Shows
The New Politics PodcastEpisode 41: Gideon Culman, the ATC Facilitator who Entered the ArenaMeet Gideon Culman, one of the facilitators of our Answering the Call program. As a facilitator, Gideon has helped many servant leaders reflect deeply on their own sense of mission and calling. He is a certified Master Coach and is the founder and president of K Street Coaching, an executive coaching firm based in Washington, DC.
In this episode, he talks about his path to becoming a coach and his experiences with holding space for servant leaders in our ATC program. He also talks about how conversations with his most recent ATC group inspired him to jump into...2023-08-0850 min
the Coaching Studiothe Coaching Studio with Guest Gideon Culman, MCCOn this episode of the Coaching Studio, I am thrilled to introduce you to Gideon Culman, MCC. Someone who I consider a good friend. I thoroughly enjoyed this thoughtful conversation with Gideon as we launch grenades into ideas about non-judgment and explore the idea of skillfully cultivated ignorance. Join me as we consider how our world is created and impacted by how we show up as a coach.Gideon received his MCC in 2020. He brings a deeply thoughtful style and curiosity into his coaching. Gideon believes that embracing curiosity is essential to creating the world we want. L...2022-12-0149 min
Where Genius GrowsValerie Livesay & Zafer Achi, Living in Full Color“Once we can see that we are not this enduring, consistent, perfect self that we've constructed ourselves to be—that we see all the ways in which we don't show up aligned with our intentions or who we want to be in the world—we start to have compassion for other people and their challenges in doing so. Once we see our complexity, we can see others’ complexity.” — Valerie Livesay Embracing every aspect of ourselves can feel squarely at odds with how we’re accustomed to showing up in our lives. But what is the cost of only e...2021-09-091h 14
#100MasterCoaches with Mel Leow, MCCMel Interviews Gideon CulmanWelcome to the 37th Episode of the #100MasterCoaches Show. In this episode, Mel interviews Gideon Culman, MCC from Washington DC, USA.
Gideon is the Founder and President of K Street Coaching. Gideon holds a Master Certified Coach credential from the ICF and focuses his executive coaching practice serving the law and government relations firms on and adjacent to Washington DC's K Street corridor and beyond.
Clients are inspired to work with Gideon because of his thoughtful engagement which magnifies their curiosity about life and ignites sustained performance breakthroughs. Gideon translates his theoretical background into plain English, gently yet powerfully supporting cl...2021-06-1850 min
Where Genius GrowsCarly Anderson, Conversing with a Purpose"I want to have my insides match my outsides. I want how I view myself internally to match my external behavior. That's my objective every day. That's my purpose. And if I do that, then I know I'm a good human for others." – Carly Anderson Carly Anderson is a Master Certified Coach. Since 2005 Carly has served the International Coaching Federation as an assessor, evaluating the skills of coaches applying for credentials. Carly also mentors coaches engaged in growth toward their next credential. In this conversation, Gideon Culman and Carly Anderson each share their path into ma...2020-10-301h 31
Where Genius GrowsCourtney Lang, Redressing Healthcare Inequity"That divide should not exist in healthcare right now. Why? Because we're too far along. We're too innovative. We have too much technology. There should never be a gap." — Courtney Lang Inequity in healthcare actively harms people in every area of society. Courtney Lang is the founder and principal of Lang Co and Partners, a public affairs firm focused on healthcare. In this episode we discuss the tangible healthcare consequences of how we view ourselves, how we communicate, and what steps each of us can take to redress healthcare inequity.2020-08-261h 02
Where Genius GrowsAmy Elizabeth Fox, Building a More Entwined World"Part of the way out is extending the circle of care and the circle of who you feel entwined with, interdependent to, responsible for wider and wider. So if each of us would say, 'I'm responsible for listening to where the pain is that needs me,' rather than 'I'm just responsible to my nuclear family or my immediate environment,' and everybody was making that choice to serve life in that way, we would collectively do something to create a cushion underneath the traumatic potential of this time." — Amy Elizabeth Fox Amy Elizabeth Fox is...2020-07-241h 04
Where Genius GrowsAkasha, Leaning into FriendshipThere's a part of me that's like shouting, "Of course [we're friends]!" And there's another part that's like, "I want to be. I don't know?" And that part of me is alive. And this is gonna sound a bit contradictory, but that part of me is also alive in most other white friendships that I have. You know, it's like, "Is this possible?" — Akasha Akasha and I have known each other for seven years. We had wanted to have a conversation that would address racism. But how to get beyond punditry and make an actual di...2020-06-2250 min
Pandemic CompanionsManaging ExpectationsEach day we set countless expectations: My coffee will taste good, when I say 'thank you' he'll say 'you're welcome', my team will win. We set these expectations without much thought. But what happens when major parts of life that we're used to taking for granted suddenly stop meeting our expectations? Business coach and cognitive therapist Denise VanEck researches and teaches about the experience of failure. In this conversation she offers concrete steps we can take to recalibrate our expectations.2020-05-291h 07
Pandemic CompanionsGet Through A DayNobody in their right mind doubts that communication is key to successful relationships. But spend several weeks cooped up with the same people and — presto! — nobody is spending much time in their right mind. Communication is faltering. Rough edges are showing. Meredith Janson, an Imago therapist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Berkeley, California and I discuss what happens when the people you're used to going to for support are themselves ready for a hefty dose of support.2020-04-101h 22
Pandemic CompanionsHealing TouchIt's been several weeks since many people have seen another person, let alone touched one. Others are in close contact with the same people nonstop. It's unclear when this will change, with the increasing likelihood that we find ourselves locked in patterns of isolation for at least several months. Astra Rooney and Eva Shpak of Freed Bodyworks offer ideas about how we can meet our need for healing touch.2020-04-0449 min
Where Genius GrowsKelly Lewis, Navigating Polarities II"Oftentimes when we're talking about polarities, there's a false assumption that we have to let go of what we value the most. In actuality, when you're moving from operating from your preferred pole to the third way, it's not about letting go or losing, it's about loosening up your grip enough that you can make enough room to bring more in." — Kelly Lewis We’ve all faced problems that won’t go away. The worst part is when we do everything in our power to correct course and then just create a whole new slew of pro...2020-03-3142 min
Pandemic CompanionsHope::RealitySeemingly opposite states that must coexist over time for success to occur: helping ourselves/helping others, working to make a living/staying at home, hope/reality. You're growing uncomfortably familiar with these phenomena, which we'll call polarities. How do we make sense of them and even thrive? To help us all learn, I spoke to Navigating Polarities co-author Kelly Lewis.2020-03-3144 min
Pandemic CompanionsLockdown Cuisine: Chef Rock HarperRockSolid Creative Food Group president Chef Rock Harper suggests chicken soups you can make while on lockdown.2020-03-2709 min
Pandemic CompanionsDude, Where's My Food?It's March 26 and many restaurants that were flying high at the beginning of the month have closed indefinitely, most of them for good. Some are hanging on for dear life by converting to carryout operations. But there's little doubt that how we produce and consume food is undergoing a major, real-time overhaul. RockSolid Creative Food Creative Group president Rock Harper discusses changes to food systems and highlights emerging opportunities for hospitality workers who have been blindsided by the coronavirus pandemic.2020-03-271h 05
Pandemic CompanionsNavigating SobrietySome people are using social distancing as a pretext to break out the good wine. As we all plunge into the unknown, many are having to completely rethink how they will navigate sobriety. I speak with Laura Silverman of The Sobriety Collective and Booze Free in DC for ideas about how to be supportive, from a distance, of loved ones who are in recovery or for whom maintaining sobriety is no mean feat.2020-03-2243 min
Pandemic CompanionsGreetings from Your CouchWe're reinventing on the fly how we connect with the people who matter to us. Vanessa Harnik of luxe greeting card importer Notes and Queries knows the value of cultivating rich relationships even in the best of times. To address our heightened need for community during the coronavirus pandemic, Notes and Queries is working with its international network of publishers to offer an evolving array of free and topical e-cards that we can send to help us stay close.2020-03-2216 min
Pandemic CompanionsObserving Your ChildMillions of parents around the world are busy muddling our first week of being full-time caregiving, breadwinning homebodies. One of the easiest things to lose sight of is how different our worldview is from our children's. Early childhood specialist DJ Schneider-Jensen of Magic and More, Inc. offers advice that will give children freedom to be themselves and parents the opportunity to fully appreciate them from head to toes.2020-03-2015 min
Pandemic CompanionsFalling BackWe can spend our lives growing. It's possible to expand into increasingly complex versions of ourselves — physically, emotionally, cognitively, relationally, and spiritually. Yet this growth is not a one way street. We often experience a falling back, in which we lose access to the highest and best versions of ourselves. To explore how the coronavirus pandemic is triggering this phenomenon on a global scale, I speak with adult development expert Valerie Livesay, whose research specialty is fallback. 2020-03-191h 13
Pandemic CompanionsJacob's (Virtual Class) RoomThe passage of time feels remarkably different. I discuss the nasty habit I have of reading Virginia Woolf right before the fabric of reality runs. This obviously relates to convening boisterous preschoolers in virtual video conference rooms. And making the world a better place.2020-03-1807 min
Pandemic CompanionsWFH?March 16, 2020 is the first day that schools have been closed in many parts of the United States. As millions of professionals stumble into a new reality of balancing careers while working from home without childcare, host Gideon Culman speaks to Mindful Return founder Lori Mihalich-Levin for ideas about how to navigate this dynamic.2020-03-1618 min
Pandemic CompanionsPandemic Companions: A Brief IntroductionI used to spend my days as an executive coach, supporting top leaders in Washington DC to navigate the shifting sands of their lives with greater clarity and confidence. Now any work I do now takes place on top of being a full-time caregiver for my family. Since I’m pretty sure my confusion and my shock are hardly unique to me, I’m creating this podcast, Pandemic Companions, as a space in which we can all help each other get through this together.2020-03-1601 min
Where Genius GrowsBrian Emerson, Navigating Polarities I"From very early, we are taught to see the world in certain ways. And one of the first ways that we're taught to see the world is through either/or. 'Either the stove is hot or the stove is cold. And I touch it or I don't touch it.' That it is possible to expand our thinking into understanding the world as also being made up of both/and scenarios, and simply holding that at the front of our mind, is the best place to start" — Brian Emerson We’ve all faced problems that won’...2020-02-2651 min
Where Genius GrowsWendy Moomaw, Wielding the Power of Profit"Choose to do something that supports what you care about and will help us all sustain life on this planet. Every day you make that choice and we all make those choices. The hope is that millions of people will be making the difference every day." — Wendy Moomaw Wendy Moomaw is the executive director of Conscious Capitalism of Central Maryland. In this conversation we discuss the power that businesses and consumers wield to direct profit to nurture the things most important to us.2020-01-311h 00
Where Genius GrowsJennifer Garvey Berger & Carolyn Coughlin, Journeying to the Growing EdgeHow does life change when we leave behind the initial fascination of reading about theories of adult development to learning how to actually assess stage development in conversations with the people around us? Cultivating Leadership partners Jennifer Garvey Berger and Carolyn Coughlin interview Where Genius Grows host Gideon Culman about his experience undergoing their Growth Edge Coaching certification program.2020-01-171h 02
The Chef Rock XperimentGideon Culman, The K Street CoachGideon Culman of K Street Coaching sits down with Rock to share his wildly cool background, exactly what an executive coach does and who his favorite rapper of all time is. Gideon believes that embracing curiosity is essential to creating the world we want. Life today is accelerating at a ferocious clip. The stability, predictability, and certainty that we may have taken for granted is falling away. The more tightly we cling to a fleeting world order we once knew, the more fluidly it seems to slip through our fingers. Stepping back and taking in the impact o...2020-01-1300 min
Where Genius GrowsTony Quinlan, Downgrading Your Certainty"I'd much rather look at the reality rather than the opinions people carry." — Tony Quinlan When we face intractable problems — wanting to change the trajectory of our lives and stalling, wanting to change the direction of our community and failing — an important area that we often don’t examine are the stories we tell ourselves and others. In this conversation I speak with Narrate CEO Tony Quinlan. We discuss how bringing into focus the stories that underlie our lives can open up previously unnoticed avenues for action that were always there.2019-08-171h 04
Not SimpleGideon Culman, Complexity in the Garden"It's not about simple cause and effect. You can put in place all the right conditions to grow beans, and then they start growing and there's a sense of pride. Then you come in one day and realize 'Oh no! Deer have eaten everything." Gideon Culman is the founder and owner of K Street Coaching, host of his own podcast, Where Genius Grows, and an amateur gardener. He talks to Wendy about using gardening as a prism for making sense of complexity in the world.2019-08-0429 min
Where Genius GrowsCarolyn Coughlin, Practicing Complexity Fitness"One of the things that we know from complexity theory — especially used in leadership — is that we can't figure it out. There is no plan that can work, necessarily. But what we can do is we can pay attention to the patterns of behavior and we can just try stuff, experiment." — Carolyn Coughlin Occasionally we find ourselves doing the same thing over and over again — at work, at home, with friends — and whatever we’re doing just isn’t working. When we try to control or outsmart or charm our way through this challenge, we only make matte...2019-08-011h 05
Where Genius GrowsNitiya Sin, Creating Transportive Experiences"It is 100% based around the idea of making dreams come true and going above and beyond the regular steps of service to build an experience that will be a memory that lasts a lifetime." — Nitiya Sin We’ve all experienced moments in which time seems to stop. It’s as though we’re transported. To better understand what these experiences are made of, in this conversation we learn from someone who creates them. Nitiya Sin is a hospitality professional who most recently served as Concierge at the Washington, DC restaurant minibar.2019-06-261h 05
Where Genius GrowsAlma Molina, Sharing What Would Otherwise Go Unheard"I can project, I can whisper, I can do all these kinds of things. But when I’m code-switching, there’s a mindful approach to how I want the information to be received and how I want to be perceived by this person. And I want to create connection." — Alma Molina How we communicate is highly dependent on where we’re communicating and with whom. The work we put into tailoring our delivery can range from hyper-intentional to largely unconscious. In this conversation, Dewey Square Group principal and multicultural communications strategist Alma Molina shares her experien...2019-05-311h 00
Where Genius GrowsMagda Mook & Jean-François Cousin, Letting Learners Teach Themselves"Don't be too quick to say 'Ah, that's the issue,' or 'That's the issue with the issue.' It's just to be uncomfortable, to be ambiguous, to stay in that space until it is uncomfortable, because great awareness comes with — especially in the task-based society we live in these days — having the patience to listen." — Magda Mook The work we do day-in, day-out over decades shapes our bodies, our minds, and our souls. International Coach Federation CEO Magda Mook and International Coach Federation Global Board of Directors Chair Jean-François Cousin discuss with K Street...2019-05-2734 min
Where Genius GrowsJennifer Garvey Berger, Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps"When we don’t understand ourselves well enough and when we don’t understand the ways we trip up consistently, we act as though we haven’t tripped up, and that gets us into even more trouble." — Jennifer Garvey Berger Jennifer Garvey Berger writes in her new book Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps about unhelpful patterns of behavior that we fall into without noticing that we’ve fallen into them. These are behaviors that treat the uncertainty, ambiguity, and change around us as though the world were more understandable, more predictable, and more constant than it is. In this conv...2019-05-1556 min
Where Genius Grows64: Sarah Jane Curran, Choosing What You Like“Just because it’s rare, and just because somebody says it’s the best, doesn’t mean you even have to like it." — Sarah Jane Curran Sarah Jane Curran is the host of the podcast Beer Me! She has focused her studies on beer in culinary school and grad school, she has been a beer director at Eleven Madison Park and the general manager of DC’s Churchkey/Birch & Barley, and in this episode Sarah Jane shares with us some of the many ways in which beer makes the world a better place.2019-03-2559 min
Where Genius GrowsBob Anderson, Scaling Leadership“The complexity we face is actually an evolutionary pressure. We evolve or we die. And we’re there. We’re there as a species, we’re there in organizations, and we develop or else. And that’s harsh, but it’s also a spiritual bootcamp. It’s a kind of evolutionary pressure on us to evolve into more complex ways of knowing, understanding, and relating, and so on. And so you can not not be in a gap. It just is the territory. And that normalizes it. It levels the playing field. There’s nothing wrong with you because you’re facing lim...2019-01-101h 10
Where Genius GrowsJohn King, Melting into Relationship"If you do the work to get yourself and your group to Stage 4, where you're actually truly collaborating, you will be given offers in life to step in and participate effectively at Stage 5. This does not happen, this does not occur for the people at Stage 2 and 3. At Stage 3 they're too caught up in 'My need to dominate and control people around me' and at Stage 2 in my kind of worldview that 'I'm a victim and I can trust no one'." — John King John King is a rogue scholar and a founder of Cultural Architecture, In...2018-12-311h 26
Where Genius GrowsDagmar Pruin, Binding the Narratives Together“I always knew that this is a very complex issue and that I don’t want to go for the easy victory. And I think this is what you can very much see in the structure in how we run Germany Close Up.” — Dr. Dagmar Pruin Every year Germany Close Up brings 250 Jewish Americans to visit Berlin and get a close up look at a country that plays an outsized, terrifying role in their history. Learn in this interview with Dr. Dagmar Pruin about the experiences that led her to launch Germany Close Up in 2007, how over...2018-10-0448 min
Where Genius GrowsJerrold Keilson, Honoring Humanitarian Relief Workers“If you have been to a hockey game or a baseball game . . . you see a phenomenon where at some point in the proceedings a military person is recognized for their service. Always for their service. And I’m not meaning to denigrate the service that the military make, and certainly a very significant service. However, they are not the only people who are giving service to the country and to the community. Development workers often go to equally miserable places and they don’t bring guns, and they’re not wearing helmets, and they don’t have a long supply cha...2018-09-2947 min
Where Genius GrowsMark McGuigan, Fostering the Values that Bind Us Together “Let us not kid ourselves: These 22 volunteers alone are not going to transform the transatlantic relationship. And yet! Through their individual relationships that they build here, through the experiences that they get here, they are hopefully learning about discrimination, they are hopefully learning about political action, they are hopefully learning about the importance of intercultural communication and this transatlantic relationship that we’re talking about, and they’re taking it back to Germany, where they become part of a pool of people who share those values.” — Mark McGuigan Mark McGuigan is the US Program Director for Action...2018-09-2741 min
Where Genius GrowsKatie Jett Walls, Being Unafraid to Be with Someone"Exercise your witnessing muscle: Go find a good photography book and look at it long and hard. Look at the pictures and practice empathy. Practice witnessing a story that you weren’t there to see and I promise you will find yourself moved. And whatever the source of that empathy is, see if you can’t direct it to someone in your own sphere, someone physically in your own sphere — someone that you can witness, you might never thought needed to be looked at, or maybe you thought it was inappropriate to look." — Katie Jett Walls Docum...2018-09-1152 min
Where Genius GrowsArik Ben-Zvi, Signaling in the Right Direction"We live in a world where your attention is the most valuable thing you have to offer. It’s in some ways even more valuable even than the money in your pocket, or even more valuable than your vote. The things you choose to allocate your attention to — the shows you watch, the news you consume, the social media platforms that you engage on and the conversations that you take part in there — those are going to be the things that shape the world around us." — Arik Ben-Zvi Arik Ben-Zvi is the executive managing director of the Glover Park Grou...2018-09-0540 min
Where Genius GrowsJennifer Garvey Berger, Finding Meaning Underneath the Plot"We’re really interested in the plot of our lives, but we’re not as interested in the way the plot unfolds — the meaning underneath the plot. And if we were to get more interested collectively in not just what’s happening to me but making sense of what’s happening to me, that is a question that can keep you engaged forever. That question never gets old. You can ask it about anybody else in your life and it brings you closer." — Jennifer Garvey Berger Psychologists long assumed that our minds stopped growing after post-adolesc...2018-08-3155 min
Where Genius GrowsGray Cox, Thinking for a Sustainable Planet“How do we change our economic thinking so that we start to become people who are living in a way that’s compatible with a sustainable planet?” — Gray Cox To look at the world and everywhere see strife and material consumption that our planet is unable to sustain can be demoralizing. But particularly as we stare at the prospect of likely peril, College of the Atlantic professor Gray Cox asks us to take heart and consider the simple habits of mind that are drawing us toward the brink of ecological collapse. How can we make subtle s...2018-08-1053 min
Where Genius GrowsKate English, Seeing the Humanity in Others“Listen and do your best to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. That trait is the thing that has saved lives. It’s when people cut themselves off from that recognition of the other person as a human being — that is what gets degraded when we move toward mass atrocities: one of the first steps is to remove the humanity of the other person. And so that’s a little act of resistance right there . . . to look across and see that humanity in the people around you.” — Kate English Kate English is the executive director of th...2018-07-3152 min
Where Genius GrowsArthur Traldi, Acting Like We're on the Same Team“It’s important to listen both to understand the details of what happened, because remembering the victims and accepting the truth is important to survivor communities, and it’s also important just to make sure people feel heard. Sometimes it’s important for closure, sometimes it’s important as part of a process, sometimes it’s important for reasons that I’m not really sure of. But it is a very small thing we can do and it is meaningful.” — Arthur Traldi Arthur is a war crimes prosecutor who has worked on the international criminal tribunals for Rwan...2018-07-2736 min
Where Genius GrowsJerry Johnson, Creating Your Own Relevance“What people need to do is look at their lives through that lens ‘How much of what I do is intentional and how much of what I do is routine? How much of what I do is considered and how much of what I do is simply a function of I did it that way yesterday, I did it again today, and likely I’ll do it tomorrow?’” — Jerry Johnson Jerry Johnson manages relevance research at Brodeur Partners. His team helps organizations stay relevant in people's lives. In this episode Jerry discusses how to evaluate the many mess...2018-07-2738 min
Where Genius GrowsSara Mansfield Taber, Offering Your Truth to the World“Anybody offering their truth to the world is a generous act. It doesn’t have to be perfectly wrought or perfectly abstractly conceptualized. But offering your authentic take on the world is just a gift, really. We don’t get a lot of honesty in the world. And emotional honesty is even rarer." — Sara Mansfield Taber Sara Mansfield Taber is a writer and a teacher of writing. She has a lucid understanding of what gets in the way of people writing well. Sara has released a book called Chance Particulars that swiftly moves us past our bloc...2018-07-1346 min
Where Genius GrowsAngela Hayes, Respecting and Appreciating Diversity"Life is filled with great diversity. You see it all through nature. When we as people take the opportunity to respect and appreciate the diversity that we have as humans, we have the power to build a better and more just society." — Angela Hayes Angela Hayes is the owner of Collins Hayes Management and Consulting. As the communities we live in grow increasingly diverse, what can companies do to make sure they resonate with every customer they're trying to reach? In this conversation, we discuss what steps companies can take to avoid embarrassing and costly mi...2018-07-0932 min
Where Genius GrowsAlbert Cahn, Believing in a Wellspring of Humanity"I always like to say 'Stay vocal, stay local,' that focusing on the issues in your most immediate community . . . it never seems to get the recognition it deserves but it's always the most transformative role that we can play in our society." —Albert Cahn Albert Cahn serves as the legal director for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Albert's work recently resulted in his being barred from speaking at the temple his family has belonged to for generations. In this conversation, we speak about why it matters to civil society th...2018-07-0947 min
Where Genius GrowsCheryl Kagan, Doing the Best We Can“We all do the best we can. And I think whatever someone decides to do is the right step for them. But speaking out does have an impact. And I know that sharing my story brought comfort to many women, brought accountability to one man in particular, got legislation passed, and I think served as a bit of an educational opportunity or a warning to a lot of other men. And that makes it all worthwhile. It’s all of that.” — Maryland State Senator, Cheryl Kagan Cheryl Kagan represents Maryland State Senate District 17 in Annapolis. On March...2018-07-0437 min
Where Genius GrowsRichard Chisholm, Walking Away from MoneyEverybody's going to have to do tax planning now. At least for the first year or two — to see what, if anything, they can do to reduce their tax obligation. Even if they're going to get a savings automatically, just from being who they are with the tax laws the way they're going to be, there may be additional opportunities for them to save even more. — Richard Chisholm Richard Chisholm is a partner with tax law firm WardChisholm, P.C. In this interview we discuss the implications for taxpayers and society of the 2017 tax reform.2018-03-3139 min
Where Genius GrowsBob Anderson, Learning to Be AuthoredMost of us don't have literacy — we weren't trained in school to be literate — in the language of transformation, in the basic math and ABCs of transformation. So how do I learn to listen to my silent thoughts and feelings and track them down to core assumptions that are actually limiting? That if I can see them and break through, the whole game changes? — Bob Anderson Bob Anderson is the Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. In this interview we discuss his integration of leadership and adult developmental theory into th...2018-03-3047 min
Where Genius GrowsBastian Hermisson, Fostering an Engaged CitizenryA democracy cannot function if you basically have a political civil war: The sense that politics is a zero-sum game, where one side loses everything and the other wins everything, and it's all about winning against the other side. That can bring you political wins for a certain amount of time, but it doesn't stabilize democracy itself and it doesn't lead to more what in Germany we call sozialer Friede — 'social peace,' a sense of togetherness. — Bastian Hermisson Bastian Hermisson is the executive director of Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, a political foundation affil...2018-02-1947 min
Where Genius GrowsMichael Wu, Building Adaptive CapacityDo we want to build a secure and resilient system for powering . . . our country? And do we want to attack the biggest challenge of collective action in the course of human civilization? And those are the two questions that we have to answer. — Michael Wu Michael Wu is the founder and CEO of Converge Strategies. In this interview we discuss how thoroughly the power grid permeates every aspect of contemporary life. Michael describes the array of threats facing the power grid today — both familiar one and those that we can only imagine. He explains the diff...2018-02-0741 min
Where Genius GrowsAykan Erdemir, Taking Faith Hostage"Take a look at the mirror. Reflect on the values and the traditions that have brought what I would call the Transatlantic Civilization into existence as a civilization that has ensured individual rights and liberties and economic success to billions of people around the world." — Dr. Aykan Erdemir Dr. Aykan Erdemir is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In this episode we discuss the intersection of religion and politics, focusing on what happens when political elites use religion as a pretext for personal enrichment. This phenomenon has recently been named kleptotheocracy. Fi...2018-02-0138 min