Exploring Judaism's Liberal Values with Mark Friedman

What can Shakespeare teach us about the pressures of corporate life and how to handle them?And why is Macbeth being taught to finance executives at one of the world’s most prestigious business schools?In this episode, I’m again joined by Columbia Business School professor Shiva Rajgopal to answer these questions, and to explore how literature can help us recognise and resist values drift.We discuss how small compromises escalate, how we can be manipulated to prove ourselves in business, and what we can do when our values come under pressure. We also consider the role of the liberal arts in developing human judgement in an age of AI.

Can we be friends when we disagree about politics?In this episode, I’m joined by Roger Berkowitz, Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College and Founder and Academic Director of its Hannah Arendt Center to discuss his new book, A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World.We explore friendship, fanaticism for truth, and what Arendt’s life and thought can teach us about sharing a world with people whose views differ from our own.

Which values sustain a free society? And what responsibility do we each have to uphold them? In this episode, I’m joined by Sherman Tylawsky, founder of the George Washington Institute, to explore civic values, political division, patriotism and the responsibilities that accompany freedom.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how organisations make decisions.But what happens when those decisions drift away from the values they were meant to uphold?In this episode, I’m joined by Christine Haskell, PhD, to explore the phenomenon of values drift – the gradual divergence from stated values – how AI can accelerate that drift, and what leaders can do to prevent it.We discuss practical strategies for sustaining values alignment, the virtues leaders need under pressure, the governance systems that prevent drift, and why consistent values alignment requires both systems and good intentions.

What does it mean for a nation to wrestle with God?That struggle, as Ilan Stavans suggests, might be America’s most enduring pastime.In this episode, I’m joined by Ilan Stavans to explore America’s wrestle with God at both collective and individual levels, following the release of his new book, A Nation Wrestles with God: American Prophets, Philosophers, and Firebrands.We discuss the ideas, individuals, and tensions that have shaped America’s religious identity – and what they reveal about the nation’s values.

We’re living through an honesty crisis. Advances in technology have made dishonesty more appealing than ever before – and less likely for the dishonest to get caught. This crisis has far-reaching implications for individuals, institutions, and society as a whole.In this episode, I discuss the true meaning of honesty and its central role in a well functioning society with Christian Miller, author of the newly published book, The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World.

After years of research, Mark Friedman concluded that much of what he thought he knew about “authentic” Judaism was incorrect. He argues that Judaism is far closer to classical liberalism than many might assume — and that the idea that traditional Jewish values are inherently at odds with liberal values is fundamentally flawed. In this episode, we explore the Torah’s liberal values, the role of scripture as an anchor and guide in modern life, and much more. For more on Mark’s work, see his new book, Come Now Let Us Reason Together: Uncovering the Torah’s Liberal Values.

Jim Ferrell had already introduced the work of Martin Buber to millions of people through his books and keynote talks before realising he had been missing something fundamental about Buber’s insight.That realisation took Jim deeper into the world of relation – our fundamental connectedness – and ultimately led to a new leadership paradigm that’s presented in his recently published book, You and We: A Relational Rethinking of Work, Life, and Leadership.In this empowering conversation, we explore what it means to grow relationally and why meaningful change happens as we change the space between us.

What if many of the emotions we regularly feel are actually counterfeits?In this episode, I’m joined by Curtis Morley to explore the concept of counterfeit emotions – and why authenticity is essential for meaningful personal growth.We discuss the difference between being nice and being kind, why peace may be the only emotion that cannot be counterfeited, and how it’s possible to experience both joy and pain at the same time. Drawing on Viktor Frankl’s insight that our final freedom is the ability to choose our attitude, we explore why choosing growth over misery matters – especially when life hurts.We also examine the distinction between sobriety and recovery, why emotional intelligence is the single strongest predictor of success in life and business, and why learning to love yourself is not a selfish indulgence, but a necessity for service.A powerful conversation on emotional intelligence, authenticity, and personal growth.

Workplace stress and uncertainty don’t just affect performance — they reshape how the brain functions. In this conversation, Dr Lynda Shaw explores neuroscience in the workplace, clarifying common myths, the difference between neuroscience and psychology, and what leaders can do to help people thrive under pressure.