PODCAST · education
How My View Grew
by Amiel Handelsman
If you're weary of political polarization, nothing is more refreshing than nuanced thinking: ideas that reveal the complexity of what's wrong in the world and how to make it better. But where does such thinking come from? Often, it's from someone changing their mind—letting go of an old perspective and growing into a new one. Join executive coach Amiel Handelsman as he interviews nuanced thinkers about the origin stories of their big ideas. Each story offers a window into one of humanity's greatest challenges like climate change, democracy, the culture wars, the wealth gap, Ukraine, and Israel. In weeks between interviews, Amiel offers tips for training your mind to navigate complex topics and difficult conversations.
Episodes
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The Final Five Minutes
In this final curtain call of How My View Grew, I describe why I'm bringing the podcast to a close and offer ways for us to stay connected. Resources Every episode of How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts Keep up with my writing on my Medium page Listen to my interview on the Lucy Ann Lance Show…
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Reclaiming Power and Agency When Everyone's Depressed (with David Storey)
Another engaging riff with David Storey, Boston College philosophy professor and Spartan Race athlete. This time I take center stage. We explore why Americans are collectively depressed, why Democrats ignore power politics, why turning off phones and turning toward each other feels great, and how...
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Six Ideas for Democrats Who Have Not Given Up
In this five-minute episode of How My View Grew, I offer six ideas for Democrats and Never-Trumpers who haven't given up: Doing something is better than doing nothing. We're lousy at predicting the outcomes of our actions. The 2026 mid-terms are super-important. Winning in 2026 requires two...
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Status Differences Matter
Status differences, real and perceived, and the resentment that comes with them. Republicans use them to fire up voters and win elections. Democrats largely ignore them. To regain power and reverse the authoritarian tide, Democrats will need to take status differences seriously. My five-minute...
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Five Thoughts That Are Not Profound Or Useful
In this five-minute episode, which concludes season three, I share five thoughts that I think you will enjoy even though they're neither profound nor useful. Co-ed Sleepovers Love Overestimated Pronouns Everywhere What Men Do A Bold Child **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of...
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David Storey (Part 2): Alpha Energy Plus Economic Populism Plus Christianity Equals?
Part two of a provocative conversation with David Storey, associate professor of philosophy at Boston College. **Key takeaways** 0:45 The right has coded expertise as feminine 2:45 How ironic: the manosphere exists in disembodied cyberspace 6:00 What Fight Club was all about 11:00 The...
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David Storey (Part 1): Raw Egg Nationalists and the Rise of the Manosphere
Part one of a fascinating and just plain fun conversation about the manosphere with David Storey, associate professor of philosophy at Boston College. Our first experiment in doing a "high-brow brocast." Big ideas with a casual vibe. **Key takeaways** 4:00 Beards, mustaches, and the aesthetics of...
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No Kings Protest—Kudos and Disappointment
This past Saturday, I attended the No Kings protest in a Midwestern college town. I walked in with a spring in my step, yet left early with a frown on my face. In this 5-minute episode of How My View Grew, I explain why. It's a good-news, bad-news tale. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the...
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Greg Thomas: Can Injustice Catalyze a Hero's Journey?
In this episode of How My View Grew, Greg Thomas describes how jazz saved him from hating so-called "white people" and how he learned to see the Black American experience as a hero's journey that is central to American history and culture. **Key takeaways** 3:00 Early-life learning about rabid...
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Two Audacious Ideas for a Post-Trump America (Really)
When right-wingers in the United States were in the wilderness for decades, they didn't just sit on their hands. They envisioned bold ways to change the country. When they came to power, they were ready to act. Setting aside whether you like those ideas, ask yourself this: if Republicans could do...
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Seven Causes of Trump Mafia State Fatigue
Let's admit it. The Trump presidency isn't just creating chaos and destruction with sadistic glee. It's also exhausting. What's exhausting isn't only the President, but also the mafia state he has built, many journalists who cover him, and progressives who frame the situation ideologically. In…
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Ten Bright Spots in the First 100 Days
The first 100 days of the Trump presidency have brought destruction and chaos at astonishing speeds. Yet we've also seen demonstrations of courage, strength, and grace. In this 4-minute episode, I describe ten such bright spots. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big...
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Nine Suggestions For Facing An American Warlord
In this episode of How My View Grew, I offer nine ways that leaders of key American institutions—Congressional Democrats, the Supreme Court, universities, and law firms—can act differently when facing a warlord Administration. How do you act toward people whose primary modes are force and...
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"They Would Never Do That"
Why have so many liberals and progressives felt shocked by the first two months of the second Trump Administration? Why, instead, did so many assume that "they would never do that?" In this short solo episode, I offer a possible answer. Liberals and progressives have a massive blind spot. They...
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Ari Weinzweig: Can Workplace Dignity Prevent Political Tyranny?
The first two months of the new Administration in Washington DC have brought shocking degrees of chaos and disruption. Many people who didn't vote for the current President feel like they've been punched in the face and knocked to the ground. How in a situation like this do you get back up? What...
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How to Escape the Drama Triangle
This is the final episode of season two. After taking a short break, we'll return in March with season three. In episode eight of this season, I introduced a way to depolarize politics and evoke more constructive moods: escaping the drama triangle. In this five-minute episode, I answer a related...
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Kim Stanley Robinson: How can humans reverse climate change?
Kim Stanley ("Stan") Robinson is one of the world's most acclaimed and popular science fiction novelists, first famous for his Mars Trilogy. For the past two decades, Stan has been telling vivid stories in which climate change is catastrophic yet people invent ways of reversing it. What he…
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Depolarize Politics by Escaping the Drama Triangle
In this 10-minute episode of How My View Grew, discover a powerful method for depolarizing politics and improving relationships: the drama triangle. Invented to support families in high-conflict situations, the drama triangle opens a new window into understanding political polarization, emotional...
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Lene Rachel Andersen: Can Teaching History Prevent Authoritarianism?
As Donald Trump returns to the White House, many American citizens are willing to tear everything down. Where did these destructive inclinations come from? Might they partly reflect the way that voters learned history back in school? How well are we teaching history through the eyes of people...
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Beyond the false choice between despair and hope
In this short episode of How My View Grew, I offer an alternative to the false choice between despair and hope. After the recent U.S presidential election, many people in my orbit are feeling despair. Their response: search for signs of hope. But what if this is a false choice? What if we could...
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The day liberals became small "c" conservative
When new political leaders promote disruptive and even violent change, then people accustomed to pressing the gas pedal on change may choose instead to hit the breaks. Liberals become small "c" conservatives. In this episode of How My View Grew, I suggest that after November 5, 2024 every liberal...
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5 Election Scenarios and 3 No-Matter-What Commitments
The human brain craves certainty. It convinces us we know how next week's U.S. presidential election will turn out. We don't. Things are uncertain. Yet, we can imagine different scenarios. In this nine-minute episode of How My View Grew, I describe five scenarios for the election and its…
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Stephen E. Hanson: Can Mafia-like States Spread to the West?
In the upcoming U.S. presidential election, democracy, many say, is on the ballot. But is democracy versus autocracy the best description of the stakes? Not according to Stephen E. Hanson, co-author with Jeffrey Kopstein of the new book The Assault on the State. The democracy/autocracy…
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Man Up For Good
In this five-minute episode of How My View Grew, I offer five perspectives about being a man today: It's confusing Men and women are different There is no need to apologize for being a man Long live the healthy masculine It's time for a new Bro Code **Resources** "Men are lost. Here's a map out…
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David Storey: Can A Liberal Democrat Be Conservative?
Why might a liberal Democrat with progressive values hold a conservative disposition? Could it make sense to both advocate for positive change and honor traditions and the social cohesion they foster? Might this represent the twin challenges facing today's Democratic Party? In this 30-minute...
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The Surprising Lesson of History
In this final episode of season one, a short one, I describe how my view of history shifted after reading the memoir of Stefan Zweig, a popular early 20th century European novelist. What if the lesson of history, especially around war and other catastrophes, is precisely the opposite of what I…
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Marci Shore: How to Improve the World Amidst Evil?
In a Soviet-era bunker in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, a Ukrainian soldier reads books by the late historian Tony Judt and wonders: Is it possible to make the world better amidst evil? Not long after, Yale historian Marci Shore, a former peacenik, finds herself pleading to the German...
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The Clarifying Question
This short episode is about asking clarifying questions, which involve far more than building rapport and trust. Clarifying questions provide powerful ways to understand what matters to others—clearly, accurately, and without illusions. Listen in as I walk through the three steps in the…
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Einat Wilf: What Do Most Palestinians Actually Want?
Do most Palestinians want their own state in the West Bank and Gaza, one that co-exists with the state of Israel? Is the conflict between Israel and Palestinians primarily about territory and the solution therefore simply to trade territory for peace? For many years, as an advisor to Israel's top...
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My Assessment, Your Assessment
In this week's episode, I describe how to have difficult conversations about charged topics. It's a game called My Assessment, Your Assessment. I walk you through the eight rules of the game, how to know when the game is over, and what makes this valuable in discussing big global challenges or...
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Noor Awad: Can Israeli and Palestinian Narratives Co-exist?
In this episode of How My View Grew, Palestinian Noor Awad describes an encounter with a Zionist Israeli settler that caused him to broaden his view of the conflict. This is a story of growing up within a particular narrative and learning to take seriously a very different narrative without given...
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Different Strokes for Different Folks
This short episode is about giving better advice. Just as medicine containers have warning labels, I propose that all advice about being a better citizen, leader, parent, or partner come with three disclaimers: Not for everyone May have side effects Dilute before using After all, different folks...
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Carlos Hoyt: Do Races Exist?
In this episode of How My View Grew, educator Carlos Hoyt describes his early life experience transcending racial categories and how he discovered that the entire concept of "race" was false and unhelpful. What if the racial categories that pervade our conversations, public policy, and social...
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Regaining center when verbally attacked
In this short episode, I share a personal story about a time I was knocked off center by the verbal attacks of a human "bull." When someone attacks you, what can you do to regain center and respond skillfully? Here are five tips. **Subscribe to the podcast** To hear the origin stories of more big...
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Rachel Eryn Kalish: When is Violence Necessary?
Rachel Eryn Kalish is a peacemaker. Personally, she radiates harmony. Professionally, she has devoted decades to non-violence and was mediating conflict before the term conflict resolution existed. Yet, today, she doesn't view non-violence as the one and only approach to global conflict.…
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Possibility Conversations
In this episode, I describe a conversation that is pivotal to approaching big global messes. Also useful for parenting, partnering, being a friend, and being a citizen. The possibility conversation is about the future. It's aspirational. It doesn't include assessments of the past. It's not about...
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Valerii Pekar: Ukraine's stunning resilience
Two years ago, Ukraine stunned the world with its response to Russia's full-scale invasion. Where did its resilience come from? Leading Ukrainian civic activist Valerii Pekar has an answer. It's a story of a nation—and a man—undergoing two major transformations after the fall of the Soviet Union....
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The Real Reason You're Ready to Grow
A short episode in which I explore: why would any of us want to shift our perspective on a big complex issue like climate change, democracy, the Middle East, or political polarization? Doing this isn't easy and can affect our status and relationships, so why bother? The answer is a quick primer…
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William Deresiewicz: What News Sources Can I Trust?
In this episode of How My View Grew, essayist Bill Deresiewicz describes the moment he stopped trusting his go-to news sources and started listening to "heterodox" perspectives. This is a story about American journalism and culture. It's also a story about the humility and courage it takes to let...
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Permission to Despair Revoked
In this short episode, I revoke my permission to get stuck in a mood of despair and show you how to do the same. How moods differ from emotions. If you can't beat despair, don't join it. Dissolve it with humor. **Share the love** Leave me a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever...
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Gil Friend: Can the World Work?
In this episode of How My View Grew, discover how sustainability pioneer Gil Friend found his footing...and a commitment to a world that works for all life. At an extraordinary summer workshop filled with aliveness and curiosity, he found a new answer to the question, "Can the world work?" About...
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Introducing: How My View Grew
Big thinkers describe how they see the world and how to make it better, but I want more. How do they get there? What did they used to think and what caused them to change their minds? The story behind this podcast with excerpts from three upcoming guests.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
If you're weary of political polarization, nothing is more refreshing than nuanced thinking: ideas that reveal the complexity of what's wrong in the world and how to make it better. But where does such thinking come from? Often, it's from someone changing their mind—letting go of an old perspective and growing into a new one. Join executive coach Amiel Handelsman as he interviews nuanced thinkers about the origin stories of their big ideas. Each story offers a window into one of humanity's greatest challenges like climate change, democracy, the culture wars, the wealth gap, Ukraine, and Israel. In weeks between interviews, Amiel offers tips for training your mind to navigate complex topics and difficult conversations.
HOSTED BY
Amiel Handelsman
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does How My View Grew have?
How My View Grew currently has 42 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is How My View Grew about?
If you're weary of political polarization, nothing is more refreshing than nuanced thinking: ideas that reveal the complexity of what's wrong in the world and how to make it better. But where does such thinking come from? Often, it's from someone changing their mind—letting go of an old perspective...
How often does How My View Grew release new episodes?
How My View Grew has 42 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to How My View Grew?
You can listen to How My View Grew on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts How My View Grew?
How My View Grew is created and hosted by Amiel Handelsman.
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