Espionage

Tina Seelig recalls being told to ‘spy’ at a conference

Name: Tina Seelig recalls being told to ‘spy’ at a conference
Uploaded: 2026-07-22T13:47:00+00:00
Description: Stanford entrepreneurship educator Dr Tina Seelig tells Lewis Howes she was asked in her first job to misrepresent who she worked for at a conference, posing as being “from Stanford” in order to “spy a little bit”. Seelig says she complied, was “caught”, and describes it as a failure to check the request against her core values.

Lewis Howes School of Greatness · The Science of Luck: How to Manifest Your Dream Reality | Stanford Researcher · July 22, 2026

Lewis Howes School of Greatness

The Science of Luck: How to Manifest Your Dream Reality | Stanford Researcher

"For me, it was a situation when I was in just my first job out of school. I was asked to misrepresent myself at a conference. Wow. And to go there, not tell people I was part of working for the company and to say I was Tina Celid from Stanford, you know, just be there research and spy a little bit. Exactly. Yeah. But I got caught."

Stanford entrepreneurship educator Dr Tina Seelig tells Lewis Howes she was asked in her first job to misrepresent who she worked for at a conference, posing as being “from Stanford” in order to “spy a little bit”. Seelig says she complied, was “caught”, and describes it as a failure to check the request against her core values.

About this episode

Lewis Howes interviews Stanford entrepreneurship educator and author Dr Tina Seelig about her framework for “luck”, which she distinguishes from “fortune”. Seelig defines luck as “success or failure apparently caused by chance” and argues that, once “you pull back the curtain”, people can identify controllable actions that set conditions for opportunities. She outlines a sailing metaphor: build the “ship” (internal preparation), recruit the “crew” (relationships), and hoist the “sail” (daily behaviours that capture opportunity).

Seelig places relationship-building and appreciation at the centre of her approach, describing a LinkedIn “luck makeover” workshop where participants reported concrete benefits after expressing thanks, and she argues “luck seldom sail solo”. She warns against a transactional view of “networking”, instead advocating trust built over years, illustrated by stories of long-term contacts leading to jobs and other opportunities.

The discussion turns to values and ethics: Seelig says unclear values can put people on a “slippery slope”, and she recounts being asked early in her career to misrepresent herself at a conference to “spy”, saying she was caught. Seelig and Howes also discuss risk-taking across domains (social, financial, emotional, political), small experiments (“pritoype” tests), and reframing problems (“frametorming”) before rushing to solutions. Seelig is sceptical of manifestation as a substitute for action, describing it instead as setting intention and then doing the work.

The episode includes mid-roll advertisements for T-Mobile 5G home internet and Airbnb hosting.

Key takeaways

Seelig distinguishes “fortune” (uncontrollable circumstances) from “luck” (actions within one’s agency).
She presents a three-part model for luck: preparation (“ship”), relationships (“crew”), and consistent action (“sail”).
Seelig recounts being asked in her first job to pose as “from Stanford” at a conference to “spy”, and says she was caught.
She argues trust-based relationships, not transactional networking, are a major driver of opportunities over time.
Seelig teaches a “riskometer” to map different kinds of risk and advocates taking small, repeatable risks to build capacity.
She recommends reframing and “frametorming” to ensure people are solving the right problem, not defaulting to familiar solutions.
Seelig says manifestation can set direction, but cannot replace concrete steps such as studying, applying, and practising.