When Pop Fandom Becomes a Force for Good with AJR’s Adam Met

A Bit of Optimism

The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek

Education, Careers, Self-improvement, Business

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fanbases are some of the most powerful forces on the planet. They show up. They buy the tickets. They travel across countries and time zones. They memorize lyrics, study interviews, hunt for Easter eggs, and turn the smallest detail into an entire universe of meaning. They collaborate, they organize, and they care deeply. Fan communities are savvy. They are smart. And when they are invited in, they create extraordinary momentum. Adam Met, best known as the “A” of indie-pop band AJR, believes that this kind of energy can extend far beyond concerts or comment sections. He is asking a bigger question. What if we harnessed that same passion, creativity, imagination, and sense of belonging to improve the communities we live in? Adam has spent years studying how to move people from curiosity to action. He’s also a climate activist, the founder of the nonprofit Planet Reimagined, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, and the author of the bestselling book Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World. In our conversation, Adam explains how the same principles that make music meaningful - ownership, storytelling, participation, and belonging - can be applied to social movements, civic engagement, and climate action, to name a few. From designing fan-first concert experiences to rethinking how we engage people around complex issues, Adam argues that emotion is the engine of progress. This episode isn’t really about music. And it’s not really about climate either. It’s about how we bring people together, help them feel invested, and create experiences that inspire them to act. This… is A Bit of Optimism. --------------------------- To buy Adam’s book Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World, head to: https://www.adammet.net/amplify If you want to learn more about Adam’s climate work, check out: https://www.planetreimagined.com And don’t forget to stream AJR’s latest EP, What No One’s Thinking: https://www.ajrbrothers.com ---------------------------

Transcript

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0:00.0	two albums ago, we didn't release a track list. Instead, we took our track list, we cut it up
0:06.5	into 36 jigsaw puzzle pieces and shot the jigsaw puzzle pieces out across the internet. Our fans
0:12.7	had to work together across the world in order to put together this jigsaw puzzle. They posted it,
0:19.4	and that post got more pickup than pretty much anything that we ever posted. And it wasn't even your post. It was their post. It was their post. It gave them ownership over the music, over the album. So your fans posted the set list to all the other fans. Correct. That is beautiful. It's good to be back in New York City. There's something about this place, the rhythm, the chaos, bagels that actually taste the way bagels are supposed to taste, and the chance to hang out with cool New York City kids, like my guest, Adam Met.
0:47.4	And we skip to the good part.
0:49.8	Adam is the A of indie pop band AJR.
0:54.7	Here we go.
0:59.0	He's also a climate activist, founder of the nonprofit Planet Reimagined,
1:04.5	an adjunct professor at Columbia University,
1:06.7	and the author of best-selling book Amplified.
1:09.5	People become fans.
1:13.6	There's no doubt that Adam is a very busy person. He's also very educated.
1:15.6	He has a PhD after all.
1:17.6	But it's the education he got from inside the music industry that's particularly fascinating.
1:22.6	More specifically, how he's applying what he's learned from making pop music,
1:28.3	to develop strategies for effective social and environmental change.
1:34.2	It's true.
1:35.6	Pop music could actually save the world.
1:39.2	This is a bit of optimism.
1:50.4	Did you go to Broadway as a kid?
1:52.2	Yeah, I went to a lot of Broadway as a kid.
1:53.2	Yeah.
	...

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