Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Matt Richtel joins Joe for a powerful conversation about his new book, How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence.
Blending neuroscience, history, and real-life stories from teens and families across the country, Matt offers a transformative understanding of adolescence—not as a problem to fix, but as a critical phase of growth. Whether you’re a parent, military leader, coach, or mentor, this conversation is packed with insight on how to support young people as they step into the most intense learning period of their lives.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why adolescence isn’t just a set of teenage years—but a biologically driven journey of self-discovery
- How to understand risk-taking, rebellion, and boundary-pushing not as defiance, but as testing for survival
- The powerful metaphor of adolescents as “castaways,” and why we must let them leave the shore to grow
- How The Odyssey offers a timeless framework for understanding the adolescent hero’s journey
- What neuroscience teaches us about reward sensitivity, risk tolerance, and the adolescent brain
- Why digital life isn’t inherently bad—but what it displaces can harm growth and mental health
- How to lead, parent, and mentor with empathy—by not taking rebellion or distance personally
Whether you’re leading young soldiers, raising kids, or reflecting on your own adolescent journey, this episode delivers timeless wisdom and practical tools for helping the next generation grow up well.
Meet Matt
Matt Richtel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and bestselling writer of mysteries and thrillers. His books are fast-paced, character-centered stories in which things are not always as they seem. The backdrop for the books is the modern world. Technology is everywhere. Everything moves at lightning speed, from conspiracy, to love, business, and violence. Technology is our slave. Or has it become our dark master?
The books relate to Matt’s journalism. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for a series of stories on distracted driving. The next year, he wrote an acclaimed series for the New York Times called “Your Brain On Computers” exploring how heavy technology use impacts our behavior and our brains.
Matt lives with his family in San Francisco. He writes from an office with a window that looks onto the former house of baseball legend Willie Mays. He — Matt, not Willie — is an avid tennis player, takes pride in making guacamole and coffee, and writes the occasional song.
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