gone.

This is the story of Steve Jobs, how he built Apple, and what we can learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> In 1968, a thirteen-year-old kid in Cupertino was building a frequency counter and needed parts. So he opened the phone book, found the home number of Bill Hewlett, the founder of Hewlett-Packard, and called him. Hewlett talked with him for 20 minutes, got him the parts, and gave him a summer job.

More than four decades later, when HP abandoned its Cupertino campus, that same kid quietly bought the land, a hundred and fifty acres. By then, his company had passed Microsoft to become the most valuable technology company in the world. But he admired the way Hewlett and Packard had built a company that lasted, and he prided himself on having done the same.

In June 2011, he stood before the Cupertino City Council and unveiled the plans for what would become his company's new home on that ground. It was one of his last public appearances. Four months later, he was gone.

This is the story of Steve Jobs, how he built Apple, and what we can learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:54:00 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 9047 In 1968, a thirteen-year-old kid in Cupertino was building a frequency counter and needed parts. So he opened the phone book, found the home number of Bill Hewlett, the founder of Hewlett-Packard, and called him. Hewlett talked with him for 20 minutes, got him the parts, and gave him a summer job.

More than four decades later, when HP abandoned its Cupertino campus, that same kid quietly bought the land, a hundred and fifty acres. By then, his company had passed Microsoft to become the most valuable technology company in the world. But he admired the way Hewlett and Packard had built a company that lasted, and he prided himself on having done the same.

In June 2011, he stood before the Cupertino City Council and unveiled the plans for what would become his company's new home on that ground. It was one of his last public appearances. Four months later, he was gone.

This is the story of Steve Jobs, how he built Apple, and what we can learn from him.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Founder) 3 3 Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Founder) full 188e9ece-88ff-43a7-b9c6-9f6cf3bacb73 https://share.transistor.fm/s/8990b1e0 At 38, Dietrich Mateschitz was a burned-out toothpaste salesman staring at the same gray airplanes, gray suits, and gray hotel bars, wondering if the next decade would look like the last one. Then he found a strange Thai energy drink, bet everything on it, and built Red Bull into an empire that paid him a record $865 million dividend months before his death and helped him amass a personal fortune worth more than $20 billion.

This is the story of Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Sources for this episode: 

Links:

]]> At 38, Dietrich Mateschitz was a burned-out toothpaste salesman staring at the same gray airplanes, gray suits, and gray hotel bars, wondering if the next decade would look like the last one. Then he found a strange Thai energy drink, bet everything on it, and built Red Bull into an empire that paid him a record $865 million dividend months before his death and helped him amass a personal fortune worth more than $20 billion.

This is the story of Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Sources for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Thu, 16 Jul 2026 06:11:31 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 5304 At 38, Dietrich Mateschitz was a burned-out toothpaste salesman staring at the same gray airplanes, gray suits, and gray hotel bars, wondering if the next decade would look like the last one. Then he found a strange Thai energy drink, bet everything on it, and built Red Bull into an empire that paid him a record $865 million dividend months before his death and helped him amass a personal fortune worth more than $20 billion.

This is the story of Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Sources for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No The Wright Brothers 2 2 The Wright Brothers full 0b0f21f2-5c58-42b8-a695-1ee44ad7af14 https://share.transistor.fm/s/8a43b558 They were two bicycle mechanics from Ohio with no formal engineering training and no funding who set out to solve a problem that had stumped the best minds in the world.
 
It took them four years of learning, experimenting, and overcoming numerous challenges, but they accomplished what many people around the world thought was impossible.

This is the story of the Wright Brothers, and we have a lot to learn from them.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> They were two bicycle mechanics from Ohio with no formal engineering training and no funding who set out to solve a problem that had stumped the best minds in the world.
 
It took them four years of learning, experimenting, and overcoming numerous challenges, but they accomplished what many people around the world thought was impossible.

This is the story of the Wright Brothers, and we have a lot to learn from them.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:02:39 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 5447 They were two bicycle mechanics from Ohio with no formal engineering training and no funding who set out to solve a problem that had stumped the best minds in the world.
 
It took them four years of learning, experimenting, and overcoming numerous challenges, but they accomplished what many people around the world thought was impossible.

This is the story of the Wright Brothers, and we have a lot to learn from them.

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No S.I. Newhouse Sr. (The Secretive Media Billionaire) 1 1 S.I. Newhouse Sr. (The Secretive Media Billionaire) full a9e780c4-20bc-4151-9b5a-9a933529643d https://share.transistor.fm/s/b7d47f3f He dropped out of school at 13 to support his family. His father abandoned them. He worked full time for a decade before buying his first newspaper. By the time he died at 84, he had built the greatest publishing empire in American history.

This is the story of S.I. Newhouse Sr., and we have a lot to learn from him. 

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> He dropped out of school at 13 to support his family. His father abandoned them. He worked full time for a decade before buying his first newspaper. By the time he died at 84, he had built the greatest publishing empire in American history.

This is the story of S.I. Newhouse Sr., and we have a lot to learn from him. 

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> Wed, 01 Jul 2026 03:00:00 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 4839 He dropped out of school at 13 to support his family. His father abandoned them. He worked full time for a decade before buying his first newspaper. By the time he died at 84, he had built the greatest publishing empire in American history.

This is the story of S.I. Newhouse Sr., and we have a lot to learn from him. 

Source for this episode: 

Links:

]]> No Trailer: Welcome to Ambition Trailer: Welcome to Ambition trailer 422c9065-ef2e-432f-b003-30c63b28e6c6 https://share.transistor.fm/s/137fd6eb Ambition is a podcast about history's most ambitious people and the lessons their lives can teach you. Each episode goes deep on one person (or two), built around hours of research into a biography of that subject, covering what they built, how they thought, and the struggles they overcame along the way.

We're kicking things off with two stories: S.I. Newhouse, who built one of the most powerful media empires in America, and the Wright Brothers, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton who flew before anyone believed flight was possible.

New episodes drop every 1-2 weeks. Subscribe to the show in your favorite podcasting platform and follow along at ambition.fm.

]]> Ambition is a podcast about history's most ambitious people and the lessons their lives can teach you. Each episode goes deep on one person (or two), built around hours of research into a biography of that subject, covering what they built, how they thought, and the struggles they overcame along the way.

We're kicking things off with two stories: S.I. Newhouse, who built one of the most powerful media empires in America, and the Wright Brothers, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton who flew before anyone believed flight was possible.

New episodes drop every 1-2 weeks. Subscribe to the show in your favorite podcasting platform and follow along at ambition.fm.

]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2026 06:42:25 -0700 Justin Gordon Justin Gordon 74 Ambition is a podcast about history's most ambitious people and the lessons their lives can teach you. Each episode goes deep on one person (or two), built around hours of research into a biography of that subject, covering what they built, how they thought, and the struggles they overcame along the way.

We're kicking things off with two stories: S.I. Newhouse, who built one of the most powerful media empires in America, and the Wright Brothers, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton who flew before anyone believed flight was possible.

New episodes drop every 1-2 weeks. Subscribe to the show in your favorite podcasting platform and follow along at ambition.fm.

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