Adam Grant to Explore the Psychology of Unconventional Workplaces as Host of Upcoming New TED Original Podcast “WorkLife”
Organizational psychologist, professor, bestselling author and TED speaker Adam Grant is set to host a new TED original podcast series titled WorkLife with Adam Grant, which will explore unorthodox work cultures in search of surprising and actionable lessons for improving listeners’ work lives.
Beginning Wednesday, February 28, each weekly episode of WorkLife will center around one extraordinary workplace—from an award-winning TV writing team racing against the clock, to a sports team whose culture of humility propelled it to unexpected heights. In immersive interviews that take place in both the field and the studio, Adam brings his observations to vivid life – and distills useful insights in his friendly, accessible style.
“We spend a quarter of our lives in our jobs. This show is about making all that time worth your time,” says Adam, the bestselling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg. “In WorkLife, we’ll take listeners inside the minds of some fascinating people in some truly unusual workplaces, and mix in fresh social science to reveal how we can lead more creative, meaningful, and generous lives at work.”
Produced by TED in partnership with Pineapple Street Media and Transmitter Media, WorkLife is TED’s first original podcast created in partnership with a TED speaker. Its immersive, narrative format is designed to offer audiences a new way to explore TED speaker ideas in depth. Adam’s talks “Are you a giver or a taker?” and “The surprising habits of original thinkers” have together been viewed more than 11 million times in the past two years.
The show marks TED’s latest effort to test new content formats beyond the nonprofit’s signature first-person TED talk. Other recent TED original content experiments include Sincerely, X, an audio series featuring talks delivered anonymously; Small Thing Big Idea, a Facebook Watch video series about everyday designs that changed the world; and the Indian prime-time live-audience television series TED Talks India: Nayi Soch, hosted by Bollywood star and TED speaker Shah Rukh Khan.
“We’re aggressively developing and testing a number of new audio and video programs that support TED’s mission of ‘Ideas Worth Spreading,’” said TED head of media and WorkLife co-executive producer Colin Helms. “In every case, our speakers and their ideas remain the focus, but with fresh formats, styles and lengths, we can reach and appeal to even more curious audiences, wherever they are.”
WorkLife debuts Wednesday, February 28 on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Season 1 features eight episodes, roughly 30 minutes each, plus two bonus episodes. It’s sponsored by Accenture, Bonobos, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Warby Parker. New episodes will be made available every Wednesday.