Is loneliness the new smoking? A number of studies and polls have recently come out that indicate Americans of all ages, socioeconomic, and geographic locations are more isolated and alone that in any other time in recent history. Some postulate this has been spurred by people isolating themselves via increased screen time, alienating and divisive social media posts, remote working, and perhaps augmented by living in a post-Covid era. 

Regardless of the causes, Nick Gray is wielding name tags and a harmonica, and rolling up his sleeves to remedy this new plague, which we’ll be discussing in this episode. But first who is Nick Gray? Well, he is a bit of an underdog wunderkind. Let me explain.

At age 14, Nick while in middle school, built websites and was making $70 per hour, which later on helped pay his tuition at Wake Forest University. After graduating, he helped build and grow the family business, which they sold and now Nick manages their family office.

While living in New York and, based on his disdain for museums, but smitten on a date to The Met, he built and launched a multi-million dollar, Inc. 5000 company, called Museum Hack. He also did a TEDx talk about it (which has been watched by more than 75,000 people), and then sold the company, as many of us do. Along the way he also lived in India and produced a Bollywood music video.

He’s been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and New York Magazine. In addition to having been a featured speaker at TEDx, he’s also presented at The DO Lectures and The Skift Conference, among many others.

Needless to say, Nick is not your everyday entrepreneur, or person. His latest foray is that of author, and we’ll do a deep dive into his new book, The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, a step-by-step handbook that teaches you how to build Relationships by hosting small gatherings.

Nick is the poster-boy for living your life in full, connecting with others and building community more so than an audience. Tune in to learn how he does it, and how you can, too.

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Dr. Chris Stout Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Chris Stout is a licensed clinical psychologist and international humanitarian with a diverse background in various domains. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Global Initiatives (a Top-Rated Nonprofit) and is the Executive Producer and Host of the popular “Living a Life in Full” a top-ranked podcast with an audience of over 3 million. He was a Fellow in the School of Public Health and Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago and prior to that he held an academic appointment at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He served as a NGO Special Representative and had the honor of speaking at the United Nations; he holds the distinction of being one of only 100 world-wide leaders appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow and was an Invited Faculty at the Annual Meeting in Davos.