The Greg McKeown Podcast

By Greg McKeown

Society & Culture Business Philosophy Careers

What's The Greg McKeown Podcast about?

Design a life that really matters. I’m your host, Greg McKeown, author of New York Times bestsellers "Effortless" and "Essentialism" and I’m on mission to help you advocate and negotiate your way to remarkable results without burning out. Come with me on this journey every Tuesday and Thursday as we examine the most essential areas of our lives. Learn more about my books and courses at https://GregMcKeown.com.

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200. From Problem Solving t...

06.01.2023

This is part three of a four part solo series on solving the right problem in the life of business and in the business of life. It matters because nothing is more irrelevant or even dangerous as solving the wrong ...

The Greg McKeown Podcast episodes:

06.01.2023 200. From Problem Solving to Problem Finding (Part 3) This is part three of a four part solo series on solving the right problem in the life of business and in the business of life. It matters because nothing is more irrelevant or even dangerous as solving the wrong ...
05.25.2023 199. Finding King Richard III with Philippa Langley (Part 2) Today we have part two of my conversation with Philippa Langley. Philippa describes herself as an ordinary person, and maybe she is, but she has achieved an extraordinary mission. She found, against all possible odds, where King Richard III was ...
05.24.2023 198. From Problem Solving to Problem Finding (Part 2) Have you ever worked to launch a product or a service only to see it go flat in the market? Have you ever developed an initiative internally at work only to see the launch fall completely flat? Have you ever ...
05.18.2023 197. Finding King Richard III with Philippa Langley (Part 1) Have you ever felt an intuitive insight pull you towards a particular direction? Have you ever had an experience that you knew was right even though you didn't yet have evidence to support it? Well, today is part one in ...
05.16.2023 196. From Problem Solving to Problem Finding (Part 1) Have you ever been so busy addressing peripheral issues but have that sinking feeling that the real core of the issue is not being addressed? This is part one of a four-part solo series on that subject, and upcoming guest ...
05.11.2023 195. The Shape of Life with Bruce Feiler (Part 2) Today is part two of my interview with Bruce Feiler. Bruce is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestselling books. He's a deep thinker and he's interviewed thousands of people to try to understand what really leads to ...
05.09.2023 194. Trust (Effortless Work Series) Have you ever felt working with people in the workplace is harder than it needs to be? It's long been thought that it's faster and easier to just do things yourself, but this can be such a false economy. What ...
05.04.2023 193. The Shape of Life with Bruce Feiler (Part 1) Have you ever felt that your life could be more than a simple career? Today I've invited Bruce Feiler to be here. He's the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, and by the end of this episode, you'll ...
05.02.2023 192. Increase Productivity in the Workplace (Effortless Work Series) Have you ever wished that you could accomplish more by doing less at work? This is part three of a four part series on how to apply Effortless thinking to the sometimes exhausting world of work. By the end of ...
04.27.2023 191. Navigating Life's Biggest Decisions with Abby Davisson (Part 2) Are you facing a really big decision in your life right now? Or is someone you know facing an important crossroads? How do you process that? How do you make the best possible decision? Well, this is part two of ...
04.25.2023 190. Make Email Effortless (Effortless Work Series) Welcome part two of a four part series on how to apply Effortless thinking to the world of work. Have you ever felt that email was harder than it needs to be? By the end of this episode, you will ...
04.20.2023 189. Navigating Life's Biggest Decisions with Abby Davisson (Part 1) Have you ever had a decision of consequence to make in your life? Something that really made a difference if you go left versus going right? Should I marry this person? Should I take this job? Should I move to ...
04.18.2023 188. Make Meetings Effortless (Effortless Work Series) Do you dread attending meetings because they seem like a waste of time and energy? Are you tired of spending your days in back-to-back meetings with little time left to focus on your actual work? If so, this episode is ...
04.13.2023 187. Reframing Your Problems with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg (Part 2) We're back here for part two of my interview with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg. He spent years studying the problem of problems and particularly the skill of reframing problems in order to make sure that before we rush into solutions, we are ...
04.11.2023 186. Cambridge Series – Friends Welcome to episode four of four about my adventures at the University of Cambridge. How important are friendships in your life? At the end of this episode, you'll be able to cultivate deeper connections with your friends by creating a ...
04.06.2023 185. Reframing Your Problems with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg (Part 1) How much time, money, and energy do you waste solving the wrong problems? That's a question posed by my guest today. This is part one of a two-part interview with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg. I became aware of his work after reading ...
04.04.2023 184. Cambridge Series – Cycling In my book Effortless, I asked an important question. What could happen in your life if the easy but pointless things became harder and the essential things became easier? This is episode three of four about my adventures at the ...
03.30.2023 183. Utilizing Neurodiversity with Sir Simon Baron-Cohen (Part 2) Today is part two with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. In this episode, we go deeper into the challenges, but also the opportunities of being neurodiverse. Have you have ever struggled with traditional schooling? Have you ever felt that your mind works ...
03.28.2023 182. Cambridge Series – Newton Have you ever felt like you were too busy living to think about life? By the end of this episode, you will be able to create space for continually deep and uninterrupted concentration. This is number two of four solo ...
03.23.2023 181. Utilizing Neurodiversity with Sir Simon Baron-Cohen (Part 1) Have you ever felt that you were neurodiverse in some way? Did you ever struggle with the traditional school system? Did you or someone you know take away from school the worst of all possible learnings, that you or they ...
03.21.2023 180. Cambridge Series – King's College Chapel I've become aware recently that I haven't really shared very much with you about my experience and adventure here at the University of Cambridge, and for the next four solo episodes I'm going to try and put that right. Have ...
03.16.2023 179. Experiential Intelligence with Soren Kaplan Have you ever felt you had more life experience and talent than your job requires or even allows you to use? Today I've invited Soren Kaplan to the show to talk about how you can better tap into that experience ...
03.14.2023 178. Leadership Essentials How are you doing at applying essentialism to your leadership responsibilities? By the end of this episode, you will have specific things you can do right now to be more attentive, more efficient, and more essentialist in your leadership. Join ...
03.09.2023 177. Psychological Safety in Today's Workplace with Dr. Amy Edmondson (Part 2) What is happening to the psychological safety of people at work? Is it going up? Is it going down? What is the primary threat to it today, and is it the same as what we had 20 years ago? Well, ...
03.07.2023 176. Eliminate the Nonessentials (Replay) Welcome to the Greg McKeown podcast. Greg is in Monk Mode this week. Today's episode is a replay of one of his most popular episodes, Eliminate the Nonessentials. Thanks for listening. Join my weekly newsletter at GregMcKeown.com/1mw Learn more about ...
03.02.2023 175. Psychological Safety in Today's Workplace with Dr. Amy Edmondson (Part 1) Do you feel psychologically safer at work now than you did several years ago? It's an interesting question, and today I've invited perhaps the preeminent expert in the world on the subject of psychological safety to discuss that and other ...
02.28.2023 174. Transforming Mental Clutter into Clarity Have you ever felt that your ability to pay attention was in free fall? If you have, you are not alone. By the end of today's episode, you will have a better understanding of why this is happening and one ...
02.23.2023 173. Protecting Your Peak Attention Windows with Dr. Gloria Mark (Part 2) Do you ever feel like there's something in the modern world that fries your brain, that leaves you in red brain, where you're just so pulled in a million directions all the time that it's hard to actually give attention ...
02.22.2023 172. The Most Important Question in Any Language Have you ever had an ongoing disagreement with somebody that was perplexing for you? Today I will share a simple story about misunderstanding, something counterintuitive I have learned from it and some actionable advice. By the end of this episode, ...
02.16.2023 171. Protecting Your Peak Attention Windows with Dr. Gloria Mark (Part 1) Everyone is distracted by technology, and all of us have experienced this sense that our level of distraction is increasing. Even the speed with which we move from website to website, from app to app seems to be increasing in ...
02.14.2023 170. Reduce Your Stress in Two Minutes a Day Have you ever had so much stress and anxiety that you could barely sleep at night? Today I will share a powerful story, something counterintuitive I've learned and some actionable advice. By the end of this episode, you will have ...
02.09.2023 169. How to Fall in Love with the Solution, Not the Problem with Uri Levine (Part 2) Many entrepreneurs fall in love with their products, services, and ideas, but according to my guest today, this is wrong. What Uri Levine argues is that you have to fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Uri Levine ...
02.07.2023 168. Designing a Day that Really Matters What's the most important thing you need to do today? Today I will share a powerful story or two, something counterintuitive I've learned and some highly actionable advice. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to get clear ...
02.02.2023 167. How to Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution with Uri Levine (Part 1) Many entrepreneurs fall in love with their products, services, their ideas, but according to my guest today, this is wrong. What Uri Levine argues is that you have to fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Uri is ...
01.31.2023 166. The Disproportionate Power of Language Have you ever needed to change the results in a situation where there were lots of things you could not change? It has long been thought that to completely transform morale and performance, you have to have the power to ...
01.26.2023 165. Turning Chaos Into Clarity with Alison Jones Have you ever felt like there were just too many tabs open in your mind? Today, I've invited Alison Jones, the author of Exploratory Writing: Everyday Magic for Life and Work. By the end of this episode, you will have ...
01.24.2023 164. The Human Desire to Be Heard Do you crave being heard, to feel someone else really hears you, notices you, sees you, and that what you said matters to them? Today I will share with you an intriguing story, something counterintuitive I'm just on the edge ...
01.19.2023 163. Identifying Your Circle of Competence with Kyle Westaway (Part 2) What would your business or your life look like if you designed it from scratch using essentialist and effortless principles to guide you? It's long been thought that some industries like private equity, medicine and law just take 80 hour ...
01.17.2023 162. The Quiet Person with the Answer Have you ever been to a meeting where a few loud people dominated the meeting, but the quiet people with the answer didn't even get heard? It's long been thought that if you put the right people in the room, ...
01.12.2023 161. Identifying Your Circle of Competencies with Kyle Westaway (Part 1) Have you ever felt that a monotonous life cannot possibly be an essential life? Have you ever found at the same time that sometimes in what appears to be a monotonous experience, you find something deeply meaningful? Today I have ...
01.12.2023 161. Identifying Your Circle of Competence with Kyle Westaway (Part 1) Have you ever felt that a monotonous life cannot possibly be an essential life? Have you ever found at the same time that sometimes in what appears to be a monotonous experience, you find something deeply meaningful? Today I have ...
01.10.2023 160. It's Not Too Late Have you ever had a wake up call where you just suddenly realize you have missed what really mattered? Most of us have learned that we are supposed to live with no regrets, but this, I think, is wrong. What ...
01.05.2023 159. Humans Weren't Designed For This Have you ever set a New Year's resolution to get healthier? It's an annual tradition to sign up for gym memberships and then never to use them. It's so established that the entire gym business model is based upon people ...
01.03.2023 158. One Decision That Makes 1000 It has long been thought that at the beginning of the new year, you should make a long list of everything that you want to achieve, but that, I believe, is false. What we know now is that what's more ...
12.20.2022 157. See Through People's Masks Have you ever noticed that what people say is not the same as what they mean? Today I will share an inspiring story I read this week, something counterintuitive I've Learned, and some actionable advice. By the end of this ...
12.13.2022 156. The Man Who Couldn't Show Weakness Have you ever met a person who just wouldn't show weakness? Today, I will share an intriguing story, something counterintuitive I've learned and some actionable advice. By the end of this episode, you will be able to see how perfectionism ...
12.08.2022 155. Confronting Conflict with Amy Gallo Have you ever suppressed your feelings or honest views at work because you wanted to avoid trouble? Have you ever avoided speaking up with someone at work and instead unloaded onto someone else about it? What if you could find ...
12.06.2022 154. The 85% Rule Have you ever wondered why we can't fix burnout culture with a wellness app? What if doing less was actually more effective than giving it 100%? Today I'm going to share an inspiring story, something counterintuitive I've learned and provide ...
12.01.2022 153. What Great Listeners Actually Do with Jack Zenger (Part 2) Have you ever met a person who had a deeply profound effect upon you? And what was the relationship between that impact and the degree to which they listened and understood you personally and uniquely? Today I have Jack Zenger ...
11.29.2022 152. What Great Listeners Actually Do with Jack Zenger (Part 1) Today I have invited Jack Zenger to the show. Jack has spent, if you can believe it, five decades and then some working as an entrepreneur and also an academician. He's the CEO and co-founder of Zenger Folkman. He was ...

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