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ReThinking

Building confidence with mentalist Oz Pearlman

ReThinking

TED

Worklife Podcasts, Adam Grant, Rethinking Podcast, Ted Podcast Adam Grant, Organizational Psychology, Ted Talks, Adam Grant Podcasts, Society & Culture

4.7 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Oz Pearlman has been called the World’s Greatest Mentalist—he’s performed for some of the world’s top celebrities and made it to the finals on America’s Got Talent. In this episode, Oz joins Adam live at Authors@Wharton to show off his tricks and discuss the real skills behind his rise to success. The two reflect on Oz’s time working on Wall Street and the lessons he learned as a pizza parlor magician about gaining confidence, managing failure, and taking smart risks, and Oz wows the crowd by reading audience members’ minds.


Host & Guest

Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: https://adamgrant.net/)

Oz Pearlman (Instagram: @ozthementalist | Website: https://www.ozpearlman.com/


Links

https://www.youtube.com/@ozthementalist


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ReThinking is produced by Cosmic Standard. Our Senior Producer is Jessica Glazer, our Engineer is Aja Simpson, our Technical Director is Jacob Winik, and our Executive Producer is Eliza Smith.


For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/rethinking-with-adam-grant-transcripts


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Want to make a real difference this giving season?

0:05.0

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0:06.5

We're joining Pods Fight Poverty,

0:08.7

teaming up with dozens of podcasts to do something big,

0:11.8

live three entire villages in Rwanda out of extreme poverty.

0:15.8

Podcasts bring us together, and now we're turning that connection into action.

0:19.8

You listen, you give, and together

0:22.0

we create impact bigger than anyone's show could on its own. Your donation will be delivered by

0:27.3

give directly as cash straight into the hands of families in need, no strings attached, no middlemen.

0:33.4

And with the giving multiplier boosting gifts from new donors with matching funds, our collective effort goes even further.

0:39.7

This holiday season, let's make a difference for those who need it most.

0:43.5

We're shooting for a million dollars raised before the end of the year,

0:46.6

which will lift over 700 families out of poverty.

0:49.8

Visit givedirectly.org slash rethinking to join Pods Fight Poverty.

0:54.0

That's givedirectly.org slash rethinking to join Pods Fight Poverty. That's give directly.org slash rethinking.

1:01.8

Let's just get the record straight.

1:03.5

Can you read people's minds?

1:04.8

I cannot read people's minds.

1:06.7

Why do people want to believe this?

1:08.3

Because people want to believe

1:09.2

in something more than what they see, right?

1:11.2

Science is amazing, but everybody, even the most scientific person there is, has some level of wanting to know what is possible.

...

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