Taking Responsibility: Are We Thinking About Success and Ambition All Wrong? (Emma Grede)

Radical with Amol Rajan

BBC

Society & Culture

4.5 • 917 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, the entrepreneur Emma Grede challenges ‘old thoughts’ about work-life balance, money, motherhood and success. She argues that focus, trade-offs and relentless effort matter more than comfort. From growing up in East London to building global businesses, she makes the case that opportunity still exists, if you’re willing to chase it. But are her ideas liberating - or just unforgiving?

Emma Grede is the co‑founder of Skims, created with her husband Jens and Kim Kardashian, and the CEO and co‑founder of Good American, a fashion label known for its focus on inclusivity. She also serves on the board of the Obama Foundation and is an ambassador for The King’s Trust.

GET IN TOUCH 

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480  * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk 

 Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday.

Amol Rajan presents the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and hosts University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was the BBC’s media editor and the editor of The Independent newspaper. 

Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers, Anna Budd, Rufus Gray, and Oscar Pearson. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Mike Regaard. The Senior News Editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, never let it be said that we on Radical don't listen to you.
0:11.4	We really, really, really do.
0:13.7	And when you say you want certain people on, we try our best to work out if we can get them on.
0:18.2	And many of you've said, you wanted us to focus on the idea of
0:21.5	happiness, what it is to live in a flourishing society. Well, we have got just the man. We've got
0:27.9	Richard Layard, Lord Layard is coming up on a future episode of Radical and we want your
0:32.7	questions. Richard, I'm going to call him Richard. I mean, we're not on first name terms,
0:36.5	but we soon will be.
0:37.9	Richard, or Lord Layard, is an economist, he's a Labour peer, and he is one of the world's leading experts on happiness.
0:44.6	And I think he would say that his radical idea, which he's championed for decades, is that public policy should be targeted above all at the well-being of the people.
0:53.2	He thinks the emphasis, the priority should be shifted to well-being and happiness.
0:58.3	And if I may say, as someone who has read his works closely for many, many years, his columns, his books, his articles and various publications, I'm very excited about Richard Layard coming on, particularly because, and I hope he'll forgive me for saying
1:10.9	this, he is our first guest on Radical, who is in their 90s. He's 92, and in fact, just turned 92 in
1:18.5	March. So I'm really looking forward to that. Lord Layard is coming on, and we want your questions.
1:23.1	The number, as you know by now, is 033--4-80. That's for your voice notes on WhatsApp.
1:30.4	0-330-123-9-4-80 or you can email us on Radical at BBC.co.uk. Please do it because I think
1:38.6	it's going to be. Welcome to Radical. These are conversations about the deep global
1:54.4	trends changing our world with people who are shaping that world. We're going to offer you
1:58.8	some radical ideas for the future and help
2:01.1	you understand the deep forces and trends of our time. Remember, if you subscribe to this podcast
2:06.7	on BBC Sounds, you won't miss future episodes, including our bonus episodes, which come out
2:12.3	on a Monday, they're a kind of Q&A episode. We call them your radical questions and they have been
	...

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