Greg La Blanc Podcasts

How do human senses compare to those of animals? In what ways are they similar, how are they different, and how do they help us make sense of the world? Ashley Ward is a Professor of Animal Behavior at the University of Sydney, Australia, and also the author of several books about animal behavior. His latest book is titled Where We Meet the World: …

Ever wondered why allergies seem to be on the rise? How about the intriguing link between the industrial revolution and our own immune responses? Theresa MacPhail is an Associate Professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, a medical anthropologist, and author of several books. Her latest is called Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing …

How do you measure the true productivity of a country’s economy? What gets missed if the only metric being examined is the GDP? Robert J. Gordon is a professor of social sciences and economics at Northwestern University. His work focuses on the history of labor and capital productivity and has written numerous books, including, The Rise and Fall of…

In ancient times, debtors were treated with severe punishment, even sometimes being dismembered. So when did things start to shift towards debt forgiveness leading up to the modern-day concept of filing for bankruptcy? David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He’s the author o…

How much does venture capital actually have to do with finance? It turns out, not that much. Rather, venture capital has more to do with psychology, network theory, and organizational dynamics. Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He’s written numerous books, includi…

Why are only 8.5% of large projects completed on time and within budget? No matter what type of project you're involved in, whether it's home renovations or space exploration, this conversation promises a wealth of knowledge and insights. Bent Flyvbjerg is a professor at both Oxford University and the IT University of Copenhagen. He is also the aut…

In this episode, we unravel the misunderstood philosophy of Epicureanism. Don't be fooled by common misconceptions - Epicureanism isn't just about hedonism. It's about a balanced pursuit of tranquility, ataraxia, and the good life. Emily Austin is a Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and the author of Living for Pleasure: An Epicurea…

Strategic Insights are everywhere, but they often go unnoticed by leaders. How can leaders of organizations harness the ideas around them by opening up their strategic planning process? Christian Stadler is a Professor of Strategic Management at the Warwick Business School and the author of the books Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption from Outside…

Is History driven by heroic individuals or by variation and selection? What determines the speed of innovation? Matt Ridley is a science writer, journalist, and businessman. His books include The Red Queen, The Origins of Virtue, Genome, Nature via Nurture, Francis Crick, The Rational Optimist, The Evolution of Everything, and How Innovation Works.…

How does one tell the story of knowledge through the centuries? And what kind of knowledge is being discussed when looking at its history? Peter Burke, a professor of history at Cambridge University, has written more than 30 books over the course of his lifetime and has taken a special interest in studying the history of knowledge and polymaths. He…

Nowadays, if someone wants to make a lot of money in finance, they don’t go and work for investment banks. The real money to be made is at private equity firms. With most of these firms controlling a huge percentage of the country’s overall GDP and doing so largely unchecked, is it time to take a hard look at the systems that protect and allow thes…

Ever wondered why some people seem to have an aversion to gesturing while speaking? Or did you know that even in the absence of sight, human beings instinctively use gestures to communicate? Susan Goldin-Meadow is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago and also the author of the b…

Is democracy and the idea of citizenship deteriorating because of the state of our country’s education system? Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He’s written more than 25 books in the realm of classics, military history, and the American political system. His latest …

Ever wondered about the growing presence of asset managers in all aspects of our lives? Brett Christophers is a Professor in the Department of Human Geography at Uppsala University in Sweden and the author of several books. His latest work is titled Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World, and next year, he has a new book co…

Is it possible to simplify life without losing the comfort and complexity that enriches it? John Maeda, vice president of artificial intelligence and design at Microsoft, has been writing about the intersection of design, technology, business, and life for years. His book, The Laws of Simplicity, explores the question of needing less while still ge…

Will the subjects we debate in education still be relevant a century from now? There are enduring controversies and tensions in education that continue even today. Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and also the author of a number of books in the field of Education History. His latest work is Whose Americ…

What technological and societal factors led to the rise of the large corporation in 20th-century America? Richard N. Langlois is an economics professor at the University of Connecticut and the author of the book The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: The History of American Business Enterprise. His work examines the economics of organizations, …

Do you find communication a necessary evil rather than a tool for success? How can you use communication as a fundamental key to success in both your personal and professional lives? Matt Abrahams is a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, podcaster, and author. His latest book is Think Faster, Ta…

Many scholars and philosophers have taken the stance that empathy hinders the true pursuit of knowledge and justice. But our guest today takes the opposite approach. Heidi L. Maibom is a professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati and the University of the Basque Country. Her book, The Space Between: How Empathy Really Works, argues tha…

Does the financial world need a shake-up? By venturing into the minds of Nassim Taleb and Benoit Mandelbrot, two outliers who challenge the status quo of modern portfolio theory and efficient market hypothesis, we can find groundbreaking theories with implications for the financial sphere, especially in the face of unpredictable "Black Swan" events…

As we navigate life's challenges, it's crucial we confront the subjects that often remain unspoken out of fear or misunderstanding. Both modern and ancient philosophers have had the wisdom to lead about the tough topics of suicide and addiction, and the nature of their complexities can be informed by both philosophy and science. Clancy Martin, Ph.D…

Humans are creatures of habit. We have habits for talking, eating, walking, sleeping–we don’t question these habits; much of it happens on autopilot. But it’s through art and philosophy that allows us to take a step back from those habits and examine them in a meaningful way. This is the argument that Alva Noë, professor of philosophy at UC Berkele…

What if we haven’t unlocked the true potential of our senses because we simply don't pay enough attention to them? Writer and filmmaker Jackie Higgins explores human senses by comparing them to their animal counterparts in her book Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses. Spoiler alert: Human senses are far more powerful tha…

Can you imagine the brain's intricate dance that helps us maintain balance? How does this process connect with vertigo, cognitive decline, and even our emotions and decision-making? Paul Thagard is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo and the author of several books. His latest release is titled Balance: How It Works and What It Means…

Where does the concept of rules originate from? And how does that history inform the rules we use to organize society today? Lorraine Daston is the director emerita at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and a professor at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought. Her book, Rules: A Short History of What We Live By, t…

Technological progress drives productivity improvements and increases wealth, but the distribution of those gains depends on both technological and political factors. The debates we see now over the impact of AI on social welfare are not new: similar debates surrounded previous waves of innovation. One thing we have learned from those previous wave…

The history of money isn’t just an Economics story, but it’s a cultural and philosophical one, too. Felix Martin, a columnist for Reuters, charts this history in his book, Money: The Unauthorized Biography – From Coinage to Cryptocurrencies, and argues that money as a social institution has always been wielded as a political instrument. Felix and G…

As more and more humans came up against the edges of wilderness in American history, new laws were needed to help guide and shape what the process would look like. As time changed, so did the laws dealing with preserving nature and society’s view on its importance. Jedediah Purdy is a professor of Law at Duke Law and the author of several books. Hi…

Humans, as a species, are unique among the animal kingdom in a number of ways, but several of those involve how we have and raise our children. In a class of our own, even compared to other primates, humans spend an extremely long time in childhood and even longer until all parts of us, including our bones, fully mature. Brenna Hassett is a biologi…

In the information economy, reading is an essential skill. How can competency in reading be measured, and how can it be improved? In the 19th century, there emerged a science of reading that led to the “reading wars” that are with us to this day. Adrian Johns is the Allan Grant Maclear Professor of History at the University of Chicago and also an a…

Even well before the suffragettes of the 19th century, women had been writing, thinking, and pushing for equal rights for almost a hundred years. How did those early feminist activists inform policy and the way we view household and family politics today? Erika Bachiochi is a fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Ab…

Even though central banks have become independent over the years, is it fair to say they still face political challenges? Could inflation be viewed as a political problem or a technical one? Stephen D. King is a senior economic adviser at HSBC and has been writing about global economics for years. His most recent book, We Need to Talk About Inflati…

Sometimes, the ideas that end up being the most revolutionary come from outside the scientific mainstream. People who can approach the problem with different eyes and thoughts and see solutions from another angle. For medicine, the idea that revolutionized trauma wound care came from a complete outsider and accelerated when he joined forces with an…

Humans have a tendency to see the glass as half full. What arguments can be made on behalf of the half-empty perspective? Whether it's evaluating your life or making decisions about becoming a parent, viewing things through a pessimistic lens could ultimately help reduce suffering in the world. David Benatar is a professor of philosophy and directo…

As risk-averse individuals, we tend to try to avoid failure at all costs. But failing is an essential part of learning. So, how can we get better at it? And how can organizations create psychological safety so employees are more willing to take chances, even if it may lead to failure? Amy Edmondson is a professor at Harvard Business School and stud…

Does the way we rank colleges prioritize status over educational quality or the public good? Colin Diver is the Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., Professor of Law and Economics, former dean at the University of Pennsylvania, and former president of Reed College. His book, Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about…

The double helix of DNA twists in the heart of every human cell, and it comes with some editing software known as epigenetics that power what parts turn on and off and when. Scientists are still still working to understand exactly how genetics and epigenetics work, but we are learning more every day. Nessa Carey is the former International Director…

When it comes to data privacy laws these days, it’s still sort of like the Wild West out there. There’s no federal agency holding software makers responsible for security holes, consumers don’t understand how much risk there is, and the laws that are on the books are inadequate. Daniel J. Solove is a leading authority on privacy law and is a profes…

Is finance really just the economics of time and risk? How do you price things like time and risk? Edward Chancellor is a columnist with Reuters and is the author of the book, The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest, which delves into the history of lending and the interest rates that followed for the last five millennia. Edward and Greg disc…

The financial revolution in Europe was an outgrowth of the scientific revolution, and the greatest minds of the time were studying, commenting on, and even participating in the emerging world of finance. Then came the 1720 South Sea Bubble and the financial crisis that followed. Thomas Levenson is a Professor of Science Writing at the Massachusetts…

Is the smartest person in the room also the wisest? Not necessarily. So what does it mean to be wise, and how do you go about finding that wisdom in life? Thomas Gilovich is the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. His work in social psychology includes the key textbook in the field, and has written books that touc…

From an early age, students are taught the major academic disciplines like math, science, history, and art. But one thing that often gets overlooked or not formally taught is creative problem-solving. Why? And what would those classes look like? Tina Seelig, the executive director of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University, teaches crea…

Society’s view on fitness swings wildly from era to era throughout history. There were times when caring about your body was considered feminine, times when it was masculine, times when it was patriotic, and times when that was too close to how ideologies we don’t like behave - so not caring about your body was patriotic, but there have been many s…

A new era of technology brings about advancements that both thrill and concern society. Some see the oncoming innovations as the solution to our problems, others as the harbinger of the end, but one thing is certain: this isn’t the first time. Whether it’s the criticisms of social media, new vehicles meant to make communing easier, or industries di…

In order to fully appreciate art, does one have to have first-hand experience creating art oneself? How does experiencing art help artists with their own work? Artist Lincoln Perry is the author of the book, Seeing Like an Artist: What Artists Perceive in the Art of Others which aims to take the overwhelming and intimidating nature out of viewing a…

The prevalence of spending ample time indoors, engaging in screen-based activities, is narrowing our experiential landscape. As we constantly underutilize our sensory capabilities, we are missing out on the rich and vibrant information available from the colorful world around us. To thrive in a multi-dimensional world, reawakening our senses, enhan…

Is the practice of making a company sustainable a performative act, one motivated by a company's true values, or a move made for profit? And furthermore, does it matter if the effects are all the same? Companies all over the world are starting to align with newer, greener trajectories, and they do it for a myriad of reasons. Andrew S. Winston is th…

It’s one thing to talk about the science and physics behind the notion of invisibility, it’s another thing to examine the cultural place that idea occupies in media and philosophy. Science writer Philip Ball wants to do both, and not just with things unseen. He’s written numerous books spanning a multitude of topics like the invention of color, how…

The future has a landscape that is navigated as it comes, but across industries, legacy firms, and newly formed start-ups will do that very differently. All companies will be used to having sound strategies in the product world but may miss ways to capitalize on their data streams and what opportunities they open up. Mohan Subramaniam is a professo…

The significance of early childhood skill development and its influence on long-term income and success differentials is widely recognized today. However, there exists a reluctance within society to allocate substantial resources toward extensive research and development endeavors aimed at innovating and enhancing the effectiveness of this pivotal …