The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant
Are You a Preacher, Prosecutor, Scientist, or Politician?
Research professor Brené Brown and organizational psychologist Adam Grant are partnering on a new weekly podcast grounded in an unflinching commitment to learning and unlearning. At a time when public discourse rewards certainty over inquiry, The Curiosity Shop features two of the world's most sought-after experts on connection, change, and leadership making the case for slowing down, asking better questions, and embracing informed complexity over easy answers. Bringing together their left and right brain sensibilities — she’s a qualitative researcher; he’s a quantitative researcher — they explore some of the defining questions of our time, unpack the research reshaping how we live, lead, and love, and dive deep into the ideas, evidence, and cultural moments intriguing them the most. New episodes drop every Thursday. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Show Notes
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Do you find yourself defaulting to “Preacher” mode when you’re under pressure, or starting to act like a “Prosecutor” when someone challenges your ideas? Brené and Adam unpack four mental modes – Preacher, Prosecutor, Politician, and Scientist – to explore why we often cling to being right rather than getting it right. In this episode, they discuss how these defensive stances are shaping our response to AI, Brené’s “bounce” method for emotional hypothesis-testing, Adam’s go-to “strategy of small losses,” and ways to stay curious when the stakes are high.
You can find The Curiosity Shop on YouTube and Instagram (@thecuriosityshop).
Introduction and Emoting
Thinking Under Thread
Testing Your Gut with Small Experiments
The Integrity of Commitment: The Making of This Podcast
Four Thinking Modes: Scientist, Preacher, Prosecutor, Politician
When Opinions Become Beliefs
The Social Costs of Changing Our Minds
A Missing Mental Model: Teacher
Wrap up
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know - Adam Grant, 2021, Book
Eric Ries on ‘The Lean Startup’ - Eric Ries, 2011, Knowledge at Wharton
Learning Through Failure: The Strategy of Small Losses - Sitkin, 1992, Research in Organizational Behavior
Affective Forecasting - Wilson & Gilbert, 2003, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
Atlas of the Heart - Brené Brown, 2021 (Book)
The Science of the Deal - Adam Grant, WorkLife with Adam Grant Podcast
The Power of Vulnerability - Brené Brown, 2011, TED
The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers - Adam Grant, 2016, TED
Beliefs Are Like Possessions - Abelson, 2007, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
We Need to Talk about Astrology - Adam Grant, 2024, Substack
The Diplomat - Cahn et al., 2023-present, Let's Not Turn This Into a Whole Big Production & Well Red, Netflix (TV series)
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