We're excited that Manoush is guest hosting the Ted Radio Hour! To celebrate, we're bringing you her 2017 TED Talk. It's all about our relationship to technology, and how it sometimes helps us to avoid some very human states of mind, like boredom. It’s an inspiring 14 minutes, meant to help you recharge.

Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, became a media darling in 2015 after announcing that every employee would be paid the same $70k salary. For most of his staff, the increase was dramatic (the median income in the U.S. is about $60k.) Now, four years later, Dan tells Manoush how an ex-girlfriend woke him up to Seattle’s high cost of living, what equal pay has done to his company’s bottom line, and what he thinks could rehabilitate other corporations and *their *overpaid CEOs. Plus,...

ZigZag is back after a brief hiatus and kicking off a series of shows investigating how people are rethinking the notion of “success.” On this episode, listeners share their frustrations with an economy structured to thrive at the cost of the planet, communities, and their mental health. Plus, an analysis of their responses to the question: how do you measure and define success in your life and work? The data reveal 5 main goals listeners are striving for…and some intriguing tactics they’re...

Two years ago, Helen Zaltzman and her husband, Martin Austwick, gave up their London apartment to travel the world. She paid the bills by continuing to produce her two podcasts, The Allusionist and Answer Me This, from the road. Things were going well until a visit to Tasmania, when Helen got a serious infection in her neck and had to be hospitalized. After nearly a month in intensive care, she was finally released. Helen was, of course, relieved to be alive. But she soon discovered that her...

Eighteen months. That's how long Khe Hy (pronounced Kay Hee) gave himself to figure out his life after quitting his extremely well-paid job at Blackrock Financials. His friends called him nuts. His immigrant parents thought they'd failed him. But his wife was supportive. She and Khe set some ground rules ("no stressing over little luxuries like ordering wine") and then embarked on an adventure to discover if he could make enough money to support his family, feel intellectually satisfied, and...

It can be hard to know if you're on the right track for building your career or business. Manoush and Jen consider crucial lessons from entrepreneurs whom they've reported on over the past five years, including a CEO who changed his business model after the U.S. 2016 presidential election and a software engineer who built an app ahead of its time. Plus, help for a listener worried she's addicted to "zigzagging"...and Valerie Jarrett explains what accepting professional sharp turns did for her...

Before Silicon Valley was dominated by the Big Five tech companies, there was Mozilla, an organization founded by a motley crew of coders and activists who believe the internet should be open to everyone. Those punk rock roots live on in Mozilla's Firefox browser and its decision to stop running ads on Facebook. On this episode, hear Mark Surman, President and Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, on why "privacy" is a new business opportunity for entrepreneurs, whether he thinks kids...

You've probably heard her hundreds of times. Mallory Kasdan is the voice of dozens of ads, from Crest White Strips to Nickelodeon. For years, she made an excellent living sounding like the quintessential "hip mom" or sassy big sister, who happened to have a product to shill. But recently, as social media and celebs upended the advertising industry, Mallory stopped booking jobs. She's had to find new ways to pay the bills and get health insurance for her family. And she's doing it by sounding...

Consumer Reports, theOG‘s of product reviews, just got an upgrade: $6 million from Craigslist founder turned philanthropist,Craig Newmark. On this special episode, he and the CEO of Consumer Reports,Marta Tellado, announce their big plans to test all our apps and connected devices with a new set of criteria: one that takes people’s personal privacy and the collective good into account. Plus, Craig shares his thinking behind funding journalism start-ups likeThe Markup. ***Season 4 of ZigZag...

We went looking for a venture capitalist who is investing in products or platforms that make money AND make our lives a bit saner: Caterina Fake co-founded Flickr, coined the acronym FOMO, and is now a partner at Yes VC. She’s putting her money behind companies that she thinks will grow big and fast…but in ethical ways. Caterina explains why she said ‘no’ to joining the fancy VC firms on Sand Hill Road, what she’s looking for in entrepreneurs, and how to focus on what matters...

We hear a lot about how people start up companies but what about winding them down? After 15 years, media entrepreneur and "influencer" Grace Bonney has decided to close her lifestyle blog Design*Sponge. In this episode, Grace explains why she decided not to sell her business and has no plans beyond the farewell party...other than rethinking her relationship to the web. Plus, Manoush and Jen debate whether being a woman online means having to "perform" vulnerability and wonder if men also...

The workplace has become a place of sociological experimentation. But what are the pros and cons to “flattening” hierarchy or employees giving each other "radically transparent" feedback? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant (and host of TED's WorkLife podcast) explains some of the most cutting-edge workplace behavioral changes, how they reflect other societal changes like the #MeToo movement, and what each of us can do to evolve while GETTING OUR WORK DONE. Plus, Jen and Manoush consider...

The tech show about being human returns with an all new season exclusively on the new Luminary app. Manoush kicks things off with the latest on the battle between kids and parents over their screens: do we know how kids are impacted by tech? Does it make them less empathetic? Are they being constantly bullied online? Even if we can help kids figure out their digital habits, are we adults totally screwed? Researcher Elizabeth Englander joins Manoush to share new findings and give the most...

Founded by Jenn Brandel and Mara Zapeda, the growing Zebras Unite network is a backlash against Silicon Valley's so-called "unicorn" companies. Many of these entrepreneurs are saying no to venture capital investors and attempting to build sustainable companies that fit their lives and values. But Jenn and Mara's inspiring real talk about making money AND doing good isn't just for "founders." It's about rethinking the role that all companies--and YOU--have in society. Zebras epitomize what...

On the launch episode of Season Four, Jen and Manoush celebrate the first anniversary of their company, Stable Genius Productions, and share the most important and difficult entrepreneurial lessons they've learned over the past year. They also explain how, after a year of experimentation with format and blockchain technology, ZigZag is evolving into a podcast that takes an honest look at the culture of business--and what needs to change. *Sign up for our newsletter and subscribe to the...

What IS that anti-climactic feeling we get after completing a big project? Shouldn’t we be patting ourselves on the back and mixing celebratory martinis? Perhaps you’ve simply entered the final phase of the Hype Cycle: the rather dull Plateau of Productivity. This is when an idea just WORKS, maybe even becomes a cultural norm.  All season long we’ve been tracking how ideas spark, evolve, and grow. Our final episode includes some harsh listener feedback, a conversation between women new to...

We're almost at the end of our deep-dive into the lifecycle of innovation, or the so-called Hype Cycle. Phase Four, aka the Slope of Enlightenment, is when the breakthrough happens, you get out of the trough, and start moving forward. We're using this phase to share big news from Stable Genius Productions and talk to Katrina Kelly-Pitou, an environmental economist, on the truth behind blockchain's energy-guzzling reputation. Plus, the mayor who made history by banning Bitcoin operations in...

Our journey through the Hype Cycle takes a dark turn this week. Because every innovative idea, sadly, must pass through the third (and most miserable) phase of the cycle: the Trough of Disillusionment. This is when you start questioning why you ever decided to INSERT GOAL HERE in the first place. Hear Professor Kevin Werbach explain the difference between full-on failure and simply measuring success on a longer timeline, as related to tech and blockchain. (Because this podcast loves using...

As we continue through the Hype Cycle, we reach the fun, thrilling, titillating phase: the Peak of Expectations. It generates the vital inspiration and adrenaline that keeps every entrepreneur or visionary going (that includes the listener who is in the midst of sleep training her baby daughter). On this episode, Manoush and Jen analyze their start-up highs and wonder whether exciting industry news means podcasting has hit its peak. Plus, more from Massena, NY, as we go inside cavernous...

Question: what SPARKS us to *act *on an idea, rather than let it fade away? Answer: an "Innovation Trigger," also known as Phase 1 of the Hype Cycle. Hear listeners detail what triggered them to pursue a project, more from Gartner analyst Jackie Fenn, and how a hydroelectric dam prompted one small town to start manufacturing Bitcoin, for better and worse. All this season, we're exploring the lifecycle of ideas, including a visit to a town by the Canadian border where one of the biggest...

You may *feel *like a special snowflake, but even our best ideas usually take a predictable path: they'll pass through the 5 Phases of the Hype Cycle. Tech analyst Jackie Fenn created this iconic graph (see below) 25 years ago, and it's been used to track innovations (yes, like blockchain) ever since. But the Hype Cycle isn't just for tech: understanding it can help you decide when to press ahead with a job, relationship, or New Year's resolution... or cut your losses and move on. All this...

The co-founders of Stable Genius Productions have a candid conversation about their current financial situation (hint: their grant is running out soon), the highs/lows of making this season of the podcast (another hint: they had a fallout over email), and Civil's plans to resurrect itself in 2019 (final hint: the token lives on). GO DEEPER:  Blockchain has not yet added value to international development projects, USAID finds. After mindfulness, tech takes on information overload, Manoush's...

The richest 1 percent of the world's population now owns more than half of the world's wealth. The calls for breaking up Big Tech companies are growing louder. On this episode, the author of Open Revolution, Rufus Pollock, proposes a solution (think regulation, but on steroids) for wrangling monopolies, sparking innovation, and getting profits into the hands of more people. GO DEEPER: "What the California Wildfires Can Teach Us About Data Sharing," Joi Ito writes in Wired. An old monopoly...

Journalists-turned-entrepreneurs Mark Little and Áine Kerr believe the experience of getting news online is broken. (And they should know: Mark worked at Twitter and Áine at Facebook.) So, they're building an app called Kinzen which they hope can reboot our daily news habit by delivering trustworthy journalism without overwhelming us. Afterall, they reason, we have apps to track our sleep, steps, and calories... Why not news consumption? But can there really be an app for that? GO...