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We like the idea of the lone genius, that one person who developed a game-changing innovation. But whether or not we realize it, research shows that creativity is collaborative.
Yep. You heard that right. And we have lots of examples: the development of the airplane, the Internet, the mountain bike, and so many more.
We’re schooled in the notion that creativity is an individual thing, yet research shows, again and again, that it’s not. Instead, it’s through connecting with others, then working alone, and then connecting again, that we innovate.
Keith Sawyer has studied groups and creativity for decades. His book, Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration, elucidates what group genius looks like, why it works, and what it takes to cultivate it, so we can develop game-changing innovations.
This book changed how I see groups, creativity, and the connection between the two, and the research findings are fascinating.
Episode Links
Group Creativity and Collaboration
Everyone Can Be More Creative – But Not Alone
Being More Creative in Everyday Life is Simple
Interview with Moshe Bar
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It’s become common knowledge that we need to prioritize our physical and mental health. In fact we’re encouraged to commit to regular exercise and good nutrition, and to engage with mental health professionals as part of a healthy lifestyle.
And if public health experts like Kasley Killam have their way, social health will become just as important. It’s why she wrote the book, The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier.
Kasley’s book is the proactive solution to today’s loneliness epidemic. It’s also a research-backed argument for why social health needs to be on equal footing with mental and physical health.
Episode Links
Shifting the Focus from Loneliness to Social Health
What is Social Health? The Little-Known Idea that Could Make All the Difference
The Mental Health Industry is Booming. Next up? Social Health Innovation
Interview with Malissa Clark
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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 Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging. By sharing research findings, as well as people’s stories from around the world, we get to see a whole other side of medicine.
After reading her book, I’m more convinced than ever we need to seek out and prioritize healthy social time.
Episode Links
New Horizons in Medicine: Why Art, Service, and Nature Might Be What the Doctor Orders
What If Your Doctor Could Prescribe Fishing Trips or Art Classes? Social Prescribing on the Rise
Doctor’s Orders: A Social Prescription for Health
Interview with Geoffrey Cohen
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We know how important friendships are. At the very least, for our health and well-being. But we also know how hard it gets to make and keep friends over the course of a lifetime, especially as we move, change jobs, and have families.
That’s why Anna Goldfarb’s book, Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections, is so important. We need friendships for good health, and Anna’s book teaches us ways to make, keep, and move on from toxic friends. And she readily shares what to say to build and deepen friendships.
I think it’s a terrific book for understanding how to be a better friend.
Episode Links
Let’s Make This the Golden Age of Friendship
The Secret to Modern Friendship, According to Real Friends
How to Deal with a Friendship Quiet Season
Interview with Kat Vellos
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Most of us believe we can make a difference in the world. That we can have an impact. What holds us back from acting on those beliefs are often the doubts. Doubts about our skills, our credentials, even our roles at work.
Alex Budak studied the research and interviewed the changemakers, and he argues we can all be changemakers, no matter our resumes. That’s what led him to write his book, Becoming a Changemaker: An Actionable, Inclusive Guide to Leading Positive Change at Any Level.
I was inspired by Alex’s book and our conversation. I walked away with a changemaker playbook on the mindset, leadership qualities, and behaviors to make it happen.
Episode Links
Finding Leadership Treasures in World Cup Trash
Stop Waiting for Permission
Be the Light
Interview with Sheena Iyengar
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This year, we witnessed 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 latest book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. In this conversation, we talk about what awe is, how it works, and why it matters. We also talk about how to build more awe into our lives.
Episode Links
Here’s Why You Need to Be Cultivating Awe in Your Life
An Awe Walk
Strengthen Your Leadership with the Science of Awe
Interview with Norman Farb author of Better in Every Sense
The Team
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Social connections are one of the keys to a happy and healthy life, yet few of us learn how to build them.
If we’re lucky, we have family and friends who model them. But even then, our biology equips us with cognitive biases that can get in the way.
Fortunately, award-winning science writer David Robson has studied the research. He shares what he’s learned in his latest book, The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network.
In this conversation, he talks about the biases we hold and how we can overcome them. It’s a terrific resource for rethinking your approach to social connection.
Episode Links
How Learning about the Science of Shyness Helped Me
The Big Idea: Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Being a Mess
Interview with Marissa King on Social Networks and Social Chemistry
The Team
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There are many good reasons to look to others. For example, you might need expert advice or feedback to improve your performance. But there’s one reason not to, and, that is, to determine your self-worth.
When you look to someone else to define you or tell you how to live your life, you lose a lot. And if you find it hard to believe you’d ever let someone else influence you in those ways, you’d be surprised.
Michael Gervais is a high-performance psychologist who’s worked with elite athletes, artists, and leaders. Through his work, he’s learned that one of the biggest obstacles standing in their way is fear of other people’s opinions. And he’s seen just how crippling those fears can be. That’s why he’s written the book, The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying about What People Think of You.
In talking to Michael, I learned how our biology sets us up to place a lot of weight on other people’s opinions. I also learned how social media is designed to reinforce that fear. Fortunately, Michael shared insights on what to do. I walked away feeling empowered.
Episode Links
Stop Basing Your Self-Worth on Other People’s Opinions
Free Your People from the Need for Social Approval
Build a Great Team on a Relationship-Based Culture, Not the Myth of Family
Interview with Jonathan Rhodes on Getting the Life You Want
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We’re surrounded by people with knowledge. The manager who can provide expert feedback or the colleague who has important information. These kinds of insights can help us achieve our goals.
Yet as much as we need that knowledge, we often don’t act in ways that invite it.
It’s when the project runs behind or we can’t make our numbers that we realize, often too late, that asking sooner could have made all the difference.
These are the results Jeff Wetzler can help us avoid. His book, Ask: Tap into the Hidden Wisdom of People around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life, is a call to arms for regularly making asks that elicit the insights we need. His strategies are important for individuals, teams, and organizations.
Episode Links
How to Get the Honest Input You Need from Your Employees
What Happens When You’re Blindsided at Work?
Why We Don’t Raise Tough Issues and How to Get Better at It
Interview with Anh Dao Pham on How to Succeed as a Project Leader
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We all want to be happy. In fact, it’s our desire for happiness that drives most of our decisions, like our friendships, our activities, even our purchases.
Yet, over time, we find that the things that made us so happy at the start – that new car or delicious meal – end up losing their luster.
I was curious about why this happens and what, if anything, we can do about it. That’s why I wanted to talk to Tali Sharot, cognitive neuroscientist, professor at University College London and MIT, and director of the Affective Brain Lab. In her latest book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, she explains why the things that once made us happy no longer do. She also shares what we can do about it.
Episode Links
The Big Idea: This Simple Behavioural Trick Can Help You Get More out of Life
Your Life is Better Than You Think
Why People Fail to Notice Horrors around Them
David Robson on How Our Expectations Shape Us (Interview)
The Team
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We crave meaning and purpose, yet obtaining them can feel beyond our control, like they're merely products of luck and circumstance. Fortunately, researchers who’ve studied the power of ritual have found they’re more in our control than we think.
In this interview, I talk to one of these researchers, psychologist Michael Norton. He shares how rituals, especially ones we create, can provide the meaning and purpose we crave. And, unlike habits, rituals operate on an emotional level that deepens the experience.
In his book, The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, Norton shares what rituals are, why they matter, and how they can help bolster us throughout our lives.
Episode Links
The Calming Power of Rituals
Forget Habits in the New Year. Find Joy in Rituals with Others
Breaking up Can Be Easier if You Have a Ritual
Interview with Eduardo Briceno on The Performance Paradox
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At some point, we all get stuck. Maybe it’s in a job or career. Maybe it’s a relationship or business venture.
Though it’s something we all experience, when it happens, we can feel alone and out of our depth. Emotions may overwhelm us. Mental traps lure is in. In no time at all, we can’t see a way out.
Award-winning professor, researcher, and author, Adam Alter, has spent decades studying how successful people get unstuck. In his latest book, Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most, he shares what we can do to move forward. Adam’s recommendations can help us with what might be the most important times in our lives.
Episode Links
Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler
How the ‘Creative-Cliff Illusion’ Limits Our Ideas by David Robson
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Team
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When we’re feeling stuck, it’s tempting to believe more thinking is the answer. We stew and we ponder, and then we double down on solutions we’ve tried before. It’s no wonder we start to feel like we just can’t figure it out.
But what would happen if we put thinking aside and tried something else? Author and researcher, Norman Farb, has learned that there’s an entire canvas of sensory experience we can access any time we want. And by tapping into our senses, we may find ways to feel better. It’s what Norm writes about in his book, Better in Every Sense: How the New Science of Sensation Can Help You Reclaim Your life.
By the time I reached the last page of this book, I felt like I’d been let in on an incredible set of tools for enriching my life.
Episode Links
How Your 5 Senses Can Help You Stop Worrying
Feeling Sensations, Including Ones Connected to Sadness, May Be Key to Depression Recovery
Attending to the Present: Mindfulness Meditation Reveals Distinct Neural Modes of Self-Reference
Interview with Britt Frank on The Science of Stuck
The Team
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When we think of geeks, we tend to think of the people who built the tech we use – from our smartphones to search engines to AI.
But if we just focus on the tech, we’re missing out on a lot. We’re overlooking how these same geeks reinvented corporate culture using a repeatable set of norms that ensure sustainable innovation.
Andrew McAfee is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. He’s been studying innovative companies for decades, and he’s taken what he’s learned and written about it in his latest book, The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results.
I’m convinced what Andrew’s learned about the geek way – and its four key norms – is a roadmap for where today’s – and tomorrow’s - companies are headed.
Episode Links
The Geek Way
New Book Explains the ‘Geek Way’ to Manage a Company
Forward Thinking on How Geeks are Changing the World
Interview with Roger Martin
The Team
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There’s more to being a workaholic than working long hours. Consider what motivates you to work more. Where you’re spending your energy. Think about the impact those longer hours have on family and friends.
These are some of the distinctions Malissa Clark makes in her book, Never Not Working: Why the Always-on Culture is Bad for Business and How to Fix it. She not only shares a helpful framework for thinking about workaholism but gives us ways to recognize it. Equally helpful, she explains steps we – and our organizations – can take to undo it.
Malissa’s book is a great resource for assessing workaholic tendencies and for changing them – as individuals, teams, and organizations.
Episode Links
Are You a Workaholic? Don’t Wear it as a Badge of Honor
These are the Four Drivers of Workaholism
Thomas Curran on The Perfection Trap
The Team
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We associate the word epidemic with disease. Yet it’s a word we’re increasingly using to refer to a state of mind, namely, loneliness. Researchers have not only found a significant increase in people’s feelings of loneliness, but they’ve also learned how detrimental loneliness can be to our health and wellbeing.
One of the most effective antidotes to loneliness is feeling like we belong. In fact, researchers have discovered that feelings of belonging can spill over into every area of our lives, from school to work to home. When present, they can boost our motivation and performance.
That’s why I wanted to speak with Stanford psychologist Geoffrey Cohen, author of the book, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides. Geoff has spent his career designing interventions to counter loneliness. In our conversation, he shares how taking even the smallest steps can reap big benefits.
Episode Links
Understanding and Overcoming Belonging Uncertainty
The Science of Belonging and Connection
A Crisis of Belonging
Joe Keohane on the Benefits of Talking to Strangers
The Team
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One-on-one meetings are the cornerstone of manager-employee relationships. For managers, they’re an opportunity to teach, coach, and mentor. For employees, they’re a chance to grow and develop.
But given how important these meetings are, how well are we using them? How effectively do we plan and run them? Bottom line - are they an afterthought or a priority?
These are just some of the questions, I asked meeting expert Steven Rogelberg, author of the book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings. In response, Steve not only described what the most effective one-on-one meetings look like, but he also explained how to design and lead them. I left the interview with lots of practical tips and tools.
Episode Links
This is the Most Important Meeting You’ll Have. Here’s How to Make It Better.
Meetings Can Really Suck. Here’s How to Fix That
Managers, Take This Simple Assessment to Hold Better One-on-One Meetings
Make the Most of Your One-on-One Meetings
The Team
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For many of us, the word addiction quickly conjures up images of drugs and alcohol. But we’re often slower to apply the term to compulsive, tech-induced behaviors like playing video games, checking social media, or shopping online.
We prefer to think of these pleasure-seeking activities as harmless distractions. Yet they can just as easily lead to addictive behaviors. And with our ever-present smartphones, the chance of mindlessly engaging in these activities, to the point of addiction, are more likely than ever.
That’s why I wanted to talk to Anna Lembke, author of the book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Anna is a psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University. In this conversation, she uses patient stories to teach us about addiction. She also explains how our lifestyles encourage addictive behaviors. Finally, she shares insights on what we can do.
I found her book to be revelatory and, as strange as this may sound, a real page turner. I also found it to be the resource we can all use to live more healthfully in a pleasure-filled world.
Episode Links
We Have a Dopamine Problem
I’m Addicted to My Phone. How Can I Cut Back?
Constant Craving: How Digital Media Turned Us All into Dopamine Addicts
Judson Brewer on Unwinding Anxiety
The Team
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We go to the dentist, get our eyes checked, and get our cars inspected. These regularly scheduled health and safety audits let us know how we’re doing.
But we rarely audit how we spend our time.
Sure, most of us have a calendar. Yet few of us study how these calendar events impact our happiness. We rarely track the connection between what we spend our time doing and how well we’re flourishing.
As a result, we can find ourselves feeling unhappy, frustrated, and what scientists call “time poor.”
Researchers like Cassie Holmes want to change that. They’ve learned there’s a strong connection between how we spend our time and how happy we feel. In her book, Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most, she shares ways we can optimize our calendars for happiness, including ways to avoid distraction, extend joy, create a meaningful schedule, and avoid regret.
Holmes’ tips on time tracking and time auditing are simple and powerful. As the year draws to a close, this may be just the book you’re looking for as we head into a new year.
Episode Links
Having Too Little or Too Much Time is Linked to Lower Subjective Well-being
Our Flawed Pursuit of Happiness – and How to Get It Right
A Valuable Lesson for a Happier Life (video)
Trust by Hernan Diaz
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I’ve spent a lot of time talking to guests about our relationships at work. For example, we’ve discussed how to listen better, how to navigate conflict, and how to influence others, just to name a few.
What I’ve spent less time talking about are the relationships that go beyond work. That’s why I invited Kat Vellos on the show this week to talk about her amazing book, We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships.
Kat’s book is more than a callout to the power of friendship. It’s a roadmap for making new friends, and, equally valuable, it’s an owner’s manual for deepening existing friendships.
It's an episode that really resonated with listeners. With the holidays approaching - and opportunities for more time with friends and family - I wanted to rebroadcast it for you. Enjoy!
Episode Links
How Many Hours Does It Take to Make a Friend by Jeffrey A. Hall
Better Than Small Talk
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
Donald Horton and Richard Wohl and Para-Social Communication
Loneliness and Social Connections
Choke by Sian Beilock
Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg
Kat Vellos TED Talk
Happy City by Charles Montgomery
Having and Being Had by Eula Biss
The Team
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