Talks at Google

Psychologist Kelly McGonical explores what influences us to procrastinate, why we fail to resist temptation, and teaches that small interventions can have large, positive outcomes. Based on her wildly popular course "The Science of Willpower," her book "The Willpower Instinct" is the first book to explain the science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and...

For so long, we've been told that success means having it all and doing it all. But working more and harder is holding us back, not moving us forward. In Becoming Super Woman , New York Times bestselling author Nicole Lapin redefines what it means to be a woman who "has it all"—and shows you how to find lasting success by your own definition, on your own terms. Nicole candidly shares her own story...

We hear the terms trauma and PTSD more and more these days. Yet many people still believe that trauma can only result from experiences that are particularly extreme. But trauma is an emotional response that can stem from a wide variety of upsetting experiences, leaving us feeling anxious, weighed down by negative emotions or memories, or feeling like we lack security. As a licensed therapist, Kati...

Shaz Kahng has been a scientist, a consulting partner, an e-commerce expert, an executive at Nike, and a brand & marketing strategist. She eventually became the CEO of multiple companies in the apparel, retail, footwear, sports, and technology sectors. Frustrated by the lack of successful, inspirational female business leaders in fiction, Shaz wrote and published a novel about women succeeding wit...

In honor of World Wildlife Day, wildlife veterinarian Dr. Gabby Wild visited Google to discuss her latest book, National Geographic Kids' "Wild Vet Adventures: Saving Animals Around The World". Dr. Wild travels the continents to meet some of Earth's most incredible creatures, including regal lions, playful pandas, fearsome Gila monsters, and creepy tarantulas. She teaches young readers about anima...

Linguists have been studying Black English as a speech variety for years, arguing to the public that it is different from Standard English, not a degradation of it. Yet false assumptions and controversies still swirl around what it means to speak and sound "black." In his first book devoted solely to the form, structure, and development of Black English, linguist John McWhorter clearly explains it...

Africa has often been regarded as a recipient of science, technology, and innovation (or STI) rather than a maker of them. In the book "What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa?", scholars from a range of disciplines show that STI in Africa is not merely the product of "technology transfer" from elsewhere, but the working of African knowledge. Their contributions focus on Afric...

Stephanie Hicks, PhD is a Lecturer at the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan and completed her master's degree and PhD in Educational Policy Studies – Social Foundations at the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Stephanie sat down with Google to unpack what it means to be Black in America and discusses the catalysts, realizations and mispercep...

Belva Davis is a history-maker, an award-winning journalist, and a pioneering feminist. She has traveled the world reporting on politics, terrorism, racial and gender issues, and the role of art and culture in increasing human understanding. From her hardscrabble beginnings in the Deep South during the Great Depression, she broke into journalism and made the move from segregated newspaper and radi...

This week, Jordan Clarkson visits Google to discuss his NBA career & how his Filipino-American heritage has shaped his journey along the way. After foregoing his senior year in college to enter the 2014 NBA draft, Jordan Clarkson was selected by the Washington Wizards with the No. 46 overall pick and was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first year, he was named to the NBA All-R...

Born in 1975 in the Himalayan border regions between Tibet and Nepal, Mingyur Rinpoche is among the generation of Tibetan lamas trained outside of Tibet, and he's also a gifted meditator. His brain activity has been measured during meditation, earning him the nickname of "happiest man on earth." He fuses scientific and spiritual considerations, explaining meditation as a physical as well as a spir...

Cary Elwes stoped by YouTube Headquarters for a discussion about his book, "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride."  This first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film is filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, an...

When Temple Grandin was born in 1947, autism had only just been named. Today it is more prevalent than ever, with one in 88 children diagnosed on the spectrum. Our thinking about it has undergone a transformation in her lifetime: Autism studies have moved from the realm of psychology to neurology and genetics, and there is far more hope today than ever before thanks to groundbreaking new research...

Neal Brennan is an Emmy nominated writer, director, producer, standup comedian, and co-creator of Comedy Central's legendary Chappelle's Show . This week, Neal visits Google to discuss his career journey and his comedy show Unacceptable . In his new theatrical comedy show Neal Brennan: Unacceptable , Neal meticulously examines his own defects, attempting to understand his baffling inability to fit...

Foreign Policy managing editor and former CNN South Asia bureau chief Ravi Agrawal takes us on a journey across India, through remote rural villages and massive metropolises, to highlight how one tiny device - the smartphone - is effecting staggering changes across all facets of Indian life. The rise of smartphones, and with them access to the internet, has caused nothing short of a revolution in...

In celebration of #IamRemarkable Week, Dr. Jane Goodall discusses her podcast "Hopecast", and the moral and spiritual convictions that have driven her during her career journey as a researcher. For the past 30 years, Dr. Goodall has been speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the e...