Stay ConnectedThe Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.
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AI, according to Andy Sack and Adam Brotman, co-founders of Forum3 and co-authors of the new book AI First, isn't just a neat new tool. It's "a tsunami of technology and capabilities." And if you don't start learning how to use it properly, they say, "you are absolutely gonna be left behind." The problem? Most people are using AI wrong. They're treating it like Google search when it should be treated like "an alien synthetic intelligence that can really reason and think and help you." In this episode, Andy and Adam share the mindset shifts and practical techniques that can help you harness AI to supercharge your productivity, creativity, and capability.
This is one of our favorite conversations from the last year. On the surface, it's an interview we did with Michael Lewis to coincide with the paperback release of Going Infinite, his book about Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. Michael, who spent months hovering over Sam's shoulder, believes he wasn't some malevolent grifter: he was an awkward kid undone by a “pathological ability to foist risk upon other people without asking their permission." But what we love about this episode is that it's not only about the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried. It's also about Michael's approach to writing — and living. He opens up about losing his daughter, shares what draws him to a story, and explains how taking pleasure in the world produces his best work.
🏛️ Check out Michael's latest book, Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service
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Susan Cain always knew she wanted to be a writer. But her path to becoming one was anything but straightforward. She took a creative writing class in college and came away convinced she wasn’t very talented. So she pivoted: law school, white-shoe firm, eyes set on making partner. Seven years later, a senior partner walked into her office with life-changing news. It wasn’t going to happen. “I burst into tears,” Susan recalls. Three hours later, she quit. Within a week, she enrolled in a creative non-fiction class. A few years after that, despite never having published a word in her life, she sold her first book, Quiet, in a bidding war. Today, she ranks among the most successful non-fiction writers of her generation. In this episode, Susan takes us inside her journey from rejection to literary sensation, revealing the unexpected lessons she learned along the way.
Today’s episode first appeared on Author Insider, our newsletter and community for anyone who wants to turn words and ideas into income. Learn more at authorinsider.nextbigideaclub.com.
Subscribe to Susan’s Substack, The Quiet Life, at thequietlife.net
We think that cynicism protects us from being disappointed by other people. But Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki says the opposite is true. When we expect the worst in people, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy that brings out exactly what we feared. So in his new book, Hope for Cynics, Jamil sets out to prove that hope isn't naive: it's smart.
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Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman broke free from resentment and rumination, shifting into what he calls an empowerment mindset. Are you ready to do the same?
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What if everything we've been told about having a successful career is wrong? Rutger Bregman thinks most of us are wasting our working lives and argues we should stop trying to get rich and start trying to solve the world's problems instead.
In his new book, The Thinking Machine, Stephen Witt offers a riveting portrait of Jensen Huang, who went from immigrant dishwasher to CEO of the world’s most valuable company.
• If you enjoyed this episode, check out our conversation with Walter Isaacson about his biography of Elon Musk
Humans are wired to explore. So why are we less adventurous than ever — and what are we losing because of it?
Guest: Alex Hutchinson, author of The Explorer’s Gene
Further Listening: Looking for more episodes about adventure? Check out our conversations with Colin O’Brady and David Grann
Could AI take over in the next few years? Daniel Kokotajlo thinks so. Here’s why.
💿 Check out this Spotify playlist of our other episodes about AI
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Remember magazines? Piled high on coffee tables or tucked into seatback pockets. Savored beneath beach umbrellas or skimmed anxiously in dental waiting rooms. Glorious, glossy magazines. Graydon Carter made some of the best. He started with Spy, a sly, sharp-edged monthly that managed to feel both smarter and more mischievous than anything else on the rack. But it was Vanity Fair that became his cathedral. Over his remarkable 25-year tenure as editor, he built the magazine into a financial juggernaut and a cultural touchstone renowned for its ambitious journalism and arresting photography. The hard-won wisdom he gathered along the way — about editing, storytelling, leadership, and how to leave before the music stops — is the subject of his new memoir, When the Going Was Good.
(This conversation was recorded live at WBUR Cityspace.)
💿 Check out this playlist of our interviews featuring magazine greats like Michael Lewis, Sebastian Junger, Kara Swisher, and David Grann.
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