Podcast · Business

A Bit of Optimism

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 57 min
Latest: 6 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026 · 56 minNew

Revisited: Your Instincts Know What You Want with Happiness Expert Arthur Brooks

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. 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…

Play episode WhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S6 · E32 · 29 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

Revisited: The Power of Saying "Screw It" with Rob Lowe

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. 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…
S6 · E31 · 22 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

What Mentally Strong People Do on Their Worst Days with Psychotherapist Amy Morin

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…
S6 · E30 · 15 Sep 2026 · 50 min

The Dating Advice Making Us Worse at Love with Relationship Expert Amy Chan

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…
S6 · E29 · 8 Sep 2026 · 47 min

Why Trying to “Sound Smart” is Losing You the Room with Strategic Story Producer Rob Willis

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. 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…
S6 · E28 · 1 Sep 2026 · 51 min

Your Limits Are Learned (And They Can Be Unlearned) with Brain Coach Jim Kwik

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. 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…
S6 · E27 · 25 Aug 2026 · 58 min

How to Trust Yourself When Everyone Has an Opinion with Love Thy Nader's Mary Holland Nader

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." 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…
S6 · E26 · 18 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

What Happens When You Bet on Yourself with Ted Lasso’s Brendan Hunt

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. 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…
S6 · E25 · 11 Aug 2026 · 46 min

How to Say the Hard Thing and Keep the Relationship | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 5

Every lasting relationship has survived at least a few hard conversations. 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…
S6 · E24 · 4 Aug 2026 · 53 min

Why Being Right Is Costing You Trust | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 4

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. 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…
S6 · E23 · 28 Jul 2026 · 58 min

What Is Your Team Afraid to Tell You? | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 3

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…
S6 · E22 · 21 Jul 2026 · 49 min

The Secret to Better Conversations Isn't Talking | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 2

The fastest way to improve your relationships isn't talking. It's listening. 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…
S6 · E21 · 14 Jul 2026 · 58 min

The Hidden Cost of Always Saying Yes | A Bit of Optimism: Feelings at Work | PART 1

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…
S6 · E20 · 7 Jul 2026 · 54 min

Why We Fall for the Wrong Person with Couples Therapist Dr. Harville Hendrix

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…
S6 · E19 · 30 Jun 2026 · 51 min

How to Tell If Fear Is Protecting You or Holding You Back with Extreme Athlete Nelly Attar

We tell ourselves the reason we never chase the big dream is that we're not ready, not brave enough, doomed to fail. 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…
S6 · E18 · 23 Jun 2026 · 52 min

Remembering Bob Chapman: The Mentor Who Changed My Life

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…
S6 · E17 · 16 Jun 2026 · 59 min

The AI Skills Nobody is Teaching (And Everyone Needs) with AI Expert Ethan Mollick

Be honest: AI makes you a little nervous. 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,…
S6 · E16 · 9 Jun 2026 · 57 min

How to Stop Letting Your Own Thoughts Make You Sick, Stressed, and Stuck with Dr. Ellen Langer

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…
E227 · 2 Jun 2026 · 57 min

What Happens When You Stop Optimizing and Start Committing with Former LA Lakers President Tim Harris

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…
E226 · 26 May 2026 · 58 min

Revisited: Choose Your Seven Humans Wisely with Author Fredrik Backman

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. 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…
E225 · 19 May 2026 · 59 min

How to Stop Being Socially Awkward (According to Science) with Behavioral Scientist Vanessa Van Edwards

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…
E224 · 12 May 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

Stop Telling Us Everything Happens for a Reason with Anti-Victim Tom Nash

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…
E223 · 5 May 2026 · 53 min

The Real Reason You Feel Empty (Even When Life Looks Good) with Musician Mike Posner

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…
E222 · 28 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

The Real Reason Young People Don't Have 'The Hunger' for Work (And What Leaders Need to Hear) with Generations Expert Dr. Eliza Filby

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…
E221 · 21 Apr 2026 · 55 min

The Leadership Advice Nobody Follows (But Everyone Should) with Top Leadership Expert Don Yaeger

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…
E220 · 14 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

Why This Baseball Team Has a 4.2 Million Person Waitlist With Savannah Bananas Founder Jesse Cole

We talk a lot about building successful things. But what does it actually take to build something people love? 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…
E219 · 7 Apr 2026 · 54 min

Ken Burns and the Art of Telling the Whole Story

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,…
E218 · 31 Mar 2026 · 55 min

What Happens When You’re Naive Enough to Try with KIND Founder Daniel Lubetzky

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,…
E217 · 24 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

AI Can Do Everything… Except This (Why Humans Still Win) With Restaurateur Will Guidara

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…
E215 · 17 Mar 2026 · 45 min

Revisited: What Dying Teaches Us About Living with Death Doula Alua Arthur

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…

About A Bit of Optimism

My career is an accident. It started when I set out to rediscover my passion and reignite a spark I’d lost — and that journey led me to the work I do now. If you know me from my books or my speaking, you know I’m fascinated by why people do what they do. What makes someone find joy and meaning in their life, or pursue something far greater than themselves? I started A Bit of Optimism to explore those ideas and expand my own perspective. This podcast is a trove of honest conversations, with people who challenge me, teach me, or simply help me see things in a different way. Some guests are household names, and others you may be meeting for the first time. But each one of them has something to share that can help all of us grow. So if you’re looking for a spark — some insight, inspiration, or just a reminder that good things are possible — join me on A Bit of Optimism! Let’s grow together.

A Bit of Optimism is a English business podcast from Simon Sinek. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Simon Sinek
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 57 min
Latest episode: 6 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1515385282
Website: simonsinek.com/podcast

RSS feed Apple Podcasts Website

More English business 6

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.