
How This Podcast Could Fail
From The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant by Vox Media Podcast Network
March 26, 2026 · 1h 11m
About this episode
Brené and Adam discuss potential pitfalls in their collaboration and strategies for success.
Brené and Adam have a bracingly honest conversation about what could go wrong in their collaboration, and how to set new teams, partnerships, and friendships up for success. They discuss the science of avoiding failure and building alignment, and practical strategies for navigating differences—including their own clashing instincts around minimalism vs. maximalism and sarcasm vs. trashtalk. The episode closes with what each of them is listening to, watching, and reading right now. You can also find The Curiosity Shop on YouTube and Instagram (@thecuriosityshop). Chapters: 00:00 - How Brené Inadvertently Launched Adam into Podcasting 02:57 - Interpreting Sarcasm 16:08 - How to Prevent Failure 28:57 - How Could This Partnership Could Go Wrong 38:42 - Learning From Differences 52:05 - How to Align Teams 1:02:00 - Closing Questions Show Notes: Brené and Adam on What They Will Never Agree On - The Curiosity Shop Episode 1 Unless You’re Oprah, ‘Be Yourself’ Is Terrible Advice - Adam Grant 2016 NYT Op-Ed My response to Adam Grant’s New York Times Op/ED: Unless You’re Oprah, ‘Be Yourself’ Is Terrible Advice - Brené Brown 2016 LinkedIn How to Love Criticism - Adam Grant 2018 WorkLife with…
People in this episode
Hosts: Brené Brown, Adam Grant
Topics covered
- collaboration
- failure prevention
- team alignment
- partnership dynamics
- navigating differences
- minimalism vs. maximalism
- sarcasm vs. trashtalk
Keywords
- collaboration
- failure
- teamwork
- alignment
- differences
- minimalism
- maximalism
- sarcasm
- trashtalk
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: How to Love Criticism, The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, What Vulnerability Isn’t, Unless You’re Oprah, ‘Be Yourself’ Is Terrible Advice, Hypervigilance in Mary Poppins (1964), The art and science of trash talk
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