TED Talks Daily
Sunday Pick: How to have curious conversations in dangerously divided times (w/ Mónica Guzmán) | How to Be a Better Human
14 Sep 2025
When was the last time you really connected with someone who disagrees with you? Or saw a post on social media that challenged your views? Or listened to a newscast from across the political aisle? Modern life places us in all kinds of echo chambers – so what happens when these divides stop us from actually seeing and understanding one another? Today's Sunday Pick is from How to be a Better Human, another podcast from TED. Host Chris Duffy speaks with journalist Mónica Guzmán, the daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted –twice– for Donald Trump. Now the chief storyteller for “Braver Angels”, an organization dedicated to political depolarization, Monica shares the tools she uses to find common ground with her loved ones. She talks about why interacting with (and listening to) different points of view is critical work – and how through curiosity we can achieve the seemingly impossible task of understanding those we tend to think of as our enemy. Her book, “I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times” is out now. Check out more How to Be a Better Human wherever you get your podcasts.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Happy Sunday, TED Talks Daily listeners. I'm Elise Hugh. Today, we're bringing you another one of our Sunday Picks, where we share an episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective handpicked by us for you. When was the last time you really connected with someone who disagrees with you? Modern life places us in all kinds of echo chambers.
So what happens when these divides stop us from seeing and understanding one another? In a time of deepening polarization, we reached into the archives of our audio collective podcast, How to Be a Better Human, to share an episode featuring journalist Monica Guzman. Monica is the chief storyteller for Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to political depolarization.
Monica shares the tools she uses to find common ground with her loved ones and talks about why interacting with and listening to different points of view is critical work, especially now. How to Be a Better Human is a show that looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another.
If you want to hear more insights like this, listen to How to Be a Better Human wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about the TED Audio Collective at audiocollective.ted.com. Coming up.
You're listening to How to Be a Better Human. I'm your host, Chris Duffy. The episode of this podcast that has the very worst reviews that we've ever gotten in the two years we've been making this show is an episode that we did on how to talk to people across a political divide. And that was no fault at all of our guests. Our guest was fantastic.
The negative reviews were basically because every single one of the questions that I asked was some version of, how do I convince conservatives to realize that they're wrong and I'm right?
And look, it's certainly not lost on me that there's a hilarious irony in me trying to host an episode about communicating across a political divide and then managing to alienate every single person who is on the other side of the political divide from me. So much so that they felt compelled to give us zero stars and tell me that I am a condescending jerk. And worse, they're not wrong.
I was being a condescending jerk. So today, let's see if maybe I can do a little bit better this time. Today's guest, Monica Guzman, is an expert in curiosity. She's the author of the fantastic book, I Never Thought of It That Way, How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. Here's a clip from her TEDx talk.
After the election in 2016, I found a foolproof way to stop conversation. I would tell groups of my fellow Seattle liberals that my parents, who I love to death and see every weekend, are not just Mexican immigrants like me. They're Mexican immigrants who voted for Donald Trump. I would share this at networking events, random get-togethers.
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