Podcasts about next big idea club

What does it actually take to get better—and keep getting better—once talent has taken you as far as it can? Today, we're exploring two books about the disciplined, sometimes uncomfortable work of growth: Ryan Hawk's The Price of Becoming, which argues that lasting excellence is built through commitment, consistency, and choosing hard things on purpose; and Ric Bucher's Coachable, which looks at elite athletes to show why the best performers never stop adapting.

What does it take to launch something people actually love—and then keep it lovable as it grows? Today, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, shares lessons from Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love!, a practical, playful guide to turning ideas into products that work. Then Wharton's Annie Wilson and Emory's Ryan Hamilton explain The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things, and why success can create its own strange set of problems.

What if some problems aren't meant to be solved head-on—and others should've been prevented long before they became emergencies? Berthold Gunster, author of Flip Thinking: The Life-Changing Art of Turning Problems into Opportunities, and Dan Heath, author of Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, offer two smart ways to rethink the messes we usually meet too late. Together, they make a pretty compelling case for changing not just how we solve problems, but how we see them.

What happens when ordinary people decide not to look away? In this episode, Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer's On Courage and Elie Honig's Untouchable explore two sides of the same question: how power holds, and how it's challenged. Angwin and Fields-Meyer show how dissent begins with a gut check and grows through community, while Honig reveals how wealth, fame, and political clout can bend the justice system out of shape. Put together, these books make a sharp, timely case that courage isn't just personal virtue—it's a public necessity.

What do you do after things fall apart—and what do you do in the split second before you make the same choice again? In this episode, Steve Kamb's How to Try Again and Jonathan Rhodes and Joanna Grover's The Choice Point offer a practical guide to getting unstuck. Kamb shows why failure doesn't send us back to square one, while Rhodes and Grover explain how the small decision points in everyday life can move us closer to the future we actually want. Together, these books make a reassuring case for self-compassion, clearer choices, and beginning again—on purpose.

As AI tutors our children and algorithms reshape classrooms, two urgent questions are emerging: What does human connection have to do with raising a child—and how do we harness these new tools without letting them take over? Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and social scientist at the University of Chicago, makes a powerful case in Human Raised that no technology can replace the relationships that wire a developing brain. And Salman Khan—founder of Khan Academy and one of Time's 100 Most Influential People—offers an optimistic road map in Brave New Words (2024) for how AI, used wisely, can personalize and democratize learning like never before. Two essential perspectives on the biggest shift in childhood and education of our time.

For years, cardiologist Eric Topol hunted for the rarest people in America: those over 80 who had never been sick. When he finally found 1,400 of them, he made a shocking discovery. It wasn't their genes. These "super agers" were often the last ones standing in families where everyone else died decades earlier. So what separates people who live into their 80s or 90s feeling great from those who battle chronic disease? In his new book, Super Agers, Eric reveals what the science actually shows, shares practical advice you can use at any age, and takes on the bro scientists selling false promises along the way. This episode first aired in July 2025.

Sex is one of the most fundamental forces in nature — and one of the most misunderstood. Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, biologist Lixing Sun upends everything we thought we knew about why sex exists in On the Origin of Sex: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction. Then historian Rebecca Davis takes us on a sweeping tour of America's surprisingly varied erotic past in Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America, revealing that the country has always been far more complex — and far less sexually repressed — than the myths suggest.

The lone-genius myth is overdue for retirement. In No One Is Self-Made, entrepreneur and community builder Lakeysha Hallmon argues that true success is never a solo act — it's built on relationships, reciprocity, and the village you cultivate around you. And in Professional Troublemaker, bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones makes the case that the most powerful thing you can do — for yourself and for others — is to stop playing it safe and start saying the hard things out loud. Two bold voices on what it really takes to build a life and career that matters.

Despite decades of urgency and alarm, progress on climate change has felt frustratingly slow. What if we've been going about it all wrong? Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying "JZ" Zhao think there's a missing ingredient in the conversation: joy. In their new book, Leave the Lights On, Liz and JZ draw on psychology, behavioral science, and sustainability research to argue that the most effective climate solutions aren't rooted in guilt, fear, or self-denial. They're rooted in easy choices that also make your life better. Today on the show: why doom-and-gloom messaging backfires, what bacon dipped in maple syrup has to do with saving the planet, how buying more underwear might just protect our species, and why the choices that help most are also the ones that make us happier. *** Chapters: (00:00) Introduction  (02:23) Why Climate Fear Backfires (09:24) The Case for Making Meat a Treat (17:44) The BLT Climate Paradox (20:53) The Hidden Climate Cost of Your Bank Account (23:50) Fast Fashion, Slow Happiness (31:10) Why Driving Makes Us Unhappy (39:08) The Best Trips Are Closer Than You Think (45:24) The Science of Social Tipping Points (49:41) The Climate Power of a Single Vote About the Guests:  Elizabeth Dunn is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and one of the world's leading researchers on happiness and well-being. Her work explores how people can use their time, money, and relationships to build more satisfying lives. Jiaying Zhao is a professor of psychology and the founder of the Behavioral Sustainability Lab at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on climate action, behavioral change, and the role of psychology in accelerating the transition to a more sustainable future. ***

In Gerontocracy in America, Yale legal historian Samuel Moyn makes the case that older generations have systematically hoarded wealth and power, leaving younger Americans with fewer opportunities and a shrinking share of the future. On the second half of the episode, historian James Chappel shares ideas from his book Golden Years, tracing how Americans have invented and reinvented what it even means to grow old.

Therapy is everywhere — in our language, our social media feeds, and increasingly, our daily routines. But is all that self-examination actually making us better? In Therapy Nation, therapist and author Jonathan Alpert argues that America's therapy obsession has left us more anxious and divided than ever. And in And How Does That Make You Feel?, therapist Joshua Fletcher pulls back the curtain on what really happens in the therapy room — the good, the awkward, and everything in between. Two honest, provocative takes on the talking cure.

What happens when a society forgets what public health is for? In today's episode, MIT professor Thomas Levenson shares ideas from A Pox on Fools: The True Believers, Grifters, and Cynics Who Convinced Us to Reject Vaccines, a timely history of vaccine skepticism and the fears, myths, and opportunism that helped turn medical caution into a dangerous ideology. Then Anya Kamenetz shares ideas from her 2021 book The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now, asking what the pandemic revealed about children, schools, and the social compact we too often take for granted.

Publisher, scientist, humorist, diplomat — Benjamin Franklin was America's first polymath. Today, with help from Eric Weiner, we revisit Franklin's life, searching for tips about how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. This episode first aired in July 2024.

What does it actually mean to get ahead — and stay sane doing it? On Monday's episode, career coach Emily Durham (a.k.a. Emily the Recruiter, with 3 million+ followers across social media) cuts through the noise with her new book Clock In: No-BS Advice for Getting Ahead in Your Career (Without Losing Your Mind): forget the dream job mythology, make your value visible, and remember your job is what you do — not who you are. Then, Harvard professor and serial entrepreneur Christina Wallace shows us why the old career playbook is broken — and how building a Portfolio Life full of optionality, rest, and identity beyond your title is the smarter path forward. Two straight-shooting takes on work, burnout, and what a fulfilling career actually looks like.

The Fourth of July is tomorrow — which makes today the perfect moment to ask what, exactly, the Founding Fathers actually built, and whether it's holding up. Law professor Jonathan Turley argues the revolution they launched is still very much unfinished — and under pressure — in Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. Then, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson drills into the single most consequential sentence in American history in ⁠The Greatest Sentence Ever Written⁠, unpacking how a committee of brilliant, fractious men forged the words that still define us. Two authors, one birthday, and a question we're still answering.

"We're entering our 250th birthday, and we're not quite in the mood for a birthday party. We've been tearing ourselves apart." That's what Walter Isaacson told Rufus when they sat down last year. But, he says, it doesn't have to be that way. "Let's use this birthday party as a chance to try to heal some of the divides." Walter's latest book is The Greatest Sentence Ever Written. That sentence? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yes, it's eloquent, but more than that, it gave the United States a mission statement, one that we are still striving — fitfully, imperfectly — to meet. With America's 250th birthday just a few days away, we think it's the perfect time to revisit this conversation with Walter about how that sentence came to be written, what it meant to the founders, and why it still matters today.

With America's 250th birthday just days away, two books ask the same urgent question from very different angles: what does it mean to be American—and are we living up to our own ideals? In All We Say, former Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes traces the battle for American identity through fifteen defining speeches, from Benjamin Franklin to Donald Trump. And in The Flag Was Still There, M. Todd Bennett and David McKean revisit the state of the union every fifty years, finding a through line of resilience even in our most fractured moments.

We've been told for decades to slather on sunscreen and stay in the shade. But what if the real health risk is avoiding the sun? Rowan Jacobsen, award-winning science writer, spent nine years diving into the research — and what he found will surprise you. In In Defense of Sunlight, he reveals that people who get regular sun exposure have lower rates of heart disease, many cancers, diabetes, and dementia — conditions that kill hundreds of times more people than skin cancer. Plus, endocrinologist Dr. Saira Hameed joins us to share big ideas from her new book Signals, exploring the body's hidden chemical messaging system ⁠The takeaway from both books: your body knows what it needs — are you listening?

Margie Lachman is a psychology professor at Brandeis University where she conducts research on adult development and aging. She is an investigator on the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, in which they have followed thousands of adults for over 30 years to understand the variety of pathways to health and well-being in midlife and beyond. In the new book, Primetime: A New Vision for Midlife⁠, she agues that midlife is not a period of inevitable decline but a crucial opportunity to shape healthier, more fulfilling aging through positive attitudes, strong relationships, and investments in physical and mental well-being. In the second half of the show, entrepreneur Jane Marie Chen shares her own experience of midlife transformation. In the memoir Like a Wave We Break, she tells the story of achievement, burnout, trauma, and the hard-won discovery that we are more than what we produce.

It turns out fatherhood isn't just a role — it's a biological transformation. Darby Saxbe, an award-winning psychologist at USC, draws on decades of research in Dad Brain to show how the fathering brain literally rewires itself through time and practice. Then, in the second half of the show, Emory University professor of Anthropology James Rilling traces the evolutionary story in Father Nature — how human males uniquely developed the capacity for deep parental involvement.

What happens when screens stop being something we watch…and become a place we live? Today, The Atlantic writer Megan Garber unpacks the strange new social reality she explores in Screen People: How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency—where everyone's performing, politics feels like plot, and “main character energy” starts to warp how we treat real human beings. Then we connect it to the next generation, with Technology's Child: Digital Media's Role in the Ages and Stages of Growing Up by Katie Davis, a guide to how kids experience tech differently at each developmental stage—and what “good enough” digital parenting actually looks like.

Most of us know we should reach out more — call the friend, chat with the stranger, strike up the conversation. And yet we hold back. Why? Behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley has spent decades studying this gap between what we know and what we do, and his findings are both surprising and encouraging: connecting with others almost always goes better than we expect — and the payoff for our happiness and health is enormous. His book is A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection. And in the second half of the show, physical therapist Dr. Milica McDowell and chiropractor Dr. Courtney Conley join us with big ideas from Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity―One Step at a Time.

Whether you're in a face-to-face conversation or firing off a Slack message, most of what you communicate has nothing to do with the words you choose. Today we're unpacking the hidden language beneath our language — from physical signals to digital cues — with two authors who've spent their careers decoding how humans really connect. Joe Navarro is a former FBI counterintelligence agent turned world-renowned body language expert, and his new book Mastering Connections reveals how reading nonverbal signals can unlock deeper, more lasting relationships. And Erica Dhawan, leadership expert and author of Digital Body Language, shows how the same principles apply in our inboxes — where a single punctuation mark can make or break trust. Two books, one big idea: genuine connection is a skill you can learn.

If you've ever replayed a conversation in the shower—or staged an entire debate in your head on the way to the grocery store—you already know the brain can be a noisy place. Today, we're learning how self-talk shapes what you feel, what you do next, and whether you get stuck in a loop. Writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa unpacks why rumination is so sticky—and how to interrupt it—in Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist. And in the second half of the show, psychologist Ethan Kross joins us to share the big ideas from ⁠Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It⁠.

Most of us swear we have no free time. But the week is 168 hours long. Subtract a 40-hour job and eight hours of sleep a night, and you're left with 72 hours. So where do they go? Today, Laura Vanderkam, author of the new book Big Time, shares her system for reclaiming her free time, including her method for knocking out "someday" projects in small daily bites.

What if the reason your team is struggling has nothing to do with the people on it? Psychologist and researcher Ron Friedman says exceptional teams aren't born — they're engineered. In Superteams, he breaks down the counterintuitive habits of high-performers: fewer meetings, more peer accountability, and leaders who actually want you to fail. Then, in the second half of the episode, journalist Jennifer Moss shares ideas from her 2025 book Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants.

Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, we're rethinking two defaults we barely notice: the stories we tell, and the way we solve problems. Writer and teacher Henry Lien challenges the Western “three-act” template in Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling, showing how different structures—four-act twists, circular narratives, and more—change what feels meaningful and true. Then we turn from narrative to everyday design with engineer and design researcher Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, on why we so often add… when removing is frequently the simpler, smarter move.

GPAs. Citations. Step counts. Likes. We love a good metric, don't we? It tells you exactly where you stand, no arguing. Mention a 4.0 to a high schooler and they'll know exactly what you mean. Tell a fellow Fitbit-wearer you just hit 10,000 and they'll nod approvingly. But that clarity has a price. To make a metric that clean, that portable, you have to sand off all the nuance, all the context, everything that made the thing worth measuring in the first place. And philosopher C. Thi Nguyen thinks that's quietly rewiring us. In his book The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game, he argues the metrics we chase have stopped measuring our values and started setting them.

What happens when you let AI run your life—your work, your parenting, even your health? NBC News chief tech analyst Joanna Stern did exactly that for a year, and she's here with big ideas from I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything about how to use these tools without letting them use you. Then we widen the lens: Steven Kotler and Peter H. Diamandis argue that we're entering an age of godlike technological power—and that the real challenge is keeping wisdom, discernment, and cooperation in the driver's seat—in We Are as Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance.

What if “getting older” didn't have to mean managing decline? Today, Michael Clinton explores the new landscape of modern longevity—from culture shifts to cutting-edge science—in Longevity Nation: The People, Ideas, and Trends Changing the Second Half of Our Lives. Then we get practical with health and longevity practitioner Jason Prall, who lays out a grounded, do-this-now roadmap in Beyond Longevity: A Plan for Healing Faster, Feeling Better, and Thriving at Any Age. Two complementary takes on the same question: how do you add years and make those years feel worth living?

What if the real secret to thriving isn't pushing harder—it's learning when to push, when to ease off, and when to recover? Today, science writer Elizabeth Svoboda shares big ideas from The Art of Pacing: A Guide to Balancing Short-Term Demands with Long-Term Thriving, a practical antidote to the “all gas, no brakes” culture of modern work and life. Then we hear some big ideas from Dorie Clark's The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, a reminder that the best moves often look unimpressive in the moment—until they quietly compound.

The World Cup kicked off over the weekend, and so far the mood is meh. Fans are fuming over sell-your-kidney ticket prices, frightened by reports that ICE may target matches, tailgates, and sports bars, and generally feeling down on this quadrennial celebration. We wanted to know: Is there any joy left in this thing? So we called up Simon Kuper. He's a columnist at the Financial Times, "one of the best sportswriters in the English language today" (The New Yorker), and author of the Next Big Idea Club must-read World Cup Fever. He's also attended every World Cup since 1990. Simon tells us how the tournament bridges political divides, why suicides decline during the World Cup, whether “sportswashing” really works, and which storylines to follow, no matter if you're a die-hard footy fan or a first-time viewer.

What if the gap between what you want and what you get comes down to how you communicate? Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, we're exploring the art and science of human persuasion. MIT and Harvard Law negotiation experts John Richardson and Attia Qureshi bring us practical advice from their new book ⁠Never Settle: Persuasion and Negotiation Skills to Get What You Want⁠. Then, Sally Susman — Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer and one of Forbes' World's Most Influential CMOs — shares strategies from her 2023 book Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World. Then, Whether you're trying to lead, persuade, or just get a better deal, these two have you covered.

We spend so much time optimizing how we live — our habits, our mindset, our routines. But what about where we live? On today's episode, two authors make a powerful case that the spaces around us matter more than we think. Leidy Klotz, author of In a Good Place: How the Spaces Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive, reveals how thoughtful design of our environments can support wellbeing and flourishing. And Stefan Al, author of Dwelling on Earth: The Past and Future of the Places We Call Home, takes us on a sweeping tour of humanity's relationship with home — and what it means for the places we'll build tomorrow.

Nearly half of all Americans believe AI is bad for humanity. Peter Diamandis is not one of them. On his podcast, Moonshots, and in his new book, We Are as Gods, co-written with the inimitable Steven Kotler, he makes the case that artificial intelligence is already ushering in a world of abundance — think radical life extension, 10 billion humanoid robots, and agents that do your job while you're sipping a latte. He knows it may not be all sunshine and hydroponic roses, but he believes our future is incredibly bright. And he's putting his money where his mouth is: XPRIZE, the nonprofit he founded more than 30 years ago to bankroll breakthroughs, just announced it's giving $3.5 million to filmmakers who conjure convincingly optimistic visions of the future. Rufus and Caleb don't have their film treatment ready yet, but they do have plenty of questions for Peter and Steven about flying cars, the future of work, worst-case scenarios, and the new commandments for working with AI.

What does it mean to serve your country after the uniform comes off? Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, two veterans answer that question in very different — and deeply inspiring — ways. Rye Barcott, co-founder of With Honor, profiles ten Americans from both sides of the aisle in Courage Can Save Us, arguing that moral courage and bipartisan service are exactly what this moment demands. And Jake Wood, Marine scout-sniper turned disaster-relief leader, traces his own journey from the battlefield to the nonprofit world in Once a Warrior. Together, they make a powerful case that the mission never really ends — it just changes shape.

What if your DNA isn't a verdict—just a starting point? Today we're digging into the surprisingly flexible biology of health and longevity, from the choices that can reshape how your genes behave to the cellular quirks that make each of us a moving target. In Invincible: Defy Your Genetic Destiny to Live Better, Longer, Florence Comite argues that “genetic destiny” is optional—and lays out practical ways to tilt the odds in your favor. Then Roxanne Khamsi takes us inside our bodies' constant churn in Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health, revealing why variation isn't an exception—it's the system.

Evolution gets pitched as something that happened to us—but what if it's also a tool we can learn from? Today we explore what natural selection is actually optimizing for, and what that “deep logic” can teach us about building better systems, making smarter decisions, and solving real-world problems. We'll draw on Force of Nature: Understanding Evolution's Deepest Logic―and Putting It to Use and A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems—two books that connect evolutionary thinking to the choices we face right now.

What is wealth actually made of—besides the numbers in our accounts? Today, we go digging for the real stuff. Financial writer and comedian Dominic Frisby joins us with big ideas from The Secret History of Gold: Myth, Money, Politics, and Power, tracing how a shiny metal became a global symbol of safety, status, and power. Then The Economist's Mike Bird shares ideas from The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset, on why land has been the quiet engine behind fortunes—and inequality—for centuries.

Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, we're starting with the big-picture question: what does it actually take to move from climate anxiety to climate action? Political sociologist Dana Fisher argues in Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action that the era of “climate shocks” is already here—and that real resilience isn't just personal prep, it's collective action that's organized, local, and sustained. Then tech journalist David Pogue gets intensely practical in How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos, laying out what it looks like to plan for disruptions without spiraling into doomscrolling.

Nicholas Epley is a mind reader. But he doesn't have ESP or practice hypnosis. He's not telepathic or clairvoyant. Sure, you could ask him to read your fortune, but you'd be better off with a Magic 8 Ball. When we say Nick is a mind reader, what we mean is he studies mind reading at the University of Chicago — studies, as he puts it, "how we make inferences about each other's thoughts and beliefs and attitudes, and mostly how we screw that up." Today, he makes small talk — and big talk — with Rufus about his new book, A Little More Social, which draws on the dozens of studies he's run with thousands of participants to show that talking to strangers, cringe as it may feel, can enliven your days, lengthen your life, and maybe even heal our politics. If you enjoyed this episode, check out our conversations with Charles Duhigg, Leslie John, David Brooks, Marc Schulz, Anna Sale, and John Colapinto. The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠, subscribe to our ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠. The best way to support the show is by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. Learn more at ⁠⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠, and use code PODCAST for a super secret discount (spoiler: it's 20% off).

Ever been told you have an accent — or quietly judged someone else's? We all have one, but most of us know surprisingly little about where they come from or why they persist. Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada, argues that our accents aren't errors to be corrected — they're living records of migration, identity, and history. Her new book, Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents, is a fun, smart, and surprising guide to the sounds that define us. And in the second half of the show, she shares some big ideas from her earlier book, Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English.

Rufus Griscom is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and media pioneer who has built and sold multiple companies over the last three decades. From launching Nerve.com during the early days of the internet to building Babble and selling it to Disney, Rufus has experienced the highs and lows of entrepreneurship firsthand. Today, he's the founder of The Next Big Idea Club and host of The Next Big Idea podcast, where he interviews some of the world's most influential thinkers. In this conversation, Rufus shares hard-earned lessons on startups, investing, wealth building, and achieving what he calls "financial independence escape velocity." On this episode we talk about: Lessons learned from building and selling multiple digital media companies Why most successful entrepreneurs fail before they succeed The importance of persistence, timing, and learning from mistakes Rufus's unconventional investing philosophy and focus on technology stocks How financial independence creates the freedom to do meaningful work Top 3 Takeaways Entrepreneurship is often a game of persistence. Most successful founders experience multiple failures and setbacks before building something that truly works. Building wealth isn't just about earning money—it's about investing wisely and allowing compounding to work over long periods of time. The ultimate purpose of financial success is freedom: the ability to spend your time working on projects and causes that genuinely matter to you. Notable Quotes "I think it's more common to not have your first startup work than to have it work." "The greatest luxury is to be able to do the work you care about." "Financial independence escape velocity is the inflection point where the money you've made can grow at a pace that makes it possible to pursue the things you love." Connect with Rufus Griscom: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rufusgriscom Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rufus-griscom-16b1/ https://nextbigideaclub.com/ https://nextbigideaclub.com/podcast https://rufus.substack.com A Word from Our Sponsors: - Are you ready to start your own creatorjourney and make it big? Visitwww.fanvue.com today and launch yourcareer! - To learn more about Mode Mobile and its investor community, go to https://invest.modemobile.com/travismakesmoney -Travis Makes Money is made possible by High Level – the All-In-One Sales & Marketing Platform built for agencies, by an agency.Capture leads, nurture them, and close more deals—all from one powerful platform.Get an extended free trial at gohighlevel.com/travis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple turns 50 this year—which is a good moment to ask how a scrappy computer company became one of the most influential forces in modern life. In Apple: The First 50 Years, David Pogue takes us inside the legends, the near-death moments, and the reinventions that built the Apple we know now. Then we flip to the pressure campaign trying to curb Apple's power: iWar by Tim Higgins follows the escalating battles over the App Store—from Fortnite and Spotify to regulators and rival tech giants—revealing what's really at stake when a platform becomes an empire.

Work today is more intense, more scrutinized, and more chaotic than ever — so how do you stay effective through it all? Melissa Swift, author of Effective, shares research-backed strategies for navigating four forces reshaping modern work. Plus: leadership coach Carol Kauffman (Real-Time Leadership) on finding your winning moves when the stakes are high.

Sibling relationships are often our longest—and sometimes most complicated—connections. In today's episode, we explore what siblings can teach us about identity, belonging, and who we become, drawing on new insights from Catherine Carr's recent book Who's the Favorite? : The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships and the 2023 book How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins by Helena de Bres.

First up, the Atlantic's CEO Nicholas Thompson on hidden potential, aging well, and pushing past the limits we imagine, with ideas from his 2025 book The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports. Then we hear from Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins, whose 2023 book The Right Call examines what the greatest coaches and athletes can teach us about work, leadership, and life. This episode orginally aired on November 26, 2025

We begin with Darcey Steinke, who shares five key insights from her new book, This Is the Door: The Body, Pain, and Faith. And then in the second half of the show, we hear from Anushay Hossain about her 2021 book, The Pain Gap. This episode originally aired on March 11, 2026.

Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and host of "The Most Interesting Thing in AI," joins Rufus and Caleb to explain why the machines may master our minds long before they master our muscles — and what that gap tells us about where AI is headed. Along the way: why human podcasters still beat AI ones, how Nick learned to stop worrying and love open source, and where he'd point an infinite AI budget.