Think from KERA

People who run for public office or lead large organizations have to be at least narcissistic enough to believe they are the best person for the job. This hour, we’ll talk about the opposite of narcissism – humility – and the role it plays in leadership with Ashley Merryman. She explores the idea in a recent edition of the Washington Post.

Parents, supervisors and teachers spend much of their days trying to energize those in their care to make the most of their lives. This hour, we’ll talk about strategies for motivating others with Duke professor of psychology and behavioral economics Dan Ariely. He writes about the topic in “Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations” (TED).

Since the Industrial Revolution, humankind hasn’t been a very good steward of the only planet known to support life. This hour, we’ll talk about the scientists, elected officials and philanthropists working to reverse that trend and save the world with TED science curator David Biello, author of “The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth’s Newest Age” (Scribner).

This hour, we’ll talk with, Stephen Breyer, associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court about his career on the bench – and about his book, “The Court and the World.”

This hour, we’ll talk about how history has been shaped by the pursuit of amusement with Steven Johnson, creator of the PBS series “How We Got to Now.” His latest book is called “Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World” (Riverhead Books).

This hour, we’ll talk about building smooth transitions from one administration to the next with G. Edward DeSeve of the Brookings Institute. He writes about the topic in “The Presidential Appointee’s Handbook.”

This hour, we’ll talk with parenting experts Robert and Sarah LeVine about what we can learn from other cultures when it comes to child rearing. They write about their decades of research in “Do Parents Matter? Why Japanese Babies Sleep Soundly, Mexican Siblings Don’t Fight, and American Families Should Just Relax.”

Much of the time, we have little control over events that negatively affect our lives. We do, however, have some say in how we react to our worlds being turned upside down. This hour, we’ll talk about how to think clearly and keep our feelings in check during a crisis with Harvard Medical School psychologist Susan David. She’s the author of “Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life” (Avery).

We all feel more productive when well-rested. So why is our downtime such a low priority? This hour, we’ll talk about the idea of “deliberate rest” – and about strategies to incorporate it into our busy schedules – with Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a visiting scholar at Stanford. He writes about the topic in “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less” (Basic Books).

Two years ago, 276 school girls were kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram. Since then, some have been freed, others escaped and at least six have died. This hour, we’ll talk about how the kidnapping has affected families – and about ongoing efforts to rescue the remaining students – with Helon Habila. He’s the author of “The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria” (Columbia Global Reports).