Big Think Media

So much of media today feels… small. Optimized for shallow consumption and short attention spans. Full of hot takes and silly memes. Stories of the week that don't even last the day. Cheap stunts drowning in a sea of endless noise.

Meanwhile the world keeps getting bigger. It's full of big challenges and big opportunities. Big changes and big debates. The world today is too big for media to feel this small. So we're on a mission to change it.

At Big Think Media we're exploring the world's biggest questions with the world's biggest thinkers. We're working with the smartest brands to talk to the smartest audiences. And together, we're putting big ideas back where they belong: at the center of culture.

Join us.

BigThinkEditorial

Big Think was built on the belief that ideas matter. So in a media environment filled with hot takes, tribal politics, and headlines crafted to conjure maximum outrage, we strive for something different. We aim to be curious, thoughtful, open and constructive, bringing you fresh perspectives on the biggest ideas shaping our world, whether in science, philosophy, business, technology, or culture.

There's an old adage that says you should never be the smartest person in the room — if you are, you're probably in the wrong room. We aspire to be the smartest room on the internet. And we're so glad you're here.

The Big Think Interview

The Big Think Interview is where the world's biggest thinkers come to explore the world's biggest questions. With over 8.9M subscribers on YouTube, The Big Think Interview features deep, candid conversations that cut through the noise to find the signal.

Big Think Columns & Newsletters

Columns are where Big Think contributors think in public. The biggest ideas. The most fascinating perspectives. Thoughtful explorations of the questions that matter most.

Big Think Quarterly

Quarterly Issues bring together our best thinking around a single, consequential theme. Essays, interviews, videos, infographics, explainers and more combine to explore the forces shaping the world around us.

21M

Monthly readers & viewers

630K+

Newsletter subscribers

8.9M

YouTube subscribers

16M+

Cross-platform followers

70%

College educated

41%

Influence business decisions

39%

Top 10% household income

ONE BILLION VIDEO VIEWS & COUNTING

Learn More ›

BigThinkLearning

From Fortune 500 executives to Ivy League academics to best-selling authors, we create premium learning experiences that empower everyone to think bigger, aim higher, and play their part in shaping the world around them.

World-Class Instructors

With 500+ experts, 1,500+ lessons, and new releases each month, Big Think is truly home to the biggest thinkers in the world.

Engaging Lessons

We combine best practices from learning science and filmmaking to create engaging lessons that capture attention and keep learners coming back for more. From self-guided learning to more structured experiences, we offer premium learning solutions designed for the modern, on-the-go learner.

Big Think Learning platform on laptop, tablet, and phone

Powerful Platform

With personalized recommendations, curated learning journeys, multilingual video, learner guides, assessments, analytics, and seamless LMS/LXP integrations, our platform helps organizations turn world-class expert insights into engaging, actionable experiences that keep learners engaged.

We help the world's leading companies level up:

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BigThinkEvents

In a world filled with endless noise, live experiences offer something rare: moments of real connection that leave a lasting impression. But too many events today fall flat: some are fun but devoid of any substance — a sugar rush of empty calories. Others are more serious, but seriously boring. Smart audiences demand better, and we're delivering it. Blending immersive storytelling with big ideas, we're creating cultural experiences that engage the mind and stir the soul.

Immersive Festivals

Cinematic, big-stage storytelling experiences where we unpack powerful ideas from a variety of angles. With striking visuals, talented storytellers, and live music, these are powerful experiences that leave audiences moved, inspired, and talking.

Live Conversations

Live, public events featuring bold, on-stage dialogues with the thinkers and builders shaping what's next. These are high-energy, ticketed experiences that position ideas at the center of the cultural conversation.

Exclusive Salons

Exclusive, invite-only gatherings that convene the leaders of today and tomorrow for intimate evenings of conversation, immersive art, and unforgettable performances—all in a setting designed to spark meaningful connection.

We're bringing together audiences from all across the cultural spectrum to take part in experiences that inform, challenge, and inspire.

Learn More ›

BigThinkCreative

We're a full-service creative agency built from the ground up to put ideas where they belong: at the center of culture. We work with the world's biggest brands and largest philanthropies to tell stories, share ideas, build campaigns, cultivate communities, grow movements, and more.

For partners who just need to "make some noise," there's no shortage of talented creatives out there who can make them something flashy, fun… and fleeting. We help partners who are looking for more than that. Because if you actually have something to say, you need an agency that can help you cut through the noise and get people to listen.

Our award-winning team specializes in bringing big ideas to life.

Leading
industry
awards

Largest
film premiere
in history

Digiday 2025
Best In-House
Content Studio

Creative Strategy

Branding & Design

Content & Storytelling

Multi-Platform Campaigns & Community Building

Experiential & Live Events

We work with the world's biggest brands and largest philanthropies to tell stories, share ideas, build campaigns, cultivate communities, grow movements, and more.

Learn More ›

The world ischanging,and it's timefor media tochange with it.

We believe that media is how we make sense of what's happening in the world around us. And we believe that today's media is failing. It's cynical about people's motivations, simplistic about hard questions, certain it has all the answers, and scared of the challenges we face.

When you say it like that, it's hard to argue that it's not true. It's also impossible to argue that it's not bad. Because it's impossible to make sense of what's happening in the world around you when you're being cynical, simplistic, certain, and scared.

And we believe there is a better way…

Our Ethos →

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Editorial

Visit Big Think.com

The world ischanging,and it's timefor media tochange with it.

And we believe there is a better way…

Our Ethos →

We help peoplemake sense ofwhat's happeningin the worldaround them.

At Big Think we're exploring the world's biggest questions with the world's biggest thinkers.

Our interviews, columns, and more make complex topics accessible, helping you expand your knowledge and see the world in new ways. Big Think is your guide to intellectual growth. Come think with us.

We can't give you all the answers, but we promise to ask good questions.

The Big Think Interview

In-depth, long-form conversations with the world's most original thinkers, from scientists and authors to executives and cultural leaders. These are the signature Big Think dialogues that slow things down, ditch the script, and reveal how great minds actually think.

Big Think Columns & Newsletters

Ongoing commentary from our roster of columnists who interpret the ideas shaping the moment. These pieces bring historical context, philosophical insight, and expert analysis directly to your inbox. Consistently thoughtful, never superficial.

Big Think Quarterly

Big Think Membership

A deeper way to engage with Big Think — including access to premium content, quarterly print issues, classes, ad-free reading, early access to interviews, and member-only events. It's for readers who want to go beyond headlines and be part of a community built around lifelong learning.

The Big ThinkInterview

The Big Think Interview is where the world's sharpest minds come to explore big ideas. Each episode features deep, candid conversations with leading thinkers, innovators, and visionaries who are shaping our understanding of business, science, philosophy, and society.

Hosted by experts who know how to ask the right questions, the series cuts through the noise to deliver thoughtful insights and actionable ideas. Whether you're seeking inspiration or looking to challenge your perspective, The Big Think Interview offers an unfiltered look at the ideas shaping tomorrow.

Big ThinkQuarterly

Big Think Quarterly is our print publication, a place to slow down and think about the ideas shaping the moment. Each issue is built around a single, consequential theme — bringing together essays, interviews, features, infographics, and explainers into one considered whole.

In a media landscape defined by speed, Quarterly is designed for depth. It's for readers who still want something they can hold in their hands, spend an afternoon with, and return to weeks later. Delivered four times a year to our members, and to the smartest room on the internet.

Columns & Newsletters

MiniPhilosophy

Mini Philosophy is a place to slow down and think. It creates space to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the Universe, away from the noise and busyness of everyday life.

Through essays, interviews, and its newsletter, Mini Philosophy makes philosophy accessible and human. Subscribers get exclusive conversations with leading philosophers and become part of a thoughtful, supportive community of curious minds.

Columns & Newsletters

Starts Witha Bang

Our mission is to answer the biggest questions of all, scientifically. What is the Universe made of? How did it become the way it is today? Where did everything come from? What is the ultimate fate of the cosmos?

For most of human history, these questions had no clear answers. Today, they do. Starts With a Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, explores what we know about the universe and how we came to know it, bringing the latest discoveries in cosmology and astrophysics directly to you.

Columns & Newsletters

Big ThinkBooks

Books are more than stories on a page — they are mirrors, maps, challenges, and companions in understanding ourselves and the world we inhabit. Big Think Books is a space devoted to the writers and ideas that shape culture, knowledge, and the way we think.

Through thoughtful recommendations, deep dives, and engaging commentary, this column guides readers toward books that expand curiosity, provoke insight, and deepen understanding across fields like science, history, psychology, literature, and more. Whether you're exploring the latest releases or rediscovering timeless classics, here you'll find ideas worth your time and thought.

Columns & Newsletters

The LongGame

In an era defined by the tyranny of the short-term, The Long Game makes an unfashionable bet: that the most illuminating ideas about long-term success aren't found at the frontier of what's new, but in the depths of what has endured.

It is authored by Eric Markowitz, investor and forthcoming author of Outlast (Scribner/Simon & Schuster), who has spent years traveling the world to study the world's oldest companies — and to ask them a deceptively simple question: What does it take to outlast?

Columns & Newsletters

StrangeMaps

Most maps show the world as something to be navigated. Strange Maps reveals the worlds humans have imagined.

Since 2006, Frank Jacobs has been collecting and interpreting maps that do more than chart geography or political borders. These maps — often obscure, beautiful, funny, and deeply revealing — each tell a story, usually one that's more about how we see ourselves than where we are.

Published as a book in 2009 and a Big Think column since 2010, Strange Maps draws on a steady stream of reader submissions and rare discoveries. Together, they offer a way of seeing the world from unfamiliar angles, where cartography becomes culture, argument, and art.

Columns & Newsletters

13.8

13.8 — a torn-paper collage of science and culture: an anatomical study, a galaxy, calligraphy, and a portrait

We live in a scientifically dominated age. Nearly every aspect of modern life is shaped by science and technology, from medicine and space exploration to climate change, nuclear risk, and artificial intelligence. Science is the source of our greatest hopes and our deepest fears. It drives progress, but it also raises profound questions about meaning, responsibility, and the future of civilization.

In the 21st century, science cannot be separated from culture. The two are braided together, shaping our politics, our art, and our understanding of what it means to be human. 13.8 is a space for examining that relationship. Through essays and conversations, it explores the beauty, power, promise, and peril of science as a cultural force. If we want to understand our moment in history, this is where the inquiry begins.

Columns & Newsletters

WorkWise

A lot of career advice centers on productivity and performance. Work Wise aims to go a layer deeper, bringing you tested insights that help you not only work smarter but also find more meaning in your professional life.

Each week, PhD behavioral scientist Danny Kenny offers an inside look at the behavioral patterns and hidden dynamics that shape how we work — drawing on real client stories, conversations with Big Think experts, and the latest research — and what it actually takes to change them.

Big ThinkMembership

Big Think Membership invites our audience to make Big Think their intellectual home. Members go deeper with the ideas and thinkers they love — combining a premium quarterly magazine, hundreds of expert-led classes, exclusive events, early access to our flagship interviews, and ad-free reading and viewing in a single membership.

It's how the most curious readers, viewers, and learners go beyond the headlines and become part of a community built around lifelong curiosity.

Quarterly Print Magazine

A premium print magazine delivered to your doorstep every three months. Beautifully designed, deeply reported — a distraction-free, offline reading experience worth savoring.

A Deep Library of Expert Classes

100+ video classes and 1,000+ short lessons from the world's biggest thinkers, with new releases every two weeks. Grow personally and professionally at your own pace.

Ad-Free Reading & Viewing

Every article and video, uninterrupted. Big Think as it was designed to be — thoughtful media restored to its purest form.

Early Access to Interviews

Watch The Big Think Interview weeks before it hits the rest of the internet. Each episode is a modern masterclass with one of today's most fascinating thinkers.

Exclusive Events

Early invites and VIP experiences at Big Think conversations, salons, and symposiums — where curious minds meet in person.

BigThinkTalent

Historically, media companies have been staffed by writers. But "writer" is such a strange job title. We all "write," but what about? Moreover, modern media is about more than just writing. Today people talk a lot about "creators," but that's even more ambiguous. Create what?

The truth is, great media companies aren't made up of "writers" or "creators," they're made up of thinkers. Big ones. People who have thoughts worth sharing about what's happening in the world around us.

We've specialized for years in interviewing "the world's biggest thinkers" and we're privileged to work with many of them outside The Big Think Interview. We're building a new kind of talent network that leverages the strength of all of Big Think's platforms and capabilities, and we're on a mission to become the preferred partner of the world's biggest thinkers.

Jonny Thomson

Jonny taught philosophy at Oxford for over a decade before turning to writing full-time. Now a Big Think staff writer and author of the international bestseller Mini Philosophy, he is the foundation of our philosophy coverage, and together we're carrying that work into new formats and channels.

Ethan Siegel

Ethan is a PhD astrophysicist, science communicator, and author of Treknology and Beyond the Galaxy. As a Big Think staff writer and host of Starts With a Bang, he leads our physics and astronomy coverage, and we're now expanding that coverage together into new formats and channels.

Francesca Tighinean

Francesca is a psychology educator with more than 3 million followers, host of The Francesca Psychology Podcast, and an upcoming Hay House author. Her community and credibility strengthen our psychology coverage, and in partnership with us, she is connecting her audience with ours.

Rachel Barr

Rachel holds a master's in molecular neuroscience and is finishing a PhD on the electrophysiology of memory and sleep. Known to her million-plus followers as "Rachel the Neuroscientist," she lends our neuroscience coverage the trust she has earned with her own community, and we're working together so each audience discovers the other.

Eric Markowitz

Eric is an investor, Managing Partner at Nightview Capital, and author of the forthcoming OUTLAST (Scribner/Simon & Schuster) — a study of the world's most enduring companies. He writes our business column The Long Game and publishes The Nightcrawler newsletter, giving us domain expertise as we expand into business — and leveraging our platform as he expands into media.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Anne-Laure is an award-winning neuroscientist, founder of Ness Labs, and author of Tiny Experiments. She leveraged The Big Think Interview to promote her book and has deepened her partnership with us by becoming a regular contributor on the neuroscience of curiosity, learning, and adaptability.

A Communityfor CuriousMinds

Our community is curious, ambitious, intellectually hungry — a group of lifelong learners who want to understand the world and their place in it more deeply. They come to Big Think not for noise, but for clarity, challenge, and perspective.

They're united by a shared belief:

Thinking hard is worth it. Learning matters. Ideas shape everything.

21M

Monthly readers & viewers

630K+

Newsletter subscribers

8.9M

YouTube subscribers

16M+

Cross-platform followers

70%

College educated

41%

Influence business decisions

39%

Top 10% household income

ONE BILLION VIDEO VIEWS & COUNTING

Learn More About Our Audience ›

What our community says

Big Think gives me smart and grounded insights with real life action and values. Not just influencer BS.

My top value in life is curiosity. And Big Think is one of the top ways I exercise that value, allowing my brain to wander, think of new things (or the same things new ways — extra credit!). Very thankful for what you all have built & are continuing to build.

Big Think makes me feel smart in the same way having copies of The Atlantic and The New Yorker on my coffee table makes me feel smart. Kidding! (mostly?)

Big Think keeps me thinking. About both the issues and subjects I like. and the ones that scare me!

I love how much ya'll value NUANCE

This channel is one of the rare gems on YouTube — quality, passion, and effort shine through every second.

I am so thankful for all these Interviews. I am seriously indebted to this channel for my personal growth.

This YouTube channel goes beyond sharing incredible, practical, and valuable content—it helps shape the very foundation of meaning and understanding in daily life. That's why we truly need more channels like this.

I just wanted to mention that the design and quality you folks are producing here is amazing: One really notices how much love and attention to detail you are applying to the print issue, and I love it.

Big Think Classes provide very practical and useful insight, thought provoking questions to ask oneself, and knowledge that can be leveraged for continuous improvement and growth.

Love the topics and that they are in a bite-sized form that can be consumed within the course of my very busy day!

The sessions have genuinely helped me grow in my career by enhancing my perspective, sharpening my leadership skills, and encouraging strategic thinking.

I've been a fan of Big Think for a while, but their new print edition completely won me over. It's beautiful, thoughtful, and exactly the kind of project I love having in my hands.

I recently received your print edition and it was such a joy to hold in my hands. I savoured the words and the thoughts behind the articles, and I really loved how you painted resilience through science and poetry.

This is the longest video I have ever watched all the way through on YouTube. And now I want to watch again. So many great ideas to ponder and try!

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Talent

JonnyThomson

Jonny taught philosophy at Oxford for over a decade before turning to writing full-time. He's a Big Think staff writer covering philosophy, theology, and psychology — occasionally stepping out of his lane when he dares. His first book, Mini Philosophy, is an award-winning international bestseller that has been translated into 20 languages. His second book, Mini Big Ideas, was published in 2023.

At Big Think, Jonny anchors our coverage of philosophy through the Mini Philosophy column and its accompanying newsletter. He's partnering with us to extend that coverage into new formats and channels — from long-form video to podcasts to live conversations — bringing his signature clarity and warmth to a broader audience.

Big Think Talent

EthanSiegel

Starts With a Bang — a deep starfield with pink nebula filaments

Ethan is a PhD astrophysicist, science communicator, and author of Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive and Beyond the Galaxy: How Humanity Looked Beyond Our Milky Way and Discovered the Entire Universe. He has won numerous awards for his science writing since 2008, including the Institute of Physics' award for best science blog.

At Big Think, Ethan writes Starts With a Bang, one of our most beloved columns and podcasts — a weekly deep-dive into astrophysics, cosmology, and the biggest questions about our universe. He's partnering with us to extend that coverage into new formats and channels, bringing rigor and wonder to physics fans and curious minds alike.

Big Think Talent

EricMarkowitz

The Long Game — motion-blur butterflies against black

Eric is Managing Partner and Director of Research at Nightview Capital. His forthcoming book, OUTLAST — to be published by Scribner, the flagship imprint of Simon & Schuster — explores what long-term thinking looks like in practice by studying the world's most enduring companies. Before becoming an investor, Eric was a business journalist and SABEW Award winner, with bylines in The New Yorker, Inc., The Atlantic, and Newsweek.

At Big Think, Eric writes The Long Game, our business column on longevity in business and life, and publishes The Nightcrawler, a widely read newsletter for builders, investors, and creatives. His domain expertise gives us credibility as we expand our coverage into business — and our platform gives him credibility as he expands into media.

Big Think Talent

FrancescaTighinean

Francesca is a psychology educator with more than 3 million followers, host of The Francesca Psychology Podcast, and an upcoming Hay House author. She holds a BSc in Psychology from City, University of London, and her work has been featured in the New York Post, Daily Mail, and LADbible. She previously served as Head of Growth at Yoxly, where she grew the brand to over 1.5 million followers.

At Big Think, Francesca contributes to our coverage of psychology and mental health. As a partner-creator, she brings her own community and credibility to the platform — and we bring ours to hers. Together we're introducing our audiences to each other and expanding the reach of ideas worth sharing.

Big Think Talent

RachelBarr

Rachel holds a master's degree in molecular neuroscience and is completing a PhD on the electrophysiology of memory and sleep. Beyond the lab, her videos as "Rachel the Neuroscientist" demystify the fundamental principles of brain science, empowering more than a million followers to make informed decisions about their mental health.

Rachel wrote How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend while completing her doctoral research. Born in Fife and now based in Quebec, she contributes to Big Think's coverage of neuroscience as a partner-creator — bringing her community and credibility to our platform while we introduce her to ours.

Big Think Talent

Anne-LaureLe Cunff

Anne-Laure is an award-winning neuroscientist and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Ness Labs, where her weekly newsletter is read by more than 100,000 curious minds. Her research at King's College London focuses on the psychology and neuroscience of lifelong learning, curiosity, and adaptability. Previously she worked at Google as an executive on digital health projects.

Her book, Tiny Experiments, is a transformative guide for living a more experimental life — turning uncertainty into curiosity, and carving a path of self-discovery. Anne-Laure first came to Big Think as a guest on The Big Think Interview, where she promoted Tiny Experiments. She's since deepened that relationship, becoming a regular contributor on the neuroscience of curiosity, learning, and adaptability.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Learning

Visit the Big Think+ Website

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn from the world's biggest thinkers.

Come learn with us.

Trusted bythe mostinnovativeteams.

Building a culture of learning at scale

Capital Group used microlearning to achieve a 76% participation rate in voluntary leadership learning — growing from a 200-person pilot to more than 1,200 learners.

Capital Group · 2025

Learn More ›

Scaling a culture of leadership

What began as a small pilot has grown into a four-year partnership supporting 10,000+ Bank of America learners — 52,000 lessons completed, 2,600 learning hours delivered.

Bank of America · 2025

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Developing leaders ready for change

Stryker's emerging-leaders program delivered 72% completion rates and 1,000+ hours of learning without L&D team facilitation — a resource-neutral cohort model for resilience and EQ.

Stryker · 2024

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What our partners say

As part of our strategy to develop our leaders, we chose to work with Big Think+ to develop a curated on-demand resource hub where we feature credible & exciting experts, paired with language capabilities that allow us to offer the content to our leaders globally.

Marlene HernandezDigital Curriculum Manager, Corning

The Big Think+ team is incredibly responsive, solutions oriented, and collaborative – on top of a really unique & valuable product offering. It's a breath of fresh air to work with them.

Chris WalkerVP Global Leadership Development, Marriott International

Big Think is a great partner and so easy to work with — we love the topics, the length, the guides and the accessibility.

Sandy PickettSenior Director, Leadership and Professional Development, The Aspen Group

If you are evaluating Big Think+, I would encourage you to lean in, because what they offer is unmatched. It can immediately elevate your program — just like it did for us.

Jessica LaneDirector of Communications & Enablement, ScentAir

If you want something that grows with you and partners with you, Big Think+ is the best option in the business.

Ryan SmithHead of Global Leadership, T. Rowe Price

World-ClassInstructors

With 500+ experts, 1,500+ lessons, and new releases each month, we meet each learner where they are — whether they are an individual contributor, team manager, or senior leader.

Topics That Matter

Coaching

Emotional Intelligence

AI & Digital Fluency

Customer Experience

Leadership

Managing Change

Resilience

Charisma

Strategic Thinking

Collaboration

Persuasion

EngagingLessons

Self-guided learning

Bite-sized lessons (3–7 minutes) that make it easy to learn anytime, anywhere — perfect for on-the-go learners fitting growth into their day.

Blended learning

Structured classes (30–45 minutes) that pair expert-led video with reflection, resources, and application — designed to deepen understanding.

Cohort-based learning

Multi-week courses (4–6 hours) that bring teams together for a shared learning experience — built around discussion, practice, and accountability.

PowerfulPlatform

With innovative search and user-friendly collaboration features, Big Think Learning keeps learners engaged.

Curations

Save and group content into self-paced learning journeys. Managers can publish curated collections directly to learners' home pages for easy access to custom experiences.

Recommendations

Learners are welcomed with a light interest-gathering exercise that powers a more personalized, engaging experience — surfacing the right content the moment they need it.

Translation & Transcription

Translate video content into more than 25 languages so any learner, anywhere in the world, can learn from the biggest thinkers in the world in their own language.

Instructional Design

Every lesson includes a Learner Guide, plus tailored Discussion Guides for individual contributors, team managers, and senior leaders — to move learning from insight to action.

Analytics

Generate deep insights on learners, content usage, and key trends to inform program improvements and drive deeper learner engagement.

Assessments

Intuitive assessments provide invaluable insight into program effectiveness, empowering learning managers to make data-driven decisions that propel their teams forward.

Integrations

Deploy in minutes and connect seamlessly with any major LMS or LXP — meeting your team where they already work.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Events

In a world filled with endless noise, live experiences offer something rare: moments of real connection that leave a lasting impression.

Blending immersive storytelling with big ideas, we're creating cultural experiences that engage the mind and stir the soul.

Come gather with us.

We createexperiencesthat engagethe mind andstir the soul.

Too many events today fall flat: some are fun but devoid of any substance — a sugar rush of empty calories. Others are more serious, but seriously boring.

Smart audiences demand better, and we're delivering it.

Exclusive Salons

Exclusive, invite-only gatherings that convene the leaders of today and tomorrow for intimate evenings of conversation, immersive art, and unforgettable performances — all in a setting designed to spark meaningful connection.

Live Conversations

Immersive Festivals

We're bringingtogetheraudiences fromall across thecultural spectrum

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

I'm a science journalist and I've been incorporating some of these more philosophical questions into my longer form work, so the night was a great source of inspiration. Thanks again and excited for the next event, whenever that may be.

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

Partnerwith us.

From presenting sponsorships to custom salons, there are many ways to bring your brand together with the Big Think community.

Presenting Sponsorships

The night carries your name. Presenting sponsors are integrated into every aspect of the programming — featured segments, VIP sessions with speakers and invited leaders, and co-branding across title cards, recorded talks, and every clip.

Segment Sponsorships

Step into the spotlight. A fully produced, story-driven talk on the Big Think stage, built together from the first idea through the final rehearsal.

Experiential Sponsorships

Become a part of a signature installation, designed and produced with our team and written into the narrative of the evening — an unforgettable experience that is entirely yours.

Custom, Co-Hosted Events

Build something from the ground up with us — a salon, a live conversation, or a full festival — shaped around your brand and the ideas you want to put into the world, co-hosted from concept and guest list through speakers and production.

Upcoming& RecentEvents

Intelligence Everywhere: Exploring a World Full of Minds

A cinematic evening of science, storytelling, and immersive experiences at The Broad Stage, created by Big Think in partnership with the John Templeton Foundation to explore the many forms of intelligence.

October 2026 · Santa Monica

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A Night of Awe and Wonder

A live, multimedia journey — from the cosmos to the human mind — bringing together scientists, artists, explorers, and thinkers for an evening of cutting-edge research, personal stories, and creative performance.

September 2025 · Los Angeles

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The Mystery of Consciousness

A live Oxford conversation with neuroscientist Anil Seth exploring the leading edge of consciousness research — from perception and the self to how the mind emerges from the brain.

September 2025 · Oxford, UK

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The New Space Race is Just Beginning

Will Bruey, CEO and co-founder of Varda Space Industries, joined us at a pivotal moment for the space industry to explore the next era of exploration and commercialization.

May 2025 · Los Angeles

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The Great Progression Begins Now

Big Think and futurist Peter Leyden launched a quarterly salon series bringing together Bay Area technologists, scientists, and creative leaders to explore how emerging technologies might shape the next 25 years.

May 2025 · San Francisco

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The Future of Psychedelic Science

Our inaugural Los Angeles salon — an intellectual house party bringing together about 100 filmmakers, scientists, choreographers, curators, therapists, musicians, writers, and cultural leaders for an evening of art, music, food, and big ideas.

June 2024 · Los Angeles

Learn More ›

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Creative

We're a full-service creative agency built from the ground up to put ideas where they belong: at the center of culture.

We work with the world's biggest brands and largest philanthropies to tell stories, share ideas, build campaigns, cultivate communities, grow movements, and more.

Come create with us.

Wespecializein bringingbig ideasto life

For partners who just need to "make some noise," there's no shortage of talented creatives out there who can make them something flashy, fun… and fleeting.

We help partners who are looking for more than that. Because if you actually have something to say, you need an agency that can help you cut through the noise and get people to listen.

Creative Strategy

Branding & Design

Content & Storytelling

Multi-Platform Campaigns & Community Building

Experiential & Live Events

You'repassionate aboutyour ideas andyour agencyshould be too

Discover

You can't make something interesting unless you're interested. And we're interested. We're a team of world-class creatives who are also world-class nerds. Got a book? We'll read it. A manifesto? We'll embrace it. We care about your ideas as much as you do, which is why we're so good at bringing them to life.

Design

We build integrated campaigns that can compete for and win attention in every format and on every channel that audiences turn to in modern media.

Deliver

We measure what matters. Not just impressions, but impact.

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This video has become a go-to for our sales team, with universally positive feedback from potential customers.

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Wow… didn't expect to just get teary-eyed at my desk! I love how this underscores the power of a movement to transform healthcare for everyone, everywhere. Huge kudos to Big Think for translating our vision into something so powerful.

GranteeSkoll Foundation

Well, let me first just wipe away the tears. What a fantastic job you guys have done with this. You guys have told the story beautifully.

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You guys make this easy.

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Absolutely crushed. You guys are world class. Look forward to more collabs together.

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A Communityfor CuriousMinds

They're united by a shared belief:

Thinking hard is worth it. Learning matters. Ideas shape everything.

21M

Monthly readers & viewers

630K+

Newsletter subscribers

8.9M

YouTube subscribers

16M+

Cross-platform followers

70%

College educated

41%

Influence business decisions

39%

Top 10% household income

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We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

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We're on a mission.

We started this company in 2016, with a clear vision and a bold ambition:

We believe that media companies play an important role in society. They help us make sense of what's happening in the world around us. And we believe that today's media companies are failing. They're more interested in politics than progress, more focused on blame than solutions, and more motivated to deliver easy answers than navigate hard questions. They're cynical, simplistic, certain, and scared.

When you say it like that, we find it's hard to argue it's not true. And it's impossible to argue it's not bad.

So we set out to do something about it. To build a different kind of media company — curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive — and change the culture of media.

In 2016, the most common reaction to our vision was "…that would take decades." And our response was always the same: "…then we better get started."

So we did.

After ten years, Big Think Media is bigger than ever and growing fast, but we still feel like we're just getting started.

We're on a mission to build a different kind of media company and change the culture of media. It's a mission worthy of the decades it will take to achieve it.

Join us.

We're buildingthe world'sbiggest platformfor the world'sbiggest thinkers.

Big Think Editorial

Big Think Editorial sits at the center of our company because it sits at the center of everything we do. Home to 630k newsletter subscribers, 16M cross-platform followers, and a monthly reach of more than 21M viewers and readers.

Big Think Learning

Big Think Learning leverages our growing library of interviews to create learning experiences that help leaders at organizations like Marriott, Microsoft, Google, Bank of America, Deloitte, PwC, and more "learn from the world's biggest thinkers."

Big Think Events

Big Think Events turns our audience into a community. A place where people gather, ideas are shared, and bonds are forged. We host intimate salons, live conversations and storytelling festivals, convening audiences from all across the cultural spectrum — including leaders from Meta, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Condé Nast, Disney, HBO, Universal, Imagine, Pixar, Lucasfilm, DARPA, JPL, Caltech and more.

Big Think Creative

Big Think Creative is where we leverage all of our platforms and capabilities to help partners do what we do best: bring big ideas to life. Together with our partners, we're producing great work, delivering real results and winning major awards — including the 2025 DigiDay Award for Best In-House Studio.

Board ofDirectors

Chandler Tuttle

Chairman, Co-Founder & CEO
Big Think Media

Dan Hayes

Board Director & Co-Founder
Big Think Media

Kmele Foster

Board Director & Co-Founder
Big Think Media

Nick Dunn

Board Director & SVP Media Investments
Stand Together

Meetthe Team

Aaron Wong

Senior Partnership Development Associate, Big Think+

Abdul Bangura

IT Associate

Alex Castro

Senior Director of Partner Services, Big Think+

Allison Greenwood

Senior Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Ana Kova

Design Director, Big Think

Andrew Barlow

Partnership Development Associate, Big Think+

Ashley Woodworth

Senior Producer, Big Think Creative

Aya Blanco

Production Manager, Big Think Creative

Bailey VanRooyen

Partner Services Manager, Big Think Creative

Ben Gibson

Design Director, Big Think Creative

Ben Middlekauff

Video Editor, Big Think

Brandon Cotter

Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Brandon Stewart

VP, Events

Caleb Keisker

Assistant Editor, Big Think Creative

Chandler Tuttle

CEO

Charlotte Sharpe

Managing Director, Partner Success & Services, Big Think+

Chase Pipkin

Director, Big Think Creative

Chelsea Barker Walsh

Executive Assistant & HR Manager

Claire Hillery

Senior Manager, Growth Marketing, Big Think

Clark Frankel

Post-Production Supervisor & Senior Producer, Big Think Talent

Colin DeVoe

Director of Growth Marketing, Big Think+

Collin Mauro

Senior Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Coy Kirkland

Demand Generation Manager, Big Think+

Dan Hayes

Co-Founder & Executive Producer, Big Think Creative

Daniel Jones

Supervising Creative Producer, Big Think Creative

Dasha Dlin

Partner Services Manager, Big Think Creative

Deana Croog

Director, Partner Operations, Big Think Creative

Deidre Huntington

Staff Writer, Big Think Creative

Devon Eifel

Producer, Big Think Creative

Dustin Fedako

Executive Producer, Big Think Creative

Dustin Oakley

Director, Big Think Creative

Edie Villecco

Director, Partner Learning Programs, Big Think+

Emily Cullinan

Managing Director of Campaigns, Big Think Creative

Erik Spink

VP & Executive Producer, Big Think Creative

Erin Nabney

Associate Director, Campaign Strategy, Big Think Creative

Ethan Siegel

Senior Staff Writer, Big Think

Evan Crosby

Partner Services Coordinator, Big Think+

Evan Kananack

Senior Director, Big Think Creative

Graeme Hoffman

Senior Software Engineer, Big Think

Guillaume Ramonas

Managing Director, Big Think+

Hannah Beaver

Director of Marketing, Big Think+

Hannah Dabrowski

Video Editor, Big Think

Hartley Erickson

Director, Sales, Big Think+

Heather Thomas

Instructional Designer, Big Think+

Hiatt Woods

Director, Big Think Creative

Ilana Haubold

Supervising Producer, Big Think Creative

Isis Garcia

Chief of Staff

Jack Beneigh

Partnership Development Associate, Big Think+

Jacob Hege

Senior Graphic Designer, Big Think Creative

Jada Sacco

Video Editor, Big Think Creative

James Kagel

Partnership Development Lead, Big Think+

Jana Roose

Director of Audience Development, Big Think

Jason Mayfield

CTO

Jay Salbert

Senior Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Jerrod Kuhn

President & CFO

Jesse Thompson

Senior Director, Big Think+

JJ Blake

Assistant Editor, Big Think Creative

John Erik Sunder

VP, Demand Generation & Marketing, Big Think+

Jonny Thomson

Staff Writer, Big Think

Joseph Eisenstein

Production Manager, Big Think Creative

Justin Toops

Senior Director, Big Think Creative

Kana Yoo

Instructional Designer, Big Think+

Kaylee Frazee

Senior Campaign Manager, Big Think Creative

Kevin Di Salvo

Senior Campaign Manager, Big Think Creative

Kevin Dickinson

Books Editor, Big Think

Kmele Foster

Co-Founder & Executive Producer

Kristin Houser

Managing Editor, Big Think

Kyle Rose

Video Editor, Big Think+

Lauren Pecson-Anderson

Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Lee Helland

Lead Content Editor, Big Think Creative

Leila Ostria

Senior Partner Services Manager, Big Think Creative

Lucas Richter

Motion Designer, Big Think Creative

Lucy Mui

Senior Product Designer, Big Think+

Maggie Linder

Director of Operations, Big Think Creative

Mandy Scott

COO

Mark Denega

Lead Video Editor & Supervising Producer, Big Think+

Marvin Liyanage

Social Strategy Lead, Big Think

Mary Anne Laguerta

Producer, Big Think+

Meghan Phillips

Executive VP & GM, Big Think+

Michael Melrose

Senior Director, Brand Partnerships, Big Think Creative

Mike Dennis

CRO & GM, Big Think Creative

Mike LaHood

Lead Video Editor, Big Think Creative

Missy Gerlach

Senior Assistant Video Editor & Creative Operations Coordinator

Monica Karunakaran

Product Manager, Big Think+

Nicholas Wisseman

Executive Producer & Managing Editor, Instructional Design, Big Think+

Noel Augustine

Managing Director, Creative Strategy, Big Think Creative

Olivia Taylor

Video Editor, Big Think

Parker Healey

Assistant Editor, Big Think Creative

Philip Smalls

Software Engineer, Big Think+

Rachel Dotter

Senior Director, Brand Partnerships, Big Think Creative

Rachel Gomez

Senior Accounting Manager

Robert Andersen

Director of Operations & Expert Partnerships, Big Think+

Robert Chapman Smith

VP, Editor-at-Large, Big Think

Roman Valentine

VP, Product & Engineering, Big Think+

Rosa Been

Senior Manager, Editorial Marketing & Design, Big Think

Ryan Commins

Lead Director, Big Think

Samantha Mckelvie

Video Producer/Editor, Big Think+

Sasha Brown-Worsham

Managing Editor, Big Think Creative

Sean McVey

CMO & GM, Big Think

Seth Goldin

VP, Information Technology & Infrastructure

Steph McClain

Senior Strategist, Audience Engagement, Big Think

Stephen Johnson

Executive Editor, Big Think

Tiffany Green

Principal Engineer, Big Think+

Tim Drummond

Lead Video Editor, Big Think

Tom Sobelman

Partnership Development Lead, Big Think+

Vanessa Haroutunian

Lead Producer, Big Think

Vanessa Hudson

Supervising Creative Producer, Big Think Creative

Vicky Chao

Motion Design Director, Big Think Creative

Vincent Romero

Senior Designer, Big Think

Whit Garling

Partner Services Manager, Big Think Creative

Zac Grigg

Senior Video Editor, Big Think Creative

LatestNews

Big Think Crosses 1 Billion YouTube Views

Big Think's flagship YouTube channel crosses 1 billion lifetime views.

Milestone · July 2026

Freethink Media Becomes Big Think Media

The company has consolidated its media portfolio under the Big Think brand — same team, same vision, new name.

Announcement · March 2026

Big Think Creative Wins the 2025 Digiday Award for Best In-House Content Studio

The 2025 Digiday Award recognizes a year of work in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.

Award · November 2025

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Come work with us.

We're a team of storytellers, journalists, editors, filmmakers, producers, designers, strategists, and technologists. Each of us brings unique expertise, but we share a common purpose.

If you're passionate about exploring big ideas, telling stories that matter, and making an impact, we want to hear from you.

At Big Think Media, you'll be part of a dynamic team that thrives on innovation, collaboration, and pushing the boundaries of media.

Let's build something big together.

OpenRoles

What's itlike to workat Big Think?

We hire for mission.

Our mission is to make media more curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive. That mission doesn't resonate with everyone, and that's fine. But if it doesn't resonate with you, this probably isn't the place for you.

We hire people who love ideas.

Our job is to bring ideas to life. To do that, you have to understand them, and to understand them, you have to be interested in them. Really interested. And we are.

We hire for passion.

We work hard here. Not because we love working hard, but because we love what we're working on. So yes, there will sometimes be late nights and weekends. We believe "work/life" balance is a false dichotomy, and that the true balance we should all seek is between our personal life and professional life. Because we believe that work is part of life — a big part! And if you're lucky, you get to work on things you love. We feel lucky.

We hire people who figure things out.

People who volunteer to tackle the hardest problems, serve in whatever role is most needed on any given project, and figure things out, grow fast here. People who say "that's impossible" or "that's not my job" or "I wouldn't even know where to start" don't.

We take our work seriously, not ourselves.

None of that cameras-off, "nothing from my end" stuff here. We turn our cameras on and let our personalities out. We socialize. We laugh a lot. Then we get to work. Because you can take your work seriously without taking yourself seriously. In fact, we believe that you can't take your work seriously if you take yourself too seriously.

We think in decades.

The most common reaction to our vision when we started this company was "…that would take decades." To which we responded "…then we better get started." Everything worth doing takes a long time. That makes most people want to give up. It makes us want to get started.

Read Our Employee Handbook ›

We putour ethosintoeverything.

We're on a mission to help people make sense of what's happening in the world around them. And we believe the only way to do that is to bring a new ethos to new media.

What is that ethos? So glad you asked. We wrote all about it here and you should read it, because it is the "why" behind everything we do.

Read About Our Ethos ›

We've beenremote-firstfrom the start.

We've been remote-first since the beginning, and that means our ways of working are optimized for it.

We do most of our work using cloud-based tools so we can collaborate on everything. We meet a lot, we message a lot, and we don't email much at all. In short: we replicate an in-person, synchronous, working environment online. And that's the key: remote work only works when it doesn't feel remote.

We also value in-person collaboration and do as much of it as we can by hosting local meetups, team retreats, and more. And we maintain a beautiful (if we do say so ourselves) Studio and HQ in Washington, DC.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

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Stephen Johnson · Executive Editor

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Case Study / Intelligence Everywhere

An evening of unexpected minds, extraordinary ideas, and a world alive with intelligence.

Audience members listen closely to the evening’s ideas at The Broad Stage

What if intelligence is everywhere — and we’ve only just begun to recognize it?

That question brought 300+ curious minds to The Broad Stage in Santa Monica for Intelligence Everywhere: Exploring a World Full of Minds, a cinematic evening of science, storytelling, and immersive experiences created by Big Think in partnership with the John Templeton Foundation.

The occasion marked the launch of Templeton Futures, a new initiative dedicated to pursuing some of humanity’s biggest questions. Its inaugural Future of Intelligence venture will invest more than $60 million over three years to explore the nature, origins, and future of intelligence — wherever it emerges.

To bring that ambitious mission to life, we created an experience that brought together leading researchers, Hollywood storytellers, technologists, and cultural leaders to reconsider one of our most fundamental assumptions: that intelligence is something uniquely, or even primarily, human.

The result was an evening that expanded well beyond the theater, with videos from the event generating more than 2.1 million organic views in their first week.

A world full of minds

For centuries, humans have measured intelligence against our own abilities. But emerging research is revealing a far stranger and more fascinating picture.

Bees can learn from one another. Pigeons can collectively develop knowledge that no individual possesses. Dolphins and elephants demonstrate remarkable capacities for self-awareness. And artificial intelligence is challenging the boundaries we’ve drawn between human and machine.

Through Big Think’s signature Ideascape format, the evening explored these discoveries as parts of a larger story, with each speaker opening a new window into the nature of intelligence.

Marine mammal scientist Diana Reiss challenged assumptions about animal minds, while National Geographic Explorer Felicity Muth revealed the surprising cognitive abilities of bees. Behavioral biologist Dora Biro examined how groups develop collective intelligence, and Athena Aktipis explored the role of cooperation in the evolution of complex life.

Google’s Blaise Agüera y Arcas considered what artificial intelligence reveals about the nature of minds, while Dune screenwriter Jon Spaihts closed the program by imagining humanity’s future in a world increasingly filled with other intelligences.

Hosted by comedian and TED podcast host Chris Duffy, the evening moved between scientific discovery, philosophical questions, and speculative storytelling, inviting guests to see intelligence not as a single human trait, but as a phenomenon taking many different forms.

When ideas become experiences

The storytelling began before the audience ever took their seats.

Three specially commissioned, glowing sculptures greeted guests in the theater’s lobby: a humanoid figure, a stag, and an octopus. Each represented a different expression of intelligence, accompanied by a provocative question designed to spark curiosity and conversation.

Beside the human figure: Are we the pinnacle of intelligence, or just the ones who wrote the test?

The stag invited guests to consider the hidden intelligence of the natural world: What is the forest saying beneath our feet, and why did we assume it was silent?

And the octopus posed a question about one of Earth’s most unfamiliar minds: An octopus has most of its neurons in its arms, so where does it think?

The sculptures were characters from the evening’s original opening film, which followed Voyager, a humanoid figure who discovers intelligence as a glowing light within its own mind — then encounters that same light in the other forms of life it meets.

By bringing the film’s characters into the physical environment, the event blurred the boundaries between cinematic storytelling and the guest experience, transforming the venue itself into an invitation to question familiar assumptions.

The experience continued outside on a lively open-air terrace, where guests gathered for drinks, music, and conversation.

Just off the courtyard, a hidden sanctuary offered a striking contrast. Behind flowing black curtains, a lush botanical listening lounge invited visitors to settle among live plants, put on noise-canceling headphones, and experience an unusual musical composition.

Created with PlantWave, the installation translated the electrical activity of plants into sound, with different plants contributing distinct instruments and musical textures. The result was an intimate, meditative soundscape that offered another way to encounter the natural world.

Together, these elements reflected a central principle of Big Think’s Ideascape series: the most powerful ideas aren’t simply explained. They’re experienced.

Felicity Muth opens a window onto bee intelligence.

Voyager discovers a glowing light within its own mind in the original opening film

A luminous stag appears in the Voyager opening film

The specially commissioned humanoid, stag, and octopus sculptures greet guests in the lobby

The luminous humanoid sculpture and its question about human intelligence

The luminous stag sculpture asks about the hidden intelligence of the natural world

The luminous octopus sculpture brings an unfamiliar mind into the physical environment

A botanical listening lounge offers an intimate encounter with the natural world.

Joe Patitucci brings the electrical activity of plants into sound.

Diana Reiss explores dolphin communication — a talk that reached 1.8 million views.

Scientific, creative, and technological communities meet on the open-air terrace.

Conversations continue long after the presentations end.

Audience members applaud during Intelligence Everywhere

Guests share a conversation at the reception

An extraordinary collision of worlds

The waitlisted gathering drew 300+ guests from across Los Angeles’s scientific, creative, and technological communities.

The audience brought together an extraordinary mix of scientists, technologists, and cultural leaders, including filmmakers and creatives behind Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight, Foundation, Star Wars, Jurassic World, and The Naked Gun. Among them were leading physicists, pioneers of the Human Genome Project, and NASA scientists exploring the possibility of life beyond Earth.

That cross-pollination was intentional. By bringing together people with different perspectives and expertise, the event created the conditions for unexpected connections and more interesting conversations.

As guests returned to the courtyard for more food, drinks, and music, the evening’s questions spilled into animated discussions. People lingered even as the production crew began breaking down the event, and some carried the conversation to a nearby bar.

Earlier, Dora Biro had shared a lesson from her research into collective intelligence: smarter groups benefit from diverse perspectives, a little noise, and the freedom to explore.

Launching a bigger conversation

For the John Templeton Foundation, Intelligence Everywhere marked the public kickoff of a major new initiative.

To introduce the Foundation’s vision, Big Think also produced a special film featuring 17 prominent voices from across science, philosophy, and culture, including Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, neuroscientist David Eagleman, and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram.

Drawing on original interviews produced through its ongoing partnership with Templeton, the film explored the question at the center of the new venture: What is intelligence, and why does understanding it matter?

Within just a week of publication, six talks from the program generated more than 2.1 million entirely organic views. Diana Reiss’s exploration of dolphin communication alone reached 1.8 million views, while Felicity Muth’s talk on bee intelligence attracted more than 230,000.

Intelligence Everywhere didn’t offer a final answer to what intelligence is. Instead, it helped launch a much larger exploration — and invited audiences everywhere to see the world, and the minds within it, a little differently.

The ideas stayed with them.

The evening was incredible and I’ve found myself seeing the world through that lens ever since. I keep thinking about the different forms of intelligence all around us, how we recognize and value them and what they might teach us. It left a lasting impression.

AttendeeArtist

Once again, THANK YOU to you and the whole team for the incredibly helpful guidance throughout the whole process, the amazing visuals, and for the hospitality throughout my visit. I really am so honoured to have been a part of this.

Dora BiroSpeaker

It’s a shame this is one night only! you should take this on tour.

AttendeeScreenwriter

Brilliant program. Great to see diverse minds celebrated as a form of collective resilience.

AttendeeArtist

Such a great crowd and such inspiring speakers. Thanks for having me and the plants!

Joe PatitucciMusician

Really fantastic event - like last year, I came away so inspired. Been involved in the Science Entertainment Exchange for many years — great to have these communities overlapping.

AttendeeScreenwriter

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Case Study

An immersive evening putting awe back where it belongs — at the center of everything.

Some events you attend. Others you experience. Our recent Big Think gathering — A Night of Awe and Wonder — was decidedly the latter.

The room buzzed with possibility even before the first speaker took the stage. Professors and researchers from top universities mingled with executives from leading tech, media, and philanthropic sectors. Filmmakers, directors, screenwriters, and producers behind projects as diverse as Star Trek to Chef's Table wove into conversations with innovators and cultural leaders — creating precisely the kind of cross-pollination we'd hoped for, and more.

But what made the evening truly special wasn't just who showed up. It was how they showed up. The energy was palpable: open, curious, genuinely warm. People weren't just excited to be there — they were ready to be transformed.

Dacher Keltner opened the evening by grounding us in what we came for: awe itself. Not as mystical abstraction, but as universal emotion backed by rigorous science. He framed why awe matters — how it rewires our brains for resilience, dissolves ego boundaries, and makes us more generous, creative, and fully alive.

Janna Levin then carried us beyond Earth into the cosmos, where black holes bend reality and the universe reveals its poetic mysteries. Her talk reminded us that wonder is not merely earthbound — it is woven into the very fabric of existence.

Victor Vescovo brought us back to our own planet, but to its most extreme edges. Through stories of scaling the world's highest mountains, diving to its deepest ocean trenches, and venturing into space, he showed how pushing into Earth's extremes sparks transcendence and reveals what we're truly capable of.

David Gruber offered something entirely new: a first look at Project CETI's groundbreaking efforts to decode whale communication, complete with unreleased recordings. Watching the room lean forward in unison as these ancient, intelligent voices filled the space was in itself a moment of awe.

Musician Robot Koch — whose music was described by the BBC as "artificial intelligence discovering religion" — then enveloped us in a performance that felt nearly extraterrestrial. These soundscapes did more than accompany the evening's themes — they embodied them.

David S. Goyer, the acclaimed screenwriter, director & producer, explored how moral imagination and wonder fuel the stories that shape culture, drawing from decades of work that's helped define modern mythology on screen.

Rainn Wilson went deep and philosophical, connecting awe to meaning, spirituality, and our longing for something larger than ourselves. His reflections felt both profound and refreshingly honest.

And finally, Kelly Corrigan closed the evening by bringing us home. Her story of losing her mother reminded us that awe does not simply reside in black holes or in mysterious ocean depths. Sometimes it dwells in the small, ordinary moments that quietly shape a meaningful life. It was moving, grounding, and the perfect conclusion.

We've built a world that too often strips wonder away. We're buried in screens and schedules, living smaller, more fearful, more disconnected lives than our biology intended. Awe isn't just a nice feeling — it's a biological imperative, an antidote to our age of anxiety and isolation.

This evening reminded everyone in that room why we can't afford to forget how to be amazed. The conversations that continued long after the last speaker left the stage, the connections being made between people from wildly different worlds, the ideas sparked — that's what happens when you put awe back where it belongs: at the center of everything.

And most importantly for us was to hear so many awesome testimonials from our guests — filmmakers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropic leaders — who said they left feeling inspired and excited for the next event.

This event was a reminder of what becomes possible when we gather with intention, show up with curiosity, and allow ourselves to be transformed by wonder.

Come curious. Leave transformed. That was the invitation. And from everything we witnessed, that's exactly what happened.

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

Anil Seth on the hard problem, and what science still can't explain about being you.

The Mystery of Consciousness — event photo

In 1995, philosopher David Chalmers made a provocative distinction: there were easy problems of consciousness — and hard ones.

The easy problems were challenging but solvable. How humans process color, for instance, could be explained by light wavelengths, retinal activity, and neural pathways.

But the hard problem? That was the mystery of experience itself. What was it like to see the color blue? Why should any physical process feel like anything at all?

In a live Big Think conversation in Oxford, neuroscientist Anil Seth of the University of Sussex took the audience to the frontier of this enduring mystery. Drawing on ideas from his bestselling book Being You, he unpacked what modern science could — and still could not — say about the nature of subjective experience.

The conversation was moderated by Jonny Thomson, philosopher and senior editor at Big Think, best known for Mini Philosophy, the viral platform and book making philosophy accessible to millions. Following their discussion, the audience had the chance to pose their own questions, deepening the exploration of one of science's most profound challenges.

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

Art, science, and the case for manufacturing pharmaceuticals in orbit.

An immersive fusion of art, science, and frontier innovation set the stage for an unforgettable exploration of the future of manufacturing in space.

Guests arrived at Chromasonic's new studio in LA's Arts District, greeted with cocktails, bites, and a soulful DJ set from Michael Donte of Black House Radio.

Once settled, they were ushered into Chromasonic Field — a large-scale, walk-through installation where translucent screens transformed sound into color and color into sound. Driven by an algorithmic interplay of light and sonic waves, the experience was mesmerizing and sensory-rich — an invitation to dissolve the boundary between art and science.

From there, Big Think's Kmele Foster took the stage for a live conversation with Will Bruey, CEO and co-founder of Varda Space Industries.

Together, they explored the rapidly evolving field of space manufacturing at a moment when falling launch costs and new technologies were unlocking unprecedented possibilities beyond Earth. Bruey shared his journey from lead avionics engineer at SpaceX — where he flew the Dragon spacecraft on eight missions to the ISS — to launching Varda, which is pioneering the use of microgravity to produce pharmaceuticals in space.

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

The collapse of the twentieth-century order, and the technologies quietly building what comes next.

We brought together visionary technologists, founders, and futurists in San Francisco to explore how breakthrough technologies — from AI to clean energy to synthetic biology — can help reinvent America for the 21st century. Curated by Peter Leyden in partnership with Big Think, the evening featured bold ideas, dynamic conversations, and a celebration of the innovators shaping what comes next. It was a night to frame the future — and to meet the people building it.

Big Think and Peter Leyden launched a new quarterly salon series at Shack15 called The Great Progression. The idea was straightforward: bring together Bay Area technologists, scientists, and creative leaders to dig into how emerging technologies might shape the next 25 years.

The evening unfolded at the iconic Ferry Building overlooking the bay, where cocktails flowed and an eclectic crowd of innovators mingled — tech veterans, Central Valley entrepreneurs, academics, and beyond. It was equal parts salon and party, designed to get people talking and thinking.

Big Think CEO Chandler Tuttle kicked things off and then turned it over to Leyden, who sketched the stakes of a compelling new narrative the series will tackle: we're witnessing the collapse of 20th-century systems and the emergence of a new technological era that could usher in a golden age — if we navigate it thoughtfully.

The heart of the evening was Leyden's conversation with three remarkable guests shaping the future in their respective fields.

Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri and VP of AI Experience at Airbnb, shared his amazement at how generative AI has evolved beyond anyone's expectations. "The holy grail of common-sense reasoning — discovering how large-language models unexpectedly cracked problems that had stumped AI researchers for decades."

Steven Johnson, bestselling author and Editorial Director of Google Labs, talked about recognizing early that large language models represent something as profound as the invention of the web. "The mistake would be thinking it's hype," he said, explaining how initial skepticism gave way once he began to run his own prompts.

Ryan Phelan, co-founder of Revive & Restore, brought a different but equally compelling perspective with synthetic biology. She explained how the same genomic innovations accelerating drug development could also revive extinct species and restore biodiversity. Her remarks sparked one of the night's most exciting exchanges: "With artificial life we see not just tinkering, but a broader sense of designing living systems."

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

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Case Study

Art, altered states, and a plant symphony. Inside the psychedelic renaissance.

The evening was designed as an exploration of altered states — how art, science, and shared experience can expand perception and open new ways of understanding ourselves and the world.

We kicked off the evening with an immersive art installation designed to elevate consciousness through light and sound. Guests explored Chromasonic's mind-expanding Satellite One installation, an immersive piece that turns light into sound and sound into light to create a unique, expanded state of awareness and connection — a psychedelic experience through art.

The experience was created by artists Johannes Girardoni, Orpheo McCord, and Joel Shearer, and guests had a chance to hear from some of the founding team about their work.

During the cocktail hour, guests experienced the exhibit in groups of eight and mingled — all while enjoying the musical stylings of Michael Donte of Black House Radio, who DJ'ed alongside fellow LA-based DJ BODII.

The Future of Psychedelic Science — event photo

From there we sat down with Robin Carhart-Harris, a leading scientist, to learn about the latest research and where the psychedelic renaissance is headed.

Robin is the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in Neurology and Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Before that he was at Imperial College London, where he founded one of the world's first psychedelic research centers. He is a leader in the field, and his work — including studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and DMT — is widely cited.

We explored the current psychedelic renaissance, the most compelling research going on right now, the challenges involved with researching psychoactive compounds, and where he sees this renaissance going.

The night culminated with a performance by artist Joe Patitucci, who transformed electricity from plants into a beautiful symphony of music. Joe is a multimedia artist renowned for pioneering plant music and bio-sonification. His work, which translates plant bio-rhythms into ambient music, has inspired a new genre and opened paths for sound art to amplify ecological consciousness.

Joe's installations, performances, and workshops have captivated audiences from TED to SXSW to the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2021, his company Data Garden released PlantWave, a device that allows anyone with a smartphone and a plant to experience Joe's work. Joe shared the inspiration behind his practice and demonstrated the technology live — connecting various plants to create music via a synthesizer, vocal samples, piano, and bass.

What our attendees say

Saturday's event was awesome. Incredibly inspiring and I'm still thinking about each talk.

MiriamLawyer

I left feeling genuinely inspired, met a lot of great people, and have a sense that meaningful collaborations will grow out of this gathering.

RobertMusician

Congrats on an inspiring event. We need more awe and wonder!

JonathanPhilanthropist

MaxJournalist

The talks were in a beautiful, deep conversation with each other — with the speakers in the first half discussing awe through science and the speakers in the second half through art.

EvanFilmmaker

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

How Capital Group built a culture of voluntary leadership learning, at scale.

Capital Group is one of the world's leading investment firms, with over 9,000 employees globally. The company's long-standing investment in its people has earned it recognition as a Forbes Best Large Employer and a Best Workplace for New Grads.

As the business evolved, leaders set out to find a learning solution that could reinforce a culture of adaptability and growth mindset — and scale seamlessly across teams.

The challenge. The program had to succeed without compliance mandates, relying instead on voluntary adoption sparked by interest and relevance. After piloting with 200 leaders, the initiative needed to expand to 1,600 employees across global sales and marketing while remaining consistent and accessible. Learning formats had to be flexible, blending microlearning with deeper leadership development.

The approach. Capital Group partnered with Big Think to build a custom program that seamlessly fit into ongoing internal initiatives like book clubs and monthly spotlights, offered flexible learning paths blending in-depth classes with quick-hit microlearning, and featured celebrated thought leaders whose external perspectives kept learning connected to company priorities.

Capital Group treated the rollout like an internal marketing campaign, using monthly newsletter sends to spotlight new content and spark early-week engagement. This simple cadence drove nearly 800 learners to the platform and sustained a 50 percent voluntary participation rate across the 1,600-person sales and marketing population.

To reinforce priority skills, we built custom curations focused on growth mindset, adaptability, curiosity, and continuous learning. Collections like Making an Impact at Work, Creating a Vision, and One Percent Better helped teams quickly find content that supported their day-to-day performance.

The results. 76% participation rate. 1,225 platform learners. 415 total hours of learning. 4,470 lesson completions. 6,571 lesson views. What began as a 200-person pilot has grown to more than 1,200 learners — proof that when programs fit the way people work, employees choose to engage. No mandate required.

What our partners say

Marlene HernandezDigital Curriculum Manager, Corning

The Big Think+ team is incredibly responsive, solutions oriented, and collaborative – on top of a really unique & valuable product offering. It's a breath of fresh air to work with them.

Chris WalkerVP Global Leadership Development, Marriott International

Big Think is a great partner and so easy to work with — we love the topics, the length, the guides and the accessibility.

Sandy PickettSenior Director, Leadership and Professional Development, The Aspen Group

If you are evaluating Big Think+, I would encourage you to lean in, because what they offer is unmatched. It can immediately elevate your program — just like it did for us.

Jessica LaneDirector of Communications & Enablement, ScentAir

If you want something that grows with you and partners with you, Big Think+ is the best option in the business.

Ryan SmithHead of Global Leadership, T. Rowe Price

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

Scaling a culture of leadership across 10,000+ Bank of America learners.

Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, with a vast, diverse workforce. Known for investing in top speakers and in-person experiences, the bank's L&D team wanted to bring that same quality to a digital, on-demand environment.

The challenge. The L&D team needed to meet a growing demand for scale and relevance. With thousands of employees across regions and roles, traditional formats couldn't keep pace with how quickly the business — and its people — were evolving.

The approach. Big Think delivered a custom program that integrated directly into Bank of America's existing Degreed platform — ensuring effortless access and a unified learner experience. The library was built from short-form lessons by world-class experts, designed to fit naturally into the flow of work across a global enterprise. Content was curated around key leadership and career-development priorities, with role-specific learning that targeted critical skill gaps.

The impact. 2,600 learning hours. 52,000 lessons completed. 10,000+ platform learners. High satisfaction ratings and positive feedback point to more than surface-level engagement — participants reported actively using the microlesson insights on the job.

What began as a small pilot has grown into a four-year partnership supporting 10,000+ Bank of America learners, becoming a scalable, embedded part of their leadership development ecosystem.

What our partners say

Marlene HernandezDigital Curriculum Manager, Corning

The Big Think+ team is incredibly responsive, solutions oriented, and collaborative – on top of a really unique & valuable product offering. It's a breath of fresh air to work with them.

Chris WalkerVP Global Leadership Development, Marriott International

Big Think is a great partner and so easy to work with — we love the topics, the length, the guides and the accessibility.

Sandy PickettSenior Director, Leadership and Professional Development, The Aspen Group

If you are evaluating Big Think+, I would encourage you to lean in, because what they offer is unmatched. It can immediately elevate your program — just like it did for us.

Jessica LaneDirector of Communications & Enablement, ScentAir

If you want something that grows with you and partners with you, Big Think+ is the best option in the business.

Ryan SmithHead of Global Leadership, T. Rowe Price

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Case Study

How Stryker built an emerging-leaders program in resilience and EQ, without adding headcount.

Stryker is a world leader in medical device technologies, with more than 50,000 employees across 75+ countries. Innovation and continuous improvement are foundational to its mission — a relentless drive to work with its customers to make healthcare better.

The challenge. Stryker had a number of leadership development programs in place, but the team wanted to expand their reach by developing an emerging-leaders program focused on building resilience and emotional intelligence — one they could run at scale. At the same time, they needed to build, launch, and facilitate this new program in a way that was close to resource-neutral.

The approach. Stryker partnered with Big Think to design a custom program that targeted two critical leadership skills, delivered high-impact insights on resilience and EQ, engaged learners with high participation, and created opportunities to apply new knowledge in everyday skills and habits.

528 emerging leaders were divided into two cohorts that moved through a six-week program combining Big Think+ content, small-group conversations, and fireside chats with leadership. Two courses — Resilience 2.0 and Emotional Intelligence — anchored the experience, letting the L&D team focus on the live, interactive elements while participants moved asynchronously through a guided learning experience.

The guided experience included engaging microlearning (dozens of video lessons designed to convey essential information in 10 minutes or less), reflection opportunities (prompts to identify key takeaways and next steps), real-life practice (step-by-step activities taking learners from theory to practice in 15–30 minutes), and community building (interactive discussion boards with thought-provoking prompts).

The results. The pilot significantly exceeded expectations. 528 initial participants. 87% participation rate. 72% completion rate. 1,000+ hours of learning delivered without L&D team facilitation. 52 average minutes of learning per learner. 25 courses.

Learners not only engaged with the micro-lesson content — they actively reflected on what they were learning, demonstrating both an uptake of knowledge and employment of it in their day-to-day work. For the L&D team, over 1,000 hours of learning happened without their needing to facilitate it — freeing them to use their time more strategically on peer- and leader-led experiences.

What began as an experiment has grown into a multi-phase cohort program that has developed hundreds of leaders to date, contributing to a culture where resilience and emotional intelligence are pursued and celebrated.

What our partners say

Marlene HernandezDigital Curriculum Manager, Corning

The Big Think+ team is incredibly responsive, solutions oriented, and collaborative – on top of a really unique & valuable product offering. It's a breath of fresh air to work with them.

Chris WalkerVP Global Leadership Development, Marriott International

Big Think is a great partner and so easy to work with — we love the topics, the length, the guides and the accessibility.

Sandy PickettSenior Director, Leadership and Professional Development, The Aspen Group

If you are evaluating Big Think+, I would encourage you to lean in, because what they offer is unmatched. It can immediately elevate your program — just like it did for us.

Jessica LaneDirector of Communications & Enablement, ScentAir

If you want something that grows with you and partners with you, Big Think+ is the best option in the business.

Ryan SmithHead of Global Leadership, T. Rowe Price

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Freethink Media Becomes Big Think Media

Big Think Media announced today that it has consolidated its media portfolio under the Big Think brand. The company, previously known as Freethink Media, will now operate as Big Think Media.

The change reflects a decade of evolution. Founded in 2016 as Freethink, the company set out to build a different kind of media company — curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive. In 2020, it acquired Big Think, a brand already known for showcasing the world's biggest thinkers. Today, Freethink Media has consolidated its media portfolio under the Big Think brand and become Big Think Media.

"When we acquired Big Think in 2020, we were already big fans. Big Think's original co-founders Victoria and Peter were early and right about where media was headed. They had built a truly singular brand in the new media landscape, and we believed we had the capabilities to unlock its full potential. Today, Big Think is bigger than ever and we have even bigger plans for the years to come." — Chandler Tuttle, CEO Big Think Media

Same team, same vision, new name. Big Think Media now operates four businesses under one roof: Big Think Editorial, Big Think Learning, Big Think Events, and Big Think Creative. Together they reach more than 21M viewers and readers each month and support partnerships with organizations including the John Templeton Foundation, Stand Together, Microsoft, Nike, and many others.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Crosses 1 Billion YouTube Views

Big Think Media announced today that its flagship YouTube channel has crossed 1 billion lifetime views.

Big Think was launched in 2007 and was acquired by Freethink Media in 2020. Since acquisition, the company has grown the Big Think YouTube channel from 2.6M subscribers to 8.9M.

"A billion views is a number worth celebrating, but what matters more is the community behind it — the audience that shows up, engages, and comes back. That's what we're really building." — Sean McVey, GM Big Think Editorial

The milestone comes as the company continues to expand its editorial footprint. Big Think Editorial now reaches more than 21M viewers and readers each month across YouTube, newsletters, social, and the web, and this year the company launched a new paid subscription bundle bringing its videos, articles, podcasts, classes, and events together in a single offering.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Big Think Creative Wins the 2025 Digiday Award for Best In-House Content Studio

Big Think Creative has been named Best In-House Content Studio at the 2025 Digiday Awards, recognizing a year of work in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.

The Digiday Awards honor the most effective in-house studios in the industry, with judges weighing entries across innovation, creativity, consumer value, and demonstrated results over the past twelve months.

"This award belongs as much to our partners as it does to our team. Every project we're proud of started with a foundation or a brand that had something worth saying, and trusted us to help say it. We're honored to work with them." — Mike Dennis, GM Big Think Creative

Big Think Creative is part of Big Think Media. The studio partners with brands and foundations to bring big ideas to life through documentaries, expert interviews, long-form features, experiential events, and integrated campaigns.

Unlikely Collaborators is an organization that exists to help people resolve conflict by making them aware of and helping them work with their Perception Box.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Welcome to the tribe.

Companies are a lot like tribes, or at least the good ones are. They have a mission, an ethos, beliefs, and a code.

They have a reason for being and a way of being.

You can read more about our reason for being in our manifesto, "A New Ethos for New Media." This guide is about our way. Our way is not the only way. It's not for everyone, but it is for us.

This guide will help you understand our way, so you can find yours.

mission

We believe that media companies play an important role in society. They help us make sense of what's happening in the world around us.

And we believe that today's media companies are failing. They're cynical about people's motivations, simplistic about hard questions, certain they have all the answers, and scared of the challenges we face.

Cynical, simplistic, certain, and scared.

When you say it like that, it's hard to argue it's not true. It's also impossible to argue it's not bad. Because it's impossible to make sense of what's happening in the world around you when you're being cynical, simplistic, certain, and scared.

So we're on a mission to do something about it. To bring a new ethos to new media. What is that ethos? So glad you asked. We wrote a whole manifesto about it, aptly titled "A New Ethos for New Media," and you should read it because it is the "why" behind everything we do.

In the meantime, here's a quick summary:

Be curious.

Don't be cynical about people's motivations; be curious about their ideas. You'll never know people's true motivations, and they don't matter as much as you think. A bad idea that comes from pure motivations is still a bad idea, and vice versa.

Be thoughtful.

Pretending that hard questions have simple answers feels good because it feels smart. But it's neither. Be thoughtful, because any question interesting enough to be worth thinking about is too interesting to have a simple answer.

Be open.

Don't be certain you have all the answers; be open to different perspectives. Because no one has a monopoly on the truth, and being open to different perspectives is the only way to get closer to it.

Be constructive.

Don't be scared of the challenges we face; be constructive. Because there is no reason to think we face anything today that is more challenging than the famines or world wars people have faced in the past. We can figure this out.

Curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive.

That's how you make sense of what's happening in the world around you. And it's how we approach everything we do here.

beliefs

We're missionaries.

We're on a mission to make media more curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive. If you're here, that's your mission too. It's why we exist, and it's what we all signed up for.

You can't make something interesting unless you're interested.

We started this company because we love ideas. Big, bold, provocative ideas. Ideas that challenge the way we think and change the way we look at the world. We love to learn about them, discuss them, disagree with them, and share them. We believe you can and should play with ideas, and we do it a lot here. And that's critical because our job is to make them interesting for others. And you can't make something interesting unless you're interested.

We're interested. In everything.*

We're not* interested in preaching to the choir.

If you tell people what to think, they'll either say "f@$% yeah!" (because they already agree with you) or "f@$% you!" (because they don't), and either way you've accomplished nothing. But if you invite people to think for themselves, they'll thank you. And you do that by being curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive.

We put our ethos into everything.

We believe that being curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive is the only way you can make sense of things, and making sense of things is core to everything you do in business, so please bring our ethos to everything you do in ours.

We're passionate about our work, and we hope you are too.

We work hard here. Not because we love working hard, but because we love what we're working on. So yes, there will sometimes be late nights and weekends. We believe "work/life" balance is a false dichotomy and that the true balance we should all seek is between our personal life and professional life. Because we believe that work is a part of life — a big part! And if you're lucky, you get to work on things you love.

We feel lucky.

Media is always changing, and we have to change with it.

The medium dictates the media. When the medium was paper, the media was writing. When the medium was radio, the media was voice. When the medium was TV, the media was video. And because the mediums are always changing, the media is always changing. Today, the medium is phones, which means the media is multimedia. Writing, audio, and video all together.

And within that medium, there are countless variations. A social feed, for example, is a very different medium than a website. Our job is to leverage the mediums that people are choosing to make a part of their daily lives to deliver media that helps them make sense of what's happening in the world around them (see Mission).

Media doesn't make money unless you make it make money.

Media is an unusual business. There are so many ways to make money, and none of them make enough. Newspapers, back when they were on paper, made money through subscriptions, advertising, and classifieds. Today, The New York Times makes money in all of those ways and many new ones. And a key driver of its largest revenue stream is games. The joke at The Times is that it's a gaming platform that uses the profits from gaming to pay for journalism. Unusual!

If you tried to run The New York Times on any one of those revenue streams, it would be wildly unprofitable, but when you add them all up, it's an empire. Media doesn't make money unless you make it make money, and it's up to every single one of us to figure out how.

Making things great is supposed to be hard.

Everything starts off bad. If you were to visualize the progress of any creative project on a graph, where the Y-axis is a letter grade and the X-axis is time, it would start off as an F, and with a competent team, it would pop up to a B pretty quickly. Unfortunately, that's where the real work begins. Once you get to a B, the progress seems to stall out. You keep iterating, but all you get is more B's. We call this "The Plateau of B's," and you'll spend so long on it that you'll start lying to yourself...

Project quality plotted against time: a fast climb from F to B, a long flat stretch labelled The Plateau of B's, then a final rise to A.

…"Maybe this already is an A." It's not. "Maybe this one just can't be an A." It can. And that's where most people give up. We don't.

Because we've been on The Plateau of B's so many times that we know the truth: there's an A on the other end of it, and there's no shortcut to getting there. You just have to keep going (see "Persistence triumphs over everything").

Feedback is a commentary on your work, not your talent. Unless it's withheld.

When you refuse to tell people the work isn't great (yet), you're insulting them in at least one of three ways: you're assuming they don't have the taste to know it, the talent to make it better, or the tenacity to get it there. You're giving up on them. Don't.

We like solving* hard problems.

Businesses are just an endless series of problems to solve. Literally. Solving problems is what businesses get paid for. If you're lucky, you get to work on the hardest problems, because the hardest problems are the most interesting.

*There are no solutions, only tradeoffs.

Problems that have solutions get solved before you even notice them. By definition, if you're wrestling with a problem, it's because there is no "solution;" there are only tradeoffs. Hard ones. List them out. Make it clear what you're giving up or putting at risk, and what you hope to get in return. Weigh those tradeoffs against each other. Then make the hard call and pick the best of imperfect options.

Process is the only real moat.

Coordinating any group of people to achieve any outcome is shockingly hard. Businesses are nothing less than the triumph of coordination over chaos. Figure out how to make it great, then figure out how to make it a process. Our moat is that turning greatness into a process is really hard.

The only real power is the power of persuasion.

It's tempting to appeal to your authority when you disagree with people — to tell people that you're the boss or that you're the expert. That might be true, but it also doesn't matter. You still have to persuade them.

Power without persuasion is an illusion. And once you accept that truth, you'll find that you're often the one who's getting persuaded. That's how you know you're doing it right.

Persistence triumphs over everything.

We will face setbacks. Big ones. Setbacks so big they will make you think we should just give up. It won't be the first time. We're here because we didn't give up. Over and over and over again. Most people don't have the stamina for that, which means you can outcompete them by outlasting them.

We think in decades.

The most common reaction to our original business pitch was "…but that would take decades." To which we responded, "Exactly." Everything worth doing takes a long time. That makes a lot of people want to give up. It makes us want to get started.

Greatness is not enough.

We've built a company, and that was really hard. But it's also not enough. Because the harsh reality is that most companies don't last.

Even great companies have their time, and then they're gone. That's okay for them but not for us. We want to build a company that lasts.

The challenge with that ambition is that "companies" are just groups of people — it's right there in the name! — and people come and go.

So companies only last if new people come to replace the old ones. And that only happens if they're inspired not just by what the company does but by what it stands for.

To last, you can't just be great; you have to be worthy.

code

All groups of people have a code of conduct, either implicit or explicit. Because the groups that don't have one fall apart. Making the code explicit makes that a lot less likely, so here's ours:

Treat people as individuals.

You can't even consider race, gender, and other protected classes when hiring, firing, or evaluating people's performance (see Resources for more). It's illegal, but beyond that, it's gross. We treat people as individuals here — that means we consider what they, as individuals, bring to the work. And as individuals, we all bring something different to the work. We celebrate those differences here. We need them. We want to have a team full of diverse perspectives because it makes our work better. Treating people as individuals is how we get that kind of team. And it's also the law, so don't break it.

Mind your manners.

There is no real difference between inappropriate workplace conduct and inappropriate personal conduct. The only difference is that in the workplace, you can get fired for it, and the company can get sued. So you already know what not to do: don't be a bigot, a bully, or a creep (see Resources for more). Don't do it here, and don't do it in your personal life either. You're better than that.

Be civil.

"Never talk about politics or religion in polite company." That's what people say, but it's no fun because those are some of the most interesting topics! There's a reason they say it, though: people have a really hard time talking about them politely. As such, some companies ban them, but banning speech is not our thing, so we take a different approach. You can talk about anything you like here, but how you talk about it matters. Keep it curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive. The alternative is rude. And boring.

Talk about it.

If you find someone rude or difficult, we encourage you to talk to them about it directly. If you're not comfortable talking to them directly, talk to your manager, our chief of staff, or HR. Be curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive, and expect everyone else to be the same.

But if you see or experience something that you believe is a serious violation of our code of conduct, please report it to HR. We take all reports seriously and investigate them thoughtfully. If any employee is found to have committed a violation of our policies, they will be counseled, disciplined, or terminated. Retaliation against an employee who reports a violation or participates in an investigation is, of course, itself a violation ("don't be a bully" is part of the code), so if you think you're being retaliated against, please report that to HR too.

meetings

We've been remote-first since the beginning, and that means our ways of working are optimized for it.

We do most of our work using cloud-based tools so we can collaborate on everything. We meet a lot, we message a lot, and we don't email much at all. In short: we replicate an in-person, synchronous working environment online. And that's the key: remote work only works when it doesn't feel remote.

We also greatly value in-person collaboration and do as much of it as we can by hosting local meetups, team retreats, and more. And we maintain a beautiful (if we do say so ourselves) HQ in Washington, DC. You're welcome to work from HQ as much (or as little) as you'd like. Please contact HR with any questions.

Meeting Time

Meetings are conversations, so none of that cameras-off, "nothing from my end" stuff here. We turn our cameras on and let our personalities out. We socialize. We laugh a lot. Then we get to work.

Because you can take your work seriously without taking yourself seriously. In fact, we believe that you can't take your work seriously if you take yourself too seriously. So loosen up, and settle in. We've got work to do.

Cave Time

Some people are "in-the-room thinkers;" some are "in-the-cave thinkers." In-the-room thinkers will miss out on all the great ideas that in-the-cave thinkers have to offer if they don't shut up and let them go to their cave to think! We learned this the hard way. And the truth is, even in-the-room thinkers need some cave time. So be sure to allow for plenty of it.

planning

Strategic Planning

We do strategic planning about twice a year. In the fall, we do annual planning and planning for the first half of the year, and in the summer, we do planning for the second half. But things change, and we have to change with them (see "Media is always changing, and we have to change with it"). So if our plans aren't working, we change them. If new opportunities emerge, we consider them. The future isn't set in stone; it's written in drafts.

OKRs

When we started this company and there were just a handful of us, we'd have a weekly meeting called "Things we said we'd do and did we do them?" It was helpful. But as we grew, we needed something a bit more robust, so now we use a system called OKRs. Same basic idea. The Os (objectives) are the things we're saying we'll do, and the KRs (key results) are how we'll know if we did them. We set our OKRs during each strategic planning cycle, and then we track our progress against them over the course of that cycle.

Big Picture

Big Picture is our monthly all-hands meeting. It's our opportunity to learn about what everyone else is up to, discuss the progress we're making toward our shared goals, and connect the work we're all doing back to the big picture.

teams

The company is a team, and we're all on it, but there are also many teams within it. Departments are teams. Functions are often teams. And, importantly, teams come together around projects. In fact, most of the work you'll do here or anywhere will be on a project team. Here's how to think about the differences:

Company

One big team. We all win, or we all go out of business. You should want the company to win, and as a result you'll hear us talk a lot about how the company is doing. Lean in.

Departments

We have four core departments: editorial, learning, events, and creative. Each department has a department lead and is structured in whatever way best suits the work the department does. The departments all have bottom lines, and they all contribute to the company's bottom line. But more than that, they reinforce one another in countless other ways:

Functional Teams

We don't have professional managers here — people who are good at "managing" but don't know anything about the work the people they manage actually do. This is important. Because your manager's primary job is to help you do great work and evaluate the work you're doing. You don't want someone doing that unless they know what they're talking about.

Project Teams

Project leads own the outcome of a project. The project either gets done and done well or it doesn't, and it's the project lead who is responsible for figuring that out (see Growth).

Everyone else on the team, regardless of their title at the company, is there to help. So you might be the lead of a functional team or a department or the whole company, but on a specific project, you're following someone else's lead. Don't be precious about your title; be passionate about the work (see "We're passionate about our work, and we hope you are too").

The key in every case is to be sure you know what the team is trying to accomplish, why, and how the role you're playing can help the team succeed.

Because if you don't, it won't.

recruiting

We hire for mission.

We're on a mission to make media more curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive. That mission doesn't resonate with everyone, and that's okay — openness to different perspectives is core to our ethos! — but if that's the case, this isn't the place for them.

We hire people who love ideas.

Our job is to bring ideas to life. To do that, you have to understand them, and to understand them, you have to be interested in them. Really interested (see "You can't make something interesting unless you're interested").

We don't hire people to tell them what to do; we hire people to tell us what to do.

If you have to tell someone what to do, they're not adding much to the company. You should be hiring people who can figure things out (see Growth), so that you have time to figure other things out.

If you wouldn't want to work for them, don't expect others to.

Even if someone won't have any direct reports initially, you should expect that they will eventually. And if you wouldn't want to work for them, why would you condemn others to that fate?

If you wouldn't want to work with ten of them, don't hire even one of them.

"Good enough" isn't. It's tempting to hire someone who's "good enough" to solve an immediate problem, but employees are not temporary fixes to company problems. They are the company. Every hire sets the mold, and the next hire fills it. Hire carefully.

performance

We do casual performance reviews whenever it feels warranted, and we do formal performance reviews once a year. Outside of the formal performance reviews, we don't consider compensation changes unless there is a significant role change.

Reviews

We call our formal reviews PGRs (Professional Growth Reviews), and we designed them to get the most bang for our buck. Because let's face it: everyone wants to know how they're doing, but no one wants to spend a lot of time on it. It's tedious. There are lots of approaches to performance reviews that are more robust than ours (e.g., 360s), and arguably you get more robust results from them, but at what cost? These approaches often take months, and the more people who are involved, the more quickly they become political. Gross.

So we do it differently. Here's how it works: our reviews cover achievements, strengths, areas for growth, and untapped opportunities. Employees and managers also discuss career goals and opportunities for development. It's an intentional focus on growth, development, and forward momentum — less so a critique or evaluation for its own sake. Our PGR process is structured to be a constructive, two-way conversation that helps employees understand how they're doing, what's working, and where they want to go next.

If things start to veer off track, a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) may be needed to realign expectations, but only if the company believes there's truly potential for improvement. Sometimes, it's just not working, and we have to make cuts.

Cuts

We're a team, and it's up to each of us to help the team win. When we win as a company, we advance our mission (see Mission). When we win as individuals, we grow in our careers (see Growth). And when we fail, either as a company or as individuals, we have to make changes to the team. Cuts are the worst, but they're better than working for a company that's slowly (or rapidly) failing. And they're better than letting people squander their talents on a team that needs something different from what they can provide.

growth

If you're reading this section, that's a great sign. It means you're ambitious, and you want to grow. You're one of us! The people who grow fast here come from all backgrounds, all disciplines, and all walks of life. But they all have these three things in common:

They volunteer to tackle the hardest problems.
They're happy to serve in whatever role is most needed on any given project.
They figure things out.

If you do those three things, you'll get lots of opportunities to take on new roles and grow. If you say "that's impossible" or "that's not my job" or "I wouldn't even know where to start," you won't.

We're building the world's biggest platform for the world's biggest thinkers.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in Touch

Media needs a new ethos.

We started this company because we love ideas.

Big, bold, provocative ideas. Ideas that challenge the way we think and change the way we look at the world.

Changing the way you look at the world is a powerful experience, and a common one early in life. In high school and college in particular, we're routinely confronted with new ideas, and from the dinner table to the dorm room, we delight in debating them. Those discussions aren't always polite, but they're always passionate. And we come away from them changed for the better.

Because it's only by playing with ideas that we get closer to the truth. And it's only by getting closer to the truth that we make progress.

Ideas change the world.

But we experience this less often in adulthood. The world is no less full of new ideas to consider, but we encounter them less often, and when we do — in politics, in the news, and in the culture — confirmation rather than consideration is too often the goal.

The result is a less dynamic and less interesting world.

But it doesn't have to be like this. We can and should play with ideas. And the internet could be a great playground. So why isn't it?

Ideas
change
the world,
but only if
you can
get people
to listen.

The early internet was exactly that: a playground for ideas. From blogs to message boards, for the first time in history, people from all walks of life could interact directly.

As the internet grew, however, it got very loud and very crowded. The paradoxical truth is that today it's never been easier to share ideas, and never been harder to get people to actually consider them. Because in a noisy internet, competing for attention is hard. Really hard.

Global Internet Traffic, Petabytes/Month

And that competition incentivizes a race to the bottom: incendiary headlines, divisive gossip, and cheap fearmongering.

It's often said that these tactics dominate because negativity sells. "If it bleeds, it leads." But there's a simpler and more universal explanation: these tactics dominate because they're easy.

Fear is an easy way to make things interesting. And interesting is what sells.

We have a
once-in-a-
generation
opportunity
to change
the culture
of media.

The good news is we live in interesting times.

The world is changing in profound ways, and those changes are bringing with them new challenges and new questions. Questions about power, progress, and purpose. Questions, even, about what it means to be human.

This stuff is interesting. Really interesting.

But the discourse isn't doing it justice.

Why? Some people say the problem is that our institutions are crumbling. Trust in media is at an all-time low.

Others argue that it should be low. That the problem is the media, and that it has been for too long. They say that media is too biased. And in one direction. While others say that's too biased — that the blame is bipartisan, and the real problem is that we've all become too tribal.

There's one thing, however, that nearly everyone believes: there is something wrong with media.

And we believe we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something about it.

We say we're a media company but what does that even mean?

People talk about "the media" all the time, but what exactly is it? And what is "the news"? Are they the same thing? Or different?

It seems like the answers should be obvious, but the more you think about the questions, the harder they get, especially in modern media.

It used to be simpler. Or at least it seemed that way.

For hundreds of years, "the news" simply meant newspapers, magazines, and everything in them.

But that raises the question: what goes in them? Pick one up on any given day, and it will look like the answer is "politics, war, and the stock market."

But is that what the news is? Is that all it is?

William Caxton Brings the Printing Press to England · William Small, 1877

Television

Then came television, and while the medium changed, the substance remained the same. Instead of writers writing about politics, war, and the stock market, it was talking heads talking about politics, war, and the stock market. And with the rise of cable news, the talking was replaced with yelling.

Is that the news?

Social

Then came social media. And for perhaps the first time in history, you had journalists, politicians, business leaders, artists, entertainers, and everyday people all talking about (or more often yelling about) the news in one place.

And this is when people really started asking the question out loud: "Is that the news?"

But the answer remained elusive. If you were talking about a story posted by a news publisher, for example, people would say, sure, that's the news. But what about a post commenting on that story? Is that the news? What if it's a post by a journalist? Is it the journalist who makes it the news?

If so, what makes someone a journalist?

Podcasts

Look around you today, and the question "what makes someone a journalist?" is as hard to answer as "what makes something a podcast?"

Because everyone, it seems, has one. And everything, it seems, is one.

"Podcast" has become synonymous with "people on the internet talking about things." From interviews to roundtables, dialogues to diatribes, podcasts are in our ears and on our screens. They're everywhere and everything, and they have the power to move the zeitgeist, sway elections, and drive the news cycle.

So it would seem, clearly, that podcasts have become "the news," or perhaps the news has become a podcast. But it's also clear that not all podcasts are the news, so we still need a better definition of what the news truly is.

We believe many things can be the news, but that doesn't mean that anything and everything is. It's not the format. It's not the medium. It's not the journalist. It's something else. So perhaps a better question than "what is the news?" is...

What is the news for?

Reporting

The news is as old as civilization.

The Acta Diurna — literally "The Daily Acts" — was a Roman publication first issued under Julius Caesar.

It offered reports on births, marriages, and deaths. Trials and decrees.

"Just the facts," as they say.

And many to this day would argue that "the facts" is indeed what the news is for, or should be. That the news is for reporting.

But is that all it's for?

Opinions

What about opinions? Whether in newspapers, on television, or (especially) on social media, opinions seem to be a big part of what we call "the news." Newspapers have an entire section for them, in fact.

But that separation — fact versus opinion — also seems important. And not just in newspapers. On cable news, it's reporting during the day and opinion at night, or at least it's supposed to be.

But it turns out it can be hard to separate the two.

Because determining what is and isn't a fact is harder than it seems. So much so that fact-checking is its own part of the news, with entire departments and publications devoted to it.

Investigations

But "facts" and "opinions" aren't really an answer to what the news is "for," are they? They're not a purpose. And many argue that the news does indeed have a purpose, and a vital one:

Speaking truth to power.

In this conception of the news, journalists gather facts to shine a light on what the powerful are trying to hide from us. They're investigators. A neutral, objective body that serves as a check against power.

The Fourth Estate.

"Moral Clarity"

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery, however, argues that these notions of neutrality and objectivity are holding the news back from its vital purpose:

"...'objectivity'-obsessed, both-sides journalism is a failed experiment. We need to fundamentally reset the norms of our field. The old way must go. We need to rebuild our industry as one that operates from a place of moral clarity."

If it's not clear by now, we believe all of these definitions are inadequate, or worse.

And this one, unfortunately, is the latter.

Lowery argues that moral clarity is required to find the truth. But people searching for truth in moral clarity rarely find it. Instead, what they find is heresy.

The news is many things.

It's reporting, it's investigations, it's facts, and it's opinions.

You can find it in newspapers, on television, on social media, and in podcasts.

And you can get it from journalists, politicians, business leaders, artists, entertainers, and everyday people.

The news is how we make sense of what's happening in the world around us.

That's what the news is for: sense-making.

And if that's what it's for, then one thing is painfully clear: the news is not working.

Media needs a new ethos.

Media today is failing, spectacularly, to help us make sense of what's happening in the world around us.

And we believe there is a clear reason: it's cynical, simplistic, certain, and scared.

It's cynical about people's motivations, simplistic about hard questions, certain it has all the answers, and scared of the challenges we face.

We believe there is a better way.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters · Francisco de Goya, 1799

Curious

Thoughtful

Open

Don't be certain you have all the answers; be open to different perspectives. Because no one has a monopoly on the truth, and being open to different perspectives is the only way to get closer to it.

Constructive

We can figure this out.

Curious, thoughtful, open,
and constructive.

These are the values we need to make sense of what's happening in the world around us.

And these are the values we need in media.

You can't fight tribalism, but you can build new tribes around different sacred values.

In his book The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores an important question:

What was more important for our ancestors' survival: "truth or reputation"?

In other words, from an evolutionary standpoint, what is more beneficial: being right, or being perceived to be right by your tribe?

The answer is as obvious as the implications are everywhere. Being perceived to be right by your tribe is so important to human survival that we're designed by evolution to conform. Haidt argues that this instinct not only "binds" us to our tribe but also "blinds" us to the perspectives of other tribes. By design.

We are tribal by nature.

But what is a tribe? And what "binds" it exactly?

Haidt argues that tribes are built around "sacred values." And if you take a look at the tribes around you today, you can see their sacred values on prominent display everywhere you turn: on lawn signs, on hats, and all over social media.

"These colors don't run..."

"In this house we believe..."

Nor is this a new phenomenon. "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." was a declaration of sacred values that sparked a revolution. And it proved something important:

You can't fight tribalism, but you can build new tribes around different sacred values.

So what, then, are our sacred values? What do we believe? In this house?

In this house we believe that being curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive is the only way to make sense of what's happening in the world around us.

These are our sacred values, and we believe they matter now more than ever.

Cave of the Hands · Argentina, c. 7300 BCE

It's words
or war;
there is
no third
option.

Because the alternatives are leading us to a dark place.

Tribalism today has led many people to conclude that persuasion is pointless: if we're truly blind to the perspectives of other tribes, they argue, persuasion must be destined to fail. Ironically, this argument seems... persuasive. And it's not hard to find evidence to support it.

Modern elections, for example, are about a dwindling number of swing voters, and you could argue that even those voters aren't being moved by persuasion as much as by personalities. People don't seem to change their minds.

But zoom out, and you'll see that this simply isn't true.

Huge shifts in public opinion are not only possible; they're routine. The 20th century alone gave us revolutions in civil rights and women's rights, the rise and fall of communism, and, briefly, the belief that history itself had "ended."

And we're lucky it isn't true. Because while the argument that persuasion is pointless implies that there is an alternative, it never actually states what that alternative is. We're left to imagine that there is an alternative that is both more effective and more desirable, but no such alternative exists.

In the end, the only alternative to persuasion is war.

And sadly, the 20th century gave us countless examples of that too. If we give up on persuasion, we should expect the same of the 21st.

We need
a new tribe
now more
than ever.

We need a new tribe now more than ever.

The world is changing. Fast. And media is failing to make sense of it. It's more interested in politics than progress. More focused on blame than solutions. More motivated to deliver easy answers than navigate hard questions.

It's cynical.
It's simplistic.
It's certain.
And it's scared.

And it doesn't have to be like this.

We can build a new tribe around different sacred values.

We can be curious, thoughtful, open, and constructive.

And we have to be, because we can't go on like this.

The world is changing. And it's time for media to change with it.

Join us.