Episode 3: Adam Grant

An interview with Wharton Professor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant about work life balance, networking, doing favors, creativity and his best career advice.

Welcome to the third episode of 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel. As your host, my goal is to curate the best advice from the world’s smartest and most interesting people by asking them just 5 questions.

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This episodes guest:

Adam Grant was born in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, aspiring to be a professional basketball player. While attending College, he worked as a professional magician. Upon graduation, he became an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two years later, he was hired as an associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he eventually became the youngest tenured professor at age 28 and rated the best teacher by students from 2011 to 2017. Adam wrote his first book, Give and Take, back in 2013, which became a major bestseller. Then he followed up with two more books, including Originals and Option B, co-authored with Sheryl Sandberg. Today, he’s the host of the TED Original Podcast: WorkLife with Adam Grant, curator of the Next Big Idea Club, columnist at Esquire, and serves on the Lean In board and the Defense Innovation Board at the Pentagon.

The 5 questions questions I ask in this episode:

You’ve said that your favorite thing is being a Wharton professor. How do you balance your time between that, writing, podcasting, advising and speaking?
When it comes to networking, the most common frustration people share with me is that they don’t know what to give to others. How would you respond to this?
How do you personally decide whom to do favors for and whom to avoid since you’re always asked for help?
Where do your most creative and best ideas come from? What is your creative process?
What are your top three pieces of career advice?

Follow Adam’s journey: