Curious Minds at Work

What if we transformed the word weird from an insult to a badge of honor?

When we call someone "weird," it's rarely positive. Growing up as a self-described "weirdo," Olga Khazan, author of the book, Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World, decided to explore the upside of being an outsider.

Olga interviewed dozens of successful people who'd been labeled "weird" at some point in their lives because of characteristics like their profession, race, religion or sexual orientation. She chose to speak with "people who had struggles and some challenges because they are so different from everyone around them...people who it wasn't such a clear-cut, straight to the top trajectory."

What Olga noticed was that some "weirdos" readily shrugged off the label, while others found it harder to overcome. That got her curious about the outsiders who thrived, the ones who were more creative, adaptable, and resourceful. What set them apart?

In describing what helped these outsiders succeed, Olga reveals a number of traits. One of them centers on how effective they are at convincing others to listen to their ideas. She says, "If you want to get someone to buy into a crazy idea you have, a really weird idea, you [have] to give them a normal idea first."

Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic, where she covers health, gender, and science. She has written for publications like, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Forbes, and was a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project's Journalism Fellowship. She was also winner of the 2017 National Headliner Awards for Magazine Online Writing.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds' Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

@olgakhazan

https://olgakhazan.com/

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers by Michele Gelfand

Henri Tajfel, influential social psychology researcher in the areas of prejudice and social identity theory

Let Your Workers Rebel by Francesca Gino

The Behavioral Immune System: How Unconscious Fears of Infection Shape Many Aspects of Our Psychology by Mark Schaller

Vivienne Ming

Idiosyncrasy Credit

Support the Podcast

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you subscribe.

Tell a friend or family member about the podcast.

Subscribe, so you never miss an episode.

Where to Find Curious Minds

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

How much of a role can asking others for help play in achieving our goals?

It turns out, quite a bit. In fact, research shows that we're more likely to achieve success if we make asking for help a part of our strategy. Yet, according to Wayne Baker, author of the book, All You Have to Do Is Ask: How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success, most of us rarely do.

There are a number of reasons why. One of the most common is our fear that we'll be seen as incompetent. Another is our assumption that we'll be rejected when we ask. Yet research reveals what tends to happen is the opposite. Wayne explains, "The research shows very clearly that even strangers are very likely to help...so, you start with the assumption that most people will help you if they can, and they want to help you."

In this interview, Wayne describes tools we can use to get better at asking for help. He even shares the story of putting one of these tools to work for a very special ask of his own -- his tenth wedding anniversary. In fact, his ask led to him giving his wife a surprise ring on national television. Wayne explains, "I had it in my pocket, and I asked them for permission to give it to her. And they let me do it, on air. It was amazing...It was just this incredible experience."

Wayne Baker is Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan. He is also faculty director of the Center for Positive Organizations and co-founder and board member of Give and Take. His writing has appeared in publications like, Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, and MIT Sloan Management Review.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds' Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

@DrWayneBaker

https://allyouhavetodoisask.com/

Heather Currier Hunt of IDEO

Center for Positive Organizations

Givitas - Give and Take

Amy Edmondson

Troika Consulting

Reciprocity Ring

Stand-up Meeting: The Definitive Guide

On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B by Steve Kerr

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

Subscribe, so you never miss an episode.

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes, or wherever you subscribe.

Tell a friend or family member about the podcast.

If You Enjoyed This Interview, You Might Also Like:

Andy Molinsky on Overcoming Your Fears

Amy Edmondson on Maximizing Team Performance

Chip Conley on Bringing Wisdom to Work

Other Places to Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

What if knowing how successful people see the world could help us achieve our goals?

When we see people achieving their goals, we may be tempted to give up. We tell ourselves they have advantages we lack, like more time, and maybe even traits we lack, like a better work ethic. While both may be true, what if there's a different reason they succeed, one that has to do with how they see their goals?

That's what Emily Balcetis, Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University and author of the book, Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World, set out to discover. For example, in an innovative study of visualizing goals in order to choose which ones to pursue, she asked women to shop in a different kind of store. She explains that, "On the shelves, they saw paper bags with labels...hours for a work week...[number of] kids...compensation packages...all different facets of life that they had thought about in that survey were now made concrete."

Emily learned that making deliberate and strategic choices about how we visualize our goals can dramatically improve our chance of achieving them. Her findings reveal four visual tactics we can use to do just that.

One of these, "narrow your focus," is something elite runners do. In a study on exercise, Emily taught participants this skill and the results were fascinating. Emily shares that, "People who were taught to narrow their focus of attention...took more steps when they went out for each...walk, they moved faster in the same of time, and they went out more often for walks or runs in the week that followed."

Emily's work has been featured in The Atlantic, Scientific American, NPR, and Forbes. She's received awards from organizations like, the International Society for Self and Identity and the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

Anish Kapoor

Hal Hershfield

Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Pre-Commitment by Dan Ariely

Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

Subscribe, so you never miss an episode.

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes, or wherever you subscribe.

Tell one friend or family member about the podcast.

If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy:

Laura Huang on Finding Your Edge

Wendy Wood on the Science of Habits

John Zeratsky on Creating Time for Work that Matters

Places to Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

Listening improves our relationships, health, and workplaces. So how can we get better at it?

Think about the last time someone listened to you, a time when you felt heard. Those moments matter more than we realize. In fact, research shows that, over time, not feeling heard has a negative impact on our physical and mental well-being.

Curious how many people have someone in their lives who listens to them, Kate Murphy, author of the book, You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters, decided to ask. What she found surprised her: "Well, I asked hundreds of people on five continents...who listens to you?...and there was almost always, without exception, a pause, a hesitation. They had to really think about it. And many times, they didn't have anyone."

In this interview, Kate shares why most of us are poor listeners and the negative impact this can have on our relationships, our careers, and our health. One simple tip she provides is to rethink our questions. She explains, "What do you do for a living?...What part of town do you live in? What school did you go to?...[T]hose...questions...aren't really designed to help you get to know the other person. You're trying to rank them in the social hierarchy." As a result, she contends, "the other person, they shift into the mode of their script and their resume...and...that is a soul-sucking conversation."

Kate Murphy is a Texas-based journalist who has written for publications like, The New York Times, The Economist, Texas Monthly, and many more.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

Barry McManus

The Power of Human by Adam Waytz

Closeness communication bias

Negative capability

Naomi Henderson

3 Ways to Support the Podcast

Subscribe, so you never miss an episode.

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you subscribe.

Tell a friend or family member.

If You Liked This Interview, You Might Also Enjoy

Jennifer Eberhardt on the Impact of Hidden Racial Bias

Hal Gregersen on Why Questions are the Answer

Mahzarin Banaji on the Hidden Biases of Good People

Dacher Keltner on the Power Paradox

Some Places to find Curious Minds

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

What actions would you take if you knew how important friendships were for your health?

Most of us recognize that friendships play an important role in our lives. Yet few of us realize how crucial they are for our health and well-being. 

In this interview, Lydia Denworth, author of the book, Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond, shares fascinating research on the science of friendship. She argues that, "Friendship is as important as diet and exercise for both our psychological and physical health."

In our conversation, Lydia explains ways of assessing whether our friendships are healthy. She also describes the neuroscience of friendship. For example, she discusses a remarkable study where researchers looked at participants' brain patterns while watching snippets of different videos. Their analysis yielded a surprising finding, as Lydia explains, "Just by looking at the brain processing, they could predict who was friends with who."

Lydia Denworth is a contributing editor for Scientific American, writes the Brain Waves blog for Psychology Today, and is the author of two previous books, Toxic Truth and I Can Hear You Whisper. Her work has appeared in publications that include, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Host and Producer

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here. 

Episode Links:

John Bowlby and Robert Hinde

Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey

The Social Brain

Lisa Berkman

Framingham Heart Study and Alameda County Study

James House

John T. Cacioppo and Steve Cole

Social Neuroscience

Evolutionary Mechanisms for Loneliness

Popular by Mitch Prinstein

Amboseli Baboon Research Project and Jeanne Altmann and Susan Alberts

The Amazing Monkey Island in Puerto Rico - Cayo Santiago

Your Brain Reveals Who Your Friends Are

What Makes a Good Life TED Talk with Robert Waldinger and Arlie Bock

If You Liked This Episode You Might Also Enjoy:

Episode 150: Marc Brackett on Permission to Feel

Episode 148: Adam Waytz on the Power of Human

Episode 90: Dan Heath on Creating Moments that Matter

Episode 84: Mitch Prinstein on How Popularity Shapes Our Lives

3 Ways to Support the Podcast:

Subscribe

Tell a friend or family member about the podcast or an interview you enjoyed

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you subscribe

Where You Can Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

As we increasingly equate human worth with productivity, what does it mean to do nothing?

That's the question Jenny Odell explores in her book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. In it, she deftly draws on the work of artists, laborers, and writers, past and present, to discuss how others have grappled with this question.

In attempting to clarify what she means by doing nothing, Jenny asks, "What's the difference between being allowed to be open...observant...reflective versus...constantly express[ing]...one's rage and anger...what if there's a part of you that deserves to remain unspoken, unarticulated in the moment?"

In this conversation, Jenny offers ways to resist the attention economy, but she's careful to avoid easy answers. Though she acknowledges how privilege gives some of us more options to resist than others, she emphasizes how all of us, privileged or not, operate within this productivity-obsessed system.

The fallout from our always-on culture is often exhaustion and anxiety, both of which Jenny sees in her students. She explains, "I can tell my students, 'Oh, just get better at time management.' That might help in some ways, but it's not going to help the...problem of this culture of productivity that was never humane to begin with."

Jenny Odell is an artist, writer, and educator who teaches at Stanford University. She has been an artist-in-residence at the San Francisco dump, Facebook, the Internet Archive, and the San Francisco Planning Department, and she has exhibited her art all over the world.

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

Subscribe so you'll never miss an episode

Rate and review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you subscribe

Recommend the podcast to a friend or family member

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

Eyeo Festival 2017 - Jenny Odell

Gordon Hempton

Radical Technologies by Adam Greenfield

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

Getting Back Together by Robert Houriet

Walden Two by B. F. Skinner

Thomas Merton

Pilvi Takala - The Trainee

Tehching Hsieh

Diogenes

Bartleby, the Scrivener

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

1934 West Coast Longshoreman's Strike

Laborfest

David Hockney

4'33" by John Cage

Peter Stephen Berg, bioregionalist

Rebecca Solnit

Janet Delaney, photographer

iNaturalist app

If You Liked This Interview, You Might Also Enjoy:

Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism

Emily Esfahani Smith on Creating a Meaningful Life

Tim Wu on Reclaiming Our Attention

Matthew Crawford on Individuality in an Age of Distraction

Other Places to Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

What happens when you actively shape how you're seen, rather than leaving it to chance?

At some point, many of us have felt overlooked, underestimated, or even ignored in our work. We may have responded by putting our heads down and working that much harder, in the hope that someone would finally recognize our talents and skills.

Yet working harder can leave us feeling frustrated, especially when our efforts fail to change other people's perceptions. Harvard Business School Professor Laura Huang explains, "A lot of times, we think our hard work is going to speak for itself, but often we find that it doesn't. Even when we've proven ourselves and shown the ability to...provide value...we continue to have to guide the perceptions of others."

Laura is author of the book, Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage. In this interview, she explains why we need to shape how others see us. She asserts, "People are perceiving and making attributions...all the time. If you realize...somebody's making an incorrect attribution about you, changing that...is...difficult. It's more difficult than if you...direct [it] from the get go."

Laura has been named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40. Her work has been featured in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Nature.

Episode Links

@LauraHuangLA

When Its Okay to Trust Your Gut on a Big Decision

Dave Dahl of Dave's Killer Bread

Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You by Heidi Grant

If you Liked This Episode, You Might Also Enjoy:

Brian Gunia on a Fresh Approach to Negotiation

Rob Walker on the Art of Noticing

Heidi Grant on the Science of Asking for Help

Dan McGinn Performing Under Pressure

Andy Molinsky on Overcoming Your Fears

Other Places to Find the Show

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

Host and Producer

You can learn more about Curious Minds' Host, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating

Tell a friend or family member about the podcast

If you haven't already, please subscribe

What happens when you teach an AI to write knock-knock jokes, recipes, and pick-up lines?

It's a rare week that goes by without someone talking about the power, and the perils, of artificial intelligence. But if you're not an expert in machine learning, how do you separate fact from fiction? That's where Janelle Shane's expertise comes in.

Janelle is the author of the book, You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place. As she describes how an AI learns, she reveals the gap between what researchers strive to do and what's currently possible. Janelle explains, "The AI in science fiction is almost exclusively this kind of human level, general AI, that's really smart, at least as smart as a human, and then the stuff we have in the real world is a lot simpler."

Janelle runs amusing AI experiments, in order to learn how machine learning works and where its limits begin. She shares stories of what happened when she trained AIs to tell knock-knock jokes, invent new recipes, and write pick-up lines. Along the way, she describes the ups and the downs of working with AIs to solve problems: "The pro is you might get an answer that you didn't expect. The con is also that you might get an answer that you didn't expect."

Janelle's work has appeared in publications like The New York Times, Slate, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many more. In addition, she keeps readers up to date on recent projects and AI hilarity on her website, aiweirdness.com.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

aiweirdness.com

Erik Goodman

Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind by Susan Schneider

An AI Expert Explains Why There's Always a Giraffe in Artificial Intelligence

GPT-2

An Artificial Intelligence Predicts the Future

On the Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang

If You Enjoyed this Episode, You Might Also Like:

Kartik Hosanagar on How Algorithms Shape Our Lives

Susan Schneider on the Future of Your Mind

Adam Waytz on the Power of Human

Kat Holmes on the Power of Inclusive Design

Caroline Criado Perez on Invisible Women

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, there are three simple ways you can support our work. First, subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. Second, tell a friend or family member. You'll always have someone to talk to about the interview. Third, rate and review the podcast wherever you subscribe. You'll be helping listeners find their next podcast.

Where You Can Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

What if our success was less about channeling willpower and more about building sustainable habits?

Too often, when we think about goals we've failed to achieve, we blame it on a lack of willpower. Yet research has shown when we rely primarily on willpower, we're bound to fail. Willpower takes energy, and it's when our energy stores are at their lowest that we need it the most. That's when we default to our old habits, the ones we most want to change. They require a lot less energy because they've become automatic. 

If that's the case, what can we do?

Wendy Wood, author of the book, Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes that Stick, can help. Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, she's studied the science of habits for decades. 

To begin, Wendy argues we need to give ourselves the time we need to develop new habits. We need time for our habits to become unconscious. She explains that, "People who have high levels of self-control, they don't report being distracted by temptations. They don't even see the temptations anymore because they are on autopilot."

Drawing on decades of research, Wendy shares concrete ways we can form new habits. One of these involves environment, especially proximity. For example, researchers found that people who drove around three miles to the gym went five times as often as those who traveled five miles. Wendy shares, "It's not like the people who went five times a month were necessarily more motivated. The big difference here is the distance they had to travel. So making it easy for you to repeat a behavior seems to be key."

Wendy has written for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Time magazine, and on NPR.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

@ProfWendyWood

http://goodhabitsbadhabits.org/

Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey

If You Like This Episode, You Might Also Enjoy:

James Clear on Making and Breaking Habits

Chris Bailey on Overcoming Distraction

John Zeratsky on Creating Time for Things that Matter

Laura Vanderkam on Getting More Done

Morten Hansen on Working Smarter

Sean Young on the Science of Changing Your Life

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, there are three simple ways you can support our work. First, subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. Second, tell a friend or family member. You'll always have someone to talk to about the interview. Third, rate and review the podcast wherever you subscribe. You'll be helping listeners find their next podcast.

Where You Can Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast

We all have trouble changing our habits, but the problem isn't us. It's our systems.

Whether we want to adopt good habits or avoid bad ones, we need to think beyond willpower or setting bigger goals. According to James Clear, author of the book, Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, we need to design a system of small, repeatable habits. James challenges us to ask, "How can we make...small changes...little one percent improvements...and in the process of integrating them...into a larger system, end up making some really remarkable progress?"

In this interview, James shares findings from the latest research, in order to teach us how to design simple systems that support game-changing habits. In particular, he explains how we can leverage our environments and even our addictive tendencies to our advantage. And he helps us see how a commitment to daily habit change, no matter how small, can lead to a new identity: "Every action you take is like a vote for the person you want to become...doing one pushup or writing one sentence or reading one page...cast[s] a vote for being that kind of person, for reinforcing that identity."

James is an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and on CBS This Morning.

The Host

You can learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer and Editor, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Episode Links

@JamesClear

Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals This Year

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Hooked by Nir Eyal

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

Point and Call video

Habit Scorecard

How to Improve Your Health and Productivity Without Thinking

Stick with It by Sean Young

The Mistake Smart People Make: Being in Motion vs Taking Action

Simple Ways to Support the Podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, there are three simple ways you can support our work. First, subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. Second, tell a friend or family member. You'll always have someone to talk to about the interview. Third, rate and review the podcast wherever you subscribe. You'll be helping listeners find their next podcast.

Where You Can Find Curious Minds:

Spotify

iTunes

Tunein

Stitcher

Google Play

Overcast