Political Conversation

What's a risk you took that turned out well? What about one you wish you had taken? I invite you to listen and participate in this episode as a guided workshop for whatever risk or change you may be facing.

Drew Kugler and Ari Kaplan discuss the differences in how children and adults discuss their busy days, with a focus on how they answer the simple (and sometimes throwaway) question, "How are you?" Monk Manual Article: https://monkmanual.com/blogs/monk-notes/monk-notes-10-on-you-lost-that-busy-feeling-oh-that-busy-feeling?vgo_ee=sF1VVxqxgXq97OuHuO5hmvlMy%2BOWWuyaZunZiCXh6gI%3D John Mulaney Stand-Up Routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZU_hA4Pr4

In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President Joe Biden's 13-member Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board.  Dr. Osterholm is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State. He is also on the Board of Regents at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling 2017 book, Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, in which he not only details the most pressing infectious disease threats of our day but lays out a nine-point strategy on how to address them, with preventing a global flu pandemic at the top of the list. The Atlantic article by Ed Yong Frontline Families Fund

This episode explores one essential distinction we must make when pursuing real change. Think about where you spent your three hours in shock on January 6 - what have you done about what you've seen and felt since? Please also see this article by Ibram X. Kendi and video by Andrew Marantz for additional insight on what we all saw and how we talk about it.

Dr. Andrea Ghez is an astronomer and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. In October of 2020, she became the fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her discovery of a supermassive compact object, now generally recognized to be a black hole, in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. In today's episode, she discusses the conversations and curiosities that led her to this work, as well as how disagreeing and collaborating leads to richer scientific insights.

When something goes wrong, how quickly do you search for "tools" or a "blueprint" to fix it? Today, we explore how seeking to merely fix what's broken isn't enough - we must figure out what we're trying to build and why. This episode also happily introduces my colleague, Ari Kaplan, who will occasionally join in on TMWTS.

It's easy to watch a news story and decide what we think of the characters involved. In this episode, I explore how we can better pause and learn the lessons of what happens around us - not so we can make judgements about others, but so we can make changes in ourselves.

What makes the best leaders? My guest today discusses the dedication to listening and caring she believes to be the cornerstone of true leadership. In a world that focuses so much on what people do, Shellye and I take the time to dive into how good leaders make the people around them feel.

How are your political conversations going these days? Not with people with whom you agree - I mean the ones with people whose views you can't even begin to fathom. Are you even having them? Just remember - no matter what happens in this election, those people aren't going anywhere. If you're not constructively engaging in the discomfort, what are you accomplishing?

It's not just showing up to the scene and taking pictures. My guest this week discusses how he uses conversation to build trust and respect on the ground, even in the most dangerous and emotionally charged situations, in order to produce the best photographs for the New York Times.