The Next Big Idea Daily

Today, Shankar Vedantam, host of "Hidden Brain," walks us through the surprising role of self-deception in human flourishing.

Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course "Humor: Serious Business" at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds infuse more humor and levity into their work and lives. In "Humor, Seriously," they draw on findings by behavioral scientists, world-class comedians, and inspiring business leaders to r...

In 2006, John Warren and John Thompson led Marines into combat in the world’s most dangerous city: Ramadi, Iraq. In "Lead Like a Marine," Warren and Thompson lay out the simple, universal rules that helped them succeed, from valuing grit and potential over pedigree, to condensing large groups into resilient “fireteams,” to cross-training team members so that anyone can step up to the plate in a cr...

You can get happier. And getting there will be the adventure of your lifetime. Today, Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks shares a few tips on how to do it from his new book — co-written with the one and only Oprah Winfrey — "Build the Life You Want." • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

Tribalism is one of the most complex and ancient evolutionary forces. But in our vast modern world, has this blessing become a curse?

In "High Conflict," bestselling author and award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley investigates how good people get captured by high conflict—and how they break free. • Subscribe to Michael's newsletter

Today, Paul Bloom takes us on a brisk tour through modern psychology.

What distinguishes the great from the truly exceptional? After five years of writing The Profile, Polina Marinova Pompliano has studied thousands of successful and interesting people in the world and examined how they reason their way through problems, unleash their creativity, and perform under extreme pressure.

Jane Ferguson has covered nearly every war front and humanitarian crisis of our time. Today, she shares career advice inspired by her bestselling memoir, "No Ordinary Assignment."

Actor, producer, and writer Rainn Wilson explores the problem-solving benefits that spirituality gives us to create solutions for an increasingly challenging world.

Today, our curator Adam Grant stops by to share the key takeaways from his #1 New York Times bestseller "Think Again." • If you're an Adam Grant fan, you'll love The Next Big Idea Club. Adam, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink handpick their favorite books, and then we send them to your doorstep. Sign up at nextbigideaclub.com and use code DAILY for a special discount.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, explores the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape.

Today, Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member, serial entrepreneur, and investor David Dodson details the five skills every great manager needs to know if they want to get things done.

To write "Beginners," Tom Vanderbilt embarked on a yearlong quest of learning just for the sake of it. Along the way, he interviewed dozens of experts about the psychology and science behind the benefits of becoming an adult beginner. Today, he joins us to explain how anyone can get better at beginning again — and why it's worth it.

In "On Disinformation," Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society.

In "Imaginable," Jane McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable.

In "Remember," neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them.

The chasm separating managers from leaders is widening as the skills required to be an effective leader grow in number and complexity. But you're ambitious. You want to cross that chasm. And your organization needs you to cross it in order to join its bench of stars who will lead with empathy and humanity and ground the organization's strategies in a meaningful, mission-driven, and purposeful way....

Most of us try to avoid feeling sad, but therapist Chelsea Harvey Garner believes the future will be brighter if we learn to enjoy the unenjoyable and support each other when the vibes aren’t so good. Today, she tells us how to do it. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

In his new book, award-winning journalist Jeff Goodell explains how extreme heat will dramatically change the world as we know it.

In "How to Think like a Philosopher," Julian Baggini turns to eminent philosophers, past and present, to find practical solutions for today's most vexing questions.

Jessica Carew Kraft, an urban wife and mom of two, was firmly rooted in the modern world, complete with a high-powered career in tech and the sneaking suspicion that her lifestyle was preventing her and her family from truly thriving. Determined to find a better way, Jessica quit her job and set out to learn about "rewilding" from people who reject the comforts and convenience of civilization by u...

The traditional ways of earning a living are outdated, if not outright rigged. That’s why a growing number of enterprising individuals are instead turning to the growing ecosystem of decentralized, fast-moving virtual markets to pursue a host of previously unheard-of ways to pay the bills. Join New York Times bestselling author Chris Guillebeau on a fascinating tour of this brave new world where n...

Today, Juliet Funt provides strategies you can use to regain control of days, liberate yourself from burnout and busy work, and reclaim creativity and focus—even when there's chaos all around you. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

What can a 19th-century naturalist teach us about reclaiming our attention?