Ted Audio Collective

When I was in middle school, a young writer named Jeff Zazlow who've done across the street.

A few years earlier, Jeff had been assigned to write a story for the Wall Street Journal

about the contest to replace the great advice columnist and landers.

On a lark, Jeff decided to enter the contest himself.

When an interviewer told him he was underqualified, he fired back.

Well, I may be 28, but I have the wisdom of a 29-year-old.

Jeff got the job.

He went on to give sage advice for decades, in his columns and in moving books like the

last lecture with Randy Pousche.

When I was thinking about writing my first book, I was really struggling with how to frame

the idea.

I needed advice, so I called Jeff, and he gave me exactly the guidance I needed.

A few months later, tragedy struck.

Jeff lost his life in a car accident.

He never got to give his last lecture, and he never got to pick a successor to his advice

column.

But I have a strong hunch about who Jeff would have chosen.

The author of the wildly popular advice column, Dear Sugar.

I didn't much read advice columns.

I had never taken a class in psychology or any of those things that you'd think about

people who give advice to, and I'd never even gone through therapy myself.

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