America's Why Project

Some of the most important listening happens in the most emotionally demanding spaces. This episode launches a new subseries within our “How to Listen” chapter: Hard Jobs, conversations with people working in some of society’s most demanding roles. In this episode, AWP Creative Director Amy McCampbell sits down with Anthony, a healthcare complaints specialist responsible for handling hundreds of p...

What actually changes when people stop talking at each other and start truly listening? In Part 2 of this two-part series, host Matt Levinger continues his conversation with Merissa Khurma, Founder and President of the AMENA Foundation and a strategic communications expert, to move from breaking down the idea of listening to understanding what makes it effective in practice. Through real-world exa...

In a world where everyone is talking, why does it feel like no one is truly being heard? In Part 1 of this two-part series, host Matt Levinger sits down with Merissa Khurma, Founder and President of the AMENA Foundation and a strategic communications expert, to explore a critical question: why do people stop listening in the first place? Drawing on experiences from global diplomacy to deeply perso...

In this opening episode of Chapter 2, host Matt Levinger brings together the team behind the project to reflect on their journey so far and where they believe they should go next. Through personal stories from multiple continents, cultures, and backgrounds, this episode explores why listening is more than a skill; it is a method and a path toward rebuilding trust and mutual respect. As the podcast...

In Part 2 of our deep-dive on migration, writer Sohrab Ahmari continues to explore the future of global mobility and what it means for democracy, culture, and the American common good. As climate shocks, conflict, and economic pressures displace millions worldwide, Ahmari and host Matt Levinger ask a sharp, urgent question: How do we manage a world on the move without losing our political sanity?...

Immigration is the hottest flashpoint in American politics, but far too often, the conversation skips past the most important question: why do people leave home in the first place? In this first episode of a two-part series, writer and thinker Sohrab Ahmari joins host Matt Levinger for a candid, surprising, and deeply personal conversation about global migration. Drawing on his own journey from re...

What happens when a handful of corporations hold the power to shape everything: what we buy, how we work, even how we connect with each other? In this episode, anti-monopoly expert Matt Stoller joins host Matt Levinger to break down how decades of consolidation have reshaped American life far beyond consumer prices. From defense and tech to baby formula and dating apps, Stoller exposes the hidden...

In this second installment of our two-part series with Brian Katulis and Danielle Pletka, the conversation shifts from the craft of foreign-policy storytelling to the pressures that warp it. They discuss how algorithms reward confrontation, how outside actors manipulate division, and how the simple fear of standing apart from one’s peers can reshape what experts are willing to say. Katulis and Ple...

Leadership depends not only on power and policy, but also on the stories that give them meaning. In this first episode of a two-part series, Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, and Danielle Pletka, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, dig into why America’s national narrative has fractured. They discuss how social media’s attention economy distor...

In the second half of our conversation with historian Jeremy Suri, we turn from America’s complex past to the pressing question of how leadership works today in a time of turbulence and distrust. From Lincoln’s unexpected transformation to the barriers that prevent capable leaders from rising, Suri explores what history can teach us about strengthening democracy. He examines the structural forces...

 What happens when a country loses its unifying story? When the story of 1776 squares off against the story of 1619, when the smoldering legacies of the Civil War erupt into 21st-century culture wars?  In this episode, historian and bestselling author Professor Jeremi Suri joins host Matt Levinger to dig into the tangled roots of American identity. From 1619 to 1776, from Civil War legacies to tod...

Last week, Dr. David Rock showed us how fear hijacks the brain. This week, he flips the script by diving into the power of love. Host Matt Levinger and Dr. Rock looks into the high-reward states that unlock people’s capacity to care, create, and collaborate despite the presence of stress and social tension in our day-to-day lives. Through tiny shifts in status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, an...

Modern life pushes our brains in ways they were never built to handle. In this episode, Dr. David Rock, neuroscientist, bestselling author, and the creator of the SCARF™ model*, joins host Matt Levinger to reveal why fear, uncertainty, and social threats so often hijack our thinking. Together, they unpack the hidden neural patterns that shape how we collaborate, lead, and respond to conflict, and...

To solve America’s toughest challenges, we need to start by listening to each other’s stories.  Visit our website to learn more about the America’s Why Project and join the conversation: americaswhyproject.com Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music