The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant
The Four Kinds of Connections We Need
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
In the final episode of The Curiosity Shop, Brené Brown and Adam Grant draw on Adam’s new book, Vibe (out October 13), to explore how recognizing the differences between associates, allies, pals, and companions can help us better understand our connections. They unpack the pressure we put on relationships, the importance of being clear about what we want from them, and why a great interaction doesn’t always need to become an ongoing relationship. They also explore the idea of being on the same wavelength and the concept of “sonder,” the recognition that we can never fully know another person’s inner world. Along the way, Brené and Adam reflect on their own relationship, what they’ve learned from working together, and how their connection has evolved throughout The Curiosity Shop.
Vibe – Adam Grant, 2026, adamgrant.net
Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World – Anne-Laure Le Cunff, 2025, Ness Labs
How the Enneagram System Works – The Enneagram Institute, enneagraminstitute.com
Give and Take – Adam Grant, 2013, adamgrant.net
Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community – Vivek Murthy, 2023, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Social Connection Linked to Improved Health and Reduced Risk of Early Death – World Health Organization, 2025, World Health Organization
US Trends in Social Isolation, Social Engagement, and Companionship—Nationally and by Age, Sex, Race/Ethnicity, Family Income, and Work Hours, 2003–2020 – Viji Diane Kannan, 2023, SSM – Population Health
Talk, Trust, and Trade-Offs: How and Why Teens Use AI Companions – Common Sense Media, 2025, Common Sense Media
What I Got Wrong About Connection – Adam Grant, 2026, Granted (Substack)
How I Overcame the Fear of Public Speaking – Adam Grant, 2014, Psychology Today
A Practical Guide to Building Taxonomies That Make Data Truly Useful to Your Organization – UserTesting, 2023, UserTesting Blog
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck, 1939, Penguin Random House
Friends – David Crane, 1994, NBC (IMDb)
Vibe Quiz – Adam Grant, adamgrant.net
DTR – Dictionary.com, 2018, Dictionary.com
Vulnerability Is the Birthplace of Innovation, Creativity and Change: Brené Brown at TED2012 – Helen Walters, 2012, TED Blog
Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII – Aristotle, c. 350 BCE, The Internet Classics Archive (MIT)
Friendship – Bennett Helm, 2021, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Anatomy of Friendship – Robin Dunbar, 2018, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Let's Rumble – Brené Brown, 2019, brenebrown.com
Similar Neural Responses Predict Friendship – Carolyn Parkinson, 2018, Nature Communications
Single-Serving Friends (Fight Club) – Uploader unknown, YouTube
Wharton Professor Adam Grant Knows How to Build Stronger Bonds at Work – Aman Kidwai, 2025, Newsweek
Mistakenly Seeking Solitude – Nicholas Epley, 2014, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Social Interactions and Well-Being: The Surprising Power of Weak Ties – Gillian Sandstrom, 2014, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Learning to Talk to Strangers – Gillian Sandstrom, 2022, SPSP Character & Context blog
The Power of High-Quality Connections – Jane Dutton, 2003, Positive Organizational Scholarship (Berrett-Koehler)
Flow and Happiness – Joachim Krueger, 2015, Psychology Today
Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies – Robert Cialdini, 1976, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Brené and Adam on What They Will Never Agree On – Brené Brown, 2026, The Curiosity Shop (YoutTube)
Do Parasocial Relationships Fill a Loneliness Gap? – Heidi Godman, 2024, Harvard Health Publishing
Sonder – John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Beautiful New Words to Describe Obscure Emotions – John Koenig, 2016, TEDxBerkeley
Atlas of the Heart – Brené Brown, 2021, brenebrown.com
Sonder Playlist - The Best of Sonder – Revive Music, YouTube
Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior – Paul Piff, 2015, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
The Emotions You've Felt but Never Named with John Koenig – Adam Grant, 2025, ReThinking (Apple Podcasts)
The Emotions You've Felt but Never Named with John Koenig (transcript) – Adam Grant, 2025, ReThinking (TED Audio Collective)
Developmental Changes in the Relation between Youth Disclosure and Parenting Behavior: A Cohort-sequential Analysis – Sara Goldstein, 2023, Journal of Youth and Adolescence
The Development of Children's Knowledge About Inner Speech – John Flavell, 1997, Child Development
9 Words for Types of Parenting – Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster Wordplay
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters – Priya Parker, 2018, Riverhead / Penguin Random House
The Liking Gap in Conversations: Do People Like Us More Than We Think? – Erica Boothby, 2018, Psychological Science
Can Conflict Actually Make Our Relationships Stronger? with Priya Parker (video) – Brené Brown, 2026, YouTube
VIBE Tour – Adam Grant, adamgrant.net
Adam Grant – Dallas – Dallas Museum of Art Arts & Letters Live – Etix, 2026, Etix
ReThinking with Adam Grant – Adam Grant, 2021, TED Audio Collective
The Enneagram: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research – Joshua Hook, 2021, Journal of Clinical Psychology
Brian R. Little – Brian Little, brianrlittle.com
Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII – Aristotle, c. 350 BCE, The Internet Classics Archive (MIT)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This episode is not processed yet. Sign in to queue the transcript and make it useful for search and Q&A.
Sign in to queue transcript (1 credit)
Free to start
Skim the episode first,
Skim the episode first,
then decide if it is worth listening.
Sign up with Google in one click. 10 transcript credits included. No card needed.
Google sign-in · No credit card · 10 free transcript credits