Our guest is Dr. Michele Gelfand, a professor at Stanford University's business school. Considered to be a cross-cultural psychologist, Professor Gelfand is the author of the cutting-edge 2018 book, "Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World."

She and Professor Arie Kruglanski admire and understand each other's work. In this chat, we consider how people quest for significance in those different kinds of cultures: tight ones (with rules and restrictions) such as Singapore and Japan -- versus loose cultures (where people can seek success or respect in many creative ways) such as the United States or New Zealand.

The result is a half-hour conversation that is both warm and enlightening!

This podcast series is based on a book by Dr. Arie Kruglanski and Dan Raviv, The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round, published in 2025 by Routledge.

Arie Kruglanski is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and author of countless books, articles, and studies that have made him one of the world's leading experts on human motivation. He has been honored by the American Psychological Association for distinguished scientific contributions, and received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Association for Psychological Science. One of his most recent books is Uncertain: How to Turn Your Biggest Fear Into Your Greatest Power.

Dan Raviv was a CBS News correspondent, covering big stories worldwide for more than 40 years. He co-authored a national best selling book, Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community. His most recent book about Israeli security and espionage, also co-authored with Yossi Melman, is Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars. He is based in Washington, DC. You can hear his weekly podcast, THE MOSSAD FILES.

On YouTube and other platforms featuring video podcasts, you can find video versions of THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST. Please do.

To purchase our book, we suggest: www.amazon.com/Quest-Significance-Harnessing-Makes-World/dp/103253169X ... or ... (with...