Choose Your Seven Humans Wisely with author Fredrik Backman

A Bit of Optimism

The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek

Education, Business, Self-improvement, Careers

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if great friendships aren’t found by luck but built through effort? Bestselling novelist Fredrik Backman, the mind behind A Man Called Ove (adapted into the Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto), Anxious People, and the beloved Beartown series, has spent his career writing about the quiet power of ordinary people. But in his real life, he learned one of his most important lessons from his best friend of 30 years: meaningful friendship is a skill you develop, not a lottery you win. Despite being a self-described introvert, Fredrik discovered that you don’t need hundreds of friends. You only get a few humans who truly shape your life. His newest book, My Friends, is a tribute to those relationships and the daily work of showing up for the people who matter most. In this candid and inspiring conversation, Fredrik and I talk about the healing power of friendship, why differences make relationships stronger, the value of having friends who edit us, and the joy of being genuinely happy for someone else. If you want to become a better friend and build deeper connections, this episode offers heartfelt lessons from one of the world’s most compassionate storytellers. This is A Bit of Optimism. --------------------------- This episode is brought to you by the Porsche USA Macan --------------------------- To check out Fredrik’s newest book, “My Friends,” visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/My-Friends/Fredrik-Backman/9781982112820 Find the full-length speech Fredrik gave for Simon & Schuster here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSuSyZ92Cjg

Transcript

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0:00.0	My best friend and my wife, if they would have gone on one of like the matchmaking websites or something,
0:12.0	if they would have put themselves through an algorithm and said, find me a person, they would have never found me.
0:20.6	Like never in a million years would an algorithm have said,
0:24.6	this lunatic, he's the guy for you, never.
0:28.6	I was fortunate in the way that I stumbled upon people
0:33.6	early on in my life that was very different for me. And I found out very quickly that that was a good thing for me.
0:42.8	That was like I needed people who were not like me.
0:48.6	So that I could look at their best qualities and strive for them.
0:53.1	If you're an avid listener of this podcast, you may know something about me, that I'm not a reader.
0:59.5	I've actually written more books than I've read.
1:02.5	But this conversation with Frederick Bachman makes me want to read.
1:06.6	The way he thinks, the way he sees the world, the way he sees humans and friendships and people,
1:11.5	it inspired me.
1:13.3	I actually bought two of his novels,
1:15.2	Anxious People and a man called Oveh,
1:17.4	which was later made into a movie,
1:19.1	a man called Otto, starring Tom Hanks.
1:22.2	We live in a world where loneliness is an epidemic
1:25.8	and Frederick reminds us that meaningful relationships are built with intention.
1:32.2	They take showing up again and again and again even when it's inconvenient.
1:38.2	His new book, My Friends, drives that point home.
1:42.2	The people who have deep, meaningful connections in the world,
	...

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