Adam Grant

Grant says the data show workers most want flexibility over when and how much they work, not where.

“the flexibility people want most is not where they work. It's when and how much”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 32:20

Grant cites Bloom's finding that remote workers spend more than half of saved commuting time working.

“they save about an hour on average of commuting time And guess how much of that time they spend working? More than half of it”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 27:43

Grant argues the evidence shows one to two remote days a week keeps people at least as productive, more satisfied, and more likely to stay.

“if you give people one to two days a week to work from anywhere, they are at least as productive, if not more so”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:28

Grant cites a 2024 Ding and Ma paper finding return-to-office mandates failed to improve financial performance while reducing satisfaction and work-life balance.

“they fail to improve firm financial performance metrics, but they reduce satisfaction and work-life balance”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 16:56

Grant says he favors three or four in-office days for relationships, culture, and mission but considers five-day mandates arbitrary.

“I don't think we need to impose that five days a week”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 15:29

Grant cites research that since around 2010 remote science teams have out-innovated co-located teams, partly due to access to global talent.

“around 2010, that reversed. And ever since, remote teams have massively out-innovated. teams that are in person”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 10:39

Grant contends unstructured weak-tie interaction can be structured remotely, citing research on random virtual lunches boosting productivity.

“there's no reason why you can't structure that unstructured interaction in remote work”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 11:08

Grant suggests the gender difference in imposter syndrome lies less in prevalence than in how women internalize it.

“people stereotype it as a problem that's more pronounced among women than men. But what I didn't get until just now is, but men don't internalize it the same way”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 48:38

Grant cites Basima Tewfik's research finding that frequent imposter thoughts lead people to work more persistently and learn more.

“she finds that when people have those thoughts more often, they actually end up working more persistently”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 46:16

Grant argues that not editing disrespects listeners' time and would cut perhaps a third of an episode.

“I am a not editing disrespects the listener's time person. Let's cut out the fat, which might be a third of the episode”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 42:28

Grant says most birth-order theories fail empirically but careful studies support later-borns being more likely to take risks.

“there is convincing evidence that later-borns are more likely to take risks than first-borns”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 37:10

Grant reports Atlassian data showing office frequency has no bearing on belonging, while quarterly offsites strongly connect people to their team.

“how often you come to the office has no bearing on how much belonging you feel”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 19:01

Grant argues that jobs requiring dynamic reciprocal coordination, like basketball, most need physical co-location.

“if your work is mostly playing basketball where you're passing the ball back and forth and doing a lot of dynamic coordination, that's I think when you need the most time physically together”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 7:07

Grant recommends using a values-based mantra to cope with others' attempts to shame.

“My favorite one is, I'm not going to let other people define my worth”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 40:52

Grant says developmental psychology and behavioral genetics convinced him people overestimate nurture and underestimate nature.

“I think overall we overestimate nurture effects and underestimate nature effects”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 24:07

Grant argues guilt is functional, citing research that guilt-prone leaders are more responsible.

“leaders who are prone to guilt are actually more responsible leaders because they worry about letting others down and they try to do the right thing”

The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: The Emotion Few Talk About, But Many Feel (Apr 23, 2026) · Listen from 7:53