Worklife with Molly Graham

Success in your career looks different for everyone — but no matter your industry, you'll need to take risks. Company and community builder Molly Graham took to the TED stage two years ago to share three key skills to learn before jumping off a metaphorical cliff, outlining a path off the corporate ladder and into true professional and personal growth -- and these key skills are more relevant today than ever.

Today, Molly has returned to TED as the new host of the podcast, WorkLife. WorkLife is a show where Molly and her expert guests talk through the messy feelings we all experience at work—conversations that delve into our ambitions and failures. Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, caught up with Molly to look back at her talk and how those ideas continue to evolve in today's world. They discuss the importance of embracing the emotional side of work, how to tell the difference between good fear and bad fear, aging, why so many successful things feel messier than we think they’re supposed to, and so much more.

Molly's talk originally aired in 2024. Elise and Molly’s conversation was recorded in April 2026.
For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Managing people is a deeply human line of work—it requires relational skills, judgement, and deep knowledge of the people you work with. But Hilary Gridley believes that when used properly, AI can not only help you become a better manager, but can help your team make more meaningful use of their human skills. Hilary has spent years leading teams at companies like Whoop, and she’s known for her work helping managers use AI to coach people, give feedback, and develop talent more efficiently. In this episode, Hilary makes the case for why AI belongs in management, and offers practical advice for how to help your team use AI in a way that adds value to their work instead of generating meaningless slop. Hilary and Molly also take a closer look at where many organizations have gone wrong in their adoption of AI tools, and the importance of clarity and communication within a team no matter what technology you have at your disposal.

Featured guest

Follow Hilary Gridley on X, LinkedIn, and at writerbuilder.com/
Subscribe to Hilary's Substack

Connect with the team

Follow Molly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at glueclub.com/
Subscribe to Molly’s Substack Lesson
Watch WorkLife videos on YouTube at TEDPods
Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok
For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If your company is growing faster than you can keep up, your manager might decide to “layer” you—that is, split your job in half or hire someone with more experience to become your boss. This is an experience a lot of people go through at work, but it’s rarely talked about because it’s often unpleasant for everyone involved. In this episode, Molly offers practical advice for anyone going through layering at work, from employees who find themselves sharing their job with someone new to leaders making the tough decision to hire another person for a role. She outlines 6 important things for employees to consider if they’re struggling to adjust to being layered, and key principles to help managers layer their teams in a way that builds trust instead of breaking it. She also reflects on her recent conversation with Don Faul and the lessons he shared from his experience being layered during his early years at Facebook.

Connect with the team
Follow Molly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at glueclub.com/
Subscribe to Molly’s Substack Lesson
Watch WorkLife videos on YouTube at TEDPods
Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A good leader is one who anchors and supports their team under pressure—and nowhere are the stakes higher than in the military. Don Faul spent five years as an officer in an elite unit in the Marine Corps. He then went on to become one of the most important operational leaders at Facebook, where he built and ran global teams during the company's most intense years of growth before he left to lead Google and CrossFit. In this episode, Molly and Don reflect on how Don’s time in the military shaped his approach to leadership, and unpack the lessons he absorbed as a young officer learning to lead under intense pressure. Don also emphasises the importance of humility and service as a leader, shares what he learned working under General Mattis, and recounts the strategies and philosophies he carried with him in his transition from military to civilian leadership.

Featured guest

Follow Don Faul on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at https://www.crossfit.com/

Connect with the team

Follow Molly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at glueclub.com/
Subscribe to Molly’s Substack Lesson
Watch WorkLife videos on YouTube at TEDPods
Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok
For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In times of change, sometimes the best way to hold onto your success is to let go of the things that got you there. Chris Anderson became the steward of TED in 2001, and transformed what was once a small, exclusive conference into a household name when he made the risky decision to make TED talks free and globally accessible online. In this episode, Molly sits down with Chris at the 2026 TED Conference in Vancouver to dig deeper into what it takes to let go of the things that brought you success, how to experiment with giving things away, and what Chris has learned through the process of passing the torch of TED stewardship to Sal Khan.

Featured guest
Follow Chris Anderson on LinkedIn
Learn more about TED
Buy TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

Connect with the team
Follow Molly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at glueclub.com/
Subscribe to Molly’s Substack Lesson
Watch WorkLife videos on YouTube at TEDPods
Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok
For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.