The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant

What Great Teams Teach Us About Trust, Grief, and Courage | The Curiosity Shop

In this episode of The Curiosity Shop, Brené Brown and Adam Grant explore what happens when trust, vulnerability, grief, and performance collide. Using insights from the San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Popovich's leadership philosophy, they examine why caring deeply is an act of courage, how shame quietly undermines teams, families, and organizations, and how psychological safety fuels excellence. The conversation moves through ambition and rejection, miscarriage and loss, community, emotional intelligence and empathy, and the ways people show up for one another through life's hardest moments. This episode explores how strength and kindness are not opposites and why building cultures of trust may be one of the most important things we do. #BrenéBrown #AdamGrant #thecuriosityshop Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCuriosityShop About The Curiosity Shop: Research professor Brené Brown and organizational psychologist Adam Grant are partnering on a new weekly podcast grounded in an unflinching commitment to learning and unlearning. At a time when public discourse rewards certainty over inquiry, The Curiosity Shop features two of the world's most sought-after experts on connection, change, and leadership making the case for slowing down, asking better questions, and embracing informed complexity over easy answers. Bringing together their left and right brain sensibilities — she’s a qualitative researcher; he’s a quantitative researcher — they explore some of the defining questions of our time, unpack the research reshaping how we live, lead, and love, and dive deep into the ideas, evidence, and cultural moments intriguing them the most. New episodes drop every Thursday. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Connect with The Curiosity Shop: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecuriosityshop/ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1730985049 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3oEPsPKDhPVoNNL7pH5db6?si=e2483abb4eed4b03 Connect with Brené Brown: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brenebrown/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenebrown/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenebrown/ Connect with Adam Grant: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamgrant/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammgrant/ X: https://x.com/adammgrant/ ============================= Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to The Curiosity Shop 1:18 The Spurs, Popovich & Psychological Safety 7:37 Why Caring Takes Courage 9:28 The Courage to Share Your Goals 13:47 Brené's Story of Rejection and Failure 17:55 Pregnancy, Miscarriage & Who We Tell 20:57 The Kvetching Circle: Comfort In, Dump Out 28:25 Grief as Unexpressed Love 34:39 howing Up at Funerals Builds Trust 35:03 Sandy Hook, Loss & Human Connection 42:40 Grief in Teams and Organizations 44:40 Gregg Popovich's Leadership Philosophy 51:07 How Shame Shapes Performance and Behavior 1:03:55 The Science of Great Coaching 1:06:40 Fear, Roller Coasters & Parenting What Great Teams Teach Us About Trust, Grief, and Courage | The Curiosity Shop https://www.youtube.com/@TheCuriosityShop

Brené BrownhostAdam Granthost

Jun 4, 20261h 9mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: June 4, 2026
Duration: 1h 9m
Channel: The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In this episode of The Curiosity Shop, Brené Brown and Adam Grant explore what happens when trust, vulnerability, grief, and performance collide. Using insights from the San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Popovich's leadership philosophy, they examine why caring deeply is an act of courage, how shame quietly undermines teams, families, and organizations, and how psychological safety fuels excellence. The conversation moves through ambition and rejection, miscarriage and loss, community, emotional intelligence and empathy, and the ways people show up for one another through life's hardest moments. This episode explores how strength and kindness are not opposites and why building cultures of trust may be one of the most important things we do. #BrenéBrown #AdamGrant #thecuriosityshop Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCuriosityShop About The Curiosity Shop: Research professor Brené Brown and organizational psychologist Adam Grant are partnering on a new weekly podcast grounded in an unflinching commitment to learning and unlearning. At a time when public discourse rewards certainty over inquiry, The Curiosity Shop features two of the world's most sought-after experts on connection, change, and leadership making the case for slowing down, asking better questions, and embracing informed complexity over easy answers. Bringing together their left and right brain sensibilities — she’s a qualitative researcher; he’s a quantitative researcher — they explore some of the defining questions of our time, unpack the research reshaping how we live, lead, and love, and dive deep into the ideas, evidence, and cultural moments intriguing them the most. New episodes drop every Thursday. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Connect with The Curiosity Shop: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecuriosityshop/ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1730985049 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3oEPsPKDhPVoNNL7pH5db6?si=e2483abb4eed4b03 Connect with Brené Brown: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brenebrown/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenebrown/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenebrown/ Connect with Adam Grant: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamgrant/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammgrant/ X: https://x.com/adammgrant/ ============================= Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to The Curiosity Shop 1:18 The Spurs, Popovich & Psychological Safety 7:37 Why Caring Takes Courage 9:28 The Courage to Share Your Goals 13:47 Brené's Story of Rejection and Failure 17:55 Pregnancy, Miscarriage & Who We Tell 20:57 The Kvetching Circle: Comfort In, Dump Out 28:25 Grief as Unexpressed Love 34:39 howing Up at Funerals Builds Trust 35:03 Sandy Hook, Loss & Human Connection 42:40 Grief in Teams and Organizations 44:40 Gregg Popovich's Leadership Philosophy 51:07 How Shame Shapes Performance and Behavior 1:03:55 The Science of Great Coaching 1:06:40 Fear, Roller Coasters & Parenting What Great Teams Teach Us About Trust, Grief, and Courage | The Curiosity Shop https://www.youtube.com/@TheCuriosityShop

SPEAKERS

Brené Brown
host
Research professor and author known for work on vulnerability, shame, empathy, and trust.
Adam Grant
host
Organizational psychologist and bestselling author who discusses research on work, motivation, and teams.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Curiosity Shop with Brené Brown and Adam Grant, featuring Brené Brown and Adam Grant, What Great Teams Teach Us About Trust, Grief, and Courage | The Curiosity Shop explores trust grows when teams share grief, ambition, and courage openly Using the Spurs and Gregg Popovich as a case study, they argue psychological safety enables both elite performance and open emotional expression.

RELATED EPISODES