What makes a company extraordinary? In this episode, Anne and Frances study Zappos, the online shoe retailer that shaped the early days of e-commerce and even outperformed Amazon by delighting everyone in its ecosystem, from customers to employees to suppliers. They discuss how the company bet on exceptional service rather than traditional marketing, built a deliberately distinctive workplace culture, and the steps founder Tony Hsieh took to put happiness at the center of his business model.

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In this Quick Fixes episode, Anne and Frances work to solve three callers’ tricky work problems in under 30 minutes. One listener struggles to collaborate with a difficult colleague, the next asks a follow-up question about a previous episode “How to get good at being bad,” and a final caller wants to empower her team while keeping important issues and decisions on track. 

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With a new year comes new goals and new hopes and dreams. This season, Anne and Frances are introducing a new segment called Toolkit: a practical guide to ideas, tools, and frameworks that can help you reach your goals at work and beyond. In this episode, they tackle the important first step of setting those (ambitious) goals, and break down the tried-and-true Harada Method into a few easy steps. They take a closer look at Shohei Ohtani, a baseball player who put this method into wildly successful practice, and discuss how they set goals in their own lives and in their relationship.

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Next week we're launching a new season of Fixable, so today we're sharing an episode from the archive.

Are you feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, or burned out at work? In this special Unsolicited Advice episode, Anne and Frances are getting ready for summer by tackling the importance of rest and the power of intention. They offer unexpected tips and tricks for recovering from constant stress, owning what you need to feel alive and engaged, and creating an experience of work that unleashes your ambition.

This episode originally aired on June 23, 2025.

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Edith Zimmerman is a sketchbook cartoonist and writer of the Substack newsletter, Drawing Links. In this episode, she joins Chris to talk about honesty and self-discovery. From sharing her artwork to discussing her sobriety journey to falling in love with running, Edith and Chris explore how creativity and pursuing new activities can help you overcome personal challenges.

This episode is part of the How to Be a Better Human Bonus Videos series. You can find the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel.

Watch

Edith draw and go running with Chris: https://youtu.be/1jWA3mE5o9Y

Edith and Chris' interview: https://youtu.be/U_tOmuja0w8

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Timm Chiusano was having one of the worst days of his career when he found himself inexplicably fascinated by a mundane part of the world on his walk home. That moment sparked a life-changing realization: he was addicted to appreciation, and it was actually his superpower. He shares a disarmingly simple practice that will make you happier, more present and better equipped to navigate your most challenging days.

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Sarah Jaffe is the author of Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keep Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. She and Chris discuss the emotional toll of modern work culture and the importance of community. They also dive into Sarah’s newest book, From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire, and explore the idea that between pandemics, climate change, and economic inequality, many of us are feeling a huge (and often unacknowledged sense of grief. Sarah explains the concept of “disenfranchised grief” and how collective mourning can invite meaningful social connections.

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As a business journalist, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes for the New York Times DealBook, which he founded, and co-anchors Squawk Box on CNBC. In this episode, Adam and Andrew riff on what makes a great conversation and compare notes on their best and worst interviews—including when Elon Musk told Bob Iger to f*** off. They also investigate what Andrew has learned about the psychology of powerful people and explore surprising insights from his new book, 1929, on the infamous stock market crash.

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Doing the best at your job isn't just about working harder — it’s also about connecting better, says psychologist Alyssa Birnbaum. She shares practical, research-backed tips for strengthening relationships with your coworkers (whether you’re together in person or working remotely) in order to boost engagement, fight burnout and make work better for everyone.

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Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and co-creator of Freakonomics—the cultural phenomenon that, over the past 20 years, has grown into a global franchise, changing how millions think, revealing the hidden side of everything, and challenging us to question what we know.

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