The Future Belongs to the Agile
Change is coming. Are you ready for it?
For invitations to author chats and to get great nonfiction sent right to your door, become a member of the Next Big Idea Club.
This Week on the Next Big Idea Podcast
Who we become when life makes other plans.
The only constant is change. You’ve heard it a thousand times. But here’s what the cliche leaves out: Change may be inevitable, but how you respond to it — and who you become because of it — that part’s up to you.
Maya Shankar knows a thing or two about this. She’s studied change as a cognitive scientist, explored it on her podcast “A Slight Change of Plans,” and now written a book — The Other Side of Change — about how the hardest moments of our lives can transform us … for the better. In the book, she tells remarkable stories of people overcoming colossal change — debilitating diagnoses, amnesia, incarceration — and extracts universal lessons grounded in the latest science.
Listen to our conversation with Maya on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.
Book Bite of the Week
Is there such a thing as healthy dependence?
Healthy relationships are built on flexibility, not fixed labels or rigid patterns. By setting better boundaries, challenging your default behaviors, and expanding your support network, you can reshape how you show up and create more balanced, fulfilling connections. Nedra Glover Tawwab is a licensed therapist and author and her new book is The Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself. Check out her summary on the Next Big Idea app, or pick up a copy of the book on Amazon.
This Week on the Next Big Idea Daily Podcast
Agile is the new smart.
The most consequential divide in modern society is not economic or political. It's psychological. The gap between people who can adapt to constant change (high Agility Quotient) and those who feel undone by it is shaping everything from workplaces to mental health. Listen to Liz share big ideas from AQ: A New Kind of Intelligence for a World That's Always Changing on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
This edition of Book of the Day is sponsored by Shopify. Launch your business for just $1/month. Start selling today at shopify.com/nbi.
🎉 Happy Publication Week! 🎉
Five new Next Big Idea Club Must-Reads were published this week. Check out these new reads from:
Jan Dutkiewicz & Gabriel Rosenberg, Feed the People!: Why Industrial Food Is Good and How to Make It Even Better; Scott Solomon, Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds; Christopher Beha, Why I Am Not an Atheist: The Confessions of a Skeptical Believer; Roland Ennos, The Powerful Primate: How Controlling Energy Enabled Us to Build Civilization; Maria Popova, Traversal