Steven Dubner: Understand the Nature of Creativity — and Success. | Big Think
Steven Dubner: Understand the Nature of Creativity — and Success.
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STEPHEN J. DUBNER:
Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He is best-known for writing, along with the economist Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics (2005) and SuperFreakonomics (2009), which have sold more than 5 million copies in 35 languages. Their latest books are When to Rob a Bank… and Think Like a Freak (2014).
Dubner is also the author of Turbulent Souls/Choosing My Religion (1998), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003), and the children’s book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons (2007). His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Writing, and others.
Freakonomics, published in April 2005, was an instant international best-seller and cultural phenomenon. It made numerous “books of the year” lists, a few “books of the decade” lists, and won a variety of awards, including the inaugural Quill Award, a BookSense Book of the Year Award, and a Visionary Award from the National Council on Economic Education. It was also named a Notable Book by the New York Times. SuperFreakonomics, published in 2009, was published to similar acclaim, and also became an international best-seller.
The Freakonomics enterprise also includes an award-winning blog, a high-profile documentary film, and a public-radio project called Freakonomics Radio, which Dubner hosts. He has also appeared widely on television, including a three-year stint on ABC News as a Freakonomics contributor. He also appeared on the reality show Beauty and the Geek. Alas, he played neither beauty nor geek.
Dubner’s first book, Turbulent Souls, was also named a Notable Book, and was a finalist for the Koret National Jewish Book Award. It was republished in 2006 under a new title, Choosing My Religion, and is currently being developed as a film
The eighth and last child of an upstate New York newspaperman, Dubner has been writing since he was a child. (His first published work appeared in Highlights magazine.) As an undergraduate at Appalachian State University, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records, which landed him in New York City. He ultimately quit playing music to earn an M.F.A. in writing at Columbia University, where he also taught in the English Department. He was an editor and writer at New York magazine and The New York Times before quitting to write books. He is happy he did so.
He lives in New York with his wife, the documentary photographer Ellen Binder, and their two delicious children.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Stephen Dubner: There’s an irony in trying to get people to do their best work — but particularly to try new things and to innovate — in that very often the kind of characteristics that are common to someone who will have a good new idea have no overlap with the characteristics that are common to someone who’s really good at presenting in meetings. So it’s kind of like the difference between like sales and R&D, right? So the people that are in your sales or marketing division in a company are very different kinds of person than the people you have in R&D or something else like that.
The problem is if you do the traditional route of trying to encourage innovation by having meetings and, let’s say, let’s brainstorm and talk about what you think a good idea might be, the problem is that the people who might be very best at innovating are often the people who are very worst at presenting in a meeting like that or selling their ideas. One piece of evidence in that argument is the fact that so many true innovators don’t work in groups. You have to fail a lot when you innovate. And failure in a public setting can really hurt your self-esteem and your self-confidence. So you need to create an environment where people really can be empowered to fail.
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@enpasionarte
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Create an environment where people really can be empowered to fail. Like Bob Ross said: there’s not mistakes just happy accidents 😅
@fredericknicofabian6931
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
This is just superb, been searching for "how to achieve success in studies" for a while now, and I think this has helped. You ever tried – Tenayce Dumbfounded Theorem – (do a search on google ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my co-worker got amazing success with it.
@1blackfrend
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
This is over a minute long, i aint gon may kkkket😪
@m.rosado987
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Too litlle too short, yet interesting !! For those interested in this subject, material from Greg Brandeau in innovation is very interesting. =)
@diptanuchaudhuri5645
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/06/rooftop-plantation-to-reduce-pollution-in-delhi/
@FullTimeHypocrite
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
i partially agree
you need to encourage failure, because failure is the result of relentless trying.
i disagree about the personality thing: i believe beeing more introverted means you create plenty of "safe spots" to try and fail. Failing and trying is irreplaceable for evolution of things. I believe learning (and improving) is a question of stimuli. Without the acceptance of failure you will stick to things as they are, creating no NEW stimuli. People who are not willing to fail at something are likely going to try, fail and retreat to old habits, ideas, approaches etc that worked so far but bring no evolution. Schools are making a good effort in teaching stuff but fail to teach a healthy learning attitude.
i dont think it is very suprising that einstein was very "smart", given he disliked school, yet loved science and wittnessed plenty of new ways to approach old problems with new ideas (worked at patent office)
@ott1186
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
I like the video but the word 'safe space' triggered me.
@mountedczarina9205
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Group projects suck.
@LeonidasGGG
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Short, sweet and good. Nothing wrong here.
@Victorificationn
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
thank god.I couldn't stand any more Bill Nye videos.
@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
This is very true!
@FinaleCadence
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
I'd love to hear more it sounded like he was cut off mid speech.
@Ndo01
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
very important message
@jakehill9938
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
this seems like such common sense, but is so rarely practiced
@thehonorable1000
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
he has cool hair
@strangthingoodworks9952
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Most of the people on here (Big think) are very helpful and inspiring.
@MarioTomicOfficial
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
For people that wanna expand on this check out the book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp. It helped me a lot with making videos and in general for creative stuff like writing.
@supergobblin1
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Scientists love failing because they know they are closer to getting it right.
@RedSunFX
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
I can't hear the the term 'safe space' anymore…
@viktor12ru
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Brilliant! BIG THINK at its best!
@AnstonMusic
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
I was triggered by "safe space".
@-.._.-_...-_.._-..__..._.-.-.-
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Excellent! I knew there was a reason I hate working with a team and doing presentations.
@meateatingplant4830
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
creativity comes at the end of a whip or slap.
@danielgregory5259
October 14, 2025 at 11:29 pm
that was more of a small ponder than a big think
Comments are closed.