ReThinking: Taking politicians out of politics with Hélène Landemore

Hélène Landemore is a political scientist at Yale who studies democracy. She has a radical idea for fixing politics: what if we replaced career politicians with citizen assemblies, filled with people chosen by lottery? In this episode, Hélène and Adam discuss the history of this idea, tracing back to Ancient Greece and the birth of democracy, as well as recent examples of countries and states that have tried this bold method of governance. Hélène responds to some common questions and concerns about citizen assemblies, and Adam breaks down some evidence supporting the notion that ordinary citizens may be more fit to serve and lead than professional politicians. Featured guest Follow Hélène Landemore on LinkedIn and at helenelandemore.com/ Buy Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule Connect with the team Follow Adam on Instagram , LinkedIn , and at adamgrant.net/

You can listen to ReThinking: Taking politicians out of politics with Hélène Landemore online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

ReThinking: Taking politicians out of politics with Hélène Landemore is an episode from WorkLife with Adam Grant by TED.

This episode is 38:16 long.

This episode was published on Feb 10, 2026.

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