Bonus: Eric Barker Gives Daniel Pink Relationship Advice
Eric Barker teaches our curator Daniel Pink how to make friends, disarm marital conflicts, and spot liars.
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 1 min
The Next Big Idea
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Thursday. Part of the LinkedIn Podcast Network.
Episodes
LONGTERMISM: Why You Should Care About Future People
If the human race lasts as long as a typical mammalian species and our population continues at its current size, then there are 80 trillion people yet to come. Oxford philosophy professor William MacAskill says it's up to us to protect them. In his bold new book, "What We Owe the Future," MacAskill makes a case for longtermism. He believes that how long we survive as a species may depend on the actions we take now. --- To hear the Book Bite for "What We Owe the Future," download the Next Big Ide...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 17 min
QUIT: Why You Have to Give Up if You Want to Get Ahead
In her new book, “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away,” Annie Duke says mastering the art of quitting is the key to making smart decisions. --- Download the Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app
Oct 06, 2022•1 hr 9 min
PUZZLES: What Crosswords, Riddles, and Wordle Can Teach You About the Meaning of Life
For the last 25 years, writer A.J. Jacobs has attempted to live his life as a human guinea pig. “I’ve engaged in a series of experiments on my mind and body,” he says, “some of which have been fruitful, some humiliating failures. I’ve tried to understand the world by immersing myself in extraordinary circumstances.” His book “The Know-It-All” chronicled his experience reading the encyclopedia from cover to cover. To write “The Year of Living Biblically,” he followed every commandment in the Old ...
Sep 29, 2022•54 min
BUILD: Tony Fadell’s Guide to Making Cool Stuff
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Learning Thermostat. In his new book, “Build,” he shares everything he’s learned about building great companies and game-changing products. --- Download the Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app
Sep 22, 2022•1 hr 8 min
SURVIVAL OF THE RICHEST: How Tech Billionaires Are Preparing for Doomsday
Have you ever found yourself sitting around a table at a luxury resort with five mega-rich strangers who want to know where you think they should build their doomsday bunkers? Absurd as it may sound, that actually happened to media theorist Douglas Rushkoff. Today on the show he explains why the 0.01 percent are obsessed with escaping climate change, global pandemics, political upheaval ... and us. --- Download the Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 4 min
HAPPINESS: Arthur C. Brooks Shares His Roadmap for Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Success
Arthur C. Brooks used to run a prominent think tank where he was paid handsomely to influence public policy. Did all that success make him happy? Nope. So Arthur quit his job and set out to transform his life. Now he has written a book about what he learned along the way, the #1 New York Times bestseller “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.” --- Want to hear Arthur summarize his new book in just nine minutes? Download the Next Big I...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr 11 min
DeepMind's Demis Hassabis on the future of AI (from The TED Interview)
Demis Hassabis is one of tech's most brilliant minds. A chess-playing child prodigy turned researcher and founder of headline-making AI company DeepMind, Demis is thinking through some of the most revolutionary — and in some cases controversial — uses of artificial intelligence. From the development of computer program AlphaGo, which beat out world champions in the board game Go, to making leaps in the research of how proteins fold, Demis is at the helm of the next generation of groundbreaking t...
Sep 01, 2022•51 min
Summer Getaway #4: The Making of ‘Bull Durham’ (with Ron Shelton)
Ron Shelton is an Academy Award–nominated writer and director, former shortstop for the Bluefield Baby Birds, and author of a humdinger of a new memoir called "The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham — Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit." On the show today: How Ron sold the movie before he had a story, wrote the script without a plan, played ball with Kevin Costner, and got directorial pointers from Susan Sarandon. --- » Want to hear the world's leading authors s...
Aug 26, 2022•30 min
Summer Getaway #3: The 12-Hour Walk (with Colin O’Brady)
What happens when you put your phone in airplane mode, walk out your front door, and don’t come home for 12 hours? Our producer Caleb finds out, with help from adventurer Colin O’Brady. » To learn more about Colin’s new book, “The 12-Hour Walk,” visit 12hourwalk.com » Want to hear hundreds of leading authors summarize their books in 12 minutes or less? Download the Next Big Idea today: nextbigideaclub.com/app/
Aug 19, 2022•57 min
Summer Getaway #2: An American Odyssey (with Ben McGrath)
The Ohio, Hudson, Mississippi, and Yellowstone — Dick Conant canoed them all. And then he disappeared. In his riveting new book, “Riverman,” journalist Ben McGrath tries to track down the man who may be the greatest American folk hero you’ve never heard of. --- Download the Next Big Idea app today at www.nextbigideaclub.com/app
Aug 11, 2022•58 min
Summer Getaway #1: The Beach (with Sarah Stodola)
Close your eyes and picture paradise. What do you see? For many people, it’s a turquoise ocean crashing into a white-sand beach. Where did this fantasy come from? Sarah Stodola, author of “The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach,” has a few ideas. Download The Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app/
Aug 04, 2022•50 min
Finding Stillness With Ryan Holiday
Here’s another episode from our archives that we love: Rufus’s 2020 interview with Ryan Holiday, the author of “Stillness Is the Key,” who shared his tips for slowing down, calming your mind, and accessing the tranquility deep inside.
Jul 28, 2022•41 min
Amanda Little on the Fate of Food
Today we’re bringing you a timely — and tasty — episode from our archives. Science journalist Amanda Little tells Rufus that the biggest threat posed by climate change is the collapse of our food systems. Provisions we love, like coffee and wine, are losing their flavor. And crops we rely on, like corn and soy, are getting harder to grow. If we don’t change our agricultural practices, we won’t be able to feed the globe’s swelling population. But don’t lose hope. Amanda says that if we can combin...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 12 min
John Colapinto on the Power and Beauty of the Human Voice
Today, we are revisiting one of our favorite episodes: an interview with New Yorker staff writer John Colapinto. In his brilliant book, "This Is the Voice," John says that while opposable thumbs are handy, the voice is our species' greatest attribute. We rely on it to communicate and collaborate, woo our mates and protect our children, win wars and make podcasts. John would know. A vocal injury changed his relationship with his instrument and set him on a path to better understand what his voice...
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 29 min
THE ESSENTIALS: Our Favorite Moments From Season 4
We laughed. We cried. We learned. As our fourth season draws to a close, we thought we'd share the moments we're still talking about at Next Big Idea Club HQ. Further Listening: • REGRETS: Daniel Pink Has a Few (And So Should You) • VOICE: You Are What You Speak • EXTENDED MIND: Want to Get Smarter? Try Thinking Outside of Your Brain • FUN: How to Have More of It • FEELING & KNOWING: Unlocking the Secrets of Consciousness • REALITY+: Are We Living in a Simulation? • DRUNK: Can Alcohol Make Y...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 14 min
BICYCLES: Are They the Future of Transportation?
Jody Rosen is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a bike nut who has just published a rousing (and sometimes arousing) book called “Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle.” Today, he takes us on a rollicking ride through the two-wheeled revolution, revealing the surprising ways bicycles have shaped the world in which we live. This and That: » Download the Next Big Idea app » Learn more about Transportation Alternatives » Check out the plans to build pedestri...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 3 min
BIG DATA: Cracking the Codes of Love, Happiness and Success
“You can make better life decisions. Big Data can help you.” So begins “Don’t Trust Your Gut,” a new book by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. Seth, a former Google data scientist, has mined massive data sets in order to answer some of life’s most vexing questions: “What predicts a happy marriage?” and “How do you get rich?” and “What really makes us happy?” The answers may surprise you. Download the Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app/
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Susan Cain & Daniel Pink: Writing, Longing, and the Search for Meaning
What do we lose when we avoid sorrow and chase empty delights, when we mask our pain and feign cheerfulness, when we profess to have no regrets and insist on turning every frown upside down? Those questions are at the heart of two new books by our curators Susan Cain (“Bittersweet”) and Daniel Pink (“The Power of Regret”). Today on the show, they sit down with Rufus to swap notes on the writing process, share what they’ve learned from each other, and imagine what the world might look like if we ...
Jun 16, 2022•58 min
RELATIONSHIPS: Why Everything You Know About Them Is (Mostly) Wrong
Eric Barker is not a people person. “Getting me to write a relationship book,” he says, “is like asking Godzilla to improve the infrastructure in your city.” But he did it anyway. Guided by leading social psychologists, Eric went on a journey to understand what he was getting wrong about relationships — and what he could do to turn things around. The result is “Plays Well With Others,” a guide to friendship, intimacy, loneliness, and belonging that our curator Daniel Pink says will “revitalize y...
Jun 09, 2022•55 min
How To Be a Grown-Up
In this special episode, Daniel Pink delivers a commencement address, Stanford-dean-turned-bestselling-author Julie Lythcott-Haims shares her manual for being an adult, and Arthur C. Brooks provides his roadmap for finding success, happiness, and purpose in the second half of life. Next Big Idea App: Download our app today at www.nextbigideaclub.com/app
Jun 02, 2022•51 min
IMAGINABLE: How Anyone Can Predict the Future (Yes, Even You)
In January 2020, when the coronavirus started making headlines around the world, Jane McGonigal’s inbox was flooded with emails from Silicon Valley execs, government officials, and non-profit leaders. They all had the same question: “Jane, didn’t you run a simulation of a respiratory pandemic?” Yes, she had. All the way back in 2010. Jane is a game designer. She builds simulations that help players imagine the unimaginable. And in 2010, she invited nearly 20,000 people to immerse themselves in a...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 12 min
CULTURE: How Successful Groups Work
The filmmakers at Pixar. The servers at Union Square Cafe. The badasses on SEAL Team Six. What do these super successful groups all have in common? Strong team culture. But what exactly is culture, and how do you build it? Daniel Coyle has spent the last few years searching for answers. In this episode, he shares what he’s found. NEXT BIG IDEA APP: Download our app today at www.nextbigideaclub.com/app
May 19, 2022•1 hr 14 min
GET IT DONE: How the Science of Motivation Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
University of Chicago professor Ayelet Fishbach has spent the last two decades studying the science of motivation. She has developed a framework for turning idle ambition into forward-moving action. That framework is the subject of her new book, “Get It Done,” which our curators chose as one of the best non-fiction titles of the year. Today, one of those curators, Daniel Pink, chats with Ayelet about sure-fire techniques you can use to achieve your goals. Next Big Idea App: Want to hear Ayelet s...
May 12, 2022•53 min
Bonus: The Not-So-Great Resignation (WorkLife with Adam Grant)
Over the past year, the Great Resignation has been all over the news. Many people are celebrating quitting their jobs — but it’s a decision some will come to regret. So when’s the right time to leave? How do you quit without burning bridges? And how can workplaces encourage people to stay? This is an episode of "WorkLife with Adam Grant," a podcast in the TED Audio Collective. If you want to hear more episodes, you can find and follow "WorkLife" wherever you listen.
May 08, 2022•38 min
FUN: How to Have More of It
Are we all so busy doom-scrolling and binge-watching that we’ve forgotten how to have fun? Catherine Price thinks so. But don’t despair. Her latest book, “The Power of Fun,” is jam-packed with research-backed hacks for finding meaning, forging connections, improving your health, and living life to the fullest ... all while having a darn good time. To learn about Catherine’s books & courses & sign up for her newsletter: ScreenLifeBalance.com NEXT BIG IDEA APP: Download it today at nextbig...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 14 min
TWITTER: What Elon Musk’s Acquisition Means for the Future of Social Media
Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter? What does he plan to do with it? Is this the end of big social or a chance to reinvent it? This week, we’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to answer those questions with two of the smartest internet commentators we know: Eli Pariser, co-founder of Upworthy and author of “The Filter Bubble”; and Steven Johnson, writer, podcaster, and TV host. RECOMMENDED: Subscribe to Steven’s newsletter, Adjacent Possible: adjacentpossible.substack.com Follow Eli ...
Apr 28, 2022•46 min
EMOTIONAL: Do Your Feelings Make You Smarter?
We all strive to think rationally. But it doesn’t always do us much good. Cutting-edge science has revealed that if we want to sharpen our thinking, we need to feel our feelings. That science is the subject of “Emotional,” a new book by theoretical physicist Leonard Mlodinow. In this episode, he sits down with science writer Annie Murphy Paul to discuss where emotions come from, how they motivate us, and what we can do to control them. Episode Recommendations: RATIONALITY: Steven Pinker’s Love S...
Apr 21, 2022•49 min
ORIGIN: How Did Humans Migrate to the Americas?
Thousands of years ago, humans crossed a land bridge from Siberia into Alaska. They tried to move south, but a two-mile-high, coast-spanning ice wall stood between them and the rest of the continent. How did they get past it? Scholars have fought over that question for decades. But in her book, “Origin,” Jennifer Raff says breakthroughs in genetics have given scientists an entirely new understanding of how the Americas were peopled and what happened in the millennia that followed. Next Big Idea ...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 11 min
BITTERSWEET: Susan Cain on the Beauty of Sorrow and Longing
Are you elevated by sad songs? Have you ever been brought to tears by a TV commercial? Do you relish rainy days? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you know the power of the bittersweet. Yet chances are there have been times when you’ve struggled to square your melancholic disposition with our culture of counterfeit cheer. Well, you won’t feel that way after you’ve heard Susan Cain discuss her new book, “Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.” She argues that longing...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 15 min
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