The Next Big Idea

We live in a world that worships talent, a world that cheers natural athletes, exalts child prodigies, and venerates virtuosos. But admiring people who are blessed with innate abilities can lead us to underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. As Adam Grant explains in his new book, “Hidden Potential,” growth is not about the genius you possess — it’s about the character you develop. Adam joins us today to talk about developing the character skills, motivational tools, and learning systems that can help ordinary people achieve extraordinary things.

This episode first aired in October 2023.

🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

✉️ Follow Rufus on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our⁠ Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠

🔗 SPONSORED BY:

Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to ⁠granola.ai/idea⁠⁠

IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham... they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at ⁠⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠⁠⁠

Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to ⁠livemomentous.com⁠⁠ and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order.

Northwest Registered Agent — They’ve been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Learn more at ⁠northwestregisteredagent.com/nbifree⁠⁠⁠

Upwork — Visit ⁠upwork.com⁠⁠ right now and post your job for free.

Wealthfront — Earn up to 4.30% APY with Wealthfront’s high-yield cash account for a limited time at wealthfront.com/nbi (Click here for disclosures.)

We've spent the last few years watching AI transform the digital world. Now it's coming for the physical one.

Humanoid robots are leaving the lab and entering homes, factories, and workplaces. But are we witnessing another ChatGPT moment, or are these machines still years away from becoming truly useful? Journalist Stephen Witt has spent months inside the world's leading robotics companies to find out, and what he discovered surprised him.

Check out Stephen's article "Are Humanoid Robots Ready to Be Deployed?" and his previous appearance on this show.

***

🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

✉️ Follow Rufus on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠.

🔗 SPONSORED BY:

Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to granola.ai/idea⁠

IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham... they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at ⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠⁠

Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com⁠ and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order.

Northwest Registered Agent — They’ve been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/nbifree⁠⁠

Upwork — Visit upwork.com⁠ right now and post your job for free

Wealthfront — Earn up to 4.30% APY with Wealthfront’s high-yield cash account for a limited time: https://wealthfront.com/nbi This experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. The host of The Next Big Idea, Caleb Bissinger (“Media Partner”), is a client of Wealthfront. The Media Partner receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for this paid endorsement placed in their podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms.

The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. References to the APY for the Wealthfront Cash Account, including any APY increase, are to the APY paid by insured depository institutions that participate in our cash sweep program (the "Program Banks”). Wealthfront Brokerage does not pay interest. Funds in the Cash Account are swept to Program Banks where they earn a variable APY and are eligible for FDIC insurance. Conditions apply. For a list of Program Banks, see: www.wealthfront.com/programbanks. FDIC pass-through insurance, which protects against the failure of Program Banks, not Wealthfront, is not provided until the funds arrive at the Program Banks. While funds are at Wealthfront Brokerage, and while they are transitioning to and/or from Wealthfront Brokerage to the Program Banks, the funds are eligible for SIPC protection up to the $250,000 limit for cash.

FDIC insurance is limited to $250,000 per customer, per bank, regardless of whether those deposits are placed through Wealthfront Brokerage. You are responsible for monitoring your total deposits at each Program Bank to stay within FDIC limits. Wealthfront works with multiple Program Banks to make available up to $8 million ($16 million for joint accounts) of pass-through FDIC coverage for your cash deposits. For more info on FDIC insurance coverage, visit www.FDIC.gov.

Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Fees & Eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Product images are for illustrative purposes and do not reflect individual experiences, account balances, or performance.

Why do some people seem to create opportunities wherever they go while others spend years waiting for the right break? According to Cate Hall — lawyer turned poker player turned drug addict turned CEO of a $3B foundation — the difference isn't luck. It's the ability to question assumptions, reject the default path, and realize the world is far more malleable than it seems.

In this episode, Rufus and Cate explore what it really means to become a high-agency person — a.k.a. someone who just does things. Together, they unpack why ambition isn't the same as agency, how fear of embarrassment and an obsession with hard work hold us back, and why curiosity, unconventional thinking, and expanding your "surface area for luck" are the keys to creating extraordinary opportunities.

Cate's new book, You Can Just Do Things, is out now.

🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

✉️ Follow Rufus on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠

🔗 SPONSORED BY:

Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to granola.ai/idea⁠

IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham... they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at ⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠⁠

Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com⁠ and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order.

Northwest Registered Agent — They’ve been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/nbifree⁠⁠

Upwork — Visit upwork.com⁠ right now and post your job for free.

Shopify — Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at⁠ ⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠

In the age of AI, endless information, and instant certainty, philosopher Lani Watson argues that questions — not answers — are humanity's greatest intellectual advantage.

Today, she explains why curiosity is a biological superpower, why schools unintentionally teach us to stop questioning, and how learning to embrace a question-oriented mindset can make us better thinkers, leaders, and humans.

Lani’s new book is Q: The Hidden Power of Questions in a World That Wants Answers.

You can take her Questioning Strengths Assessment here.

***

🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

✉️ Follow Rufus on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠.

🔗 SPONSORED BY:

Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to ⁠granola.ai/idea⁠

IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham — they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at⁠ ⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠⁠

Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to⁠ livemomentous.com⁠ and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order.

Upwork — Visit⁠ upwork.com⁠ right now and post your job for free.

Shopify — Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at⁠ ⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠

First, a few numbers. This year Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta will spend more than $700 billion building AI infrastructure. There are 1,500 data centers in development across the country. AI-linked stocks make up at least 40% of the S&P 500.

These are the kinds of numbers that make some economists jumpy. If this whole AI thing doesn't pan out, they warn, we're headed for the mother of all crashes.

But Azeem Azhar is not one of those economists. He and his team recently spent months turning the AI economy inside out, and they just released a report called The State of the AI Economy. It contains surprising answers to what has become an increasingly pressing question: is this the biggest bubble ever blown, or are we building the durable machinery of a radically more abundant world?

In this conversation, Azeem joins Rufus to unpack why AI adoption is growing faster than the internet or mobile, what Wall Street and Silicon Valley may still be getting wrong, and why the most important skill in an AI-powered future may have nothing to do with AI. Along the way, they explore energy, jobs, investing, AI safety, and what exponential change means for the next generation.

💬 PULL QUOTES:

"Two years ago I would have said to [my kids], 'Listen, you need to learn how to use AI.' I don't think that's as true now as it was. They need to know how to engage with it. But more importantly, they really need to know how to think for themselves."

"If you look at revenue per employee at really excellent firms in the traditional economy, it's $400,000 per employee. Anthropic is up at $10 million."

"The thing that shows up in 50 or 60% of investment booms that turn to bubbles is when funding quality gets a bit funky. Last year, the funkiness was low. Now the funkiness is the way the salmon looks at an all-you-can-eat sushi at about 3:30 in the afternoon. It's still edible, but it's not as good as it was at 1:15."

👤 About the Guest:

Azeem Azhar is the founder of Exponential View, a deeply-researched newsletter that has become essential reading for nearly 300,000 investors, entrepreneurs, academics, and policymakers. He is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, a visiting fellow at Oxford, and a former correspondent for the Economist. He’s also an entrepreneur, an investor, the author of The Exponential Age, and a past guest on this show.

🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

📱Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠.

🎁 The best way to support the show is by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠⁠, and use code PODCAST for a super secret discount (spoiler: it’s 20% off).

🔗 SPONSORED BY:

Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to ⁠granola.ai/idea⁠

IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham… they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at⁠ ⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠⁠

Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to⁠ livemomentous.com ⁠and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order.

Northwest Registered Agent — They’ve been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Learn more at⁠ ⁠northwestregisteredagent.com/nbifree ⁠⁠

Upwork — Visit⁠ upwork.com right now and post your job for free.

Shopify — Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at⁠ ⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠