Ellen Rupel Shell - Question Received Wisdom

10 Lessons Learned

Ellen Ruppel Shell tells us why you "Should rise above your assumptions", why we should "Question received wisdom" and " Don’t take business matters personally " hosted by Duff Watkins.

About Ellen Ruppel Shell

Ellen Ruppel Shell is an author, investigative journalist and Prof. of Journalism at Boston University where she co-directs the Graduate Program in Science Journalism. She conducts research, teaches, and writes on issues relating to science and economic policy and social justice. Prof. Ruppel Shell is the author of hundreds of published articles, reviews and essays. She’s a long-time contributing editor for The Atlantic, writes on issues of science, social justice, economics and public policy for Science, Scientific American, the New York Times opinion and book pages, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Discover, The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe and the Washington Post. She has served as an editor for a wide range of national publications and for public broadcasting and is sought frequently as a commentator on issues of science and the press.

Prof. Ruppel Shell has authored four books translated into more than a dozen languages, The Job: Work and Its Future in a Time of Radical Change (Crown, October, 2018); Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture (Penguin, 2009), The Hungry Gene (Grove, 2002), and A Child’s Place (Little Brown, 1992).

Prof. Ruppel Shell has been a Vannevar Bush Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Fellow in Occupational Health and Safety at Harvard University Medical School. She lectures widely on topics in science communication and public policy, as well as economic and social justice. She has served both as a Bush Fellow at MIT and as a Fellow in Occupational Health and Safety at Harvard University.

Episode Notes

Lesson 1: Trust yourself (but not too much) 05:09
Lesson 2: Don’t take business matters personally. 08:14
Lesson 3: Demand evidence and extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.12:23
Lesson 4: Question received wisdom. 19:01
Lesson 5: Rise above your assumptions.27:39
Lesson 6: Be self-confidant enough to give others the benefit of the doubt.31:25
Lesson 7: Feelings trump facts in many matters, “rational” can be overrated.24:14
Lesson 8: You’re bored because you’re not paying attention. 37:10
Lesson 9: Don’t mistake hurt and guilt for anger. 42:22
Lesson 10: Empathy is not compassion. 45:56