John R. Miles

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Throughout this series, we've been exploring purpose from multiple dimensions.

We began with Arthur Brooks examining the growing crisis of meaning and why fulfillment is something we can cultivate.

Then, with best-selling author Kayla Shaheen, we turned inward, looking at how our unseen patterns shape the life we build.

With Stanford professor Claude Steele, we examined identity and the hidden forces that shape how we show up in the world.

With Angela Meyers, we looked at mattering itself and how feeling seen, valued, and needed changes everything.

Then last week, two extraordinary conversations helped deepen the arc.

Last Tuesday with Nobel laureate Alvin Roth, we examined how systems, incentives, and social norms quietly influence our choices.

Then last Thursday with Diana Hill, we explored wise effort.

How directing our energy towards what matters most becomes a design choice in itself.

Today, we bring those threads together because meaning, identity, mattering, energy all come alive through one essential force, connection.

Because maybe purpose isn't just about what you pursue, maybe it's also about who you reach toward.

And what if some of that meaning we long for is hiding in the smallest choices?

The conversation we don't start, the gratitude we don't express, the stranger we don't indulge, and the friendship we don't deepen.

That's why I wanted to bring Nick Epley on the show.

Nick is one of the world's leading social psychologists, and in his brilliant new book, A Little More Social, he reveals something deeply hopeful.

that happiness, health, and belonging often begin not with radical change, but with one small act of connection.

And in this conversation, we unpack why we consistently underestimate how much others want to connect, how tiny moments of reciprocity can transform wellbeing,

why our silence is often built on false assumptions, and how choosing connection may be one of the most important design decisions we make.