Talks at Google

Judson Brewer visits Google to discuss his book "Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind." The book lays out a step-by-step plan that is clinically proven to break the cycles that drive anxiety and addictive habits.  We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember. Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic or as personal as having kids at home and fighting the urge to reach for a wine bottle every night, many of us are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. In this timely book, Dr. Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone. We think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic. But it's also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope, such as stress eating, procrastination, and social media doom-scrolling. Anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought, so we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can't think our way out of or use willpower to overcome. Dr. Brewer teaches us how to map our brains, so that we can discover our triggers, defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity, and to train our brains using mindfulness and other practices. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

31 Jan 20231h 2min

Author and political economist Mark Blyth visits Google to discuss his book “Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea.” Politicians in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that makes the economy worse. As a remedy, they have advanced a policy of draconian budget cuts--austerity--to solve the many financial crises of the early 21st century. Pro-austerity voices tell us that we have all lived beyond our means and now need to tighten our belts. But according to author Mark Blyth, this view conveniently forgets where all of that debt came from. Not from government spending, but as the direct result of bailing out, recapitalizing, and adding liquidity to the collapsing banking system. Through these actions private debt was remade into government debt, while those responsible for causing the crisis walked away scot free, placing the blame on the state, and the burden on the taxpayer. That burden now takes the form of a global turn to austerity, the policy of reducing government spending to restore competitiveness and balance the budget. The problem, according to Blyth, is that austerity is a very dangerous idea that he claims does not work. As the past four years and countless historical examples from the last 100 years show, while it makes sense for any one state to try and cut its way to growth, it simply cannot work when all states try it simultaneously: all we do is shrink the economy. In the worst case, austerity policies worsened the Great Depression and created the conditions for seizures of power by the forces responsible for the Second World War. Blyth argues that the arguments for austerity are tenuous and the evidence thin. Rather than expanding growth and opportunity, austerity has almost always led to low growth along with increases in income inequality. With his book, Blyth challenges conventional wisdom by marshaling an army of facts to demand that we recognize austerity for what it is, and what it costs us. Originally published in June of 2013. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

27 Jan 20231h 10min

Susan Wilner Golden visits Google to discuss her book, “Stage (Not Age): How to Understand and Serve People Over 60 – the Fastest Growing, Most Dynamic Market in the World”. The book discusses the $22 trillion opportunity that can be unlocked if we rethink everything we think we know about people over 60. The book is the concise guide to helping companies understand and serve this market by focusing on life stage, not age, and identifying the deep diversity of needs within the demographic. In the time it takes you to listen to this sentence, another twenty Americans will turn sixty-five. Ten thousand people a day are crossing that threshold, and that number will continue to grow. In fifteen years, Americans aged sixty-five and over will outnumber those under age eighteen. Nearly everywhere in the world, people over sixty will become the dominant population. Demographers tend to think of this new longevity as a crisis we are not prepared for. And there are serious issues to address in order to serve this population, and society as a whole. But longevity also presents an opportunity for which companies need to develop a strategy. Estimates put the global market for this demographic at $22 trillion across every industry you can think of. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

24 Jan 20231h 2min

Avi Goldfarb and Ajay Agrawal visit Google to discuss their book “Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of AI.” The idea of artificial intelligence--job-killing robots, self-driving cars, and self-managing organizations--captures the imagination, evoking a combination of wonder and dread for those of us who will have to deal with the consequences. But what if it’s not quite so complicated? The real job of artificial intelligence is to lower the cost of prediction. And once you start talking about costs, you can use some well-established economics to cut through the hype. The constant challenge for all managers is to make decisions under uncertainty. And AI contributes by making knowing what's coming in the future cheaper and more certain. But decision making has another component: judgment, which is firmly in the realm of humans, not machines. Making prediction cheaper means that we can make more predictions more accurately and then assess them with human judgment. Once managers can separate tasks into components of prediction and judgment, we can begin to understand how to optimize the interface between humans and machines. More than just an account of AI's powerful capabilities, “Prediction Machines” shows managers how they can most effectively leverage AI, disrupting business as usual only where required, and provides businesses with a toolkit to navigate the coming wave of challenges and opportunities. Originally published in May of 2018. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

20 Jan 202357min

The cast & creatives of Broadway’s "The Kite Runner" visit Google to discuss their critically acclaimed play, based on Khaled Hosseini’s internationally best-selling novel. Originally published in 2003, "The Kite Runner" became a bestseller across the globe and has since been published in 70 countries, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages. Now this powerful story has been adapted into a stunning stage production. One of the best-loved and most highly acclaimed novels of our time, "The Kite Runner" is a powerful tale of friendship spanning cultures and continents, that follows one man’s journey to confront his past and find redemption. In 1972, Afghanistan is a divided country on the verge of war and two childhood friends are about to be torn apart. It’s a beautiful afternoon in Kabul and the skies are full of the excitement and joy of a kite flying tournament. But neither of the boys can foresee the terrible incident which will shatter their lives forever. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

17 Jan 202352min

Dr. John P. Kotter is a New York Times best-selling author, award winning business and management thought leader, business entrepreneur, inspirational speaker and Harvard Professor. His ideas, books, speeches, and company, Kotter International, have helped mobilize people around the world to better lead organizations, and their own lives. Dr. Kotter visits Google to discuss his book "Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results In Uncertain and Volatile Times". In the 21st century, the stakes for organizations, and more broadly humankind, are large and growing. The events of the last few years, from the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, to the social justice protests in the United States and the climate change induced forest fires in Australia and California, are a reminder that the world is increasingly unpredictable. Our ability to effectively adapt our institutions and engage many hearts, minds, and arms to deal with rapid and complex changes will have a profound impact on how we collectively address these challenges. The science and the stories of that science in action, shared in this book, will guide the reader in making decisions, mobilizing others, and executing change that will help individuals, teams, and organizations survive and thrive even in highly uncertain times. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

13 Jan 20231h 2min

Neuroscientist and author Greg Gage visits Google to discuss his recent book "How Your Brain Works: Neuroscience Experiments for Everyone.” The book is detailed guide on how to discover the hidden electrical world inside your nervous system using DIY, hands-on experiments, for all ages, with no MD or PhD required! The workings of the brain are mysterious: What are neural signals? What do they mean? How do our senses really sense? How does our brain control our movements? What happens when we meditate? In "How Your Brain Works", neuroscientist Greg Gage offers a practical guide that is accessible to readers from middle schoolers to college undergraduates wanting to learn about the brain through hands-on experiments that can be done at home. Greg Gage is an NIH-award winning neuroscientist and cofounder of Backyard Brains—an organization that develops open source tools that allow amateurs and students to participate in neural discovery. Greg has given nine popular TED Talks on neuroscience and has written dozens of peer-reviewed publications. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

10 Jan 202357min

Author Cate Flanders visits Google to discuss her book “The Year of Less”. In her late twenties, Cait found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy, she decided to set herself a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year. "The Year of Less" documents Cait’s life for twelve months during which she bought only consumables such as groceries, toiletries, and gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt. This challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her. Blending Cait’s compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The Year of Less will leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life—and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less. Originally published in June of 2018. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

6 Jan 202344min