There’s a lot to be said for the excitement we feel when we first set a goal for ourselves. The sense of exhilaration can give us the momentum we need to get started. But when the exhilaration wears off – and it usually does – we’re faced with a choice. Will we revert to old habits or develop new ones? These moments are what Jonathan Rhodes calls choice points, and the decisions we make can really add up. Ultimately, how we manage ourselves in these moments can be the difference between the life...
May 30, 2026•44 min
We think we need complete freedom to achieve our goals. But maybe freedom is the problem. What if, instead, constraints are what we really need? That’s the question David Epstein was curious about. David Epstein is author of the bestselling books, Range and The Sports Gene. In his latest book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, he combs through the research and tracks down the stories of just how powerful constraints can be. David shares these lessons with us in his book. He also sh...
May 16, 2026•58 min
We live in a world of markets. The ones we can easily see, like grocery stores or restaurants. And the ones that are less obvious, like college admission, waitlists, even your schedule. Yet these less obvious markets play an important role in our lives. That’s why I wanted to speak with University of Pennsylvania economist, Judd Kessler, author of the book, Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get What You Want. He not only helps us recognize these hidden markets, but he also arms u...
May 02, 2026•54 min
It would be great if we could gain success overnight. In a matter of hours, we’d be happier, smarter, maybe even wealthier. But when we step back and assess how much time success actually takes, we can feel overwhelmed. Those are the feelings Eric Zimmer certainly had. Faced with his own challenges, he knew he needed to change. And, over time, his curiosity about what change actually requires led him to the field of behavioral science. The lessons Eric’s learned from his research – and his own l...
Apr 18, 2026•46 min
When life gets hard, humor can feel like a luxury. Like an indulgence we don’t deserve or have time for. But science tells a different story. Researchers have learned that humor can help with healing and grief, and it can improve our social connections. And innovators often call out the role fun plays in getting curious and acting on their ideas. One of these innovators is Chris Duffy, a stand-up comedian, TV writer, and host of TED’s hit podcast, How to Be a Better Human. Chris sees humor as a ...
Apr 04, 2026•52 min
Anthony Klotz believes we’re just one event away from quitting our jobs. Anthony is a professor of organizational behavior at University College London’s School of Management and the person who coined the phrase, “the Great Resignation.” He’s also author of the book, Jolted: Why We Quit, When to Stay, and Why It Matters. Anthony’s research shows just how much leaders and employees need to learn about quitting. Employees, you have more options than you think. And leaders, you can pick up some imp...
Mar 21, 2026•59 min
In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along? A key reason is that it’s hard to defy. It’s hard to question the way something’s always been done. To challenge comments, behaviors, and systems. Yet it’s in those moments of defiance that we flex our values and craft an identity. That’s why I wanted to talk to Sunita Sah, organizational psychologist at Cornell University and author of the book, Defy: Th...
Mar 07, 2026•41 min
When it comes to our health and well-being, something’s missing from the checklist. Sure, we’ve got to get enough sleep, eat healthfully, exercise, and socialize. But one thing rarely makes the list – the arts. Singing. Dancing. Drawing. Visiting a museum. Going to a concert. Researchers are finding that these activities are not only entertaining, but they impact health and longevity in incredibly positive ways. One of the most important researchers behind this work is Daisy Fancourt, author of ...
Feb 21, 2026•49 min
Relationships that thrive have characteristics that rarely appear by accident. Instead, their design is often intentional, even if the designers are unaware of the formula. That’s where Dan Coyle comes in. Curious about how some leaders craft strong relationships and successful outcomes, he spent time studying their methods. Dan shares what he learned in his latest book, Flourish: The Art of Building Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment. One part inspiration and one part playbook, this is a resource fo...
Feb 07, 2026•52 min
Most of us long to connect and, as social creatures, it makes sense that we not only want this but need human relationships to live a healthy life. With numbers on loneliness and polarization continuing to climb, I wanted to speak with someone who’s focused on the antidote, that is, connection. It led me to speak with Kate Murphy, author of the book, Why We Click: The Emerging Science of Interpersonal Synchrony. Kate’s done a deep dive on the importance of connection from multiple perspectives: ...
Jan 24, 2026•52 min
Decisions tax our brains. Whether it’s deciding which shows to watch or which products to buy, the choices are endless and can feel exhausting. That’s where status comes in. Researchers have learned that status is a mental short-cut we turn to when we’re feeling stuck. It’s an invisible force that guides decision-making and drives our choices. And it comes at a cost. Toby Stuart has written a book on status called Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner-Take-Most World. ...
Jan 10, 2026•53 min
Each day, millions of doctors write prescriptions for drugs intended to help their patients. But what if many of our modern health ailments, like depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, would benefit as much, if not more, from a social prescription? What if nature, art, movement, and service could reduce our symptoms, decrease doctor visits, and improve our health? These are questions Julia Hotz set out to answer. Julia is author of the book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movemen...
Dec 26, 2025•54 min
I have a confession to make. I enjoy talking to people I don't know. I like learning about them and hearing their stories. I'm sure it explains why I started this podcast over ten years ago. Yet I know a lot of people who avoid talking to strangers. And if, for any reason, they have to, they dread it. But these feelings of dread work against us. Study after study shows that when we talk to strangers, we nearly always feel good afterwards. And in a time where people feel more isolated and lonely ...
Dec 13, 2025•49 min
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/curiousminds/CM_306_Jennifer_Garvey_Berger.mp3
Nov 29, 2025•40 min
In today’s hyper-connected world, when you want to communicate, you’ve got so many alternatives to talking. But before you spend another minute drafting a text or email, consider how essential it is for us to talk to others. Talking – whether self-talk, sign language, or in-person speaking – is a process we need for learning, setting goals, and managing our emotions. That’s because talking is a multi-step process, and to do it well, we can’t skip a step. Maryellen MacDonald is a Professor of Psy...
Nov 15, 2025•54 min
How we think about toughness needs a reset. Too often, it’s been associated with brute forcing our way through things. Ignoring our feelings. Making an outward show of confidence and dominance. The problem is it just doesn't work. Performance coach and bestselling author, Steve Magness, offers another way. He’s done a deep dive on the latest research on toughness and performance. In his book, Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and The Surprising Science of Real Toughness, he discusses t...
Nov 01, 2025•50 min
You’re days into a work project, staring at a screen, feeling anxious about your tight deadline. Mid-afternoon your phone lights up with a call from a friend. You want to connect, but you feel like you don’t have a minute to spare. You let the call go into voicemail. On the surface, this decision may seem inconsequential. But what if you knew that a decision like this, centered on an opportunity for social connection, could make a difference in the health of your brain? Would you make time for t...
Oct 19, 2025•56 min
Digital exhaustion is real. We’re working across more apps than ever before, and since they’re always accessible, work-life boundaries have disappeared. Combine this with our personal tech, and we’ve got a recipe for burnout. Paul Leonardi is a Professor of Technology Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After decades of business consulting, he’s had a front-row seat to employees’ digital burnout. What he saw led him to create concrete solutions, which he outlines in his la...
Oct 05, 2025•53 min
We spend a lot of our lives in groups. Whether it’s at work. With friends. Even with family. Yet we tend to focus on everyone as individuals. We rarely think about things from the group’s perspective. Colin Fisher is an expert in organizational behavior and an associate professor at University College London, and he wants to change that. His book, The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups, is his insightful attempt at sharing the latest insights on high-performing teams and how t...
Sep 21, 2025•52 min
What prevents some of us from acting on our creative ideas while others dive right in? That’s the question creativity researcher, Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, set out to answer. It’s what she writes about in her book, The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action. Zorana is a senior research scientist at Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Through her work, she’s learned that creativity is a choice, and, when things get hard, we need to employ specific psycholog...
Sep 07, 2025•45 min
Good things happen when people know they matter. Engagement and performance increase, which then motivates people to stay. In addition, they’re happier, which, makes work more enjoyable for everyone. But creating this kind of workplace doesn’t happen by accident. It requires that leaders consistently apply a set of specific skills focused on these outcomes. That’s why I wanted to talk to Zach Mercurio, author of the book The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance. Z...
Aug 24, 2025•44 min
When’s the last time you ran an experiment? Not as a scientist. But as a person who wants to get unstuck or try something new. There are messages coming at us from all directions. A popular one encourages us to pursue big dreams often in service of a blanket version of success. For some, these messages are motivating. But for many others, they’re overwhelming. If, instead, we want to pursue our own path, how do we begin? This week’s guest is Anne-Laure Le Cunff. She’s felt these cultural pressur...
Aug 10, 2025•42 min
Something happens at work – good or bad – and it brings on strong emotions. Instead of taking a moment to calm down, we’ve got to quickly shift gears and head into another meeting. We know we’ve got to manage our feelings, but the question is, how do we do that? Ethan Kross is an experimental psychologist, neuroscientist, and writer who specializes in emotion regulation. He is a professor of psychology and management at the University of Michigan and Director of the Emotion and Self Control Labo...
Jul 27, 2025•38 min
A few years ago, we experienced a solar eclipse. Walking the streets of my neighborhood that day, looking through my solar eclipse glasses and sharing them with others, I felt a profound sense of awe. And I saw that awe, that wonder, reflected in the faces of the people around me. For one or two hours, we were part of something bigger than ourselves. And that experience took us out of ourselves. It softened and connected us. Experiences like that are what made me want to read Dacher Keltner’s bo...
Jul 13, 2025•57 min
If you think about it, your personality impacts how you approach your life. The choices you make, the risks you take, the relationships you have. Our personalities create a set of habits, automatic reactions that impact what we think, feel, and do. When we take on new roles, like becoming a manger or a parent, we may find that certain aspects of our personality no longer work for us. As a leader, we may need to be more extroverted, more open. As a parent, more patient, less reactive. But can we ...
Jun 29, 2025•41 min
In those moments when we want to disagree, why do we often stay silent? At those times when we want to opt out, why do we often just go along? A key reason is that it’s hard to defy. It’s hard to question the way something’s always been done. To challenge comments, behaviors, and systems. Yet it’s in those moments of defiance that we flex our values and craft an identity. That’s why I wanted to talk to Sunita Sah, organizational psychologist at Cornell University and author of the book, Defy: Th...
Jun 15, 2025•40 min
Making changes in our own lives is hard enough. It’s even more challenging when we need to lead our teams or organizations to do it. That’s why I invited Dan Heath back to the podcast. Dan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Made to Stick, Switch, and The Power of Moments. This time he’s here to talk about his latest book, Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working. Dan shares powerful stories of leaders who’ve helped their teams and organizations make high-impact changes. He discusses t...
Jun 01, 2025•46 min
Most of us dislike networking. At its best, it’s exhausting. At its worst, it can feel inauthentic, even manipulative. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if, instead, we could focus on helping others in ways that, in the long run, benefit us, as well? Rosalind Chow is an associate professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. She’s learned that when we use our status to sponsor others, we gain status and sponsorship for ourselves. Her findings can fu...
May 18, 2025•43 min
At some point in every leader’s career, they’ll experience a moment of crisis. And in these moments of enormous pressure and uncertainty, a leader’s actions can mean the difference between an organization’s survival or its demise. Dan Dworkis is an emergency room physician and professor of emergency medicine who’s built his career on moments like this. He not only understands how to approach them, but also how to learn from them. And his book, The Emergency Mind: Wiring Your Brain for Performanc...
May 04, 2025•51 min
As you move up in leadership roles, you gain more power. Initially, you may take it in stride, thinking it’s something you earned and something you’d never let get in the way of being the manager you want to be. But as the pressure to perform grows, the gap in power between you and your team creates blind spots that can erode these relationships. Former Microsoft executive and Fortune 500 coach, Sabina Nawaz, experienced these challenges in her own career and, today, she coaches executives worki...
Apr 20, 2025•47 min
