unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

Meghan O’Gieblyn is a writer who writes on the interface of technology and humans. Her latest books are titled Will and Attention: A Memoir and the book God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning . Greg and Meghan discuss Max Weber’s disenchantment thesis, whether technology and AI re-enchant the world, and how opaque algorithmic systems invite faith-like deferen...

Nir Halevy is a professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the author of the new book called Level Up: Why Hierarchies Are Broken and How to Fix Them . Greg and Nir argue that hierarchy can never be eliminated from organizations because of coordination needs, division of labor, and human drives for social comparison, achievement, predictability, and safet...

Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? Believe it or not, the economic system was not inevitable in human history, and it’s not inevitably in our future either.  Trevor Jackson is a professor of history and political economy at UC Berkeley. He's the author of The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World , a book that traces the origins and e...

What happens when your brain predicts a symptom that doesn't belong — and your body obeys? Can a diagnosis itself make you sicker? And could the way your doctor delivers bad news change the course of your disease? Helen Pilcher is a science writer whose work has appeared in Nature, The Guardian, and the BBC. Her new book, This Book May Cause Side Effects: The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Noc...

Bruno Giussani is a speaker and consultant, formerly the head of TED in Europe and an author of many works in Italian and the new English work Our Minds Under Siege: How to Avoid Being Manipulated in the Age of Artificial Intelligence . Greg and Bruno discuss how AI, social media, and other algorithmic technologies capture and steer attention, eroding “cognitive integrity,” or the ability to under...

Even without the contributions of modern medicine and technology, humans have been evolving to live longer lives for centuries. So what led to this evolution and why is aging important?  Michael Gurven is a professor of anthropology at the University of California Santa Barbara. He’s also the author of Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer , a book that examines the evolutionary causes...

Social connection is essential for humans, yet we live in a world that is increasingly designed to limit our in-person social interactions. So why, if being social makes us happier, do we willfully avoid it more and more?  Nicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the Unive...

What do we lose when we swap our source for connection and intimacy from a human to an AI chatbot? Is there a significant psychological impact?  Sherry Turkle is a professor of social studies of science and technology at MIT and the founding director of MIT’s Initiative on Technology and Self. Her work specializes in the psychological and social impact of technology, with books like Alone Tog...

Huggy Rao is the Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and Henrich Greve is the Rudolf and Valeria Maag Chaired Professor in Entrepreneurship at INSEAD. They are also co-authors of the new book Ctrl+Alt+Doubt: Decoding the Language of Online Conspiracy Talk. Greg, Henrich, and Huggy discuss their new book and the...

Helen Zoe Veit is a professor of history at Michigan State University and also an author and editor. Her latest books are titled Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History and Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century . Greg and Helen discuss changes in American eating habits during the 20th century...

Is it true that divorced moms actually do less housework than married moms? Is there an optimal time for women to pause their careers to start a family? How can you tell by the third date whether or not your relationship is a good deal?  Dr. Corinne Low is a professor of public policy and economics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Her book, Having It All: W...

J. Doyne Farmer is a Professor of Complex Systems Science at Oxford University, Hedge-Fund Founder, and author of the new book, Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World .  Greg and Doyne discuss why complexity science has not displaced mainstream economics. Doyne argues that economics is intellectually conservative and overly committed to closed-form math, with behavioral...

Scott Samuelson is a professor of philosophy at Iowa State University and the author of several books. His latest work is called To Taste: On Cooking and the Good Life . Greg asks Scott about his views on why philosophy and aesthetics have sidelined food and actual taste in favor of nutrition, consumer preference, or narrow ethics. Scott argues food, cooking, and communal meals are central to huma...

Ashley Goodall is a longtime consultant, Fortune 50 executive, speaker, researcher, and writer in the areas of leadership and human resources. His two books are Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World and The Problem with Change: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance . Greg and Ashley discuss how rapid transformation, especially with AI, often worsens work bec...

Elizabeth Dunn is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, and director of their Happiness Lab. She’s also the co-author of two books, Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species and Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending . Greg and Elizabeth discuss how her work links common errors in forecasting happiness with misunderstandings about carbon impact...

Salim Ismail is a co-founder & partner at Exponential Venture Capital, founder of OpenExO, founding Executive Director at Singularity University, and an author. His latest work is, Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it) . Greg and Salim discuss Salim’s shift from focusing on exponential technologies to organiz...

Carlos Escapa is a venture partner at Across Legal and Masia VC, an AI expert, investor, and former technology leader at Meta and Amazon AWS. He is also the co-author of The AI Driven Business: Leading, Competing and Thriving in the Age of Artificial Intelligence . Greg and Carlos discuss why AI adoption is primarily an organizational and talent challenge rather than a pure technology play. Carlos...

If how much you learn is directly correlated to how much you fail, how do organizations crack the science behind using failure to their advantage? Pascal Finette is the co-founder of Radical, an advisory firm that helps organizations turn disruption into competitive advantage. He’s also the author of several books including, Disrupt Disruption: How to Decode the Future, Disrupt Your Industry, and...

Even without the attention-consuming technology we’re immersed in today, humans have always been easily distractible. So what distracted the mindful monks of the past? And are there lessons from the monks’ practice that we can apply to today’s level of distraction?   Jamie Kreiner is a history professor at UCLA and the author of The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction. In...

It might sound counterintuitive, but when it comes to the art of persuasion, using a logic-first approach is the last thing you want to do. This is because, in reality, every human being is wired to feel first, and reason later.  Josh Bandoch is Senior Vice President for Policy Research at the Foundation for Research Into Equal Opportunity and has spent years becoming a master of persuasion. His l...

What does the history of human innovation tell us about the current moment we’re in? It tells us that, despite the computational and AI gains of the last few decades, the world’s progress is a bit flat. Why?  Carl Benedikt Frey is an associate professor of AI & Work at the University of Oxford and directs the Future of Work Programme at Oxford. His latest book, How Progress Ends: Technology, Innov...

Vivienne Ming is the executive chair at Human Trust, Founder and Executive Chair at Socos Labs, Professor, and author of the book Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People . Greg and Vivienne talk about  how AI will reshape work and why the common narratives are really “lazy myths.” Vivienne argues that AI is superhuman at well‑posed problems but humans still retain a re...

Dr. Sebastian Wernicke is a data scientist, a partner at Oxera Consulting, and author of the new book Data Inspired: Building an Organizational Culture of Inquiry for Lasting Transformation . Sebastian talks with Greg about why he thinks culture, not tools, is the biggest obstacle to effective data/AI adoption. Sebastian critiques the “data deficit” assumption that more data yields obvious answers...

Nicholas Lemann is the Pulitzer-Moore Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and a staff writer for The New Yorker . He is the author of several books, including Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing , Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream , and most recently, Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries . Greg...

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a faculty member of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He is also Director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy, and a professor (by courtesy) of Political Science. In addition he is the author of sever...