The TED network has quickly become the world’s premier platform for amazing real-world stories, inspiration, and talks from some of the most fascinating people on earth.
This means that its plethora of individual podcast series is also not only incredibly inspiring but incredibly popular.
One of the most popular podcast series in the stable of TED podcasts is Work Life, hosted by Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist, that focuses on how some of the most successful professionals manage to balance their work and their lives and how they can still enjoy their work every single day.
This is one of the most illuminating podcasts not only within the TED network but across the entirety of the internet.
As a result, you likely want to try out the show for yourself now, and you want to know which episodes to try out. Well, read on below to find out now!
Table of Contents
Is It Safe To Speak Up At Work?
If you are ever afraid to ask for help or deliver bad news to other members of your work team or your higher-ups, then it could be that you are working in a toxic environment.
In this episode, Adam looks at the importance of speaking up and standing up for your values even in the workplace, especially in the face of toxic work culture.
He also explores how listeners can learn to stand up for themselves in the workplace and how to do so safely.
He also provides tips to business owners and managers on how they can foster a culture of communication within the workplace.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
The Real Reason You Procrastinate
Though you may think that a sense of laziness causes procrastination and that not many suffer, it is a widespread problem that even some of the most successful people worldwide have trouble tackling.
In this episode, Adam takes a nuanced approach to the topic of procrastination to find out why we do it and why it is healthy and normal.
From there, Adam also talks about some key ways listeners can help curb their procrastination.
Adam is also joined by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, who is also a self-proclaimed procrastinator!
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
How To Bust Bias At Work
Biases proliferate easily within the workplace, as certain groups of disadvantaged people are often subconsciously kept from achieving higher positions.
This episode focuses on how such biases can spread through the workplace and where they may originate from.
Adam also looks at how businesses can identify biases and prejudices in the workplace and curb them outright.
This is one of the series’s most interesting episodes because it touches on a very often overlooked topic, especially within business podcasts.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
We Should Allow Sad Days, Not Just Sick Days
We allow time off from work for physical illness, so why don’t we also lend the same courtesy to those with a mental illness?
Though workplaces are finally starting to recognize the importance of mental health, there is still a stigma associated with it and an expectation to work through it despite the misery.
In this episode, Adam looks at how workplaces can be more compassionate to employees’ mental health and even provide days off to look after mental health!
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
A World Without Bosses
The rise of freelance work and the ‘Be your own boss’ culture has seen the landscape of work change dramatically, and thus, in this episode, Adam seeks to find out what it is like to work a job without a boss.
Adam finds that while working without a boss can be very freeing, it can also be very daunting and, in some cases, completely paralyzing.
To help him understand working without a boss a little better, Adam talks to Dan Pink about the culture and the story of Morning Star, a tomato paste company that hasn’t had a single boss for multiple decades!
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
How To Love Criticism
Being criticized, even fairly, can be a tough pill to swallow.
Very few of us can truthfully claim to love receiving criticism, but Adam has a few tips to help make taking criticism a little easier and even quite inspiring!
Adam looks at some of the most successful hedge funds in the world to look at how they approach criticism.
What he finds out is surprising, as he finds a culture in which employees are ranked based on their successes and failures!
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Why It Pays To Raise Pay
Many of us dream of being paid a little more for the work we do every day, but it remains a complete fantasy for most of us.
But what are the potential benefits that employees and businesses might see should they pay more?
This episode dives deep into several workplaces across the world that have already begun paying employees higher than their average rate to look at the impacts it has had, both negative and positive.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Faking Your Emotions At Work
Managing your emotions can sometimes be vital to making it in any industry.
You must ensure that you can control how you feel about certain things to handle the challenges that work throws at you.
But, is it worthwhile to be somewhat at least understanding not only your own emotions but the emotions of those around you in the workplace?
As well as this, how do you also manage your own emotions without running the risk of them exploding out at an inopportune time?
This episode looks at some intense stuff that will get you thinking about work and how you carry yourself within it.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
