The secret skills behind mind reading with Oz Pearlman | ReThinking with Adam Grant

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

December 26, 2025

Duration

31m

Channel

Re:Thinking with Adam Grant

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Oz Pearlman has been called the World’s Greatest Mentalist—he’s performed for some of the world’s top celebrities and made it to the finals on America’s Got Talent. In this episode, Oz joins Adam live at Authors@Wharton to show off his tricks and discuss the real skills behind his rise to success. The two reflect on Oz’s time working on Wall Street and the lessons he learned as a pizza parlor magician about gaining confidence, managing failure, and taking smart risks, and Oz wows the crowd by reading audience members’ minds. Host & Guest Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: https://adamgrant.net/) Oz Pearlman (Instagram: @ozthementalist | Website: https://www.ozpearlman.com/) Links https://www.youtube.com/@Ozthementalist Join us in person at a TED conference: https://tedtalks.social/events Become a TED Member to support our mission: https://ted.com/membership Subscribe to a TED newsletter: https://ted.com/newsletters Follow TED! X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Adam Grant

  host

  Organizational psychologist and Wharton professor who hosts the interview podcast ReThinking.

• Oz Pearlman

  guest

  Mentalist and performer known for mind-reading demonstrations and a former Wall Street professional.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Adam Grant and Oz Pearlman, The secret skills behind mind reading with Oz Pearlman | ReThinking with Adam Grant explores Mentalist Oz Pearlman reveals people-reading skills behind memorable moments creation Oz Pearlman clarifies that mentalism isn’t psychic mind reading but a practiced ability to read, influence, and anticipate people using experience, language, and attention control.

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