We Can Do Hard Things
Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson: Their Mother’s Last (Life-Changing) Advice
Tue, 08 Apr 2025
400. Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson: Their Mother’s Last (Life-Changing) Advice Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, co-hosts of the new podcast In My Opinion (IMO), join Glennon and Abby for a heartfelt conversation about love, loss, and the wisdom their late mother, Marian Robinson, left behind. They open up about parenting in the spotlight, the courage to disappoint others, and the lessons that continue to shape their lives. -The final words from Marian Robinson that changed everything -Why Michelle is finally choosing herself—and how to break free from people-pleasing -The biggest challenge facing kids today—and how parents can help -The one piece of advice they want to pass on to their own children Michelle Obama’s passion for storytelling has set sales records, garnered awards and accolades, and earned her global acclaim. Her memoir, Becoming, spent over 130 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list, sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. American Factory, the first film produced by her and her husband Barack Obama’s media company Higher Ground, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2020. Upon its release in 2020, The Michelle Obama Podcast was the most successful original in Spotify history, bringing in more women listeners over 40 than any other podcast. Through the Obama Foundation, she founded the Girls Opportunity Alliance, which supports adolescent girls' education and empowerment around the world. Craig Robinson: Craig Robinson is the Executive Director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and host of the Higher Ground podcast Ways To Win. From 2017-2020, he served as the vice president of Player Development and Minor League Operations for the NBA’s New York Knicks. Previously, he was a Division I head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State and Brown, and spent more than a decade working as a trader in the investment banking industry. He is the brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama. Together, they are the hosts of the new podcast IMO (In My Opinion) with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. Check out our first episode with Michelle Obama here: https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/193-michelle-obama/id1564530722?i=1000606222468 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: How can I participate in the virtual book event?
So in order to get your ticket, you can click the registration button for the live virtual event at the top of treatmedia.com. And then you're going to pre-order We Can Do Hard Things through one of the independent bookstore links. All proceeds from this event will go to these local independent bookstore links. So your ticket to the event will include a copy of We Can Do Hard Things.
answers to life's 20 questions. Now here's the deal. If you already pre-ordered the book from an independent bookstore, you don't have to buy it again to come to the event. If you want to and give your copy away, great. We're not going to complain. But if you already did and you don't want to order another one, we totally understand. So you can register for the event by uploading your indie order
at treatmedia.com. Okay. So you click the option that says I've already pre-ordered from another indie, and then you upload that and you're going to get a link too, because we don't want you missing out.
Also, one last thing, if you can't make it to the event, but you still want to be part of this, we're going to make sure that you get a link to the event that will allow you to view it for 72 hours after the event. Okay. So yay for independent booksellers. We are so grateful for them. They serve our communities in a million ways.
All the benefits from this event are going to go to those independent booksellers. Get your tickets at treatmedia.com and we will see you there. Well, PodSquad. It's very exciting. It is very exciting. The reason it is very exciting is that guess who's coming to join the PodSquad today? The hosts of the new podcast, IMO, in my opinion, with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.
Oh my God, we love these two. Michelle Obama's passion for storytelling has set sales records, garnered awards and accolades, and earned her global acclaim. Her memoir, Becoming, love that book, spent over 130 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. Holy cow.
American Factory, the first film produced by her and her husband, Barack Obama's media company, Higher Ground, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2020. Upon its release in 2020, the Michelle Obama podcast was the most successful original in Spotify history, bringing in more women listeners over 40 than any other podcast.
Through the Obama Foundation, she founded the Girls Opportunity Alliance, which supports adolescent girls' education and empowerment around the world.
I'm going to read Craig's because I see a lot of sportsy things in here. He's amazing. Craig Robinson. He's the biggest love bug. I love him. He is the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and host of the Higher Ground podcast, Ways to Win.
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Chapter 2: Who are the guests on this podcast episode?
And if you're interested, you should check out both of their podcasts. They're doing it together. It's called In My Opinion, IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.
And we've been on it. We're on one of the episodes. We went to Martha's Vineyard to be with them and record it. And I don't know, y'all. You know my deep abiding admiration for Michelle Obama. But just being with them in person, just so loving, so kind, so...
Human. Michelle is just, she's just the absolute best. I love her and we are so grateful for them to be on and for them having us on their podcast. Y'all just listen to this one. Enjoy it. It was a joy to do. It was touching.
How are you two? How you doing? Good. We're so good. Thank you for doing this. Yes. Thank you. Oh my gosh.
Your podcast is crushing. We don't know. I never know what anything is.
Do you like it? Yeah, really. It's crushing. You guys are the pros.
We love it. Yeah. And that's what we want to talk to you about today.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay? Because what Abby and I discuss often is, I don't know if you all have noticed this, but we find life to be difficult. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: What is Michelle Obama's new podcast about?
I.M.O. I.M.O. What did I say? You said M.I.O. You're just dyslexic about it. That's right.
I.M.O. That would be what I would do. And I would say it over and over again.
And Abby, I would correct her. I would correct me. Exactly. That's basically what we do. Yes. Is...
That there is a kind of new, fresh, collective wisdom that can be tapped into during conversation.
Yes.
That is a beautiful... helpful thing, which is what's happening on your podcast. Yes. Okay. Because you can go into it and think, well, I know. And still there's a freshness and newness that comes out because of the chemical reaction of two new people having a beautiful conversation. And my brother.
Yes. My big brother. It's very good. But this is how we, you know.
This is how we are here in Hawaii at our house. We're doing shows every day.
Are you really? You're doing it?
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Chapter 4: How did Marian Robinson influence her children?
Yeah.
20 summers?
Are you kidding me? Yeah.
You put it that way. It's like, and to be able to do this with Miesch and learn something new and help folks in the process, it's life-changing for me. I feel like a different person getting up in the morning. I feel like I'm coaching again, right? But it's all the people who love her. I'm coaching them all. We're coaching them up. So it's really a great question.
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What about you guys?
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Chapter 5: What parenting challenges do Michelle and Craig discuss?
Just give us a name.
Just say the person's name. But she never took any more credit than anybody else. She always said that there were kids in our neighborhood who could have been just like us.
who was smart and capable, but for a bad teacher or a parent that didn't pay attention, you know, she believed in our father too, in the goodness in people. And that led me to Barack, which led me to see the country and the world and to find that to be true, you know? And so,
Even when things are bad, I try really hard to remember that we're not unique, you know, that the joy and the love and the devotion, you have it in your family. We feel it in you too. That's why people are drawn to you. The thing that we just have to remind people of is that this feeling is actually the better feeling. So gravitate to it.
I mean, it is easy to be mean and to not share and to be greedy and to cut people off and to say nasty things. I mean, that's part of our defense mechanism. But we need a reminder that that's not what brings us joy. That's not what, it's not the money. It's not the power. It's not the house. It's not the dollars in your bank account. It's like how you treat people in life.
Lately, the experiences that we've had in the loss of that core for us is it makes us want to fight for that truth even more, you know, to shine a big light that knocks out the darkness that feels like it's suffocating us, that it's causing us to wake up every day and go, where are we? Is this what we're supposed to be? Is this who we are? And the answer is no, no, no, we're better than this.
We are so much better than this. And better doesn't come in the form of a race or religion or gender or sexuality. We all have it. You know, we just have to call upon it.
We have to have the courage to be great. Yeah, that's it. Have the courage. Yeah. Because what's in us all, we all have the potential to be an all American.
You too. It's good. You too. You just, it sounds like, okay, I'll tell you my story.
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Chapter 6: How has Marian Robinson’s advice impacted Michelle and Craig?
Yeah.
So your job is to dethrone them over and over again every single day.
It's like, I'm in charge.
Yeah. Yeah.
I like that.
I think we all have different versions of the same thing. We do. All right, so let's end with this so you can get back to your vacay. Yes. What is the thing you do? Let's say you don't have each other. You don't have the people to talk to. You do not have the communal wisdom to tap into. What do you do when you have to just find your inner wisdom? Do you have a practice? Do you meditate?
Do you walk? Do you paint? What do you do when you need to tap into your own knowing?
I do one of two things. I either go walking or I do a morning shower as opposed to a nighttime shower. A morning shower is when I think the best, even better than walking. And I don't know what it is about it. It could just be the morning. I could just be a morning person.
But when I need to sort of clear my mind and come up with really cool ideas or think about a problem that I'm not talking to anybody. The morning shower and shave, it's about a 20 minute shower and it's clarity for me.
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