The Prof G Pod

Scott Galloway: "Trump Is the Chernobyl of Politics"

Trump is the equivalent of political Chernobyl. Name anybody from his first administration with the exception of Ambassador Haley, who I think will be a formidable uh formidable candidate to perhaps on the Republican side, no one survives Trump. Everyone gets political leukemia if they're around him long enough.

Mixed Signals

Vic Jacobi on Building Trust In NBA Circles & The Business Of Knowing Everybody | Mixed Signals

Basketball is just universal. It's been a universal language for so long, you know, and it all started and a lot of people know this about me, you know, I'm big Kobe fan and I just wanted to meet Kobe, right? And I'm here.

Hidden Brain

You Are Not Ordinary

Most of us recognize that we were shaped by the circumstances of our births. But we rarely consider that all the people who matter to us were also shaped by their circumstances. We assume the people in our lives have freely chosen their values, beliefs, and behaviors, when in fact all of these were shaped by their experiences and the brains they happened to be born with.

TED Radio Hour

Addiction, motherhood and Jesus with writer Anne Lamott

My father got sick with a metastasized melanoma in his brain when I was 23, and he was still the center of our family. My brothers and I just adored him. He was like our higher power.

TED

Why AI Will Never Replace a Great Teacher | Matt Wu | TED

Ask any student what has changed their life the most, and they won't tell you about a technology. They'll tell you about a person. A teacher who believed in them before they believed in themselves.

Fresh Air

French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani on feminism & freedom

when I was a teenager, I hated my parents for that. I judged them very harshly because I thought that they were hypocrites. And I thought that they were cowards. And you know, when I was writing the book, my own son is now 15 years old and I put myself in the shoes of my parents. And I thought, yeah, of course, if I was in the same situation, I think I would act the same. My mother was not a coward. She was a mother.

It's Been a Minute

Feeling aggrieved? You're not alone. | It's Been a Minute

I think you know, we see each other. I really expected Taylor Swift to be on the list because I think that a lot of the MSG kind of fairy tale wedding essentially was about that she finally got the happy ending that she's always wanted.

It's Been a Minute

Feeling aggrieved? You're not alone. | It's Been a Minute

I think people just like to fight. Honestly, we love to bicker. We love a little um tension, you know, cuz what are we without it, right?

The Prof G Pod

Why Young Men Choose to Be Alone

We are disconnecting ourselves from happiness when we disconnect ourselves from other people. I think we're locking ourselves out of real joy in a very finite life.

Mixed Signals

The Looming Public Health Crisis Everyone Is Ignoring, with Dr. Vivek Murthy | Mixed Signals

Social media for many people has become antisocial media. It began perhaps with the intent to build community but instead ended up replacing in-person connections with online connections leading people to focus less on the quality of their relationships and more the quantity of their connections.

Book of the Day

In 'The Great Wherever' and 'Country People,' city dwellers try out rural life

There's no singular truest version of any family story. Every version comes with misremembering and projections and savory flourishes.

It's Been A Minute

The high cost of an embarrassing husband | It's Been A Minute

A good nepo husband knows to like let his wife be a star, but so many men struggle with that and they like want a piece of the pie and then they they drown the whole pie.

Fresh Air

Harriet Clark spent 37 years visiting her mom in prison

for most of my life, you know, my mother had to make prison a place I wanted to come to. You know, our visits had to be enjoyable. And so in that sense, too, it was very rare that we were sitting there getting into the nitty gritty of her crime, especially when I was young. You know, fundamentally, she was trying to play with me and have fun with me and let me feel close to her.

Book of the Day

'The Shampoo Effect,' 'The Revelation of Dionne Daphne' are marked by big surprises

I think that we've all come to understand that a baby is a bomb that goes off in the middle of a marriage, but what happens when there's no marriage? It's a bomb that goes off in a friend group, and it catches everybody in the shrapnel.

Pivot

Trump Cuts CDC Funding. Diarrhea Outbreak Explodes. Scott Galloway: “Connect the Dots” | Pivot

Young men are falling behind because they aren't low on testosterone. They're falling behind because they're low on purpose, education, work, and relationships.

Office Hours

Is an MBA Still Worth the Debt? Scott Galloway Breaks Down the Numbers | Office Hours

You're never going to have as dense an opportunity or human capital pool as the one you're going to have in graduate school. smart, talented young people who are all looking to better themselves.

Office Hours

"His Money Is Our Money, My Money Is Mine" — Scott Galloway Responds | Office Hours

The healthiest relationships I find are when men and women have alignment around their approach to money. Who is responsible for bringing it in? What is their approach to spending?

Prof G Pod – Office Hours

"His Money Is Our Money, My Money Is Mine" — Scott Galloway Responds | Office Hours

The data would show that when men were making all the money was that it was it was our money. That's interesting. And now that women are making as much money or more than men, then there's a separation which I find.

It's Been a Minute

Love vs. Reality. Looking at Love Island | It's Been a Minute

Love Island gives us an opportunity to have some really healthy conversations about sex and dating and I really love that aspect of it. What I haven't appreciated this season and especially last season um because I think it all stems from that. It's starting to feel like there's this default to receive things or receive people in bad faith.

Fresh Air

Writer Rachel Aviv explores the complexity of the mother-daughter bond

I wrote some of these stories feeling existentially like a daughter, and now I have returned to them with a different identification. It was as if I had failed to see the drama on the mother's side, too, her particular longings and humiliations and needs.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

Celebrating the 4th with nothing but bangers!

A guy came up to the mic right over there and he said, 'My wife left me because she said I wasn't you.' ... But the gentleman stopped and then he said, 'And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.' And he literally dropped the mic and I thought that kind of covers the whole gamut.

Fresh Air

Best Of: Tennis stars Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova / American Culture Wars

We have such a level of trust that we know whatever we say to each other, it stays there. We know where to give each other the best advice. We know how to. And there is no ulterior motive for no, you know, no playing games. And that's how we like it.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

Celebrating the 4th with nothing but bangers!

A guy came up to the mic right over there and he said, 'My wife left me because she said I wasn't you.' And he literally dropped the mic and I thought that kind of covers the whole gamut.

Fresh Air

Best Of: Tennis stars Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova / American Culture Wars

We have such a level of trust that we know whatever we say to each other, it stays there. We know where to give each other the best advice. We know how to and there's no ulterior motive for no, you know, no playing games. And that's how we like it because I think we both have had so many people say, oh, you're great, this and that, they don't, you know, they don't give you the real story, but we've always been honest with each other on that front.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most people think that small talk is a waste of time, a polite but ultimately hollow ritual. But when researchers have studied what happens when strangers actually talk to each other, they've found something surprising: people consistently underestimate how much they will enjoy talking with others, and how much others will enjoy talking with them.

Book of the Day

In 'Names Have Been Changed,' a criminal on the run confesses her story on a podcast

The more time passes, the more she really just wants someone to kind of acknowledge her real name. I think in one of the first few things she tells us in the book is, "I just wish someone would call me by my real name." It's been about 10 years that she's been on the run. And so, it's almost like she's lost sight of herself in that process of hurtling forward, you know, around the globe.

It's Been a Minute

The safety and power of knowing your neighbors

Neighborliness today means giving people their space. And that's a big change in America.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of deep conversations as something that requires a certain kind of person — an extrovert, perhaps, or someone who is especially empathetic. But research finds that nearly all of us are capable of having meaningful exchanges, and that we consistently underestimate how much strangers want to connect with us.

The Prof G Pod

Young People Are Giving Up on Adulthood | John Burn-Murdoch

In many countries now, a couple that moves in together is more likely to break up than to have a kid. And that's never been true until now. So I still think what we almost want to do is make having a girlfriend or boyfriend high status.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think about connection in terms of talking — sharing our experiences, finding common ground, opening up to one another. But researchers have found that one of the most powerful sources of connection isn't talking at all. It's doing things together, side by side, in silence.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of emotional support as something we offer through words — by listening carefully, saying the right things, or sharing a person's burden. But researcher Michael Poulin has found that giving help to others, not receiving it, is what buffers people against the harmful effects of stress. In study after study, he found that people who helped others were less likely to die than those who didn't, even after accounting for their overall health.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of laughter as a response to something funny. But researcher Robert Provine found that laughter is less about humor than it is about social connection — we are 30 times more likely to laugh when we are with other people than when we are alone.

It's Been a Minute

Boundaries, bodies, and better sex | It's Been a Minute

We saw trust permeated decision-making, sexual health decision-making almost completely. So, thinking about establishing trust with a partner, that is what helped people experience comfort in a sexual relationship. That comfort then helped them to feel more comfortable with engaging in unprotected sex.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most people think of listening as a passive activity — something we do while waiting for our turn to speak. But research suggests that feeling truly heard by another person is one of the most powerful experiences we can have. It can change how we think, how we feel about ourselves, and how we relate to others.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of emotional support as something we offer through words — by listening carefully, offering advice, or saying just the right thing. But researchers have found that simply being in the presence of someone who cares about us can reduce our experience of pain and stress, even when that person says nothing at all.

TED

Reddit’s Model for a Better Internet | Steve Huffman | TED

Being connected and the feeling of connection are two different things. And so if we want to maintain our humanity on the internet, we're going to have to build it intentionally.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of rituals as ceremonies attached to special occasions. But researchers have found that everyday rituals — the small, patterned behaviors we engage in regularly — can be a source of profound connection. Unlike habits, which we perform mindlessly, rituals are imbued with meaning. They signal to others and ourselves that something matters.

It's Been a Minute

So you've changed. Will it stick?

We're judges of other people's change, and we don't always do it in the most thoughtful, considered way.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

We often think of connection as something that requires vulnerability or deep conversation, but research suggests that even brief, seemingly trivial interactions with strangers — a nod from a passerby, a short exchange with a barista — can meaningfully boost our sense of belonging. The problem is that most of us opt out of these moments, assuming the other person would rather be left alone. But studies find we are systematically wrong about this: strangers are far more interested in connecting with us than we predict.

TED

How to Invite Creativity into Your Life | Rose B. Simpson, Debbie Millman | TED

As long as I don't need it, it doesn't rule me, doesn't own me. And so if I maintain my relationship with the natural world, my food sources, etc., then I am actively engaging in the relationships that I'm making.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

We tend to think that deep conversations require vulnerability, openness, and a willingness to share our inner lives. But Mastroianni's research suggests something different: that the biggest obstacle to good conversations isn't a lack of openness, but a lack of curiosity. Most of us are so focused on what we want to say that we forget to wonder about the person in front of us.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think about what we say to others. We think about whether our words might hurt or please them, whether we're saying the right things at the right time. But we rarely think about how we listen. We assume we're doing it fine, or well enough. Yet listening is one of the most powerful things we can do for another person.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

We don't just want people to know us — we want to feel known by them. And one of the most powerful ways to feel known is to have someone remember the small details of our lives: the name of our dog, the fact that we hate cilantro, the thing we mentioned once about our complicated relationship with our mother.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of laughter as a response to something funny. But researchers who study laughter say this is backwards: we don't laugh because something is funny; we laugh to connect with other people. Laughter is less about humor and more about relationships.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of listening as a passive activity. We imagine that the goal of a good listener is to be a kind of empty vessel — a mirror that reflects back what the speaker is saying. But research by psychologist Guy Itzchakov and his colleagues suggests this view is mistaken. Good listening, they find, is not passive at all; it is a form of active engagement that changes how the speaker thinks.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of deep conversations as something that requires a close relationship. But research by psychologist Nicholas Epley and his colleagues suggests that even strangers can have meaningful, connecting exchanges — and that we systematically underestimate how much others will appreciate our attempts to go deep.

Fresh Air

Comic Ali Siddiq on fatherhood, prison, and his biggest regret

I didn't want my kids to think that anything else was more important than them, not being in the streets, not women, not gambling, not hustling, not anything. I didn't want them to ever think that anything that I was doing was more important than them. And my father made me at times feel unimportant to him.

Fresh Air

Comic Ali Siddiq on fatherhood, prison, and his biggest regret

My father made me at times feel unimportant to him. I played sports. He went to one game. Out of all the sports that I played, he went to one game.

Hidden Brain

A Secret Source of Connection

Most of us think of emotional support as something we offer through words — by listening carefully, saying the right things, or giving advice. But researchers have found that simply being in the presence of someone we care about can regulate our nervous system, slow our heart rate, and reduce our sense of pain, even when that person says nothing at all.