Work advice with psychological depth.
WorkLife with Adam Grant treats work as an emotional, social, and psychological arena, not just a place to get tasks done. Recent conversations move from gut instincts and pressure to authenticity, coaching, company-building, and the relationship patterns people carry into teams.
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WorkLife with Adam Grant examines work as a human system. It is interested in what happens beneath polished job titles, neat career arcs, and public versions of success. Recent episodes point the show toward the places people usually smooth over: quiet doubts, leadership mistakes, conflict repair, emotional triggers, and the trade-offs of building something under pressure. Molly Graham’s season announcement sets a candid tone around the inner life of fast-growing companies. Work is messy. The conversations stay with that mess long enough to make it useful. A discussion with Trisha Pasricha moves from gut feelings to clearer health judgment, questioning popular advice around probiotics and emphasizing sleep, exercise, fiber, and whole foods. With David Beckham, pressure becomes a study in emotion regulation, regret, and leadership after a highly visible mistake. With Brené Brown, the material gets more relational, tracing how a fight over authenticity became a case study in trust and repair. Jessica Campbell’s episode brings the leadership question onto the ice, where high standards, care, celebration, and direct correction all have to coexist. Esther Perel adds a language of high-context and low-context cultures, relational and task-driven strengths, and the cost of polarization. Across these conversations, the show favors frameworks that can be used in real teams. It also leaves space for uncertainty. Advice lands better because it is tied to lived moments: a hard conversation, a public error, a scaling company, a coach deciding how to reach a player. The register is thoughtful, practical, and conversational. It is not a quick-fix productivity feed. It is for people who want to understand why work can feel so personal, and how to act more wisely when it does.
Made for: For managers, founders, team members, and career-minded listeners who want to understand the emotional and relational forces shaping work. It especially suits people who like practical takeaways grounded in conversation and research.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by connecting workplace problems to real moments from sports, health, company-building, conflict, and relationships. It treats better work as a matter of judgment, repair, context, and human behavior rather than simple optimization.
You spend a quarter of your life at work. You should enjoy it! Organizational psychologist Adam Grant takes you inside the minds of some of the world’s most unusual professionals to discover the keys to a better work life. From learning how to love your rivals to harnessing the power of frustration, one thing’s for sure: You’ll never see your job the same way again. Produced in partnership with Transmitter Media.Follow Adam on Instagram @adamgrant, LinkedIn at @adammgrant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Adam Grant turns a Beckham red card into an emotion-regulation lesson your Monday morning can actually use.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear-eyed look at why work needs both task and relational strengths.
The discussion treats a familiar workplace tension as something larger: task-first and relational instincts each do real work, and each turns thin when treated as the whole answer.
A grounded case for awakening community and shared flourishing.
Adam Grant treats flourishing as something people build together, not something one person can hold onto. The piece keeps coming back to community as a living thing: it has to be awakened, not assembled from scratch.
Manoush Zomorodi turns TED Talks into themed, multi-guest explorations of science and society.
David McRaney interviews researchers on cognitive bias, motivated reasoning, and why minds change.
Ira Glass frames weekly theme-driven segments spanning family secrets to Portland's protest conflict.
Shankar Vedantam unpacks the psychology behind relationships, careers, and money through researcher interviews.
Ryan Holiday pairs daily Stoic lessons with long-form guest conversations at his Texas bookstore.
NHPR's Jason Moon investigates the Bear Brook barrel murders and a New Hampshire wrongful-conviction case.
Adam Grant makes a special announcement about his podcast, interspersed with sponsor ads for Capital One, Wise, and Bill.
Molly Graham introduces a new season of WorkLife from TED, exploring the messy, human side of work through honest conversations with leaders.
Adam Grant interviews gastroenterologist Trisha Pasricha about the physiological basis of gut feelings and the brain-gut connection.
David Beckham discusses thriving under pressure and learning from mistakes in a conversation with Adam Grant.
Brené Brown and Adam Grant discuss their enduring disagreements on topics like vulnerability and generosity, exploring how curiosity can bridge differences.
Jessica Campbell’s “Listen, Lift, and Love” framework links psychological safety to higher standards and player performance.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant interviews psychotherapist Esther Perel about how personal relationship histories influence workplace dynamics.
Matt Damon and Gary White discuss their partnership to solve the global water crisis through innovative financing and social entrepreneurship.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant interviews Dan Coyle, author of The Culture Code and his new book Flourish, about what makes communities — from small Vermont towns to Paris neighborhoods to corporate workplaces — genuinely thrive.
Adam Aleksic demystifies Gen Alpha slang, exploring its origins and cultural significance.
Shannon Hale discusses raising a new generation of readers, sharing a personal story about her daughter's views on gender and princesses.
Adam Grant interviews Rahaf Harfoush about why people act like everything is fine during crises and the psychology behind collective denial.