We spend a lot of our lives absorbing definitions of success, certainty, and what we should build next. The harder work is learning to recognize what is actually true.

David Kidder is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and co-founder of Bionic, where he has worked with founders and some of the world’s largest organizations to discover and build new possibilities.

In this episode of From the Culture, Marcus Collins and Amanda Slavin explore truth, discernment, permission, and the courage to question what we think we know. They talk about why telling the truth creates agency, how inherited ideas can shape our choices, and what becomes possible when we create enough space to discover what is genuinely worth pursuing.

The way we use AI reveals more than our relationship with technology. It reveals what our workplaces reward, the roles we learn to play, and the parts of ourselves we leave at the door.

Bestselling author and collaboration expert Erica Dhawan joins Marcus Collins and Amanda Slavin to explore the human questions behind the AI conversation. Her book, Use Your Brain, makes the case for independent thinking, discernment, and agency in an increasingly automated world.

Together, they unpack the costumes we wear at work, the pressure to perform rather than be ourselves, and what we risk when we outsource our judgment and creativity. At the heart of the conversation is a question about culture: are we creating workplaces where people can think for themselves, contribute what only they can, and show up as who they are?

What if fear could help us find our way to joy? In this episode of From the Culture, Amanda Slavin and Dr. Marcus Collins sit down with author, filmmaker, and advocate Tanya Selvaratnam to explore the difference between fear that protects us and fear that keeps us from living fully.

Drawing on her experiences of intimate violence, illness, and rebuilding her life, Tanya shares how she has learned to trust herself, stay open to serendipity, and make room for joy without denying pain. From knowing when to pause to finding people we can trust, the conversation explores the tools that help us reclaim our agency.

Together, they ask what it means to be shaped by our experiences without being defined by them, and how those in power can create cultures where people feel safe, heard, and free to thrive.