Blue Sky
Hosted by Bill Burke, founder of The Optimism Institute, this weekly podcast will feature inspiring leaders, authors, researchers, and big thinkers who are taking on some of our world’s toughest challenges with an infectious sense of optimism. Blue Sky takes its name from the meditation reminder that there’s always blue sky above, sometimes you just have to get your head above the clouds to see it.
Show episodes
In honor of this year’s 4th of July celebration, host Bill Burke discusses some bits of US history through the lens of this country’s remarkable sense of optimism. He describes that despite our many setbacks and shortcomings, we remain a place of possibility and hope and encourages us all to keep working towards “a mo
Nichole Argo describes the work she’s doing to bring communities together by assembling people with different viewpoints around one table to discuss their challenges and formulate solutions. After great success in her hometown, she’s now pursuing similar models across the country, and she’s optimistic that combining a
Over the course of his remarkable career, Harry Smith interviewed six US presidents and numerous celebrities including Julia Roberts, Cher, and Madonna. But on this Blue Sky episode Harry shares that his favorite people to cover were the ones we’ve likely never heard of, the everyday heroes that he describes as the gl
Blue Sky host Bill Burke, along with several past guests, have described today as the best time to be alive in all of human history. On this episode, Bill explains some data-backed reasons why and provides hope that even better days lie ahead.
Mary McManus has never had it easy. As a kindergartener, she was a victim of polio just a short time before the vaccine was introduced. She also faced trauma in her home life but somehow managed to persevere and overcome these and still more obstacles throughout her life. Today, Mary is an inspiring author, poet, mo
Political Scientist and Author Lindsey Cormack Discusses Her Book, "How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It’s Up to You to Do It)"
Political division in the United States is an issue often cited as contributing to the pessimistic outlook so many of us have. Blue Sky guest Lindsey Cormack believes that our government will only improve if we begin to understand it better and get involved ourselves. As a college professor, when she found that many o
