The Next Big Idea

Today's AI runs on neural networks, a design originally inspired by the human brain. As these systems grow more sophisticated, they're raising a profound question: Even if they don't work exactly like our brains, could something resembling a "mind" eventually emerge from the machines we're building? Guests: Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland Book: The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines ——— Want to connect? 🔗 Follow Rufus on LinkedIn 📖 Subscribe to our daily newsletter, Book of the Day ✉️ Send us an email: [email protected] ——— Ready to reach 300,000 curious listeners and readers? Promote your brand, book, or product to an audience passionate about big ideas. 📩 Request our sponsor kit

It’s rare these days for a book to go viral, but that’s exactly what happened with The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. Now in its 75th week on the New York Times’ bestseller list, the book reveals a startling truth: Starting in 2012, teen depression rates suddenly spiked 150% worldwide, perfectly coinciding with the moment smartphones and social media conquered childhood. But Haidt doesn't just diagnose the crisis. He offers a roadmap out with norms, guidelines, and policy suggestions that parents, schools, and communities are already implementing with remarkable success. Further Listening: WILL STORR: Does Our Need for Status Explain Everything? ANNA LEMBKE: Why the Modern World Puts Us All At Risk for Addiction ——— Want to connect with us? 🔗 Follow Rufus on LinkedIn 📖 Subscribe to our daily newsletter, Book of the Day ✉️ Send us an email: [email protected] ——— Ready to reach 300,000 curious listeners and readers? Promote your brand, book, or product to an audience passionate about big ideas. 📩 Request our sponsor kit

Arthur C. Brooks is an unlikely happiness guru. He’s not a psychologist, philosopher, or mystic. He’s an economist and public policy analyst who, for years, ran a prominent think tank. But rubbing shoulders with heads of state and titans of industry made him miserable. Confronted with the sobering realization that for too long he’d privileged work over connection and status over happiness, he left the c-suite and set about renovating the mission of his life. Before long, Arthur was teaching at Harvard Business School. But he wasn’t teaching hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts. He was teaching happiness. From a scientific perspective. Now, the pursuit of happiness might not seem like your typical business school fare. But Arthur’s got a good line on this. As he writes in his new book, The Happiness Files: “Your life is the most important management task you will ever undertake. It is, in fact, like a startup, where you are the founder, entrepreneur, and chief executive. And if you treat your life the way a great entrepreneur treats an exciting startup enterprise, your life will be happier, more meaningful, and more successful than it otherwise would be.” So that’s what today’s show is all about. What does it mean to live your life like it’s a startup? What you’ll learn: Why smart people are often less happy The simple test that reveals your biggest weakness How exercise and diet affect mood Why we should live in “day-tight compartments” ——— Want to connect with us? 🔗 Follow Rufus on LinkedIn 📖 Subscribe to our daily newsletter, Book of the Day ✉️ Send us an email: [email protected] ——— Ready to reach 300,000 curious listeners and readers? Promote your brand, book, or product to an audience passionate about big ideas. 📩 Request our sponsor kit

What if, thanks to AI, you can now research and write a book two, three, or even four times faster? For authors and AI pioneers Steven Johnson (Editorial Director, NotebookLM and Google Labs) and Ethan Mollick (Wharton professor and creator of One Useful Thing), that's the new reality. In this episode, they crack open their personal toolkits to reveal the prompts and workflows they use to supercharge their creativity. What you’ll learn: How Steven used AI to write 40,000 words in 72 hours. The specific AI tools Steven and Ethan rely on for researching and writing. Whether AI will ever write better than humans. How the very concept of a "book" may morph into an interactive, personalized experience that readers can query, customize, and even turn into a game. Further listening: BILL GATES: Superhuman AI May Be Closer Than You Think SAL KHAN: How AI Will Revolutionize the Way We Learn MARYANNE WOLF: Are We Forgetting How To Read? STEVEN JOHNSON & DAVID CHALMERS: Artificial Intelligence Meets Virtual Worlds ADAM BROTMAN & ANDY SACK: The AI Tsunami Is Already Here ——— This episode is brought to you by AUTHOR INSIDER, our exclusive community and learning platform for ambitious creators. What's Inside: ✅ Innovative strategies from bestselling authors and industry experts ✅ Audience growth tactics to expand your readership and revenue ✅ Vibrant creator community for networking and collaboration ✅ Exclusive content not available anywhere else 🎯 Exclusive 25% discount for podcast listeners — join AUTHOR INSIDER today ——— Ready to reach 300,000 curious listeners and readers? Promote your brand, book, or product to an audience passionate about big ideas. Request our sponsor kit: https://tally.so/r/wLgkN1

On a June night several years ago, Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, lay on an operating table, dying. An undiagnosed aneurysm in his pancreatic artery had ruptured, flooding his abdominal cavity with blood. His odds of survival were between 10 and 20 percent. "I said, 'Doc, you've got to hurry. You're losing me right now. I'm going.'" This near-death experience inspired him to embark on a scientific, philosophical, and profoundly personal exploration of what happens after we die. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: Sebastian Junger, author of In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife. 🎁 We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves. But figuring out what to read — well, that's another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books (as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink) into the hands of curious people. Like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com and use code PODCAST to take 20% off your order.

We all have eureka moments, sudden bursts of certainty that seem to come out of nowhere. What if you could summon that feeling on command? Laura Huang, a business school professor, has been studying that question. She’s found that for the world's most successful people, intuition isn't an accident. It's a skill. A tool they’ve sharpened. Today on the show: the practical steps you can take to turn a random hunch into your most reliable guide. 📕 Grab a copy of You Already Know 📱Sign up for The Next Big Idea Club+ in Apple Podcasts, and you’ll get ad-free listening, bonus episodes, subscriber-only shows, and more. 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Join us today!

We have a pretty good idea what ancient civilizations looked like. But what did they taste, smell, and feel like? 📕 Dinner with King Tut by Sam Kean 📱 Sign up for Next Big Idea Club+ on Apple Podcasts, and you’ll get ad-free listening, bonus episodes, subscriber-only shows, and more. 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

All day long, your brain makes subconscious value calculations. It looks at every decision and asks, "What is going to be most rewarding for me right this very minute?" That creates a gap, doesn't it? A gap between the person you want to be and the choices you actually make. Today on the show, neuroscientist Emily Falk explains the science behind that gap. She shows us how understanding our brain's hidden valuation system can give us more compassion for ourselves, and help us gently nudge our daily actions to align with our deepest values. Her new book is What We Value. 🎧 Sign up for Next Big Idea Club+ 📩 Want insights from the best new nonfiction delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter

In part two of our interview with Eric Topol, author of the New York Times bestseller Super Agers, we cover how to get a good night's sleep, why one day everyone may take GLP-1s, and how AI is poised to transform medicine. 1️⃣ Missed Part 1? Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 📚 Become an executive member of the Next Big Idea Club, and we'll send you a copy of Super Agers, along with the seven other best books of the year as chosen by our curators: Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink. Use code PODCAST to take 20% off your subscription ✉️ Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter

For years, cardiologist Eric Topol hunted for the rarest people in America: those over 80 who had never been sick. When he finally found 1,400 of them, he made a shocking discovery. It wasn't their genes. These "super agers" were often the last ones standing in families where everyone else died decades earlier. So what separates people who live into their 80s or 90s feeling great from those who battle chronic disease? In his new book, Super Agers, Eric reveals what the science actually shows, shares practical advice you can use at any age, and takes on the bro scientists selling false promises along the way. This is part one of our interview with Eric. Part two will be available right here next week. If you can't until then, you can listen now on the Next Big Idea app: https://nextbigideaclub.com/app/

Sign up for our Substack! Arthur Schopenhauer said, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Thomas Edison famously claimed, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Helen Lewis has a different take entirely. To her, the term genius licenses noxious eccentricities, exasperating ego trips, and downright bad behavior. Sure, plenty of things qualify as acts of genius — Shakespeare’s sonnets, penicillin — but when we pin the genius badge on a person instead of an achievement, we grant them membership in a supposedly superior class. That, Helen says, is the genius myth. She wants to demolish it and, in its place, tell the real story of how breakthroughs happen and who deserves credit.

Sign up for our daily Substack here! Kevin Kelly has made a career out of looking to the future. He helped pioneer online social networking all the way back in the 1980s, and he co-founded Wired, the magazine devoted to digital technology, when the internet was still an infant. But in his new book, Excellent Advice for Living, he looks backward. It’s a collection of 450 bits of wisdom he wishes he’d known when he was young. Things like “Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points” and “That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult—if you don’t lose it.” Today on the show he shares his best advice for building careers, nurturing relationships, solving problems, and finding satisfaction. He also explains why he’s more optimistic than ever about technology (yes, even AI).

AI, according to Andy Sack and Adam Brotman, co-founders of Forum3 and co-authors of the new book AI First, isn't just a neat new tool. It's "a tsunami of technology and capabilities." And if you don't start learning how to use it properly, they say, "you are absolutely gonna be left behind." The problem? Most people are using AI wrong. They're treating it like Google search when it should be treated like "an alien synthetic intelligence that can really reason and think and help you." In this episode, Andy and Adam share the mindset shifts and practical techniques that can help you harness AI to supercharge your productivity, creativity, and capability.

This is one of our favorite conversations from the last year. On the surface, it's an interview we did with Michael Lewis to coincide with the paperback release of Going Infinite, his book about Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. Michael, who spent months hovering over Sam's shoulder, believes he wasn't some malevolent grifter: he was an awkward kid undone by a “pathological ability to foist risk upon other people without asking their permission." But what we love about this episode is that it's not only about the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried. It's also about Michael's approach to writing — and living. He opens up about losing his daughter, shares what draws him to a story, and explains how taking pleasure in the world produces his best work. 🏛️ Check out Michael's latest book, Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service 🎁 Get 25% off a Next Big Idea Club subscription when you use the code PODCAST at https://nextbigideaclub.com/

Susan Cain always knew she wanted to be a writer. But her path to becoming one was anything but straightforward. She took a creative writing class in college and came away convinced she wasn’t very talented. So she pivoted: law school, white-shoe firm, eyes set on making partner. Seven years later, a senior partner walked into her office with life-changing news. It wasn’t going to happen. “I burst into tears,” Susan recalls. Three hours later, she quit. Within a week, she enrolled in a creative non-fiction class. A few years after that, despite never having published a word in her life, she sold her first book, Quiet, in a bidding war. Today, she ranks among the most successful non-fiction writers of her generation. In this episode, Susan takes us inside her journey from rejection to literary sensation, revealing the unexpected lessons she learned along the way. Today’s episode first appeared on Author Insider, our newsletter and community for anyone who wants to turn words and ideas into income. Learn more at authorinsider.nextbigideaclub.com. Subscribe to Susan’s Substack, The Quiet Life, at thequietlife.net

We think that cynicism protects us from being disappointed by other people. But Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki says the opposite is true. When we expect the worst in people, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy that brings out exactly what we feared. So in his new book, Hope for Cynics, Jamil sets out to prove that hope isn't naive: it's smart. 🎁 Looking for a gift for the graduates in your life? How about a subscription to The Next Big Idea Club? They’ll get the smartest new nonfiction as chosen by our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant. Go to nextbigideaclub.com and use the code GRADUATION to get 20% off a new or gift membership

Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman broke free from resentment and rumination, shifting into what he calls an empowerment mindset. Are you ready to do the same? • Support our show by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. Learn more here

What if everything we've been told about having a successful career is wrong? Rutger Bregman thinks most of us are wasting our working lives and argues we should stop trying to get rich and start trying to solve the world's problems instead.

In his new book, The Thinking Machine, Stephen Witt offers a riveting portrait of Jensen Huang, who went from immigrant dishwasher to CEO of the world’s most valuable company. • If you enjoyed this episode, check out our conversation with Walter Isaacson about his biography of Elon Musk

Humans are wired to explore. So why are we less adventurous than ever — and what are we losing because of it? Guest: Alex Hutchinson, author of The Explorer’s Gene Further Listening: Looking for more episodes about adventure? Check out our conversations with Colin O’Brady and David Grann

Could AI take over in the next few years? Daniel Kokotajlo thinks so. Here’s why. 💿 Check out this Spotify playlist of our other episodes about AI 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

Remember magazines? Piled high on coffee tables or tucked into seatback pockets. Savored beneath beach umbrellas or skimmed anxiously in dental waiting rooms. Glorious, glossy magazines. Graydon Carter made some of the best. He started with Spy, a sly, sharp-edged monthly that managed to feel both smarter and more mischievous than anything else on the rack. But it was Vanity Fair that became his cathedral. Over his remarkable 25-year tenure as editor, he built the magazine into a financial juggernaut and a cultural touchstone renowned for its ambitious journalism and arresting photography. The hard-won wisdom he gathered along the way — about editing, storytelling, leadership, and how to leave before the music stops — is the subject of his new memoir, When the Going Was Good. (This conversation was recorded live at WBUR Cityspace.) 💿 Check out this playlist of our interviews featuring magazine greats like Michael Lewis, Sebastian Junger, Kara Swisher, and David Grann.

You know those families where the kids all grow up to be remarkably successful? New York Times journalist Susan Dominus has spent the last few years getting to know some of them, looking for parenting techniques and life lessons. She's written a book about her findings called The Family Dynamic. "I thought I wrote a book about high-achieving families," she tells us, "but when I look back, it's really a book about families who did believe that the sky's the limit." 📕 Pre-order The Family Dynamic on Amazon, Bookshop, or from your local bookstore, send a copy of your receipt to [email protected], and we'll give you three months of free access to our paid Substack!

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson is probably the most talked-about book in the country right now. And the most hotly debated. It’s a book about how we got here — here being a country without enough housing, a country that has lost its ambitious optimism, a country that has forgotten how to build. The prescription Ezra and Derek offer to cure what ails us is conspicuously pro-growth: more housing, more clean energy, more scientific development and technological innovation. But to pull that off, they argue, will require Democrats to question their endemic zeal for regulation. This view has fired up some liberals while simultaneously drawing ire from others. Today, Rufus sits down with Derek Thompson to talk about the book, the reaction to it, and how to convince political leaders from both sides of the aisle to embrace a liberalism that builds.

We’re often told that success comes down to talent, hard work, and luck. But Adam Grant's research suggests that view is missing something crucial. In today’s installment of Next Big Idea Classics, Adam revisits his 2013 bestseller “Give and Take,” explaining how our interactions with others determine who thrives and who doesn’t. 💿 For Adam’s previous appearances on the show, click here 🎙️ And check out our classic interviews with Daniel Pink, Kim Scott, and James Clear

In 2008, a mysterious figure created Bitcoin — a digital currency without banks or borders that sparked a global financial movement. And then he disappeared without a trace. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Why did he vanish? And why hasn’t he touched his $100 billion fortune? Today on the show, we talk to journalist Ben Wallace about his search for answers. 📕 The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

Can you change who you are? When reporter Olga Khazan decided she was tired of being a “high-strung misanthrope” (her words), she turned to science for answers. What she discovered about personality — and how to change it — might surprise you. Host: Daniel Pink Guest: Olga Khazan Book: Me, But Better This episode was recorded live at Politics and Prose on March 12th.

Every day you inhale 2,000 gallons of air. What’s in there? 📕 Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

Turns out it’s not all about the Benjamins. Real success, according to Sahil Bloom, author of “The 5 Types of Wealth,” also requires the freedom to decide how you spend your time, meaningful relationships, a sense of purpose that pulls you forward, and the kind of health that lets you actually enjoy all of the above. 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

In part two of our conversation with Will Storr about his new book A Story Is a Deal, he reveals the five storytelling techniques you can use to captivate any audience. Plus, he helps us craft the story of the Next Big Idea Club. 1️⃣ Listen to Part 1 here 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

Today, we’re sitting down with Will Storr, author of the dazzling new book A Story Is a Deal, to talk about humanity’s greatest invention: story. More than just entertainment, Will argues, story is what we do and who we are. It’s how we make sense of the world, captivate, and persuade. And yet for all its power, storytelling isn’t some elusive magic trick — it’s a skill. One you can learn. Will’s here to show you how. 🎧 Listen to Will’s previous appearance on the podcast here 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

When Rajiv Shah was in his late 20s and didn’t know what to do with his life, he got a job at a fledgling nonprofit, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before he knew it, he was a driving force behind a global vaccination program that immunized 900 million children and saved 16 million lives. At 36, he became the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), managing a $20 billion budget, overseeing a staff of 10,000, and leading the U.S. response to global humanitarian crises. Today, as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, he’s finding innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and end energy poverty. What connects these experiences? At every step, Raj maintained a big bet mentality. What is a big bet? “A concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world. Big bets require setting profound, seemingly unachievable goals and believing they are achievable.” In this episode, he shares his methodology for creating large-scale change and making the world a better place. (This episode was first broadcast in 2024.) 💿 For more episodes about aid, philanthropy, and how best to solve the world’s problems, check out this playlist 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

In this special audio essay, Rufus reflects on the big ideas from 2024 that altered his worldview. 🎙️ You can find all of the interviews mentioned in this episode in this Spotify playlist 📩 Want to transform your day in just 10 minutes? Subscribe to our Book of the Day newsletter, and you’ll get daily, bite‑sized insights from the best new nonfiction books — in audio or text — straight from the authors. Sign up today!

A recent Pew Research survey found that most Americans are more worried than excited about AI. Reid Hoffman, however, isn't one of them. He knows the risks — arms races, runaway superintelligence, the whole humans-being-turned-into paperclips scenario — but he's still convinced that AI is poised to usher in an era of extraordinary human progress. And as you'll hear in this episode, he makes a pretty good case. Reid is the co-founder of LinkedIn, Inflection AI, and Manas AI, a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock, and host of the podcasts "Masters of Scale" and "Possible." Just this week, he published a thrilling new book called "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future." Today, he tells Rufus why he's "unequivocally very optimistic" about AI (and why you should be, too), how he's using AI in his daily life, and why he doesn't think DeepSeek is as much of a game-changer as some people say. 📱 Follow The Next Big Idea on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

We've got a special treat for you today. We invited Ethan Kross — psychologist, neuroscientist, and author of the bestseller "Chatter" — to give us a sneak peek at his new book, "Shift." It comes out in February, and it's a myth-busting, science-based guide to mastering your emotional life using tools you already possess. 📕 Pre-order Ethan's book here 🎧 Check out Ethan's previous appearance on the show: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

In our deeply divided nation, there's one thing many of us seem to agree on: winter is the worst. A recent study found that nearly half of Americans would skip winter if they could. Yet not everyone dreads the cold months. Psychologist Kari Leibowitz has spent years studying these winter-lovers, and she's arrived at a surprising truth: people who thrive this time of year aren't just born that way — they've learned to see the season differently. So can you. Guest: Kari Leibowitz, author of "How to Winter" Host: Caleb Bissinger 📩 Want big ideas sent straight to your inbox every morning? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter

What drives human motivation? For years, the answer seemed simple: rewards. Dangle the right carrot — a bonus, stock options, "Employee of the Month" certificate — and people will perform. But Daniel Pink's 2009 bestseller "Drive" flipped this idea on its head. Drawing on decades of scientific research, Dan revealed that our deepest motivations come from within: the innate drive for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Now, 15 years after "Drive" revolutionized our understanding of motivation, Dan joins us to discuss how this science has evolved and what it means for anyone trying to motivate themselves or others in today's rapidly changing world. 💿 You can find Dan's previous appearances on the show here 📰 And follow his Washington Post column "Why Not?" 🎧 Check out our Next Big Idea Classics episodes with James Clear and Kim Scott 📱 Follow The Next Big Idea on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Forming a new habit is tough. Sticking with it is even tougher. That’s probably why someone buys a copy of James Clear’s 2018 book “Atomic Habits” every 11 seconds. James breaks down the science of habit formation into simple, actionable steps anyone can take — even you. Today on the show, he talks Rufus through the four laws of behavior change, explains how small improvements compound over time to produce remarkable results, and offers easy tips you can use now to kick bad habits and adopt good ones.

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’s 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 listen back to our favorite episodes of 2024? Check out this playlist

Does free will exist on a sliding scale? Will humans and AI co-evolve? Are aliens already here on earth? These are just a few of the many mind-bending questions Rufus and Sara Walker, author of “Life as No One Knows It,” explore in the second half of their conversation. 1️⃣ If you missed the first half of Sara’s interview, you can find it here 🧪 Want to hear more of our interviews with brilliant scientists? Check out this playlist 🎁 Take 20% off a Next Big Idea Club subscription or gift when you use the code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com

We’ve had many bracing thinkers on this show, but Sara Walker might take the cake. A physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, she's just written "Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence," a thrilling exploration of life's origins and the search for it across the cosmos. 🕐 The second part of this conversation will be available on Thursday. If you can’t wait until then, you can hear it right now on The Next Big Idea app 🎁 Take 20% off a Next Big Idea Club subscription when you use code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com

You may think you know what strategy is, but Seth Godin is willing to bet you haven’t got a clue. It’s not just setting goals. It’s not just making plans. It’s— Well, you’ll have to tune in to find out. 📕 This Is Strategy by Seth Godin ✉️ Want big idea delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our newsletter Book of the Day here 🎙️ If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy our conversation with Tony Fadell, the legendary creator of the iPod and iPhone, about how to build a game-changing product. It's a team favorite. 🎁 Take 20% off a Next Big Idea Club membership or gift when you use code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com

Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT, wants you to think twice before putting your faith in Silicon Valley's promises. 🎙️ Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple or Spotify 🎁 Take 20% off a Next Big Idea Club membership or gift when you use PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com

When he was 26, Will Guidara took the helm of a middling brasserie in New York City called Eleven Madison Park. A decade later, it was named the best restaurant in the world. How did he pull off this unprecedented transformation? By practicing unreasonable hospitality. (This episode first aired in Sept. 2023.) 📕 Unreasonable Hospitality 📬 Take 50% off a subscription to our Book of the Day newsletter here 🎁 Looking for the perfect gift for the readers in your life? How about a subscription to the Next Big Idea Club! Get 50% off an express membership when you use code PODCAST50 at nextbigideaclub.com/gift

For two decades, Ann Wroe has written weekly obituaries for The Economist. Some of her subjects are luminaries (Queen Elizabeth II, Paul Newman). Others are little-knowns (cheesemakers, storm chasers, typewriter repairmen). But all of them, in Ann’s words, “have enhanced the world by their existence.” Her obituaries are celebrations of life, and Ann is a soul-catcher — souls, for her, being the best word for the “unique and essential part of ourselves, our self-conscious and transcendent core.” It’s a job that requires empathy, patience, almost tactile curiosity, and, well, love. It’s a job from which we can all learn a great deal. 📕 Lifescapes: A Biographer’s Search for the Soul 📬 We launched a newsletter! It’s called Book of the Day, and you can get a special discount here 🎁 Looking for the perfect gift for the readers in your life? How about a subscription to the Next Big Idea Club! Get 20% off any membership when you use code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com/gift

Philosophers have long maintained that the Good Life is braided from two strands: pleasure and purpose. But Middlebury’s Lorraine Besser says there’s a third: psychological richness — or, as she calls it, The Interesting. Interesting experiences, she contends, captivate our minds, engage our thoughts and emotions, and often change our perspective. Today, she’ll teach you how to find them. 📕 The Art of the Interesting 📬 Take 50% off a subscription to our Book of the Day newsletter here 🎁 Looking for the perfect gift for the readers in your life? How about a subscription to the Next Big Idea Club! Get 20% off your order when you use code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com/gift

Do fewer things. Work at a natural pace. Obsess over quality. These are Cal Newport's three principles for achieving your goals without burning out. Today, in a special preview of our first-ever podclass, Cal explains how to harness the power of slow productivity to bring meaning, purpose, and a genuine sense of accomplishment into your life and work. ✉️ To hear the rest of Cal’s podclass, sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter. Get your special discount here 🎁 Looking for the perfect gift for the readers in your life? How about a subscription to the Next Big Idea Club! Take 20% off your order when you use code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com/gift

What if everything we think we know about the history of our species is wrong? That’s the provocative question at the heart of a new book by today’s guest, David Wengrow. Hailed as fascinating, brilliant, and potentially revolutionary, “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity” debuted at no. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list. Drawing on the latest research in archeology and anthropology, it suggests that the lives of our ancient ancestors were not nasty, brutish, and short. On the contrary, they were playful, collaborative, and improvisational — and there's a lot they can teach us about how to improve the world as we know it. (This episode first aired in 2021.) ✉️ Sign up for our daily newsletter, Book of the Day

In his mega-bestseller “Four Thousand Weeks,” Oliver Burkeman showed that the shortness of life “isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an anxiety-fueled panic about making the most of your limited time. It’s a cause for relief.” Now, in “Meditations for Mortals,” he invites us to embrace what he calls “imperfectionism.” Accept your limitations, your finitude, your lack of control — because “the more we try to render the world controllable,” he warns, “the more it eludes us; and the more daily life loses … its resonance, its capacity to touch, move and absorb us.” ✨ Want to hear Oliver’s advice on how to keep your feet on the ground this election season? Head over to bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com

Making art is hard work, as Adam Moss, the revered former editor of New York magazine, reveals in his illuminating new book, "The Work of Art." The book is a collection of interviews with painters, poets, filmmakers, and even sandcastle builders about the demanding, mystical, peculiar process of creating something out of nothing. Adam spoke with our curator Daniel Pink in front of a live audience in New York City earlier this month. 📕 The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing 🗞️ Check out Dan's Washington Post column, "Why Not?"