Next Question with Katie Couric

There was a time not so long ago in America when community was something people experienced every day. Kids played on local baseball teams sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. People knew the butcher at the grocery store. Churches, civic groups, and neighborhood businesses gave people a sense of identity, belonging, and purpose. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy believes we’ve lost much of that connection, and that the consequences are reshaping everything from our politics to our mental health. In this live conversation at Judson Memorial Church, Katie talks with Murphy about the ideas at the center of his new book, The Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America, and why he believes rebuilding community is essential to our country’s future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brené Brown and Adam Grant have devoted much of their work to helping people better understand conflict, communication, and human behavior. Nevertheless, the two spent years estranged after a 2016 article Grant wrote led to a falling out between them. Now, they’ve reunited for a new podcast, The Curiosity Shop, where they explore complicated and often polarizing questions with humility, nuance, and a willingness to challenge each other in real time. Katie talks with them about repairing their relationship, why so many people struggle to have honest conversations, the impact of social media and outrage culture, and what it takes to stay open-minded in an increasingly divided world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jodi Kantor knows a thing or two about getting to the heart of the matter and in her new book, How to Start: Discovering Your Life’s Work, she's giving advice on how to approach this daunting, AI-driven economy. But Jodi's a multi-hyphenate, so Katie also gets her thoughts on the “post-MeToo” era and her new beat at the New York Times covering the Supreme Court. Luckily she has wisdom (and hope!) for us, on all fronts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once a loyal Republican who celebrated Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, George Conway is now one of this administration’s most outspoken critics and a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 12th District. In this candid, wide-ranging conversation, he sits down with Katie to discuss what motivated him to run for office and why this moment requires more than commentary and criticism. He traces the early days of the first Trump administration, when he began to see something he could no longer ignore, and how that realization reshaped not just his politics, but his personal life, including his high-profile marriage to political consultant Kellyanne Conway. Along the way, he examines why so many Americans remain loyal to Trump, drawing on psychology, identity, and what he calls a growing “permission structure” for division and resentment. Ultimately, he sees this as a moment that demands engagement, not passivity, and one that will help define the future of American democracy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some losses divide a life into before and after. In this conversation, writer and journalist Danielle Crittenden sits down with Katie to discuss her new memoir, Dispatches from Grief: A Mother’s Journey Through the Unthinkable, which chronicles the days and months following the sudden death of her 32-year-old daughter, Miranda, in February 2024. Crittenden reflects on the physical reality of grief, the maddening bureaucracy that follows death, and the difficulty finding professional support, even with significant resources. She also opens up about navigating loss alongside her husband, journalist David Frum, the challenge of continuing to parent her two other children while managing her grief, and the unexpected community of bereaved parents she never wanted to join but has come to cherish. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.