"Kelly Corrigan Wonders" Podcast: Listen To Her Rupture & Repair Mini-Series

Life is easy when we all agree. And consciously or not, we tend to surround ourselves with people who have a similar worldview. The exception is family, so when Mom and Dad become 24/7 Fox News watchers, we try to get along for the sake of family cohesion, despite the crazy shit they now say.

For a lot of us, we adopt a "let's keep silent" approach to meeting others, in which there is agreement not to bring up any topics that can cause conflict.

The problem with that strategy is you often don't know the triggers of others. For example, I ordered a Bud Light one evening because it was on tap and had two people in our party threaten to leave. The other day, I mentioned Taylor Swift's historic win at the Grammys and was informed that the singer and the NFL conspired to fix the Super Bowl for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

That's why I think author / host /podcaster Kelly Corrigan of Kelly Corrigan Wonders has a much better idea.

 How can we discuss–productively–the most contentious issues between us? That’s the question beneath Kelly Corrigan Wonders Rupture and Repair series, five conversations about navigating dicey topics. The series is a deep dive into the hardest conversations between people, partners, families and groups.  

“Through five unforgettable success stories, it gives our country the informed hope it’s hungry for and a set of principles and practices to follow,” Corrigan says.

Avoiding topics where opposite perspectives are held might seem easier, but Kelly aims to educate and inspire us to engage in meaningful and necessary exchanges to better understand each other.

The series looks at rupture and repair from several angles: marriage and family, political and personal, religious and secular. Each episode features Kelly in conversation with a guest who has seen the rupture between people and discovered ways to repair.

Guests include Monica Guzman, Manu Meel, Julie Schwartz Gottman and John Gottman, Simon Greer, and April Lawson. By the end, Kelly Corrigan surfaces thoughtful and effective strategies that she puts to the test as she has her own difficult conversation about a woman’s right to choose. 

My favorite episodes include the one with marriage experts The Gottmans. In the episode, they discuss the right and wrong ways for couples to fight and how to better resolve their differences. HINT: keeping your mouth shut and burying your resentment doesn't work. 

Anyone who is married or in a long-term relationship should listen to this episode. I learned a lot, and so will many listeners.

The episode where Corrigan (who is pro-choice) talks with April Lawson (who is pro-life) is a masterclass in deftly handling difficult conversations. Listen to this Corrigan - Lawson discussion, then go back and listen to the Biden-Trump debates of 2020 and tell me who is better at managing these difficult conversations. HINT: It's not the old geezers.

Kelly Corrigan is a four-time New York Times bestselling author and the host of PBS’ long-form interview show Tell Me More.

Kelly Corrigan Wonders is a show for people who like to laugh while they think and find it useful to look closely at ourselves and our weird ways in the hopes that knowing more and feeling more will help us do more and be better. A former newspaper columnist and four time bestselling author, Kelly wonders about loads of stuff: is knowing more always good? Can we trust our gut? How does change actually happen? She loves talking with nice people who have a sense of humor and know things worth knowing. Each episode ends with Corrigan’s shortlist of takeaways, appropriate for refrigerator doors, bulletin boards and notes to your children.

Kelly Corrigan Wonders is played weekly on KQED, WHYY and 14 other NPR stations across the country. The podcast, distributed by PRX, has been downloaded over 14 million times and has close to 3,000 5-star reviews across platforms. It is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Listeners can subscribe to Kelly's newsletter and follow her on Instagram for more updates.

Let me finish by offering an example of how good Kelly Corrigan is, and it's not even on her own podcast. 

 In the December 14, 2023, episode of Sound Judgment, host Elaine Appleton Grant interviewed Corrigan about the skills needed to be a superb podcast host and interviewer.

In the episode, Grant and Corrigan share stories of their battle with cancer, stimulating our empathy muscle.

"I'm trying to make your listening worth it. We are asking for your attention, which is an exquisite currency, with so much coming at you," Corrigan observes.

Corrigan notes that "People have their go-to sound bites during interviews." She adds that people who are interviewed often develop an expertise about the event.

In an interview, Corrigan seeks out something not said before from the interview subject.  Corrigan wants the best from an interview subject. She explains how she goes beyond the mutually agreed-upon script to search for personal revelations. 

Then, Corrigan introduces the concept of intellectual humility, replacing conviction with curiosity because we don't know what we don't know. 

"Personal information in an interview lands for listeners," Corrigan. "It lands in the context of their life."

Corrigan recommends listening to a potential guest to get a sense of their cadence and rhythm before you interview them.

Check out Kelly Corrigan Wonders and her five-part Rupture and Repair series. Sit down, have a cup of coffee or tea, and be prepared to get shoved out of your comfort zone and love every minute of it.