Weak ties and creativity
Subject in Social Sciences
Weak ties and creativity has come up in 1 episode across 1 podcast in TMT, including The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Adam GrantAmerican organizational psychologist, Wharton professor, and author
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
Brené BrownAmerican research professor and author on vulnerability, shame, and courage
Brown argues weak ties are the primary carriers of novel information and that the office functions as creative infrastructure.
“being in the office is less about socializing and more of a creative infrastructure”
The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant: What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets Wrong (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 9:43
Podcasts
Episodes
What the Return-to-Office Debate Gets WrongThe Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant · Apr 30, 2026 · 50 min
Brené Brown and Adam Grant debate return-to-office policies, apply a systems-thinking iceberg to leaders' mental models, and answer listener questions on birth order and editing.