Bruce Feiler
Author and Columnist
This episode premieres Thursday, July 9, 2026 at 7:00pm ET
“The three most powerful words in the English language are, ‘You’re not alone.’”
Summary
Great storytellers tend to be people who have experienced lots of diversity through the course of their life journeys, and that is certainly true of Bruce Feiler. A fifth-generation son of Savannah, Georgia, Bruce has taught English in rural Japan, performed as a clown in the circus, and has walked the lands of the Bible. His has been a lifetime of joining other people's worlds and coming back to tell us what he found.
I wanted to have Bruce on Leadership Matters to talk about that journey and the question that motivated his latest book — namely, how we can rebuild connection in an age of loneliness, division, and digital saturation. Titled Time to Gather, the book traces a 50,000-mile journey across six continents to document what he calls a ritual renaissance: the surprising, hopeful ways ordinary people are reinventing how we come together. I am a huge fan of Bruce’s work, so it was a pleasure to spend some time together and trace the threads that tie together his larger body of writing.
Mentions & Resources in this Episode
A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World–and How It Can Save Us, by Bruce Feiler
The Council of Dads: A Story of Family, Friendship & Learning How to Live, by Bruce Feiler
Guest Bio
Bruce Feiler is one of America’s most thoughtful voices on contemporary life—he uses original research into life transitions, life rituals, and life stories to help people find meaning in times of change. Bruce is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including Life is in the Transitions, The Secrets of Happy Families, and Council of Dads. His four TED Talks have been viewed more than five million times; he teaches the TED Course “How to Master Life Transitions;” and he is a fellow at the Stanford Computational Psychology and Well-Being Lab.
Bruce’s latest book, A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World and How It Can Save Us, describes his 50,000 mile journey to sixteen countries on six continents chronicling the astonishing rise of reinvented life rituals. From the Vatican to Bali to Ireland, the book is both a stirring adventure and a practical manual for restoring togetherness.
Bruce is the host of two primetime series on PBS: Walking the Bible and Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler, in which he retraces pilgrimages in France, India, Japan, Israel, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. A longtime columnist for the New York Times, Bruce Feiler writes the popular newsletter “The Nonlinear Life” about navigating life’s ups and downs. He has contributed to The New Yorker, Parade, and Gourmet, where he won three James Beard Awards. He has been the subject of Jay Leno joke and a JEOPARDY! question, and his face appears on a postage stamp in the Grenadines.
A native of Savannah, Georgia, Bruce lives in Brooklyn with wife, Linda Rottenberg, and their identical twin daughters.