How Mindsets Shape Reality w/ Dr. Alia Crum

This week, Scott sits down with his longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Alia Crum—one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of mindsets. Dr. Crum’s groundbreaking work investigates how our subjective beliefs and interpretations can produce real, measurable changes in behavior, physiology, and psychological well-being.

Drawing inspiration from research on the placebo effect, Dr. Crum explores how mindsets influence everything from health and stress to performance and interpersonal effectiveness. She and Scott discuss the mechanisms through which mindsets shape objective reality, and how deliberately shifting our mental lenses can lead to meaningful transformation in our lives and organizations.

This conversation is especially personal for Scott, who first met Dr. Crum during their graduate school days at Yale. They revisit early philosophical chats while highlighting how far her research—and its real-world implications—has come.