Worklife with Molly Graham

You may know will.i.am as the seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, and frontman of The Black Eyed Peas. But his interests beyond music have also taken him down a surprising and creative path — from serving as the director of creative innovation at Intel, to becoming the first artist to stream a song from the surface of Mars, to hosting the first radio show with an AI co-ho...

Cal Newport knows a thing or two about productivity: when he’s not teaching computer science at Georgetown, he’s writing for The New Yorker , hosting a podcast, or authoring New York Times bestsellers like Deep Work and Digital Minimalism . In his new book, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout , Cal proposes that we trade current standards of rapid output for slower, h...

Sarah Edmondson escaped and blew the whistle against NXIVM, the cult masquerading as a “personal and professional development company.” With clarity and a surprising and wry sense of humor, Sarah shares her lessons about the dark sides of charisma. She and Adam discuss what makes groups a little (or a lot) culty, the telltale signs of manipulation, and why our highest loyalty belongs to principles...

Robin Arzón is the head instructor at Peloton and an ultramarathon runner, but she didn’t plan to make her career based on her athletic prowess. In this conversation with Adam, she talks about how she fell in love with running in adulthood and her radical career pivot from lawyer to renowned exercise instructor. They discuss what hustle culture gets wrong, why motivation may be less important than...

Denise Hamilton is an inclusion strategist who works with organizations ranging from the UN to the WNBA. She is also the author of Indivisible: How to Forge our Differences into a Stronger Future . Denise and Adam discuss the pain of abandoning old stories, the value of revising long-held beliefs, and how to respond to the backlash against diversity and inclusion. Indivisible is out now. Transcrip...

Jared Cohen is a history buff with a career that boasts its own remarkable story. From the State Department to founding Jigsaw at Google to leading global affairs and innovation at Goldman Sachs, Jared has worked with the world’s top leaders to tackle humanity’s biggest problems. His work in international problem-solving also translates into a passion for U.S. history. His new book, Life After Pow...

Bob Sutton is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author. In this zesty conversation with Adam, Bob shares insights on how to overcome friction at work. The two also discuss steps for leaders to become better listeners, the surprising advantages of inconvenience, and why it’s better to be a boring leader than an a-hole boss. Bob’s latest book, The Friction Project, is out now. Transcrip...

You don’t always decide what you feel, but you do own how you react to those feelings. In her bestselling book and TED Talk, Harvard Medical School psychologist Susan David examines the skills involved in emotional agility. She and Adam go deep on this topic, discussing the risks of judging and suppressing unwanted emotions — and effective techniques for managing them. They explore why optimism is...

Emotions are like opinions — everyone has them. Thanks to the pioneering research of today’s guest, we know that it’s possible to transform our feelings by changing how we think and talk about them. Lisa Feldman Barrett is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School. In this episode, Lisa and Adam bust myths about how emotions are constructed in the brai...

Jennifer Garner’s roles — from “13 Going on 30” to “Juno” to “Alias” — often center strong women who know how to achieve great things. In a fun and surprising live conversation, Jennifer chats with Adam about his latest book, “Hidden Potential.” They dive into the most eye-opening findings in Adam’s research and the unexpected factors that build character and long-term success. Plus, the two dream...

As a clinical psychologist, Becky Kennedy works with parents to raise good kids. She’s best known as Dr. Becky on Instagram, and has been called the "Millennial parenting whisperer" for good reason. Becky and Adam challenge the widespread belief that it’s a parent’s job to make their children happy, talk candidly about the surprisingly difficult task of setting and maintaining boundaries, and dig...

Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel Prize winner who transformed our understanding of the biases that cloud our thinking. In this conversation, he and Adam explore when to trust our intuition and when to second-guess it. Danny explains how he finds joy in being wrong, spells out steps to smarter interviewing, and reveals how he—the master decoder of decision-making—makes decisions. Find the transcript for...

Maurice Ashley is a trailblazing chess grandmaster — the first African-American player to claim that prestigious title. He’s also a chess coaching legend, as spotlighted in Adam's new book, “Hidden Potential.” Adam and Maurice discuss the lessons from losing, the benefits of respecting your opponents, and what drives a winning strategy in chess and life. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at...

If you think of the arts as entertainment or luxury, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross might ask you to reconsider. The authors of the New York Times bestseller “Your Brain on Art” argue that engaging with music, craft projects, and museums can transform our lives in unexpected ways. Susan, Ivy, and Adam delve into the fascinating science of neuroaesthetics, and explore how art can unlock creativity, en...

Elliot Aronson is one of the preeminent psychologists of the 20th century — his mentors were Abraham Maslow and Leon Festinger, and his award-winning psychology textbooks are seminal even for non-psychologists. Adam asks Elliot about his pioneering work on making mistakes and cognitive dissonance, or the discomfort we feel when we realize that our attitudes or actions contradict our values. Then,...

We usually wear our thickest armor at work, and Brené Brown has blazed the trail of teaching us why and how to shed it. In this conversation, Adam and Brené unpack the power of showing vulnerability at work — and explore how much is too much. Learn when and where to set boundaries, find out how to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable, and hear Brené rethink a key assumption that she took...

Poet and author Maggie Smith isn’t sure where she falls on the spectrum from optimism to pessimism. But her viral poem “Good Bones” and her bestselling books have inspired countless readers with profound insights on the messiness of being human. In this episode, Maggie and Adam discuss strategies for handling complex emotions, sustaining hope while acknowledging reality, and accepting ambiguity in...

Rainn Wilson was a late bloomer: he landed the role of Dwight Schrute on “The Office” after over a decade of struggling as an actor. But success didn’t solve all of his problems — and it even created some new ones. In this live conversation for the Authors@Wharton series, Adam asks Rainn about his unlikely journey to stardom and how it led him into exploring the insights that philosophy, psycholog...

Many people are obsessed with optimizing their lives, but this might be a suboptimal way to live. Adam brings together psychologist Barry Schwartz (author of “The Paradox of Choice”) and applied mathematician Coco Krumme (author of “Optimal Illusions”) to discuss the dark side of maximizing everything. The three discuss the unintended consequences of always aiming for the best, debate different st...

Before his stories regularly appeared in The New Yorker, before the MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, and before being named one of the world’s most influential people by TIME, George Saunders was a roofer. And a doorman. And a technical writer. In this episode, George sits down with Adam and shares what he’s learned from his winding path towards becoming a professional author, the secrets of...

Malcolm Gladwell hosts a rollicking live discussion about Adam's new book, "Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things," which is out today. They explore why we overemphasize innate talent, how Adam grappled with impostor syndrome as a writer and perfectionism as an athlete, and how to chart a path toward achieving greater things. They also discuss the evidence on affirmative action...

Mentoring plays an important role in growth and success for both mentors and mentees. But finding the right mentor — and being an effective one — is easier said than done. Adam digs into the science of what makes a good mentor, learns what it takes to build a strong bond from an extraordinary mentor-mentee pair, and busts lasting myths that prevent us from unlocking our potential. Available transc...

Bureaucracy exists to provide consistency and structure, but it often stifles creativity and productivity – and breeds misery. In this episode, Adam investigates why we wind up with stupid rules, how to cut red tape without creating chaos, and what it takes to hack bad policies for a greater good. Available transcripts for WorkLife can be found at go.ted.com/WLtranscripts For the full text transcr...

Many people don’t use all their paid time off from work — and struggle to relax and recover on nights and weekends too. What does it take to make our breaks more restorative? Adam examines the evidence on recovery and burnout, explores how workplaces can reimagine vacation policies, and highlights what kinds of hobbies are best suited to different times of day. Available transcripts for WorkLife c...

Meetings often drain our joy and sap our focus – and meeting overload kills productivity. So why do we have so many of them, and is a better world possible? Adam investigates the science of improving meetings and explores how workplaces are fighting meeting bloat. Available transcripts for WorkLife can be found at go.ted.com/WLtranscripts For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/pod...