Welcoming Josh Radnor to Thrive

As always with network shows, there was much, much, much more downtime than shooting time, which Josh and I spent talking about everything, and I developed an instant intellectual crush on him. Smart, funny, steeped in our culture, and ready to talk about everything from the latest hit song to Plato’s theory of forms. Since then, we’ve seen each other in New York or LA or Yellowstone for dinners, events and more talks (including watching him in his latest play Sacred Valley).

And then last March I received his first Museletter and immediately sent it to our entire Thrive Global editorial team as capturing exactly the voice that I want Thrive to bring into everything we are doing editorially. “This is so beautiful,” I wrote. “I wanted to share with all of you.” And also: “This is the voice of Thrive.”

One of our internal slogans at Thrive is “Science, Sizzle and Soul.” It’s our way of describing the special mix of what we aim to offer our readers and viewers around the world, and Josh’s Museletter captures this perfectly.

Every letter he sends is rooted in the stuff of life: current events, music, poetry, humor, fun, transcendence. And of course stories: honest, hilarious, heartbreaking stories. Recommendations for great new (or not-so-new) albums, books, Netflix specials. When he discusses politics and other serious matters, he doesn’t wallow in outrage. In the June Museletter that I forwarded with such enthusiasm, he wrote, “When I feel that toxic of-the-moment combination of outrage and helplessness – and I’m feeling it a lot these days – I try to remember the following maxim courtesy of Richard Rohr: The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better. So let’s see what we can do…” What better advice for our times?

So when Josh and I were at the same gathering in Yellowstone last month, I invited him to use Thrive as a platform for Museletters and for anything else he wants to say, and I’m delighted that every Thursday we’ll have Josh on Thrive. And of course you can still subscribe directly to his Museletter here.

Bottom line: if I’m ever stranded on a desert island, I want to be stranded with Josh Radnor, because we’ll never be bored and we’ll never run out of things to talk about. So please look out for his wisdom, humor and much-needed perspective every Thursday on Thrive.

To read Josh’s first story on Thrive, about the mindset shift that changed his life, click here.