
The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane
Episodes for The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane
Latest episodes

Dec 22, 2023 • 51min
The Science of Failing Well
We’re often told to learn from our mistakes. But Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson says not all failures are created equal. Edmondson argues in her new book, The Right Kind of Wrong, that there’s too much emphasis on the fear of failure or “fail fast, fail often” thinking, but what people should focus on is intelligent failures, the missteps that comes from smart, calculated risk-taking. We talk about how failing well can be the best way forward.

Dec 15, 2023 • 51min
Thriving with Anxiety
Anxiety feels terrible…the heart palpitations, nausea, sweaty palms, problems sleeping and concentrating, the overwhelming sense of danger or impending doom. No wonder we try to ignore it, control it or over-medicate to make it go away. The problem is that approach only makes matters worse.
Harvard University psychologist David Rosmarin says we’re better off befriending anxiety then smothering it. Rosmarin is the founder of the Center for Anxiety and he joins us this Friday to discuss his new book, Thriving with Anxiety. He says we should think of anxiety as a smoke alarm which signals there’s a problem that needs fixing. Rather than banishing anxiety, we can use it to learn to live with uncertainty, connect with others and be more compassionate to ourselves.

Dec 8, 2023 • 51min
Navigating Loss and Grief
We are exploring loss, grief, and death from two different perspectives in this week’s episode. We start with a mother who lost her daughter Adelaide to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Kelly Cervantes has written a guide to navigating loss, Normal Broken: The Grief Companion for When it’s Time to Heal But You’re Not Sure You Want to. Then, a palliative care physician on the lessons she’s learned supporting patients and their families through illness and at the end of life. Dr. Sunita Puri talks about reckoning with the impermanence of life and how to honor it.

Dec 1, 2023 • 51min
Adam Grant on Tapping Into Our Hidden Potential
Adam Grant says that perfectionists get three things wrong: they obsess about silly and insignificant details, they avoid taking risks that could lead to growth and they don’t learn from their mistakes because they’re too busy beating themselves up. Grant should know. He writes about his perfectionist tendencies in his new book, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things.
He says rather than striving for flawlessness, real achievement comes from making mistakes, putting yourself in uncomfortable and unfamiliar situations, standing up for your values, asking for advice, connecting with others and tapping into something he calls “harmonious passion.” Adam Grant joins us to talk about being a recovering perfectionist and how to unlock the hidden talents we all have.

Nov 24, 2023 • 50min
Parenting adult children
Parenting doesn’t stop once children reach adulthood, but it certainly changes. One of the big questions parents wrestle with is — how much should I be involved in my adult child’s life….when they are in college, starting their careers, finding romantic partners, and needing financial support? We talk with Temple University psychology professor Laurence Steinberg, who has written a guide to parenting twenty and thirty-somethings called, You and Your Adult Child.

Nov 17, 2023 • 50min
Rethinking Drug Addiction and Treatment
When Maia Szalavitz was in the throes of her drug addiction she was injecting speed balls, a mixture of heroin and cocaine, as much as 40 times a day. She is one of the lucky ones who survived her addiction, got good quality treatment and is now a journalist who covers addiction and drug policies.
She joins us to talk about how trauma, temperament, despair and mental illness drive our drug epidemic and why the war on drugs has has been a colossal failure by criminalizing users and promoting myths and misconceptions about drug use. Her book, Undoing Drugs, is about the promise of a harm reduction approach to addiction which removes stigma and humanizes the users. It grew out of the activism of the AIDS crisis of the 1980’s.
She writes that drug overdoses kill more Americans every year than guns and that it’s time to completely rethink our approach to policy and treatment.

Nov 10, 2023 • 51min
Is it really that bad to gossip?
Why do so many of us like to gossip? Are we just heartless, taking pleasure in other peoples’ misery by spreading malicious secrets or unsubstantiated rumors? Or is it more complicated than that?
This episode, we explore the roots and reasons for gossip. One popular theory argues it’s part of our social evolution, helping our ancestors survive by sharing vital information about others and by creating connections between members of the group.
But, there are downsides to gossip, especially when it’s done to gain status, get revenge or when it’s a lie. Our guests are linguist Deborah Tannen and social psychologist Frank McAndrew.

Nov 3, 2023 • 50min
David Brooks on ‘How to Know a Person’
New York Times columnist David Brooks would be the first person to tell you he is a work in progress. In fact, he details his many shortcomings in his new book, How to Know a Person.
He writes about his detached younger self saying, “I had the emotional capacity of a head of cabbage.” He believes he’s not alone; that many people are cut off from their emotions, feeling estranged from other people and themselves.
David Brooks joins us to tell us what it takes to see someone for who they truly are and allow ourselves to be truly seen by others. Not surprisingly, it involves curiosity, empathy, vulnerability, generosity, and the ability to ask the right questions.

Oct 27, 2023 • 51min
‘Wrong:’ Why People Believe Misinformation
There is a lot of misinformation on the internet but why do so many people believe it? Dannagal Goldthwaite Young examines the supply side of the misinformation problem in her new book, Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation. She explains how our psychology — our need to exert control and to belong — sets the stage for political leaders and media organizations to exploit our differences and divide us, making us more willing to believe things we know are false.

Oct 20, 2023 • 42min
Trauma and Healing
With the Israel-Gaza war in our thoughts, we are talking about trauma and the possibility of healing. Renowned psychiatrist Dr. James Gordon has studied trauma through his work in conflicts around the world, including Israel and Gaza and Ukraine. He’s worked with victims of natural disasters, school shootings, and many others who experienced enormous personal loss. Gordon joins us this episode to discuss how trauma affects the body, the power of the mind to heal, the importance of self-care and possibility of recovery.