Roll the Calls

A Better Way to Think About Tech

Deep Questions with Cal Newport, 2 November 2026. The book comes up at 52 min 19 sec in.

Cal Newport read Ari Emanuel's memoir Roll the Calls, praising its ghost writer's skill — the same writer behind the Andre Agassi memoir — and finding it psychologically astute. He contrasts it with Mike Ovitz's memoir, noting that Emanuel avoids detailed Hollywood stories about specific clients and instead focuses on his own life and career, for better or worse. Cal also notes the title refers to Emanuel making roughly a hundred phone calls a day.

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