Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential observers of happiness and human nature. Her book, “Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World,” is a story of discovery, filled with thoughtful insights and hands-on suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use the power of perception to live fuller and richer lives. Gretchen’s many books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide. She hosts the podcast, “Happier with Gretchen Rubin,” whe...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 545
Award-winning neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff joins Google to talk about her book, “Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.” Her book is a guide for how to live a more experimental life, turn uncertainty into curiosity, and carve a path of self-discovery. Anne shares why we should replace the old, linear model of success with a circular model of growth, where goals are constantly discovered, pursued, and adapted in conversation with the larger world. An...
Apr 22, 2025•55 min•Ep. 544
In her 18 years at Google, Jenny Wood grew from entry-level to executive and ran a large operations team that helped drive billions of revenue per year. She is the founder of Own Your Career, one of the largest career programs in Google’s history with over 50,000 people benefitting in nearly 100 countries. Jenny's work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, CNBC, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. Now, Jenny’s back at Google to discuss her book, “Wild Courage: Go After ...
Apr 18, 2025•54 min•Ep. 543
Just about everything we do – like what we wear, what we eat, and even where we work – is informed in some way by our cultural subscriptions. Marcus Collins studies cultural contagion, and how it manifests in society at large. He joins Google to discuss the evolution of brand and his book, “For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be.” Marcus is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and previously served as the Chief Strategy Of...
Apr 15, 2025•45 min•Ep. 542
Almost everything we do involves words. Words are how we persuade, communicate, and connect. They’re how leaders lead, salespeople sell, and parents parent. But certain words are more impactful than others. They’re better at changing minds, engaging audiences, and driving action. What are these magic words, and how can we take advantage of their power? Jonah Berger joins Google to discuss his book, “Magic Words: What to Say to Get your Way.” Jonah is a Wharton Professor, internationally bestsell...
Apr 11, 2025•48 min•Ep. 541
Lewis Howes, entrepreneur and host of "The School of Greatness" podcast, joins Google to discuss his book, “Make Money Easy: Create Financial Freedom and Live a Richer Life.” The book leverages insight gleaned from the many financial experts on his podcast, the latest research around the psychology of money, and his own journey to success, and offers both practical advice and the mindset reframing needed to achieve financial peace and fulfillment. Lewis is a two-time New York Times bestselling a...
Apr 08, 2025•56 min•Ep. 540
Seth Godin has published over 20 bestselling books that have been translated into nearly 40 languages. He’s the founder of the altMBA and The Akimbo Workshops, which have been taken by more than 60,000 people. He hosts a podcast, also called Akimbo, and has 5 TED Talks. Seth joins Google to talk about his book, “The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams.” The book contemplates all things work: why it is the way it is, why it’s gotten so bad, and what all of us–especially leaders–can do...
Apr 04, 2025•43 min•Ep. 539
David Allemann is the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Swiss sportswear brand On. Since its founding in 2010, On has become one of the fastest-growing global sports brands with a presence in over 60 countries and more than 9,000 retailers. David joins Google to discuss his career journey, the story of On’s IPO, and how they were able to become a prominent name in the saturated market of athletic shoes. Watch this episode at youtube.com/TalksAtGoogle ....
Apr 01, 2025•46 min•Ep. 538
Stuff You Should Know has been one of the top podcasts since it started in 2008. The podcast overviews and simplifies a truly extensive range of topics, from the history of refrigeration to how Saturn works to forensic dentistry and peacocks. Chuck and Josh released over 1,500 episodes, toured the world, and even had a TV show that ran for one season on the Science Channel. They also have a Trivial Pursuit game and they once had their own category on Jeopardy’s National College Championship. Chu...
Mar 28, 2025•46 min•Ep. 537
Everywhere you look, there’s talk of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone have dedicated their lives to studying both. Daniela is a world expert in robotics. She’s the first female director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow. Gregory has authored 19 books and is a former columnist for Popular Science magazine. He’s collaborated with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Susan Cain, Bill Nye, and Skeletor. They join Goog...
Mar 25, 2025•31 min•Ep. 536
George R.R. Martin is an author and a television producer and writer. He’s most famous for his series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which was then adapted by HBO into the overwhelmingly popular television drama, “Game of Thrones.” In 2017, Time Magazine dubbed him an “American Tolkien.” He joins Google for a Q&A session and to share more about his novel, "A Dance with Dragons." Originally published in August 2011. Watch this episode at youtube.com/TalksAtGoogle ....
Mar 21, 2025•56 min•Ep. 535
Award-winning kitten rescuer Hannah Shaw and professional cat photographer Andrew Marttila join Google to discuss their book, “Cats of the World,” where they explore cat culture and welfare around the globe, documenting their travels with photos and stories from 30 different countries. Hannah and Andrew are both cat experts in their own specialties. Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author of over 10 books and the founder of Orphan Kitten Club, a nonprofit focused on saving the lives of neo...
Mar 18, 2025•33 min•Ep. 534
Back in 2014, Marvel produced the first Guardians of the Galaxy based on the comic of the same name. The movie was a stunning success, becoming the third-highest grossing film of the year and nominated for two Academy Awards. The trilogy was then completed in 2023. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Vin Diesel talk about the original movie and their roles, what it’s like to be action figures, and who would win in a battle royale. Originally published in August 2014. Watch this episode at youtube.com/...
Mar 14, 2025•34 min•Ep. 533
Nisha Vora is a cookbook author and content creator known for her innovative approach to vegan cooking. She discusses her second cookbook, Big Vegan Flavor, with over 150 recipes to help you master the art of vegan cooking. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 2012 and working as a lawyer, Nisha switched out her casebooks for cookbooks to follow her dream in the food world. She created a cooking website called Rainbow Plant Life, and has amassed over 2 million followers across her blog an...
Mar 11, 2025•54 min•Ep. 532
Kheris Rogers, designer and CEO of the fashion brand, Flexin' in my Complexion, was inspired to start her brand at just 11 years old, after years of being bullied in school because of her dark skin complexion. She is the world’s youngest designer to ever showcase at New York Fashion week. She’s partnered with Nike and Lebron James, and her clothing line has been worn by celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg, Lupita Nyong’o, and Alicia Keys. Originally published in April 2020. Watch this episode at yo...
Mar 07, 2025•37 min•Ep. 531
Ilya Strebulaev has devoted two decades to studying how venture capitalists approach decision-making, and the reasons behind the successes and failures of corporate innovations. He joins Google to discuss his book, “The Venture Mindset,” a playbook on how to adapt to a rapidly changing world, make smarter bets, launch new ventures, and transform traditional organizations into hubs for innovation. Ilya is an international expert in venture capital, private equity, and financing innovation. Among ...
Mar 04, 2025•46 min•Ep. 530
Phil Rosenthal is the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of "Somebody Feed Phil," the Netflix show with 7 seasons – and counting – that combines Phil’s love of food and travel with his unique brand of humor. Phil has traveled to countless destinations around the world to take in the local cuisine and culture, including Kyoto, Mumbai, Oaxaca, Iceland, New York, and many others. Somebody Feed Phil has garnered two Primetime Emmy nominations and won two Critics Choice Real TV awards. Phi...
Feb 28, 2025•51 min•Ep. 529
The Tetris game has become one of the world’s top-selling video game brands with hundreds of millions of products sold, and that number is still growing today. In 1988, having published numerous computer games from around the world in the Japanese market, Henk discovered the Tetris game at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A year later, he licensed the rights to Nintendo, where it would go on to make their handheld platform, the Game Boy, the most popular portable game system of its ti...
Feb 25, 2025•50 min•Ep. 528
Modern Love is a weekly New York Times column, created and edited by Daniel Jones since 2004. As it rose to popularity, it expanded into a podcast, a television show, and a book. In all its forms, Modern Love talks about relationships, feelings, betrayals, and revelations. Daniel Jones joins Google to talk about the anthology, “Modern Love, Revised and Updated: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption,” a collection of the column’s most popular, provocative, and unforgettable essays, including...
Feb 21, 2025•53 min•Ep. 527
Award-winning author and historian Elizabeth L. Block joins Google to discuss her book, “Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing.” She explores the diverse history of women’s hair, from the cultural power of hair in 19th century America to the untold stories of business owners and trendsetters. Through her research, we see the places and spaces of hair that allow a new understanding of its immense cultural power. Elizabeth is an art historian and a Senior Editor in the Publications ...
Feb 18, 2025•30 min•Ep. 526
Mandy Len Catron is known for her wildly popular Modern Love essay in the New York Times, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This." She popularized the 36 questions that are said to make people fall in love. Mandy’s essay inspired her book of the same name. In the book, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This," Mandy deconstructs her own personal canon of love stories through a series of candid and vulnerable essays. She dives all the way back to 1944, when her grandparents first met in a coal minin...
Feb 14, 2025•57 min•Ep. 525
Doug Melville discusses his book, "Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America’s First Black Generals." The book takes us on a journey from post-Civil War America to modern-day Europe and Asia, introducing readers to prominent yet hidden heroes, inspired by Doug’s own story. In 2011, Doug was thrilled to be invited to an advanced screening of George Lucas’ “Red Tails,” a fresh take on America’s first Black aerial squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen. However, that exci...
Feb 11, 2025•52 min•Ep. 524
Award-winning wine expert Karen MacNeil discusses her book, “The Wine Bible: 3rd Edition,” which offers the ultimate education in wine with expanded content. Karen MacNeil is the only American to have won every major wine award given in the English language. TIME magazine has called her, “America’s Missionary of the Vine.” She is the author of the award-winning book, The Wine Bible, the only best selling wine book in the United States, and is the creator and editor of Wine Speed, the top digital...
Feb 07, 2025•58 min•Ep. 523
Chances are, you’ve tried – and maybe succeeded – at the Rubik’s Cube. Patented in 1975, the Rubik’s Cube then made its international debut in 1980 at the New York Toy Fair, and quickly became the best-selling toy in history. But you may not know that Erno Rubik also patented many other successful toys and designs, including the Magic Snake and Rubik’s Magic. His book “Cubed – The Puzzle of Us All” has been published in several countries around the world. Erno Rubik studied architecture and desi...
Feb 04, 2025•35 min•Ep. 522
Are you drowning in information overload? Do you disappear down a rabbit hole of social media just when you need to focus? Productivity expert Graham Allcott can help. Graham Allcott is the founder of Think Productive, author of 5 books, and the host of podcast "Beyond Busy." In this conversation, he talks about how to be a productivity ninja: how to work smarter, manage projects with confidence, and tame your inbox. Originally published in February 2019. Visit youtube.com/TalksAtGoogle to watch...
Jan 31, 2025•39 min•Ep. 521
When we let fear of other people's opinions take control, we play it safe and small because we're afraid of what will happen on the other side of critique. But what if the key to leading a high-performance life is to redirect our attention from the outside world to the world inside us? Dr. Michael Gervais discusses his book, The First Rule Of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think Of You . He reveals the mental skills and practices we need to overcome the fear of other people's opinions ...
Jan 28, 2025•50 min•Ep. 520
We’ve all – hopefully – experienced what it’s like to fall into a sense of flow. It’s when everything happens easily. You have a natural sense of meaning and purpose without having to think or worry about it very much at all. But for some of us, that’s harder to come by. That’s where Arjuna Ardagh comes in. Arjuna is the founder of Awakening Coaching, where he’s coached leaders for over 35 years across the technology field, the movie industry, writers, and innovators in public policy. Arjuna map...
Jan 24, 2025•52 min•Ep. 519
Ravi Bapna and Anindya Ghose visit Google to discuss their book “Thrive: Maximizing Well-Being in the Age of AI” - the book explores how AI can positively impact many aspects of our daily lives, from health and wellness to work, education, and home life. Artificial intelligence is a powerful general-purpose technology that is reshaping the modern economy, but misperceptions about AI stand in the way of harnessing it for the betterment of humanity. In their book Thrive, Ravi Bapna and Anindya Gho...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 518
Erin Weed is the founder of Girls Fight Back, a women’s safety education company. After teaching live self-defense seminars to over 1 million people worldwide, she sold Girls Fight Back in 2013. Since then, she has been working as a speaker, author, and communication strategist who helps people seek their purpose and speak their truth. Today, we’ll hear her Talk at TEDxBoulder about how to connect with one another by communicating authentically. On International Women's Day 2018, she joined Wome...
Jan 17, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 517
Dr. Peter Attia visits Google to discuss his book "Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.” The book is a guide to living better and longer, and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health. For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments that are too late to help, prolo...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 516
