WorkLife with Adam Grant

It’s hard to make change at work happen. But wherever you sit in the hierarchy, there are steps you can take to overcome resistance and motivate people to embrace new ideas. In this episode, Adam brings in an education change agent, a business turnaround specialist, and a bestselling author to identify what you can do to improve the status quo. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL49

How do you avoid joining a toxic culture– and build a healthy one once you’ve arrived? In this episode, Adam explores how to recognize the four deadly sins of work culture before you join an organization, and shares strategies that can help shape a thriving workplace from the inside. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL48 We have a quick favor to ask you! We love making the show, and we're always trying to make it better. So if you have a few minutes, please take our survey at...

Disability is far more common and far more diverse than we might realize. But often, people are reluctant to reveal their disabilities, and managers don’t know how to address them. In this episode, Adam investigates some extraordinary steps workplaces are taking to support people with disabilities– and those without. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL47 We have a quick favor to ask you! We love making the show, and we're always trying to make it better. So if you have a few...

It’s been two years since offices around the world were thrown into virtual environments to do their jobs, and now many leaders are itching to get everyone back in the office. But new evidence demonstrates that hybrid work can be good for people and organizations. Adam brings an economist and a management expert to weigh in on the science of hybrid work, and make a road map to success in the modern (sometimes virtual) workplace. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL46 We have a...

Before Ava DuVernay became the first Black woman director to win Sundance and get nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, she was a publicist with a little hobby, a big dream, and a lot of patience. Adam talks to Ava about how she turned her side gig of filmmaking into a brilliant career, how her leadership style has evolved over the years, and what studying MLK while making the movie Selma can teach us about what it really takes to inspire. For the full text transcript, visit...

Satya Nadella is a modern renaissance man; he’s a cricket enthusiast, poetry lover, oh, and the chairman and CEO of Microsoft with a nearly perfect approval rating on Glassdoor. Satya has led a transformation at Microsoft, up-ending the culture, and rethinking remote and hybrid work. In this episode, Adam talks to Satya about the future of work, leadership, and building cultures of care. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/T4G28 We have a quick favor to ask you! We love making...

Today, something a little different. We're sharing an episode of No Stupid Questions, a podcast about human behavior hosted by Adam’s colleague and friend Angela Duckworth—a worldwide expert on grit—and Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio. In this episode, Angela and Stephen debate whether emotional intelligence is necessary for good leadership. Stephen also wonders if emotional intelligence is something that can be learned, and the two discuss whether high E.I. might actually have...

Jon Batiste has had a record year—he was the most nominated artist at the Grammys, winning five of his ELEVEN nominations across multiple categories, including Album of the Year. When he’s not making musical history, he’s a touring artist, late-night band leader, and Oscar-winning composer. In this episode, Jon talks with Adam about the creative process of making his genre-defying music, his prodigious background as a young musician in New Orleans, the role of focus and variety in building a...

Perfectionism is on the rise–and not just in job interviews when people claim it’s their greatest weakness. But the desire to be flawless is not always productive—or healthy. As a recovering perfectionist, Adam dives into how he managed to abandon the quest for 10s while holding onto his drive for excellence. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL45 We have a quick favor to ask you! We love making the show, and we're always trying to make it better. So if you have a few minutes,...

Great pitches can seem like genius or magic. But you don’t have to be a great salesperson to give a great pitch. Whether you’re floating an idea at a team meeting, looking for investors for your startup, or applying for your next job, life is full of pitching moments. In this episode, we bust myths about what it takes to drum up excitement–and share insights from Hollywood and Silicon Valley on ways to improve your chances of getting your audience on board. For the full text transcript,...

“Flexibility” is the number one request people are making from employers. But flexibility is much more than WHERE you work–it also means having the freedom to make choices about what you work on, who you work with, and when and how often you work. This episode examines the science and practice of creating more autonomy– and making it work for people and organizations. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL43 We have a quick favor to ask you! We love making the show, and we're...

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? For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/WL42

Dolly Parton is a living legend. Her hit songs like “9 to 5”, “Jolene”, and “I Will Always Love You” have captured generation after generation, and her career is far from slowing down. Her latest project, “Run, Rose, Run” is both a novel co-authored with James Patterson AND its brand-new, full-length companion album. In today’s episode, Adam talks to Dolly about her creative process, how she balances getting things right with getting things DONE, and how she manages the hefty cup of ambition...

As Russia continues to attack Ukraine, the whole world is watching a momentous clash of leadership styles. No one is more qualified to analyze the situation than political scientist and former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. In this episode, he and Adam discuss Putin’s motives, Zelensky’s rise, and the leadership lessons from this crisis. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/T4G25

This hour, futurist Amy Webb guides us through innovations that give a glimpse into the future of transportation, wellness, tech, commerce, and travel ... and the impacts they'll have on our lives. This is an episode of the TED Radio Hour with NPR, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. For more episodes, you can find and follow the podcast wherever you're listening to this. And we'll see you on March 29 for more WorkLife episodes!

WorkLife will be back on March 29 with new episodes including an incredible conversation with Dolly Parton, and an episode on the (not so) Great Resignation. For now, here's an episode of another show that Adam frequently appears on. It's called The Next Big Idea, presented by LinkedIn. In this episode, Annie Murphy Paul, author of “The Extended Mind” sits down with Adam for a spirited conversation in which she defends the fine art of fidgeting, suggests ways to improve group brainstorms,...

When Esther Duflo took her first economics class, she hated it. In 2019, she won a Nobel Prize in economics. Esther talks with Adam about her groundbreaking experiments to fight poverty, busts myths about what motivates people, and reveals how to make meaningful progress toward solving daunting problems. Read the text transcript for this episode at go.ted.com/T4G24

PepsiCo's trailblazing former CEO drove record profits—but did so while investing in employee well-being, consumer health, and environmental sustainability. In their second conversation, she and Adam are on stage for a lively, entertaining dialogue about how to improve our work lives and our workplaces. They talk about striking a balance between fitting in and standing out, winning support for major change up and down the org chart, and rethinking business education. Indra also reveals the...

The longtime PepsiCo CEO is one of the world’s most powerful women and Time’s 100 most influential people. In the first of two rich conversations, she explains why she wrote more than 400 letters about her direct reports… to their parents. Indra and Adam discuss what she’s learned about leadership, finding and being a mentor, championing ideas from below, and making big career decisions. They also explore some of the big questions around the future of work—from embracing flexibility to...

At the age of 18, Allyson Felix took home the Olympic silver medal in the 200 meter dash. She was devastated. Where others saw “second-best in the world,” she only saw “not first.” That race lit a fire that would carry her on to become the most decorated track and field athlete in American history. Adam talks with her about achieving excellence, bouncing back from her so-called “failures,” and sustaining motivation to medal in five straight Olympic games. Read the text transcript for this...