Alle afleveringen
245 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
-
Revisited: The Power of Doing One Thing Exceptionally Well with Gymshark Founder and CEO Ben Francis
20 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Hello from Team Simon! Brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism are back next Tuesday, October 27. Before then, we're revisiting one last favorite: the company Simon names whenever someone asks which business actually lives the ideas he writes about. It's Gymshark, and its founder, Ben Francis. Lees meer
Maybe you know the pull: the bigger something gets, the more it feels like it should do more. More products, more markets, more people to please. It looks like growth. But it can quietly water down the very thing that made you special.
Gymshark didn't start with a vision. It started with a website, a list of drop-shipped supplements, and months of waiting for anyone to buy anything. Then Ben spotted his nan's sewing machine on the dining room table and started making gym clothes for himself and his friends. Years later, with the business booming, Gymshark did what growing companies do and expanded into swimwear, hiking, and sportswear. The brand started to blur. So Ben pulled it all back to three words: We Do Gym.
Ben is the founder and CEO of Gymshark, the gymwear brand he launched in 2012 while still working shifts at Pizza Hut. Today it's a billion-dollar global brand with a devoted community, a flagship store on London's Regent Street, and one ambition that shapes every decision Ben makes: to build a 100-year brand.
I sat down with Ben at Gymshark HQ in the West Midlands, where the company values are painted on the walls in refreshingly blunt language. And I push him on the irony at the heart of the brand: how does a company built on humility make clothes designed for showing off?
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why the best businesses often start with ridiculously low ambitions
➡️ The "small menu" rule: why selling fewer things builds a better business
➡️ Why Ben stepped aside as CEO, and how it made him ready to take the job back
➡️ How a 100-year mindset changes who you hire (+ why "have they done it before?" is the wrong question)
➡️ His granddad's one-question … -
Revisited: Why Relationships Are the Secret to a Long, Happy Life with Psychotherapist Esther Perel
13 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Hello from Team Simon! We’re taking a few weeks off and will be back with brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism on Tuesday, October 27. Lees meer
Until then, we’re revisiting some of our favorite conversations, including this one with a longtime friend of Simon’s: Esther Perel.
For most of history, we stayed in marriages and jobs because we had to. Happiness was a nice bonus. Today we get to choose who we love and where we work, so happiness has become the glue that holds it all together.
Few people have watched that shift as closely as Esther Perel. For four decades, she’s seen how love, family and work have been reshaped by no-fault divorce, the internet, and now AI. Her conclusion hasn’t changed: the quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives. It’s a line she first said out loud years ago, in a WHY Discovery session with Simon.
Esther is a psychotherapist, the bestselling author of Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs, and the host of the podcast Where Should We Begin? Her card game “Where Should We Begin? At Work,” is built to spark real conversations between colleagues.
In this conversation, Esther and Simon talk about why one partner can’t be our whole village, what kids lose when they stop playing in the street, and why an entry-level job may be the last great playground. Simon also shares a personal update: how he made peace with the question, "Why haven’t you been married?"
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why happiness went from a perk to the glue, in love and at work
➡️ The “relationship CV” everyone brings to work (+ how it shapes the way you handle conflict and authority)
➡️ Why we’re asking one person to give us what a whole village used to
➡️ How frictionless apps are changing what we expect from each other
➡️ Why entry-level jobs are the best place to scrape your knees
➡️ The number one relationship skill Gen Z should master before their first job
➡️ Why play is just risk that feels fun, and how it builds trustAnd reme…
-
Revisited: Your Instincts Know What You Want with Happiness Expert Arthur Brooks
6 oktober 2026 · 56 min
Team Simon here! A Bit of Optimism is on a short break, and brand-new episodes return October 27. Until then, we're revisiting a few conversations we keep coming back to. Lees meer
This week it's Arthur Brooks, a longtime friend of Simon's and one of his favorite people to talk to.
Have you ever felt like you're falling behind? Everyone else seems to have a plan, a timeline and the next rung on the ladder lined up. Any detour, like a gap year, a pivot or a job that isn't quite right, feels like losing ground.
Arthur Brooks thinks you're running the wrong race. Chasing a finish line is one of the surest ways to end up unhappy. He argues that happiness lives in the process, not the outcome.
Arthur is a bestselling author and teaches one of the most popular classes at Harvard Business School: a whole course on happiness. He lives what he teaches, too. He played French horn professionally from 19 to 31 and then reinvented himself as a behavioral scientist. After that, he became president of a Washington think tank without ever having raised a dollar. When he left that job with no idea what came next, he walked the Camino de Santiago to find out.
In this conversation, Arthur explains how to know when to trust your gut, why reinvention starts with curiosity rather than skills, and why meaning has collapsed for people under 35. Simon pushes on something that worries him: if AI takes away the struggle, what happens to the wisdom that struggle builds?
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ The 80/20/0 rule for knowing a big decision is the right one
➡️ Why reapplying your skills isn't the same as reinventing yourself
➡️ Why your career is a spiral, not a staircase
➡️ The "arrival fallacy," and why so many Olympic gold medalists struggle after they win
➡️ Why life's most unwelcome changes usually look like gifts in hindsight
➡️ The three parts of happiness
➡️ Why feelings are the evidence of happiness, not the thing itself
➡️ Why Arthur calls AI a "dark triad," and what that means if … -
Revisited: The Power of Saying "Screw It" with Rob Lowe
29 september 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Hello from Team Simon! We're taking a few weeks off and will be back with brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism on Tuesday, October 27. Until then, we're revisiting some of our favorite conversations, starting with one of the most fun we've ever had: Rob Lowe. Lees meer
Maybe you know the feeling: you've got an idea, a joke, a risk you want to take… and you talk yourself out of it before anyone else gets the chance. Rob Lowe has spent four decades doing the opposite. He calls it a healthy case of the "screw-its."
It's how he survived an industry famous for chewing people up. He went from movies to The West Wing when movie stars didn't do TV, and from TV to hosting a game show when that was supposed to be career death. His secret isn't avoiding failure. It's never letting failure decide what he tries next.
Rob is an actor, producer, and bestselling author whose career runs from The Outsiders and St. Elmo's Fire to The West Wing and Parks and Recreation. He hosts FOX's The Floor and the podcast Literally! with Rob Lowe, and stars alongside his son John Owen Lowe in Netflix's Unstable.
In this conversation, Rob tells the story of his infamous Oscars song-and-dance number (and the open letter from Hollywood legends that followed it). He also shares the Letterman appearance that taught him to trust his instincts for good, and explains why authenticity has become the only currency that matters. And I push him on the question under all of it: can the rest of us learn to take a punch the way he does?
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why a healthy case of the "screw-its" is a career strategy, not a character flaw
➡️ What the world's top tennis players can teach us about bouncing back
➡️ The one practical rule for being more authentic: stop self-editing
➡️ Why the thing you least want to talk about is the thing that makes you relatable
➡️ Why "availability" might be a better word than "vulnerability"
➡️ How to spot performative authenticity (+ Rob's three red-carpet poses…
-
What Mentally Strong People Do on Their Worst Days with Psychotherapist Amy Morin
22 september 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
Be honest: you've taken a mental health day that made you feel worse. You stayed in bed, you avoided the thing, and by evening it was still waiting for you—with less of the day left to face it.
Amy Morin thinks the problem starts with the word. We treat mental health as something you either have or you don't… and framed that way, there's nothing to actually do on a bad day. Her work runs on the opposite premise: mental strength is a practice, and you build it like you'd build anything else.
Amy is a psychotherapist, a clinical social worker, and the author of the bestseller 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do and the new The Mental Strength Playbook. She became a therapist at 22 and lost her mother at 23. Three years later—to the day—her husband died, and the mental health agency where she worked gave her three days of bereavement leave. She built the practices that became her book in real time, from there.
In this conversation, Amy walks through exactly what she did to get mentally fit. Not as theory, but as the small, unglamorous things that got her out of bed. And I press her on the question nobody in her field says out loud: whether an industry built to help us has any incentive to finish the job.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why the mental health day you take to feel better isn’t helping
➡️ How to tell whether to solve the problem or solve the feeling (most of us pick wrong)
➡️ The 15-minute daily exercise Amy's clients say lifts the weight of the world
➡️ Why "I am anxious" and "I have anxiety sometimes" build two different lives
➡️ How to compromise with yourself on a bad day instead of going all-or-nothing
➡️ Why "I'm just staying busy" is avoidance we've learned to compliment
➡️ What playing the victim actually gives you (+ why it's so hard to give up)
➡️ Simon's rule for hard days: no crying alone
Amy's argument is a hopeful one: the feeling follows the action. Do one small, ordinary thing today, and you've already started.
This… is A Bit of Opt… Lees meer -
The Dating Advice Making Us Worse at Love with Relationship Expert Amy Chan
15 september 2026 · 50 min
The internet is flooded with advice for dating in the smartphone age: know your type, trust the spark, watch for red flags, protect your peace, never settle.
It sounds like self-respect, but relationship expert Amy Chan thinks it’s a big reason dating feels impossible right now.
Her argument: we need to correct the lessons we’ve learned when it comes to dating. The person who’s great on a first date isn’t necessarily great at a relationship. Instant chemistry isn’t always a good sign. A red flag could just be an imperfection. And keeping our options open has made a lot of us genuinely bad at choosing someone.
Amy is the founder of Renew Breakup Bootcamp and the author of Unsingle: How to Date Smarter and Create Love That Lasts. For nearly two decades she’s looked at dating through psychology and neuroscience — why we’re drawn to certain people, why relationships fall apart, and what actually predicts whether one lasts. She started her career helping people end relationships… Now, she teaches them how to build one.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why “instant chemistry” is one of the worst predictors of a lasting relationship
➡️ The quiet qualities research says actually predict a happy partnership
➡️ Why dating skills and relationship skills are two completely different skill sets
➡️ How the algorithm rewards red-flag advice 10X over green-flag advice (and what that’s doing to you)
➡️ Situationships: why the breakup hurts more when there was never a breakup
➡️ “Leaky energy,” micro-cheating, and the honest test for both
➡️ The 9-date experiment Amy gives clients who are stuck dating the same person
➡️ How the right relationship shrinks old wounds
➡️ Why discomfort is a critical skill dating requires
Amy’s advice isn’t about finding a better person. It’s about becoming someone better at love. And that’s advice all of us could use!
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
This episode is brought to you by SAP. Bring it with SAP GROW. The AI Cloud ERP for any size business.… Lees meer -
Why Trying to “Sound Smart” is Losing You the Room with Strategic Story Producer Rob Willis
8 september 2026 · 47 min
Have you ever sat through a presentation and felt your attention just start to…drift? Chances are, it wasn't the content. It was the delivery. Lees meer
A year ago, Rob Willis was a corporate trainer with years of experience and a sharp eye for what makes people listen. He wondered if what he taught in workshops would resonate with a larger audience. So he started making short videos that break down what makes great speakers great: from their word choice, to structure, to the energy they brought to any room or conversation.
Rob even made a video breaking down my method of public speaking. In his video, Rob dissects my signature opening line, and my friends couldn't stop sending it to me. One hundred videos in one hundred days later, Rob's videos are going viral on a regular basis, and a whole new audience is eager to learn from him.
But what I find most interesting about Rob is where he actually learned all of this. Not in a classroom. He learned it by giving free walking tours in Berlin, where nobody pays up front and anyone can leave at any moment. If you're boring, people simply walk away — no tip, no small talk, just people voting with their feet.
Rob and I discuss what that taught him about holding a room, why the smartest person in the room is rarely the most persuasive one, and the handful of simple, almost mechanical shifts that separate a forgettable pitch from one people actually remember.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why "if I just explain it better" is the most common, and most inaccurate, assumption speakers make
➡️ Rob's trick for holding anyone's attention, whether it's a boardroom or a crowd on a street corner
➡️ What real charisma is made of (hint: it's not confidence, it's belief)
➡️ Why so many people suddenly sound fake the moment they step on stage
➡️ 5 things you can do in your next meeting to immediately present better
You don't need a TED Talk on your calendar to get something out of this one. Any of us who wants to be understood — in a…
-
Your Limits Are Learned (And They Can Be Unlearned) with Brain Coach Jim Kwik
1 september 2026 · 51 min
This might sound familiar: you read a full page, get to the bottom, and realize you absorbed none of it. There's a stack of books beside your bed you fully intend to finish. And the only phone number you can remember is your own. Lees meer
Jim Kwik says none of that means something is wrong with our brains. It’s that we were taught what to learn, but rarely ever taught how to learn.
Jim would know. A well-meaning teacher called him "the boy with the broken brain" when he was nine, and for years he believed it. He's spent the three decades since proving otherwise — as a top brain coach, a leading expert on memory and accelerated learning, and the bestselling author of Limitless. His new book, Limitless Daily, offers 366 daily upgrades to help you focus, remember, and think better.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why reading faster can actually improve comprehension
➡️ The free technique that stops your mind wandering mid-page
➡️ How to prompt your own brain the way you prompt AI
➡️ What your "dominant question" reveals about your personality
➡️ Why school teaches us what to learn but never how to learn
➡️ What digital dementia is + how to spot it in yourself
➡️ Why focus is a muscle, not a personality trait
➡️ The one thing AI will never be able to do for youI asked Jim an entirely selfish question about how to actually get through the unread books next to my bed, and got an answer that goes far beyond discipline. Jim explains why the technology making us more capable is quietly making us less able.
And by the end, we landed somewhere neither of us expected: AI could have given Jim every piece of advice that changed his life, word for word. But it wasn't the advice that changed him. It was that a living, breathing person cared enough to give it.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
This episode is brought to you by SAP. Bring it with SAP GROW. The AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Learn more at https://SAP.com/GROW
+ + +
If you want to buy Jim’s new book, Limitless…
-
How to Trust Yourself When Everyone Has an Opinion with Love Thy Nader's Mary Holland Nader
25 augustus 2026 · 58 min
Maybe this sounds familiar: you finally get the opportunity you've been waiting for, and the voice in your head says, "I'm not ready, I don't belong here." Lees meer
Now imagine hearing that voice with millions of people watching.
Mary Holland Nader has lived it. She never dreamed of fame, but when Hulu's reality series Love Thy Nader came knocking, she traded her secure Wall Street job for the spotlight and put her new platform to work. It allowed her to launch Mary & Pip, a purpose-driven fintech company that takes a wellness approach to money, demystifying finance for those of us it usually makes feel dumb. She also brings that expertise to her new podcast, Growing Interest (where I was lucky to be among her first guests).
On the show, Mary Holland lets us join every step of her founder’s journey… even when it’s messy. Because she never wanted to be famous, but now that she is, she’s realized fame is leverage. And Mary Holland's committed to using hers to help and inspire others.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ How to survive a 180-degree life pivot
➡️ Why your gut doesn't tell you what to do — it checks your values
➡️ The "corny" morning ritual that transformed Mary Holland's confidence
➡️ How to stop making your doubts your identity (with one simple grammar change)
➡️ The difference between being nice and being kind — and why feedback is kind
➡️ The 2 questions every founder should ask before raising money➡️ Why Simon gives his time to supporters instead of critics
➡️ The "reluctant sellout" + how financial stability protects your values
➡️ How to introduce yourself when you're more than one job titleMary Holland is a new breed of entrepreneur — proof of what happens when you use your platform for something bigger than yourself. She stopped waiting for confidence to arrive and decided to build it… in front of everyone.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
This episode is brought to you by SAP. Bring it with SAP GROW. The AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Le…
-
What Happens When You Bet on Yourself with Ted Lasso’s Brendan Hunt
18 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Maybe you know the feeling: everyone around you seems to be getting ahead, and every hour you spend on something "frivolous" — the hobby, the detour, the game on a Sunday afternoon — feels like falling behind. Lees meer
Brendan Hunt's career is proof those hours are never wasted. The detour turned out to be the path all along.
Most of us know Brendan as Coach Beard and as the Emmy Award-winning co-creator of Ted Lasso. But before any of that, he was an unknown Chicago improv actor when the Amsterdam comedy institution Boom Chicago offered him something different. He moved to Amsterdam for a year… that turned into five… and he joined an alumni roster that now includes comedians like Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, and Jason Sudeikis.
Brendan performed every night, fell head over heels for soccer ("a soccer missionary for all Americans," as he puts it), and struck up a friendship with Jason Sudeikis. Years later, all of it collided into one of the most beloved shows on television, Ted Lasso, which is back for Season 4 on Apple TV+. Brendan has also returned to his first love, the stage, with his solo show The Movement You Need.
In this conversation, Brendan and I trace the wildly unplanned path from Chicago to Amsterdam to AFC Richmond… and land on a different way to think about ambition: master the craft in front of you, and let the plan catch up later.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ The real origin story of Ted Lasso (it began as a YouTube-only commercial written by a pool)
➡️ Why Coach Beard barely talks + the improv rule that explains everything he does
➡️ The "Beatles in Hamburg" secret to mastering any craft
➡️ Why stepping away won't put you behind (everything will be exactly where you left it)
➡️ How "wasting" Sundays watching Dutch soccer created the Lasso–Beard dynamic
➡️ The surprising origin of the BELIEVE sign + who it was designed to annoy
➡️ Why the flip side of belief is trust + and how it shapes Season 4
We spend so much of our lives pr…
-
How to Say the Hard Thing and Keep the Relationship | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 5
11 augustus 2026 · 46 min
Every lasting relationship has survived at least a few hard conversations. Lees meer
But most of us would still rather not have them... So we put them off and tell ourselves the tension will fade on its own. Instead it goes underground: into the stories we build about people, the resentments we quietly collect, and the side-texts we send about a colleague we won't talk to directly.
But a hard conversation is a short burst of discomfort in exchange for something better on the other side: trust, collaboration, and a relationship strong enough to survive the next one.
Feelings at Work is a special five-part series from A Bit of Optimism, where Simon Sinek and Alex Simon, founder of LifeShop, explore the human skills that shape how we work, lead, and build relationships. Together, they unpack the emotional challenges most of us face every day—from people pleasing and listening to giving feedback, taking accountability, and having difficult conversations.
In this final episode, Simon and Alex take on hard conversations: why tension is telling us something useful, why the story we build about someone gets harder to undo the longer we wait, and what to actually say when it's time to have the hard conversation.
Simon and Alex share tools like how to know when to bring something up so you don't show up hot, how to break the fourth wall and reset a conversation that's already going sideways, and the practice of “Watering Someone’s Flowers.”
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why tension is a smoke signal telling you to address something
➡️ How conflict is a team sport for mutual understanding
➡️ How to move from "you're the problem" to both of you facing it together
➡️ The "resentment gremlin" + why feeding it feels so satisfying
➡️ When to initiate a hard conversation
➡️ Why it’s important to start with a request for grace
➡️ “Watering someone's flowers”: the practice that softens any tension
➡️ What to do instead of “feedback sandwiches”
➡️ How to interrupt, reset, and …
-
Why Being Right Is Costing You Trust | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 4
4 augustus 2026 · 53 min
Everyone says they want more accountability at work… yet few of us think we're the ones who need to learn how to be more accountable. Lees meer
Most of us believe we already know how to own a mistake. We've all said sorry and truly meant it. But meaning it and doing it well are two very different things. And when we’re the first to apologize, we model to everyone around us how cathartic accountability can be.
Feelings at Work is a special five-part series from A Bit of Optimism, where Simon Sinek and Alex Simon, founder of LifeShop, explore the human skills that shape how we work, lead, and build relationships. Together, they unpack the emotional challenges most of us face every day—from people pleasing and listening to giving feedback, taking accountability, and having difficult conversations.
In this episode, Simon and Alex take on accountability: why owning a mistake can feel like losing, why taking credit and dodging blame come from the same place, and what a real repair actually looks like.
You'll discover why owning your part doesn't mean admitting you were wrong, why the confidence to say, "I got that wrong," is what actually makes people follow you, and how to repair something in a way that genuinely clears a pathway forward. Simon and Alex share practical tools like the "wheelie bag" rule for separating intent from impact, the two-part formula that turns an empty gesture into apologies people can actually feel, Alex's practice of "micro-accountability" for owning small things before they accumulate, and the one word that quietly cancels everything you said before it.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why saying you're sorry doesn't mean you're wrong
➡️ The two-part apology formula: what you actually did + the impact it had
➡️ How to name someone's hurt + leave room to be corrected
➡️ "Micro-accountability": owning the small stuff before it turns into the big stuff
➡️ Why people who take too much credit are the same people who dodge blame
➡️ What real confidenc… -
What Is Your Team Afraid to Tell You? | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 3
28 juli 2026 · 58 min
Giving and receiving feedback is one of the hardest things we do at work and most of us just... avoid it.
But avoiding feedback has a cost. Everything you need to grow is already in the room and it's just sitting in your blind spot. Your colleagues can see it. Your boss can see it. And nobody will tell you, unless you learn to ask.
Feelings at Work is a special five-part series from A Bit of Optimism, where Simon Sinek and Alex Simon, founder of LifeShop, explore the human skills that shape how we work, lead, and build relationships. Together, they unpack the emotional challenges most of us face every day—from people pleasing and listening to giving feedback, taking accountability, and having difficult conversations.
In this episode, Alex and Simon take on feedback: how to give it, how to take it, and how to ask for it.
You’ll discover ways to give feedback people can actually hear, receive criticism without taking it personally, and build a feedback culture on any team. Alex and Simon share practical techniques like the one-word ritual Simon borrowed from the Air Force that made his whole company crave critiques, the “FBI” method for delivering hard feedback without blowing up relationships, and questions Alex asks her team to surface everything left unsaid, like "What are you afraid to tell me?"
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why we avoid giving feedback + what that avoidance quietly costs our teams
➡️ "Spears": the Air Force ritual that turns criticism into something people actually want
➡️ The “FBI” (Feelings, Behavior, Impact) method for giving feedback people can actually hear
➡️ The Army Rangers' peer assessment’s "foxhole question" + what it reveals about character
➡️ How to think of feedback as preventative care and build that muscle
➡️ Why everyone receives feedback differently (+ how to give people what they need)
➡️ When to give feedback (hint: never the moment you think of it)
➡️ The four-word habit that builds a thick skin: "What can I do better?"
W… Lees meer -
The Secret to Better Conversations Isn't Talking | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 2
21 juli 2026 · 49 min
The fastest way to improve your relationships isn't talking. It's listening. Lees meer
Most of us hear what's being said. Very few of us know how to make someone feel heard.
Feelings at Work is a special five-part series from A Bit of Optimism, where Simon Sinek and Alex Simon, founder of LifeShop, explore the human skills that shape how we work, lead, and build relationships. Together, they unpack the emotional challenges most of us face every day—from people pleasing and listening to giving feedback, taking accountability, and having difficult conversations.
In this episode, they explore one of the most important communication skills we can develop: listening.
Together, they share practical techniques to improve your listening skills, build trust, navigate difficult conversations, and create better outcomes at work and at home. You'll learn why people often ask for one thing but actually need another, how to stop jumping into fix-it mode, and Alex's simple Four-Second Rule for becoming a better listener.
When people feel heard, relationships grow stronger, conflicts become easier to navigate, and conversations become more meaningful.
Because better conversations don't require everyone to be a great listener.
They only require one.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why hearing someone isn't the same as making them feel heard
➡️ How to stop jumping into "fix-it mode" and start listening with curiosity
➡️ Alex Simon's simple Four-Second Rule for becoming a better listener
➡️ Why people often ask for one thing but actually need something else
➡️ How better listening builds trust, strengthens relationships, and improves teamwork
➡️ How to navigate conversations when power dynamics are involved
Whether you're leading a team, supporting a friend, or navigating a difficult conversation, listening is one of the most valuable skills you can develop.
Because when people feel heard, relationships grow stronger, conflict becomes easier to navigate, and better conversatio…
-
The Hidden Cost of Always Saying Yes | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 1
14 juli 2026 · 58 min
Welcome to Feelings at Work, a special series from A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek.
Work isn't just about deadlines, meetings, and getting things done. It's also where we experience frustration, excitement, trust, anxiety, belonging, conflict, and joy. If we want to build healthier teams and better workplaces, we have to get better at understanding the emotions that shape how we work together.
That's what this series is about.
In each episode, Simon Sinek sits down with Yale professor and Lifeshop founder Alex Simon to explore one emotional challenge that affects how we work, lead, and relate to one another. Together, they unpack the emotional skills most of us were never taught—but use every single day.
This episode is about saying yes.
Have you ever agreed to something... and immediately regretted it?
Maybe you didn't want to disappoint someone. Maybe you thought, I'll figure it out somehow. Maybe your calendar is packed, your to-do list never gets shorter, and somehow you're still worried you're letting people down.
Most of us don't think of ourselves as "people pleasers."
We just want to be helpful. We want to be dependable. We want to be someone others can count on.
But what if constantly saying yes is actually making things harder—for you and everyone around you?
Together, Simon and Alex explore why so many thoughtful, capable people take on more than they can realistically handle. They unpack the hidden patterns that lead to overwhelm, resentment, and burnout—and why trying to keep everyone happy can quietly make us less reliable.
The good news? This is a skill we can learn.
In this conversation, you'll discover practical ways to communicate more honestly, set healthier boundaries, and build stronger relationships—without feeling selfish or letting people down.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why saying yes too often can actually make you less reliable
➡️ The hidden connection between overwhelm, burnout, and self-betrayal
➡️ The simple phrase that create… Lees meer -
Why We Fall for the Wrong Person with Couples Therapist Dr. Harville Hendrix
7 juli 2026 · 54 min
Maybe this sounds familiar: you fall hard for someone, and over a year later you're fighting about the very things that drew you to them in the first place. And you can't figure out how the person who felt so right suddenly feels so wrong.
Dr. Harville Hendrix has spent 50 years studying love. And he’s also lived through its hardest challenges: one divorce, two near-misses in his current marriage, and a couple’s therapist who fired him and his wife, calling them "the couple from hell." That marriage is now 45 years strong.
Harville is a couples therapist, and alongside his wife and creative partner Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt, they creator Imago Relationship Therapy. They’ve also written 10 books, including the bestseller Getting the Love You Want, the book that made him a fixture on Oprah for nearly two decades. Harville’s theory is this: we don't consciously choose who we fall for, rather our unconscious does. And it has an agenda.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why you keep falling for the same person
➡️ What your childhood has to do with who you swipe right on
➡️ Why the "power struggle" phase might mean you picked the right person
➡️ The shift that saved Harville's own marriage after divorce papers were filed
➡️ Why some of us can't receive love (even when we ask for it)
➡️ What arranged marriages understood about commitment that we forgot
➡️ The difference between equal relationships and egalitarian ones
➡️ How to reach the stage where you have no needs left… only wants
In this conversation, Harville makes the case that real romantic love is what gets built after the fantasy collapses, when two people commit to the work of meeting each other's needs instead of demanding their own. And the engine of that transformation goes beyond compatibility and chemistry—it's gratitude and service.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Want to keep up with Harville’s work? Check out: https://harvilleandhelen.com/
If you’d like to buy Harville & Helen’s latest book, How to Talk wi… Lees meer -
How to Tell If Fear Is Protecting You or Holding You Back with Extreme Athlete Nelly Attar
30 juni 2026 · 51 min
We tell ourselves the reason we never chase the big dream is that we're not ready, not brave enough, doomed to fail. Lees meer
Nelly Attar would tell you she felt all of that too… but she chased them anyway.
Nelly is a psychologist turned extreme athlete and mountaineer. She built Saudi Arabia's first dance studio, MOVE, at a time when women couldn't train publicly by sneaking classes into a warehouse and office building after hours. She's the first Lebanese person to climb the five highest peaks in the world, like Everest. And she also became the first Arab to summit K2, the world’s second highest peak that’s so dangerous that one in four people who attempt it survive.
But what makes Nelly remarkable aren’t the summits and heights she reaches. It's that she's found a way to turn individual acts of accomplishment into acts of service: for the women she shows what's possible and for the team that climbs beside her.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ The difference between fear that protects you and fear that holds you back
➡️ How preparing and working hard can lighten the load for others
➡️ What small, daily kindness practices become the best investment you can make
➡️ Why there's no such thing as "self-made" and what actually de-risks courage
➡️ The art of “strategic retreat” + why quitting and retreating aren't the same thing
➡️ Why your title and achievements aren’t your identity (and what is)
➡️ How movement is medicine, and why the mind leads the body
➡️ What it really means to live a life of service to the people right in front of youIn this conversation, Nelly shows that the size of what you accomplish matters far less than the spirit you bring to it. She faces her fear for herself, but she does the hard work for everyone else.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Want to keep up with Nelly’s adventures? Check out: https://www.nellyattar.com/
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters00:00:00 If You Don't Try, You'll Never Know: Nellie's Philosophy on Fear
00:02:20 Building Saudi… -
Remembering Bob Chapman: The Mentor Who Changed My Life
23 juni 2026 · 52 min
Sixteen years ago, an unknown CEO running a manufacturing company in the Midwest saw my TED Talk and recognized something in it. He sent me a letter and we made plans to meet. What started as a one-hour lunch turned into three, then four days touring factories together across the Midwest, and an idea I had only imagined turned out to already exist in reality.
That CEO was Bob Chapman. Over five decades, Bob grew an unassuming manufacturing company in the Midwest into a global proof point that leadership grounded in humanity can scale and outperform. Bob saw the people in his company as human beings in his care, people he felt responsible to help become healthy, fulfilled, and whole. His belief was simple and profound: when people are cared for at work, they build happier families, stronger communities, and a better world. He called it Truly Human Leadership.
In the years that followed, Bob became something more: a mentor, a close friend, the central figure in my book Leaders Eat Last, and one of the people who shaped how I think about leadership itself.
In September 2025, I returned to one of Bob's factories in Phillips, Wisconsin, with a camera crew, to capture Bob's incredible legacy in his own words. Six months later, Bob passed away.
As a tribute to this great man, we're releasing the full conversation, in its entirety, for the first time.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why Bob believed in seeing every person as someone’s precious child
➡️ How Barry-Wehmiller rewrote the rules and
➡️ The university Bob built to teach his employees skills they were never taught
➡️ What impact a caring workplace can have on an employees life
➡️ The real difference between a prosperous company and a healthy one
➡️ Why Bob believed layoffs meant your business has failed
➡️ Why the greatest act of charity has nothing to do with the checks you write
➡️ What changed in Bob over the fifteen years Simon knew him
➡️ The letter Simon sent Bob years ago that ended up framed on his office… Lees meer -
The AI Skills Nobody is Teaching (And Everyone Needs) with AI Expert Ethan Mollick
16 juni 2026 · 59 min
Be honest: AI makes you a little nervous. Lees meer
Maybe you're afraid it'll take your job. Maybe you're overwhelmed by all the advice about prompts and agents and which chatbot to use. Or maybe you're just quietly hoping it'll all slow down.
Ethan Mollick says we're underestimating our own agency in the age of AI. Instead of worrying about what AI will do to us, we should focus on what we choose to do with it.
Ethan is a Wharton professor, the author of the bestseller Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, and the writer behind “One Useful Thing,” one of the most popular newsletters on AI, work, and education. He's spent twenty years studying how people actually use technology, and he's become the go-to voice for making sense of AI without the hype or the doom. And in his new book, Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, he explores what comes next as AI moves from a tool we prompt to a presence we live and work alongside.
In this conversation, Ethan shares the practical playbook most of us are missing and makes the case that our experience, taste, and point of view aren't things AI replaces. They're exactly what make us better at using it.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why young people are NOT "AI natives" (and why experience is the real AI advantage)
➡️ The $20 decision that instantly upgrades how you use AI
➡️ Why AI agrees with everything you say + the simple prompt that fixes it
➡️ How to make AI write in YOUR voice instead of sounding like everyone else
➡️ The "jagged frontier": what AI is surprisingly bad at (and why that's your opportunity)
➡️ Why taste may become the most valuable skill of the AI era
➡️ How much agency we really have over where AI takes us
Ethan believes that the future of AI isn't something that will just happen to us… It's something we get to build together.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
To pre-order Ethan’s new book, Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, head to: https://co-existence.ai/
Want to hear more from Ethan? Che…
-
How to Stop Letting Your Own Thoughts Make You Sick, Stressed, and Stuck with Dr. Ellen Langer
9 juni 2026 · 57 min
Most of us are so certain about, well, everything. We think we can predict what's coming, what that off-hand comment really meant, what that look was about, what's going to go wrong. And according to Dr. Ellen Langer, that certainty is making us miserable… and possibly making us sick.
Dr. Langer is a psychologist, Harvard professor, and the "Mother of Mindfulness." In her book The Mindful Body, she makes the case that the way we think directly shapes the way we heal, age, stress, and recover. Her conclusion: the mind and the body were never two separate things to begin with. And we have far more agency over both than we've been led to believe
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ What mindfulness (and mindlessness) really is
➡️ The one question that can dissolve stress almost instantly
➡️ Why the story you tell yourself is more powerful than what actually happened
➡️ The study that proved people lost weight without changing their diet or exercise
➡️ The difference between nervousness and excitement (and why it matters)
➡️ Why certainty is a sign of mindlessness (not intelligence)
➡️ How your body heals faster or slower based on what you believe
➡️ Why "fighting" an illness is the wrong mindset
➡️ The simple reframe that turns every negative trait into a strength
➡️ Why confident people don't need to rely on certainty
In this conversation, Ellen makes the case that virtually all of us are mindless almost all of the time. And the moment you recognize that, everything opens up. Your health, your relationships, your ability to recover from hardship.
The obstacle, it turns out, has always been the assumption that there was nothing left to question.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
To buy a copy of Dr. Ellen Langer’s books The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health and Finding Happy, head to: https://www.ellenlanger.me
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters Lees meer00:00:00 Stress Is a Story We Tell Ourselves
00:01:27 What Mindfulness Actually Means
00:02:59 Why Everything You Know Is P… -
What Happens When You Stop Optimizing and Start Committing with Former LA Lakers President Tim Harris
2 juni 2026 · 57 min
In a world of job-hopping, side hustles, and an endless LinkedIn feed, Tim Harris did something almost no one does anymore. He stayed put.
Few executives spend an entire career helping build a dynasty. Tim Harris spent 35 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, rising to President of Business Operations and helping transform the franchise into a global brand. Through championship eras, iconic athletes like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, and decades of change in professional sports, Tim's influence was felt not on the hardwood, but in the culture, leadership, and business excellence that powered one of the NBA's most storied organizations.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why clarity of role is the most underrated tool in any leader's arsenal
➡️ The three unspoken words that silently destroy any team
➡️ What Kobe Bryant taught Tim about mindset (+ why it matters off the court)
➡️ How the Lakers built one of the most powerful brands in sports
➡️ What elite athletes do differently + how it translates directly to business
➡️ What caring, high-performing leadership actually looks like
➡️ Why giving away free tickets to strangers was a brilliant + caring business decision
➡️ The cost of short-termism + what we lose when we stop playing the long game
Even a brand as iconic as the Lakers wasn't built by championships alone. Tim says its foundation was built one small, genuine human moment at a time.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters Lees meer00:00:00 You Have to Love Them in Order to Win
00:01:54 Why Tim Stayed 35 Years With One Company
00:04:30 From Soccer Player to Lakers President: Tim's Unlikely Journey
00:07:54 Coaching as Leadership: Don't Play on the Field
00:09:39 The Long Game vs Day Trading Success
00:11:00 The Underrated Tool of Clarity of Role
00:13:29 Kobe's Compartmentalization: Nice Guy Off Court, Competitor On Court
00:15:19 The Mental Game: What Separates Elite Athletes From Everyone Else
00:22:08 The Three Unspoken Words That Ruin Any Team
00:24:16 Me… -
Revisited: Choose Your Seven Humans Wisely with Author Fredrik Backman
26 mei 2026 · 58 min
Hello from Team Simon! We're taking a quick break this week and will be back with brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism next Tuesday. Lees meer
Until then, we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes — when bestselling novelist Fredrik Backman joined the show to talk about the thing he's spent his whole career writing about: the quiet, radical power of showing up for people.
And Fredrik says great friendships aren't found by luck. They're built deliberately, repeatedly, and, sometimes, inconveniently by people who choose to do the work.
Fredrik is the internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (adapted into the film A Man Called Otto), Anxious People, and the Beartown series. His book, My Friends, is a love letter to the relationships that quietly shape who we become.
In this conversation, Fredrik opens up about his best friend of over 30 years and what 30 years of real friendship actually requires. His words will have you thinking hard about the friends you might be taking for granted.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why great friendship is a skill + what the work actually looks like
➡️ The concept of your "people” vs. “humans"
➡️ Why your friends are your best editors
➡️ The friendship rule that changed how Fredrik's entire friend group thought about relationships
➡️ The unexpected value of quantity of time vs. quality of time
➡️ How to be genuinely happy for someone else
➡️ The difference between healthy self-deprecation and low self-esteem
➡️ Why the work in a relationship is never solely on the relationship — it's always on you
A great relationship isn't a stroke of luck. It's a choice you make every day, in small ways, often when it's inconvenient. This conversation is a reminder of why it's worth it.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
To buy Fredrik’s book, My Friends, visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Fredrik-Backman/411545926
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters00:00:00 We Don't Need Algorithms to Find Our People
00:02:45 Fredri… -
How to Stop Being Socially Awkward (According to Science) with Behavioral Scientist Vanessa Van Edwards
19 mei 2026 · 59 min
Maybe this sounds familiar: you leave a party and spend the rest of the night convinced everyone was upset with you. Or you replay something you said in a meeting for days and second-guess every last word.
Vanessa Van Edwards has been there. As a self-proclaimed "recovering awkward person," she’s spent two decades decoding the hidden dynamics of human interaction to make those skills teachable for introverts and extroverts alike.
Vanessa is a behavioral researcher, bestselling author, and founder of Science of People. In her book, Conversation: How to Be Instantly Likeable in Any Interaction, she makes the case that social skills aren't a personality type, they're learnable. And she believes we are living in the most critical moment in history to start learning them.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why "just be yourself" is unhelpful advice + potentially cruel
➡️ The important everyday interactions technology + AI replaced
➡️ Where to stand at a party so someone always talks to you
➡️ How to have better conversations (+ why you already have the skills)
➡️ What the real antidote to awkwardness is
➡️ How to practice micro-social skills without turning people off
➡️ Why we’re all ambiverts + how to understand ambiversion
➡️ How soft skills drive major career inflection points
➡️ The concept of social fitness + the “nutrition” of your relationships
In this conversation, Vanessa lays out how even the most socially anxious among us can build real connections and become more likable… even in a world that has quietly removed all the places we used to accidentally get good at being human. And the secret isn't confidence. It's something far more generous.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Watch A Bit of Optimism on Spotify, and Spotify Premium users can enjoy the show ad-free.
+ + +
To pre-order Vanessa’s new book, Conversation: How to Be Instantly Likeable in Any Interaction, head to: https://www.scienceofpeople.com/conversation/
Want to learn more people skills from Vanes… Lees meer -
Stop Telling Us Everything Happens for a Reason with Anti-Victim Tom Nash
12 mei 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
We often comfort ourselves with the idea that things happen for a reason, or define our struggles as a test of strength. Tom Nash might ask you to reconsider.
Tom is a speaker, former DJ, and globe-trotting advocate for agency, anti-fragility, and the radical idea that your worst moment might be your greatest asset — as he argued in his TED Talk, "The Perks of Being a Pirate.” He’s also the mind behind Last Meal with Tom Nash where he asks his guests what their last meal would be if the world ended tomorrow, and then actually cooks it for them.
In our conversation, Tom shares how, at 19, a rare bacterial infection left him a quadruple amputee with a 2% chance of survival. And he'll tell you it's the best thing that ever happened to him.
This isn’t just another conversation about resilience. It’s a deep dive into agency and the difference between a life that happens to you and one you actually choose.
In this episode, we explore:
➡️ Why the story you tell yourself about your own life is the most powerful force in it
➡️ The difference between resilience and anti-fragility (and why it matters)
➡️ Tom’s framework for navigating adversity: The Artist, the Author, and the Alchemist
➡️ The counterintuitive reason why we actually need support networks
➡️ Why "everything happens for a reason" can be a trap (and the perspective that works better)
➡️ What your last meal choice reveals about what you're really searching for
➡️ Why the concept of being "self-made" is a dangerous illusion
Tom joins me to ask a fundamental question: who is really holding the pen when it comes to your story?
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Watch the new season of Tom’s show Last Meal with Tom Nash and head to: https://www.lastmealwithtomnash.com
Want more Tom? Check out his website: https://www.tomnash.com
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters Lees meer00:00:00 Adversity Can Be The Best Thing You Experience
00:03:45 Tom's Story: Contracting Meningococcal Disease
00:07:47 The Gift of Agency: Choosing to Amputate
00:16… -
The Real Reason You Feel Empty (Even When Life Looks Good) with Musician Mike Posner
5 mei 2026 · 53 min
If at some point, you've looked at your life—your job, your relationships, your achievements—and thought: “is this it?” This episode is for you.
Mike Posner had that moment at 30. His life, by every external measure, was extraordinary: he had hit songs, Grammy nominations, millions in the bank. He was a pop star… And he was miserable.
What followed was one of the most honest reckonings we've ever heard on this show. Mike walked across America, survived a rattlesnake bite, climbed Everest, and came out the other side with something no amount of success had ever given him: peace.
Mike Posner is a multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated recording artist, songwriter, and producer. But the reason you should listen to this conversation has nothing to do with any of that. It has everything to do with where he was and his incredibly human journey getting to somewhere better, more peaceful, and more meaningful. He even wrote a song about it—a follow up to his hit song “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” called “I Went Back To Ibiza.”
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why achieving your biggest goals can leave you feeling emptier than before you started
➡️ The difference between real vulnerability and broadcasting your pain online (and why intention changes everything)
➡️ Why comfort (not failure) might be the thing quietly hollowing out your life
➡️ What walking across America actually taught Mike about who he was and who he wasn't
➡️ Why self-improvement taken too far becomes selfishness
➡️ The one pursuit more valuable than success, grit, or getting to the top
You don't need a Grammy nomination to relate to this conversation, you just need to have ever wondered if the life you're building is actually the life you want.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
Watch A Bit of Optimism on Spotify! If you’re subscribed to Spotify Premium, you don’t get any Spotify ads on my video.
If you want to watch Mike’s new music video for “I Went Back To Ibiza,” check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v… Lees meer -
The Real Reason Young People Don't Have 'The Hunger' for Work (And What Leaders Need to Hear) with Generations Expert Dr. Eliza Filby
28 april 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
Admit it, you've complained about at least one other generation. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z—somehow, they all end up with reputations built around what's wrong with them.
Dr. Eliza Filby has a different suggestion: stop asking what's wrong with them. And start questioning what world they were handed.
Eliza is a contemporary historian, generations expert, and the author of Sunday Times bestseller: Inheritocracy. And with more generations in the workplace than at any point in history, she is precisely the person we need to show us a new way to win… together.
In this conversation, Eliza makes connections about how generational change is reshaping work, wealth, and modern life that I’d never thought to connect. She might just change how you see the world (and people) around you.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why calling Gen Z "entitled" is the wrong diagnosis (and what's really driving the behavior leaders complain about most)
➡️ How retirement planning and eldercare became the new midlife crisis
➡️ How the economy changed after 2008 + quietly rewrote the rulebook for every generation that followed
➡️ Why belonging is becoming increasingly rare (even though we need it)
➡️ Why Millennials + Gen Z are more likely become homeowners by being loyal to their parents than by being loyal to their jobs
➡️ 3 things no AI will replace in the workplace…
➡️ What’s driving hyper-individualism + how do we fix it
We all may have strong opinions about one another, but it’s time to focus on building greater understanding. This conversation is a good place to start.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
To buy a copy of Dr. Eliza Filby’s bestselling book Inheritocracy: It’s Time to Talk About the Bank of Mum and Dad, head to: https://www.elizafilby.com/books
Want to hear more from Eliza? Check out her It’s All Relative Newsletter: https://www.elizafilby.com/newsletter
+ + +
Chapters Lees meer00:00:00 Rethinking the Generational Divide at Work
00:01:35 How Dr. Filby Became a Generations Ex… -
The Leadership Advice Nobody Follows (But Everyone Should) with Top Leadership Expert Don Yaeger
21 april 2026 · 55 min
The most successful leaders, coaches, and teams in history share one counterintuitive secret: their main focus wasn’t winning. And yet… they won more than everyone else.
My guest, Don Yaeger, learned this lesson from his mentor: legendary college basketball coach John Wooden. Don is one of my favorite master storytellers, a top business leadership coach, author of 44 books, 13 of them New York Times bestsellers, and a former Associate Editor at Sports Illustrated. Don has worked alongside the greatest athletes of our generation: Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps. But no relationship shaped him more than the 12 years he spent as Coach Wooden's mentee.
Whether or not you're a sports fan, I promise you: the lessons Don shares are as universal as it gets.
We explore what it really means to win in business and in life. The greatest leaders in history already figured this out. The question is why the rest of us aren't following their lead.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why the winningest coach in college basketball history never talked about winning (and what he focused on instead)
➡️ The Bill Walton story that reveals how great leaders hold standards without exceptions (even for their best people)
➡️ How one conversation with John Wooden transformed Don's marriage & the weekly habit he's kept for 16+ years
➡️ What Delta CEO Ed Bastian's "virtuous cycle" can teach any leader about putting people before results
➡️ What a great mentor actually look like and how to know when you’ve found one
If you've ever chased the short-term win at the cost of the long game… this episode is the reset you didn't know you needed.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
+ + +
If you want to read a free chapter from Don's upcoming book The Business of Storytelling, head to: https://www.donyaeger.com/chapter
+ + +
Chapters
Chapters Lees meer00:00:00 The Power of Appreciation: What You Look For, You Find
00:02:02 From Delivering Newspapers to Sports Illustrated: Don's Journey to Journalism
00:04:… -
Why This Baseball Team Has a 4.2 Million Person Waitlist With Savannah Bananas Founder Jesse Cole
14 april 2026 · 1 uur 6 min
We talk a lot about building successful things. But what does it actually take to build something people love? Lees meer
Jesse Cole has built an entirely new genre of entertainment: The Savannah Bananas and the Banana Ball League. They’re a viral sensation, selling out stadiums across the country, and have over 4.2 million fans on their ticket waitlist. On the surface, Banana Ball looks like a wild and entertaining version of baseball. But underneath it all is something much more disciplined: an obsession with the fan experience.
Jesse calls his approach Fans First and it’s more than a slogan and the title of his book… It’s a standard. Every minute of the two-hour games are crammed with attention grabbing spectacle. It’s a full-blown live experience designed for every seat in the stadium: players dance, fans are part of the show, trick plays defy the laws of physics, there are multiple sing-alongs… all during an actual baseball game.
In this conversation, we talk about building something new for others, from embracing years of failure (including selling just two tickets in the first three months), to creating experiences that make people feel included, joyful, and valued. We also discuss how he took inspiration from Disney and PT Barnum, the importance of affordable in-person experiences, and how his team reviews every single detail after every show to get better the next day.
Because what Jesse’s building goes beyond just entertainment. It’s a place where people can feel seen for generations to come. And in a world that often moves too fast to build things with care… Those human details might be what matter most.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To learn more about the Banana Ball League or sign up for the ticket waitlist, check out: https://bananaball.com/
Or if you want all things Savannah Bananas, head to: https://thesavannahbananas.com/
---------------------------
-
Ken Burns and the Art of Telling the Whole Story
7 april 2026 · 54 min
We live in a world that pushes us to simplify everything: right or wrong, good or bad, this or that. It makes things and our place in the world easier to understand.
But the truth is rarely simple… in fact, it’s often messy and deeply human.
For 50 years, Ken Burns has mastered his craft, becoming one of the most prolific and respected documentary filmmakers. His documentaries notably resist easy answers. From The Civil War to The Vietnam War to Baseball, Ken has shaped how we understand American identity, political memory, and our shared history. His latest project, The American Revolution, is a six-part PBS series that tells the story of America’s founding. He revisits the revolution through multiple human perspectives, which reveals new complexity to a familiar story.
Ken’s guiding principle is simple: “it’s complicated.” And that philosophy shows up in everything he does. Because the most honest stories hold opposing truths at the same time.
In this conversation, Ken and I explore why storytelling matters more than arguments, how simplifying the world can help us understand it—but also distort it—and why empathy lives in the space between what’s included in a story and what’s left out.
We also dive into why human behavior hasn’t changed much over time, what mistakes humans keep repeating, how embracing complexity might help us better understand each other, and what history can teach us about who we are and who we’re still becoming.
If you’ve ever struggled to make sense of a complicated world, or felt frustrated by how quickly we reduce people to labels, this episode is a powerful reminder: understanding lives in our ability to see the whole story.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
If you want to watch “American Revolution” the six-part, 12-hour documentary directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt on PBS, head to: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-revolution
--------------------------- Lees meer -
What Happens When You’re Naive Enough to Try with KIND Founder Daniel Lubetzky
31 maart 2026 · 55 min
Naiveté is one of the most powerful assets an entrepreneur can have. In fact, I think some of the most meaningful things in the world only exist because someone was naive enough to try.
Daniel Lubetzky would know. In a crowded category and cutthroat industry, Daniel dared to build a company called KIND. He started with a simple question: how can we help people snack healthily without compromising their values? KIND Bars are now a household name and Daniel achieved his dream of building the culture behind the brand. A culture rooted in trust, long-term thinking, and social good. Essentially, a place where people loved to work and a company that thrived as a result.
In this conversation, Daniel and I explore why entrepreneurship is less about ego and more about problem-solving, why brands are promises that must be kept, and how thinking in the short-term erodes trust in both business and society.
Daniel’s story doesn’t stop at the wildly successful business he founded. The son of a Holocaust survivor, he grew up with a deep sense of responsibility to prevent hatred and division from taking root again. That calling first led him to create PeaceWorks, bringing people together through commerce, and now fuels his work with the Builders Movement. Builders is an effort to channel curiosity, compassion, and courage to reduce polarization and rebuild trust… together.
Some important context, because this episode touches on peace building and polarization, is that it was recorded back in December 2025 and before recent developments in the Middle East. But this episode is about how kindness can be a competitive advantage, how optimism can be strategic, and how each of us has a role to play in building a future that’s more connected than divided.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
If you want to learn more about the Daniel’s work with The Builders Movement, head to: https://buildersmovement.org
Check out the products and work being done at KIND: https://www.… Lees meer -
AI Can Do Everything… Except This (Why Humans Still Win) With Restaurateur Will Guidara
24 maart 2026 · 1 uur 6 min
As businesses race toward faster systems, smarter tools, and total automation, something critical is getting lost: human connection. And ironically, the rise of AI is making that gap impossible to ignore.
In this episode, I sit down with returning guest and close friend Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, to explore why humanity is becoming the ultimate competitive advantage in the age of AI.
Will helped transform a restaurant into the best in the world, not by reinventing the food being served, but by reinventing the experience around it. He calls this philosophy "Unreasonable Hospitality," which is the practice of going beyond what’s expected or required to make someone feel genuinely seen, valued, and cared for to create a memorable human experience. He argues that in a world where people expect excellence, the real differentiator is care.
And Will isn’t alone in this belief. His book Unreasonable Hospitality, which I’m the proud publisher of, is a global bestseller. And his follow up book, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Field Guide, comes out April 28, 2026.
In this conversation, Will and I unpack why human value will continue to rise in an automated world, how the smallest moments of care can create lasting loyalty, how we can turn automation’s efficiency into better experiences, and why the things that matter most in our lives are the hardest to measure.
And fair warning, Will and I do giggle our way through some of this conversation about why technology can’t replace human connection, the hidden cost of achievement, and a story about how a single piece of Basque cheesecake delivered to a hotel room is a gesture thoughtful enough to make someone feel seen. That’s just the kind of friendship we have.
So if you’re wondering how to stand out and live a more meaningful life in a world increasingly shaped by AI… and share a laugh with us… this is a conversation for you.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To stay in the loop wi… Lees meer -
Revisited: What Dying Teaches Us About Living with Death Doula Alua Arthur
17 maart 2026 · 45 min
Team Simon here! While A Bit of Optimism is on a short break, we’re revisiting a few episodes you helped make some of our favorites. We’ll be back with brand-new conversations next week, on March 24th, 2026. In the meantime, we’re bringing back an episode that explores a word most people like to avoid: death.
We dance around the subject or use vague euphemisms to not hurt anybody. But what if being open about our deaths meant we could live happier lives?
That’s where Alua Arthur comes in. Alua is one of the most prominent death doulas in the country, which means it’s her job to help people die. She offers support to her clients and their families as they embark on their dying journey, tackling everything from financial planning and insurance policy to emotional support and grief.
Before this work, Alua was a lawyer, but after a life-changing encounter that forced her to confront mortality in a new way, she shifted her path entirely. Now she has dedicated her career to helping others prepare for the end of life with clarity, compassion, and even a bit of humor.
In this conversation, Simon and Alua talk about why our culture struggles to talk honestly about death, what she’s learned from the people she’s accompanied in their final days, and why remembering that life is finite can help us live with more presence, gratitude, and intention.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Alua and her work, check out: https://goingwithgrace.com/ & @GoingwithGrace
--------------------------- Lees meer -
Revisited: The Kennedy Family and the Search for Self with Journalist Maria Shriver
10 maart 2026 · 44 min
Hello from Team Simon! We’re taking a short hiatus, but A Bit of Optimism will return with brand-new episodes March 24th. In the meantime, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Episodes that many of you who listened, shared them, and told us what resonated.
This week, we’re bringing back Simon’s conversation with journalist, author, and longtime friend Maria Shriver.
Maria Shriver was born into the legendary Kennedy and Shriver families, arriving with a script already written for her—an identity shaped by legacy and expectation. From the start, the world had ideas about who she should be. But after decades as a journalist, years as California’s First Lady, and raising four amazing kids, Maria has been on a lifelong journey to peel back the layers and ask Who am I now?—and answer it for herself.
Maria also happens to be Simon’s best friend. They talked about how they became each other’s “8-minute friends,” the quiet questions that shape us, and Maria’s beautiful new book of poetry—which she reads from in this episode. It’s all about identity, self-reflection, and finding your voice in a world that keeps trying to define it for you.
If you’ve ever wondered who you are beyond what you do or how to rediscover yourself after life changes, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that identity is something we can reclaim again and again.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Maria Shriver, check out: her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-am-mar...
--------------------------- Lees meer -
Revisited: How to Turn Stress Into Creativity With Grammy-Winner Jacob Collier
3 maart 2026 · 59 min
Team Simon here! As we take a short hiatus, A Bit of Optimism will return with brand-new episodes on March 24, 2026. Until then, we’re revisiting some of the conversations you loved and we still think about long after the microphones turned off.
This week, we’re rewinding to Simon’s conversation with the wildly creative and endlessly curious Jacob Collier.
To create something truly original, do we build something new or break what came before? Perhaps the answer is both—simultaneously.
Jacob Collier does exactly that. A songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy Award winner, Jacob has built a career on blending structure with spontaneity. He’s known for turning entire concert halls into three-part choirs, transforming audiences from spectators into collaborators. His album "Djesse Volume 4" was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy Awards, alongside icons like Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift. Although Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" won, Jacob snagged his seventh Grammy for his rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
Simon sat down with Jacob in a music studio just days before the 2025 Grammys, surrounded by pianos and possibility. What unfolded was more than a conversation about music. It was a masterclass in creativity, about holding opposites at once, embracing imperfection, and having the courage to follow curiosity wherever it leads.
If you’ve ever wondered how creativity really works or how to find your own voice without losing what came before—this one’s worth another listen.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Jacob, check out:
http://jacobcollier.com
@jacobcollier
--------------------------- Lees meer -
The Confidence Conversation We Need to Have with Scott Galloway
24 februari 2026 · 55 min
Scott Galloway and I don’t always see the world the same way, but our friendly debates almost always lead us back to common ground. It’s probably why we enjoy talking to each other as much as we do.
If you haven’t heard my friend Scott’s name before, he’s known for being brilliant, provocative, and unapologetically himself. He’s a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and larger-than-life social commentator. In recent years, his work, which includes his new book Notes on Being a Man, has explored the challenges facing men today, from loneliness and dating to purpose and identity.
Scott and I have different views on what “healthy masculinity” looks like. He’s not afraid to say things during this podcast that might ruffle some feathers. But inevitably, the conclusions we get to are introspective, vulnerable, and often universal. That’s certainly true for one revelation we share: confidence matters.
Not the loud, performative kind. The real kind. The kind that helps people risk rejection, build meaningful relationships, and show up more generously in the world.
In this episode, Scott and I talk about the “masculinity crisis,” why young people are struggling to connect, how purpose outlasts happiness, and why masculine and feminine traits are complementary rather than competing. We explore the need for good social risks like leaving the house, meeting people, pursuing relationships, and hearing “no,” and why confidence is less about ego and more about security, kindness, and connection.
This is a conversation between two opposites who challenge each other, listen deeply, and ultimately agree that building real confidence may be one of the most important skills we can teach the next generation.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
If you want to read Scott’s new book Notes on Being a Man, head to: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Notes-on-Being-a-Man
Check out Scott’s podcast “The Prof G Pod”: https://www.y… Lees meer -
28 Years on the Force: Chief Angela Averiett on What It Really Takes to Change Police Culture
16 februari 2026 · 1 uur 5 min
It’s often true that the most challenging conversations are often the ones most worth having. Conversations that bring up strong feelings, different experiences, and questions without easy answers. Policing, and how we can make it better, is one of those conversations.
San Leandro Police Chief Angela Averiett has spent nearly three decades in law enforcement, navigating the profession’s challenges while advocating for a healthier path forward. I met Angela through The Curve, my organization focused on helping policing evolve to meet the needs of a modern world. She’s a powerful example of forward-thinking leadership, exploring how culture, mindset, and psychological safety shape the way officers show up for each other and for the communities they serve.
In this episode, Angela and I unpack why cynicism is so common among officers, how strong leadership creates healthier team cultures, and why rebuilding trust in policing starts from the inside out. Angela shares stories from her career that reveal a different side of police work: where compassion improves safety, discretion matters more than enforcement, and leadership means creating space for people to be human. Together, we explore the balance between strength and empathy, and why healthier internal cultures lead to stronger relationships with the public.
Whether you’re a leader interested in organizational culture or simply curious about how policing can evolve, I hope this conversation offers an honest and hopeful perspective on the work ahead.
---------------------------
If you want to learn more about the work The Curve is doing, head to: https://www.thecurve.org
--------------------------- Lees meer -
When Pop Fandom Becomes a Force for Good with AJR’s Adam Met
10 februari 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Fanbases are some of the most powerful forces on the planet.
They show up. They buy the tickets. They travel across countries and time zones. They memorize lyrics, study interviews, hunt for Easter eggs, and turn the smallest detail into an entire universe of meaning. They collaborate, they organize, and they care deeply.
Fan communities are savvy. They are smart. And when they are invited in, they create extraordinary momentum.
Adam Met, best known as the “A” of indie-pop band AJR, believes that this kind of energy can extend far beyond concerts or comment sections. He is asking a bigger question. What if we harnessed that same passion, creativity, imagination, and sense of belonging to improve the communities we live in?
Adam has spent years studying how to move people from curiosity to action. He’s also a climate activist, the founder of the nonprofit Planet Reimagined, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and the author of the bestselling book Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World.
In our conversation, Adam explains how the same principles that make music meaningful - ownership, storytelling, participation, and belonging - can be applied to social movements, civic engagement, and climate action, to name a few. From designing fan-first concert experiences to rethinking how we engage people around complex issues, Adam argues that emotion is the engine of progress.
This episode isn’t really about music.
And it’s not really about climate either.
It’s about how we bring people together, help them feel invested, and create experiences that inspire them to act.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To buy Adam’s book Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World, head to: https://www.adammet.net/amplify
If you want to learn more about Adam’s climate work, check out: https://www.planetreimagined.com
And don’t forget to stream AJR’s latest EP, … Lees meer -
What Grit Really Teaches Us About Happiness with Professor Angela Duckworth
3 februari 2026 · 56 min
We’re often told that the secret to success is grit - more discipline, more perseverance, more individual effort. And grit does matter. But what if it’s only half the story?
In today’s world, we’ve become experts at tracking achievement, yet novices at nurturing belonging - and the cost of that imbalance is showing up everywhere from burnout to loneliness.
Few people are better equipped to help me make sense of that tension than today’s guest, Angela Duckworth. Angela is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, a MacArthur “Genius” Award winner, and the bestselling author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Angela is one of those people I could talk to for hours and we cover a lot of ground, but our conversation isn’t just about grit or performance. It’s about something deeper: why belonging gives achievement meaning and why human beings are actually wired to thrive together.
In this episode, Angela and I explore how a culture obsessed with individual success quietly erodes teamwork, trust, and wellbeing. We talk about the loneliness epidemic among young people, why grit is so often misunderstood, and why character isn’t just about what you do for yourself, but what you do for others. Along the way, we unpack why the smartest people don’t always make the best teammates, how incentives shape behavior in ways we rarely notice, and why purpose and people—not willpower—are what sustain us over time.
If you’ve ever felt burned out, disconnected, or wondered why success doesn’t feel as satisfying as you thought it would, this conversation is a reminder that meaning doesn’t come from standing alone at the top—it comes from being part of something bigger than yourself.
This is… A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To buy Angela’s book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, head to: https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-book
--------------------------- Lees meer -
Matthew McConaughey on How to Fall Back in Love with Your Life
27 januari 2026 · 59 min
In a world defined by constant change, reinvention isn’t optional - it’s essential. We often assume reinvention comes from bold leaps or lucky breaks, but actor and author Matthew McConaughey’s story suggests a quieter approach can be far more powerful.
In this episode, Matthew joins me to explore the inner practices that have shaped both his life and his legendary career in Hollywood. From stepping away from romantic comedies at the height of his success to sitting with uncertainty when there were no guarantees on the other side, Matthew shares how learning to get comfortable with discomfort empowered the most meaningful reinventions of his life.
At the center of our conversation is curiosity - self-curiosity. Matthew reflects on decades of journaling as a way to notice patterns, stay honest, and make sense of moments that feel unclear. Rather than avoiding discomfort, he learned to treat it as information to study, learn from, and eventually act on.
We talk about what it takes to stay relevant without losing yourself, why reinvention often requires carrying the risk before anyone else believes in the outcome, and how self-curiosity can become a compass when the path forward isn’t obvious.
Matthew also shares how these ideas come to life in his newest book, Poems & Prayers - a collection of reflections shaped by presence, patience, and the courage to keep asking better questions.
If you’re navigating change, questioning your direction, or looking to grow while remaining true to yourself, this conversation offers a grounded and thoughtful path forward.
This is… A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To check out Matthew’s new book Poems & Prayers, head to: http://www.poemsprayers.com
--------------------------- Lees meer -
Revisited: Trevor Noah Makes My Brain Hurt
20 januari 2026 · 56 min
Hello from Team Simon! We’ll be back next week—January 27, 2026—with brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism. We’re excited to bring you new guests, conversations, and opportunities to learn.
Until then, we’re diving back into the archives to revisit one of our favorite episodes from 2024, when comedian Trevor Noah joined the show… to get as serious as possible.
Most Americans know Trevor as the former host of The Daily Show, a bestselling author, and a stand-up comedian. But his brand of humor isn’t just a barrel of laughs— it’s raw, witty, thought-provoking, and often makes you see the world in a whole new way.
In this conversation, Simon and Trevor ditched the small talk (mostly) and went deep into the paradox of choice, the public's response to the murder of United HealthCare's CEO, and why the human experience might be defined by constraint.
It will make you chuckle, think, and probably question everything all at once.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Trevor and his work, check out: https://www.trevornoah.com/ Lees meer -
Revisited: Kids (And Employees) Know More Than You Think with Dr. Becky Kennedy
13 januari 2026 · 44 min
Team Simon here! We’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes from 2025. But we'll be back in just two weeks with brand-new episodes of A Bit of Optimism on January 27, 2026. We think you’re going to love them!
Today, we’re going back to January of last year when Dr. Becky Kennedy joined us to discuss the hardest job in the world—parenting. It turns out, it’s also one of the best training grounds for leadership.
Dr. Becky Kennedy, aka the “Millennial Parent Whisperer,” became an essential voice for caretakers by offering practical, actionable parenting advice that resonated with millions during the pandemic. As a clinical psychologist and founder of Good Inside, she’s now helping parents build sturdy leadership skills that not only transform their homes but also their work lives.
In this conversation, Dr. Becky shares how understanding boundaries, emotional triggers, and big feelings can help us become more effective leaders. Whether you’re a parent or a manager (or both!), her insights will help you lead with more intention, connection, and confidence.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
Check out Dr. Becky’s work: https://www.goodinside.com/ Lees meer -
Revisited: The First Steps To Reducing Your Anxiety with Author Mel Robbins
6 januari 2026 · 57 min
Happy New Year from Team Simon! We’re so excited to bring you more new episodes of A Bit of Optimism when we return on January 27, 2026. With your support, we’ll make 2026 an incredible year together. In the meantime, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes from last year.
We kicked off 2025 with a guest most podcast enthusiasts probably have heard of—Mel Robbins. This insightful conversation answers an important question: how do we push through the days where life can feel overwhelming? Especially when we're too drained to even get out of bed.
For Mel Robbins, facing this very question turned her life around. Struggling with $800,000 in debt and at rock bottom, she became obsessed with finding practical ways to regain control. Fast forward to today, and Mel is a bestselling author and podcast host who has helped millions transform their lives. In her latest book, The Let Them Theory, she reveals how shedding the weight of others' expectations can help us live more authentically.
Simon sat down with Mel to dive into how we can take action when we're emotionally spent, why our need for control ties us to other people's opinions, and how giving others the freedom to be themselves allows us to align with our true values.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Mel and her work, check out: https://www.melrobbins.com/podcast
and her book: https://www.melrobbins.com/letthemtheory Lees meer -
Revisited: The Beautiful Brilliance of Boredom with Creative Polymath Elle Cordova
30 december 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
Team Simon is revisiting some of the episodes you helped make our favorites of the year until A Bit of Optimism returns on January 27, 2026, with brand-new episodes.
We’re rewinding back to August, when talented polymath Elle Cordova joined the show and unpacked how we’re all wired to chase the next spark. We scroll, swipe, refresh, and repeat—but some of our brightest ideas sneak in when we stop chasing, let boredom settle in, and give our minds room to wander.
Elle knows the power of that pause. When the pandemic hit pause on her life as a touring musician, she stumbled into new creative territory—making offbeat comedy videos about delightfully nerdy topics like particle physics, grammar, and fonts. Those sketches went viral, and suddenly she was thriving as a social media creator with a devoted following.
In this episode, Simon and Elle talk about finding what truly lights you up, pushing through writer’s block, working with anxiety—and yes, Star Wars makes an appearance (because of course it does). Plus, Elle treats us to a live, in-studio performance of her song “Roswell.”
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
For more on Elle, check out: https://www.ellecordova.com/ Lees meer -
A Bit of Optimism Will Return in the New Year
23 december 2025 · 3 min
Team Simon here! As the year comes to a close, A Bit of Optimism is pressing pause for a short winter break. The show will return on January 27, 2026 and we can’t wait to be back with you.
But before we go, we want to say thank you. Truly.
This show exists because of you—the listeners who show up every week, share episodes and clips, leave thoughtful comments, start conversations, and carry these ideas into your own lives and workplaces. Your support, curiosity, and generosity are what give this podcast its momentum. It wouldn’t be what it is without this community.
While we’re away, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite episodes from the past year—conversations you helped turn into something special. We also invite you to explore the archive and revisit the episodes you loved most, the ones you shared, commented on, and helped make a success.
We’re taking all of that energy with us into the break as we prepare for the year ahead. More meaningful conversations, more inspiring guests, and more moments we hope will leave you feeling just a little more optimistic.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Happy holidays, and we’ll see you in the new year! Lees meer -
Revisited: Your Unhappy Brain Needs Some Assistance with Happiness Expert Mo Gawdat
23 december 2025 · 1 uur 31 min
Team Simon here! Thank you for being part of such an incredible year—and for helping us grow the podcast through your support, sharing it with others, and showing up week after week. We love seeing your comments and hearing what resonates with you.
A Bit of Optimism returns on January 27, 2026, with brand-new episodes we think you’re really going to enjoy. Until then, we’re revisiting a few of our favorite moments from the past year.
We’re kicking things off with one of our most popular episodes—the conversation we filmed in London with Mo Gawdat. As a “Happiness Expert,” Mo teaches us that happiness is a choice, even if it’s not always an easy choice to make.
Mo had to face an impossible choice. Before he was a bestselling author and podcast host, Mo worked a lucrative career as Chief Business Officer at Google X. He reached the heights of business influence and amassed a fortune by 29. And yet, he was miserable. It was only after the tragic death of his 21-year-old son Ali that Mo was forced to confront the truth.
Mo now dedicates his life, work, and research to figuring out how human beings can be happier, and he’s on a mission to make 1 billion people happy. He shares what he’s learned – that happiness is both a choice and our default setting, how to trick our brains out of survival mode, and why the happiest emotions we feel are rooted in the present, not the past or future.
This… is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To learn more about Mo and his work, check out: https://www.mogawdat.com/ Lees meer -
Prepare for the Life You’re Meant to Live With Chaplain John Fox
16 december 2025 · 1 uur 8 min
Often the biggest transformations we undergo don’t arrive as lightning bolts, but as quiet shifts we’ve been preparing for all along. For John Fox, the transformation from a 25-year career in high finance to becoming a chaplain wasn’t sudden at all. It was a slow burn—shaped by loss, reflection, community, and a deep desire to live a more meaningful life.
John’s successful finance career spanned decades. To the world, he was thriving, but internally he yearned for fulfillment no paycheck could give him. After losing his mother, questioning the purpose of work, and rediscovering his spiritual roots, he began to sense that his life was preparing him for a very different kind of service. That path eventually led him to the Peace Corps, seminary, and finally chaplaincy—where he now spends his days sitting with people in hospitals, jails, shelters, and hospice care.
In this conversation, John shares how you can slowly build a new life, why most of us struggle to talk about things we can’t fix, and the human need to be seen by others. We also talk about community, discernment, loss, faith, and the power of listening without trying to change anything.
His story is a reminder that life’s meaning often reveals itself slowly… and that the pivots that change our lives most profoundly are the ones we’ve been preparing for all along.
This is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To learn more about the Union Rescue Mission, visit their website at www.urm.org
And to check out John’s congregation, head to www.newcitychurchla.com Lees meer -
How Losing Everything Taught Her to Help Everyone: Joan Howard’s Story
9 december 2025 · 51 min
Life can change in an instant. One day you’re shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, and the next you’re sitting in your car with everything you own, and everyone you love, wondering what happens now.
Joan Howard grew up in Beverly Hills with every advantage until a series of crises left her homeless and living in her car with her mother and three dogs. What helped her rebuild wasn't luck or charity. It was kindness, consistency, and one simple weekly practice of being in service to others.
Today, Joan is a long-time volunteer for Food on Foot, the very organization that helped her decades ago. Food on Foot is more than a meal line—it’s a community built on dignity, kindness, and practical support for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Their model helps people find work, save money, build confidence, and move forward with independence.
In this episode, we talk about what homelessness actually looks like, why service can be transformative, and how organizations like Food on Foot help people not just get back on their feet, but build a future.
This is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
To learn more about Food on Foot, visit their website!
https://www.foodonfoot.org/
--------------------------- Lees meer -
A Rebel With a Cause (and a Cone) with Jeni’s Ice Cream Founder Jeni Britton
2 december 2025 · 53 min
What if a great business was built like a handmade mixtape? A lovingly crafted experience that is as much a love letter from its founder as it is custom-tailored to its audience.
Before Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams became a household name, Jeni Britton was a 22-year-old art school dropout scooping her ice cream creations at a farmers market in Ohio. She didn’t have investors, connections, or a playbook. What she did have was a vision - not just for ice cream, but for connection.
Jeni believed her bold ice cream could be a conduit for something bigger: a place where people feel seen, conversations happen naturally, and strangers become community. Over the next two decades, she bootstrapped her way from a small counter to a nationally recognized brand by doing everything the slow, hard, old-fashioned way — one customer, one flavor, and one act of service at a time.
She refused shortcuts. She prioritized people. And she built her company like a handmade mixtape — crafted with intention, risk, rebellion, and love.
In this conversation, Jeni explains what true entrepreneurship really is: not hype, not hyper-growth, and not chasing venture capital, but the courage to follow a vision long enough for it to start leading you. We talk about the creative process, the power of service, the lessons learned from young employees, the myth of “scalable ideas,” and how walking in the woods helped Jeni discover her next chapter - Floura.
Jeni’s story is a reminder that the best things in life - and in business - take time, heart, and a willingness to make something beautiful even when no one is watching.
This is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
This episode is brought to you by the Porsche USA Macan
---------------------------
Visit Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams:
https://jenis.com/
Check out Jeni’s newest venture — Floura:
https://www.floura.com/ Lees meer -
The Culture That Converts Even the Biggest Cynics with former WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge
25 november 2025 · 57 min
Who would’ve guessed that one of the world’s best company cultures was hiding behind a can of WD-40? Of all the places to find a leadership masterclass, the blue-and-yellow can in your garage probably wasn’t on your list - but it’s time to put it there.
Garry Ridge - an Australian who brought his charm and curiosity across the Pacific - joined WD-40 Company in the late ’80s and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as CEO for 25 years. But he didn’t start out as the culture-building expert he’s known as today. Early in his career, he lived by the old mantra: “be brilliant, be brief, be gone.” He had to unlearn that mindset and rebuild himself into a leader who centers people, learning, and belonging - an evolution that reshaped WD-40 from the inside out. His new book, Any Dumb Ass Can Do It, captures that journey.
In this episode, we break down how Garry built a company where people genuinely love coming to work - even through recessions, pandemics, and all the external chaos leaders can’t control. We dig into the systems and behaviors that fueled WD-40’s rise, from psychological safety to accountability to building internal consistency no matter what the market is doing.
Garry and I both believe that people deserve to love their work - even if they don’t like it every single day. People want to feel seen, heard, and valued. And Garry is one of the rare leaders who knows exactly how to make that happen.
This is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
This episode is brought to you by the Porsche USA Macan
---------------------------
Check out Garry’s new book.
https://thelearningmoment.net/any-dumb-ass-can-do-it/
And his coaching work with The Learning Movement.
https://thelearningmoment.net/ Lees meer -
Choose Your Seven Humans Wisely with author Fredrik Backman
18 november 2025 · 58 min
What if great friendships aren’t found by luck but built through effort?
Bestselling novelist Fredrik Backman, the mind behind A Man Called Ove (adapted into the Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto), Anxious People, and the beloved Beartown series, has spent his career writing about the quiet power of ordinary people. But in his real life, he learned one of his most important lessons from his best friend of 30 years: meaningful friendship is a skill you develop, not a lottery you win.
Despite being a self-described introvert, Fredrik discovered that you don’t need hundreds of friends. You only get a few humans who truly shape your life. His newest book, My Friends, is a tribute to those relationships and the daily work of showing up for the people who matter most.
In this candid and inspiring conversation, Fredrik and I talk about the healing power of friendship, why differences make relationships stronger, the value of having friends who edit us, and the joy of being genuinely happy for someone else.
If you want to become a better friend and build deeper connections, this episode offers heartfelt lessons from one of the world’s most compassionate storytellers.
This is A Bit of Optimism.
---------------------------
This episode is brought to you by the Porsche USA Macan
---------------------------
To check out Fredrik’s newest book, “My Friends,” visit:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/My-Friends/Fredrik-Backman/9781982112820
Find the full-length speech Fredrik gave for Simon & Schuster here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSuSyZ92Cjg Lees meer