A Bit of Optimism

Leadership is deeply personal. As people change, the way they lead has to change, too.

Few leaders have navigated as much change as Joe Biden. He was elected to the Senate at 29 and will end his time as President at 82. The number of things he has witnessed and been a part of over the course of  his career is remarkable. His journey has been shaped by unlikely friendships and profound personal loss.

I had the honor to sit down with President Biden at the White House to reflect on how his experiences have influenced his approach to both life and leadership.

I chose to stay clear of politics and instead focused on the lessons that are applicable to all Americans…and indeed all people.  I hope you find it insightful and inspiring.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

Friends can help us get through life’s toughest moments. But a true friend remembers to smile about the good times. 

That’s why I wanted to revisit my conversation with the founder and CEO of Milk Bar, host of Netflix’s Bake Squad, and author of several cookbooks including Dessert Can Save the World, my dear friend Christina Tosi.

Christina is the type of friend I can trust with anything, someone I can cry with. Together we reflect on the art of asking for help and why sometimes all we need from a true friend is 8 minutes of their time.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

For more on Christina and her work, check out: 

Milk Bar

her cookbook, Dessert Can Save the World

and christinatosi.com

For more on the power of an 8-minute phone call, check out this New York Times article.

***

By the way, I wanted to share Christina's recipe for making an Ice Cream Loaf. It's magic. 

You will need:

2 cups (1 pint) of softened ice cream

1 cup of self-rising flour

1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix the melty ice cream, self-rising flour, and egg. Do not overmix.
3. Pour the batter into loaf pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick clean. 

Enjoy.

Some people’s life stories are too crazy not to tell. So today, we’re revisiting one of my favorite episodes, my conversation with Molly Bloom. Her story is so riveting it's no surprise it became a star-studded Hollywood film. 

After her Olympic dreams were dashed, Molly wound up running an illegal, high-stakes poker game where hundreds of millions of dollars would change hands in a night.  

Molly made a lot of money. Celebrities, mafias, and federal informants soon took an interest in her and her game.  Eventually, she lost everything and had no one to blame but herself.

Her story became the Academy Award-nominated movie Molly’s Game, and the lessons she learned from her extraordinary journey have tremendous value for the rest of us.

This is… A Bit of Optimism.

For more on Molly and her work, check out:

twitter.com/immollybloom

Grief can paralyze us. Most of us aren't given a manual about how to comfort someone grieving or how to ask for help with our own pain. 

That's why I wanted to revisit one of my favorite conversations, with Rabbi Sharon Brous. I talked with her about being present to someone else's pain and what it means to heal together in the loneliness epidemic. 

Considered one of the most influential rabbis in the U.S., she founded her own congregation and has led multiple White House faith events. In her book, The Amen Effect, Sharon explores how grief and heartbreak can be gateways to truly seeing each other.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

For more on Sharon and her work, check out:

her book The Amen Effect

her congregation iKAR

Vision, not skill, is the heart of creativity. But when a creative vision gets too big for one person, the key is to ask for help.

Logic is a platinum-selling rapper who’s made waves in the hip hop world. After a troubled childhood, he started making music with a positive, introspective message, eventually receiving nominations for two Grammy Awards. But after achieving massive popular success, he decided to branch out into something different. Today, he writes science fiction novels, makes movies, and is the only rapper to also have a New York Times bestseller.

I sat down with Logic, whose real name is Bobby Hall, for a deep dive into bringing creative visions to life — especially when you have no idea what you’re doing.

This…is A Bit of Optimism.

For more on Logic and his work, check out:

his new novel, Ultra 85

@logic

 

The slums of Kenya are a tough place to grow up. Stealing a mango could get you killed.

Kennedy Odede grew up in Kibera, Africa's largest urban slum. A street kid at age 10, he dreamed of factory work for 10 cents a day. But after stealing a mango out of hunger, a stranger's single act of kindness changed the course of his life.

Today, Kennedy is the CEO and founder of Shining Hope for Communities, or SHOFCO. For 20 years, SHOFCO has empowered Kenya's poorest neighborhoods, helping over 4 million people access clean water, education, and Internet. In 2024, TIME Magazine named Kennedy one of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Kennedy shares with me what it takes to see human goodness while surrounded by scarcity and anger, and how poverty taught him that being together is one of the greatest forms of wealth.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

To learn more about Kennedy and his work, check out:

SHOFCO.org

Before Elon Musk rebranded Twitter, X was already in use — at Google. Google X was Google's secret research lab, where Google's most imaginative ideas came to life.

As CEO and co-founder, Astro Teller's job is to harness X's wildest, most futuristic technology to solve the world's hardest problems. The same "moonshot factory" that created Google Brain and Waymo self-driving cars is also working on carbon capture, laser-beam Internet, delivery drones, and more.

I sat down with Astro to discuss how we build cultures of radical innovation. He shares some useful wisdom about unlearning what we know and why the counterintuitive approach is the key to landing moonshots.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

To learn more about Astro and his work, check out:

X, the moonshot factory

Business and poetry usually don't mix. But vulnerability has the power to bring teams together.

Poet IN-Q has found an unlikely audience in business. A slam poetry veteran and accomplished songwriter, companies invite IN-Q to help strengthen their cultures. He works with teams to connect on a deeper level, using poetry to share something human. As he'll tell you, winning over crowds of skeptical businesspeople is an art. 

In this conversation, IN-Q takes me through a powerful exercise in vulnerability. He shares some deeply personal poems and walks me through writing my own, and I learn that to truly connect with someone else, you must offer something of yourself first.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

To learn more about IN-Q and his work, check out:

The Never Ending Now poetry journal

IN-Q.com

Our sense of smell has the deepest tie to emotion and memory. But it's also the most overlooked. In business, that's a giant missed opportunity.

Dawn Goldworm knows how to use scent to evoke emotion and create loyalty. From Lady Gaga to Ferrari to books, Dawn designs signature fragrances that allow customers to connect with brands in a more meaningful way. A perfumer turned entrepreneur, her company 12.29 works with some of the biggest names in hospitality, fashion, automotive, and beyond.

Many years ago, Dawn helped me create the Scent of Optimism. I was excited to talk with her about what it takes to compose a new smell from scratch and why smell has the unique ability to make a brand instantly memorable.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

To learn more about Dawn and her work, check out:

12.29

Fierce competition can lead to burnout. How do we train ourselves to maintain excellence without giving in to the pressure to perform?

High-performance psychologist Mike Gervais has a solution. He calls it mastery. Mike's approach to mastering our thoughts and emotions has helped Olympians win gold medals, the Seattle Seahawks win the Superbowl, and CEOs take their companies to the next level.

Mike and I sat down to discuss the psychological tools to fine-tune our inner voices and why focusing on purpose instead of outcome empowers us to accomplish difficult things.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

 

To learn more about Mike's work, check out his podcast:

Finding Mastery