Revisited: The Kennedy Family and the Search for Self with Journalist Maria Shriver

A Bit of Optimism

The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek

Business, Education, Careers, Self-improvement

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hello from Team Simon! We’re taking a short hiatus, but A Bit of Optimism will return with brand-new episodes March 24th. In the meantime, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Episodes that many of you who listened, shared them, and told us what resonated. This week, we’re bringing back Simon’s conversation with journalist, author, and longtime friend Maria Shriver. Maria Shriver was born into the legendary Kennedy and Shriver families, arriving with a script already written for her—an identity shaped by legacy and expectation. From the start, the world had ideas about who she should be. But after decades as a journalist, years as California’s First Lady, and raising four amazing kids, Maria has been on a lifelong journey to peel back the layers and ask Who am I now?—and answer it for herself. Maria also happens to be Simon’s best friend. They talked about how they became each other’s “8-minute friends,” the quiet questions that shape us, and Maria’s beautiful new book of poetry—which she reads from in this episode. It’s all about identity, self-reflection, and finding your voice in a world that keeps trying to define it for you. If you’ve ever wondered who you are beyond what you do or how to rediscover yourself after life changes, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that identity is something we can reclaim again and again. This… is A Bit of Optimism. --------------------------- For more on Maria Shriver, check out: her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-am-mar... ---------------------------

Transcript

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0:00.0	You and I actually don't talk on the phone that much.
0:02.0	No, we text.
0:03.0	But you don't ever pick up the phone.
0:05.0	That cat picture comes up and I call in like, there's the cat.
0:09.0	It's because it's not personal.
0:11.0	It's because my phone's always not disturb, but when I see you called it, always pull you back.
0:15.0	We all know people with big personalities, but we would rarely call them kind. We also know people
0:23.2	with small personalities, and they are usually the kindest. But every now and then, there's a big
0:29.8	personality, a huge personality that shows up that just exudes kindness and warmth. And one of those people is Maria Shriver.
0:39.7	I had the opportunity to sit down with Maria to talk about her new book, I Am Maria.
0:44.7	Maria is my best friend, and to hear her talk about the journey she is on,
0:49.7	to reclaim her own identity is nothing short of inspiring.
0:57.9	And that little question, I am and what it yields turns out has great value to all of us to find out who we really are and why we love ourselves.
1:06.3	I am Simon and this is a bit of optimism.
1:21.2	So yours and my friendship, I think most people, including me, would not have predicted.
1:23.5	We met kind of by accident.
1:24.0	Right.
1:24.5	Right?
1:27.0	I don't know how you tell the story, but I can, I know that.
2:00.9	So you reached out to me many years ago. Right. Right. Right? I don't know how you tell the story, but I can, I know that, so you reached out to me many years ago. Right. And I don't know, to this day, I've never asked you how you got my email, but you reached out to me out of the blue and said, my son Patrick is a young entrepreneur, you know, if you're ever in LA, would you like to meet him? And I said, of course. And I came to LA and I met Patrick. And he and I had a lovely time. When I got back to New York, you sent me a lovely email saying thank you. And I wrote back and saying, the pleasure was all mine. And if who Patrick is is any statement about what kind of mother you are, you must be an amazing human being because he's an amazing kid. Thank you.
2:01.4	I said, I would love to meet you.
2:02.8	So next time in L.A., I'll come out and see you. And I come back to L.A. for work, and you said, come for dinner on Sunday. And I thought it would be you, me and Patrick, having dinner at your house. That's what I thought. I walk into the house and there's some folks getting dinner ready and
	...

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