Tallberg Foundation Podcast

It wasn't that long ago that globalization was universally perceived as a good thing, when policymakers celebrated free trade agreements, and when countries competed to lower barriers to the free flow of goods. But we seem to be moving from a world where markets ruled to one where politics rules. Weijian Shan, chairman, and CEO of PAG, one of Asia's leading investment firms, shares his unique perspective, not just on global markets, but on how the world really works.

A shape-shifting event like the global pandemic affects almost everyone on the planet—especially children. They have seen their education, social and mental health development, nutrition, and health badly damaged. And, it is worse for girls, because in too many countries, girls don’t have anywhere near adequate access to schools, health care, even food. In this episode, Dr. Maliha Khan, one of the leaders of Malala Fund, talks about how the pandemic has made that goal even more difficult to achieve.

In this episode you will meet Nithya Ramanathan, a 2020 prize winners. Nithya is an engineer and social entrepreneur, saving lives through the innovative application of technology, creating and applying data-driven solutions to global challenges. Listen, as she is interviewed by Cecilia Weckstrom, Sr Director, Diversity, Inclusion & People Innovation, Lego and a member of the 2020 prize jury. Music: “Without You” by Oxime © 2021. Permissions granted courtesy of Oxime Audio https://www.oxime-audio.co

What does China—or, more particularly China’s leadership and the Chinese Communist Party— want from the rest of the world?  Jonathan Ward, an American who is rapidly becoming one of that country's leading China experts, thinks they want victory. Dr. Ward, who has lived and worked in China and has a deep affinity for the Chinese people, recently published a new provocative book, China's Vision of Victory. Listen as he shares his perspective on the issue that could literally change the course of his

Early in 2020, when the global pandemic was still gathering force, UNICEF published a prophetic, deeply disturbing document. If anything, what actually has happened—and continues to happen—to children everywhere is, if anything, probably worse than UNICEF imagined.  Robert Jenkins is leading UNICEF's global education response to the pandemic and brings decades of experience and a global perspective to what might easily be the most important and longest lasting impact of COVID. How worried is he?

Today’s world is short of a lot of things—sustainable environment, peace, prosperity, equality—but what we lack most is innovative, global, values-based leadership. If we can find and nurture that kind of leadership, the rest will follow. In this special episode, Jared Genser (one of the three 2020 prize winners), an international human rights lawyer who is teaching and mentoring the next generation of human rights lawyers, is interviewed by Shahidul Alam, photographer, writer, activist and 2020 J

Increased poverty and malnutrition; greater inequality; damaged and depleted health care systems; rising social and political tensions. But is this crisis or opportunity? This week’s guests are dedicated to trying to make the world the kind of place it could and should be. Vidhya Ramalingam is a recognized expert on the use of technology to disrupt violent extremism online. Sarah Durieux focuses on mobilizing citizens online, to help them achieve policies they care about.

Europe is increasingly divided: between the frugal North and the Club Med South; between the illiberal East and the progressive West. In many ways, the latter is more profound at a time when democracy is under pressure almost everywhere. Our guests are engaged in this conflict. Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz, Poland's Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and András Léderer, Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Listen as they discuss the profound conflicts that will shape their countries for decades to com

Today's world is short of a lot of things, but what we lack most is innovative, global, values-based leadership. If we can find and nurture that kind of leadership, the rest will follow.  In this special episode, you will meet Sylvia Earle, one of the three 2020 prize winners. Listen, as she is interviewed by Ashok Mirpuri, Singapore's ambassador to the U.S and a member of the 2020 prize jury Music: "Without You" by Oxime © 2021. Permissions granted courtesy of Oxime Audio https://www.oxime-audio.co

Venezuela has been in a death spiral for years. The country have been devastated by political repression and economic depression; its people suffer from huger, malnutrition, shortages of food, medicine and, perhaps worst of all, opportunity. More than 5 million have fled. David Smolansky was chased from his elected post of mayor of El Hatillo and avoided jail by seeking political asylum in the US. Listen as he imagines how his country can go from a failed, kleptocratic state to a prosperous democracy.

Social media has become the lifeblood of modern culture. But it has evolved in ways which reward excessive outrage and which encourage hyper attention to the immediate—untethered from traditions, knowledge, and values. In this week's podcast, Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, is considered one of America's leading legal scholars on freedom of speech talks about the challenges of social media.

Europe has had a bad few years. The struggles between North and South mostly over economics, between East and West mostly over values. Brexit, which shifted the locus of power eastward and distracted European leaders from any possibility of a more positive agenda. The pandemic, which among all its other impacts led to interrupted borders in a Europe that prided itself on having no borders. Pierre Lellouche, former French parliamentarian and minister, worries that bad is likely to get worse.

2020 was an awful year for Iran. It started with the assassination of the country's leading general and ended with the assassination of its most important nuclear scientist. American “maximum pressure” combined with mismanagement took a huge toll on the country. Yet, the regime seems more firmly in power today than a year ago. How can that be? Sima Shine, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and Dr. Sanam Vakil, Chatham House's Middle East Africa Program, discuss Iran, today and tomorrow.

Even amid optimism about vaccines and declining infection rates, there is mounting evidence that the pandemic is generating a global mental health crisis. How do we cope with the results? Could rising levels of child abuse, spousal abuse, drug abuse, homicide and suicide leave even deeper marks than COVID itself? Dr. Jonathan DePierro, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai and Michael Niconchuk, neuroscience researcher in Zaatari, try to answer these questions.

The pandemic has forced most of us to move from real life to virtual life and we are mostly unhappy about the results. Is there a cure for Zoom fatigue? For answers, we turned to a magician. Magic used to be fundamentally physical, requiring a lot of interaction between the magician and his audience. Mark Mitton, a world class magician, whose performances produced Springsteen-like enthusiasm explores how magical thinking (or, at least, a magician’s thinking) can help us through this crisis.

Worth Repeating: What are some of the challenges Africa faces in its future? At least so far, what plagues Africa is less Covid-19, than its consequences: collapsed economies, an industrial world that is closing to Africa, a deceleration (if not reversal) in globalization, a new “Cold War”, severe climate change, and the need to develop faster to serve its young population. Alan Stoga talks to Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of Sierra Leone’s Freetown, and Carole Wainaina, a leader of Africa50.

We live at a time of pandemic, recession, challenges to democracy, shifts in global power. The response of many organizations, is to hunker down and survive. But some are embracing the challenges and opportunities of change. The Robert Bosch Stiftung, under the leadership of Sandra Breka and others, recently rethought, rebooted and relaunched its operations. Listen as she discusses how they fared and what kind of world she and her colleagues hope to help shape.

The amazing events of recent weeks—Donald Trump’s efforts to undo an electoral outcome, the assault on the Capitol, and the impeachment of the former President —caused many Americans to worry about the stability of their government. Congressman Dick Gephardt, believes America needs bipartisanship to cope with the divisive spirits that are tearing at the country. He talks about some of the things that urgently need to be done, not just in the United States, but everywhere that democracy is under pr

History is replete with leaders drawing real or metaphorical lines in the sand, challenging opponents to cross only if they dare. David Andelman, an American journalist and author, believes that one way to understand global risks and challenges is to explore the nexus of red lines that define global politics. Indeed, Andelman argues that never before have global affairs been so entangled by red lines. Moreover, he says that Donald Trump made everything worse. Can we recover without a catastrophe?

Since the onset of the pandemic, much of life has shifted from the real world to the virtual world. For many, it has been a painful, frustrating experience. For others, it has been liberating and highly productive. For all, we will inevitably emerge changed by the experience. We explore living online with a woman whose job it is to make the experience as productive and pleasant as possible. Jaime Teevan is Microsoft’s Chief Scientist for Experiences and Devices.