At the Coalface

In this episode, I sit down with Rob Palm, former U.S. Navy aviator, military diplomat, and now space tech executive, for a wide-ranging conversation on military diplomacy, reinventions and leadership. Over a 29-year Navy career, Rob flew F-14s and later served as a Foreign Area Officer, advancing U.S. defence collaboration across Europe and the Middle East. Today, he’s helping to shape the future...

In this episode, I sit down with Curtis A. Smith, a political thinker, author, and practitioner whose journey spans the worlds of media, finance, and direct community service. From a childhood steeped in conversations that challenged liberal orthodoxies, to feeding the homeless and working with youth in recovery, Curtis has developed a rich and personal understanding of power, injustice, and resil...

In this episode, I speak with Eileen Barber about her career in international development and the transformative years she spent in Colombia helping farmers improve their livelihoods. We explore the power of foreign aid programmes rooted in strong community engagement, and why it's just as important to communicate their impact back home to sustain political and public support. Eileen reflects...

In this episode, I sit down with Athanasia Shinas just hours after her graduation from The Fletcher School to reflect on her remarkable 28-year career as a senior military logistics officer. What begins as a conversation about career choices, from a childhood love of archaeology to joining ROTC, evolves into a deeply personal exploration of leadership, service, and growth. Athanasia shares how she...

In this episode, former Mexican diplomat Jorge Tuddón shares his journey into the foreign service and reflects on the unexpected influences, what he calls “angels”, that shaped his career path. He recounts the emotional weight and richness of serving as a mobile consular officer across the U.S., where he encountered the powerful and often untold stories of Mexicans abroad. Jorge also opens up abou...

In this episode, Theo offers a deeply informed perspective on the conflict unfolding in the Great Lakes region of Africa. He unpacks the forces shaping the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda’s role in it, drawing connections between colonial legacies, economic interests, and the personal influence of political leaders. With the region still carrying the unhealed trauma of genoci...

In this episode, I speak with Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project, which recycles hotel soap for communities in Africa without access to basic sanitation. In a conversation that moves between the idealistic and the deeply personal, we explore the trauma that fuelled his entrepreneurial drive and the lessons he's learned as a change-maker. We talk about how embodying a brand—th...

In this episode, I speak with Nelly Arocha Dagdug. Nelly shares her professional journey working for Mexico’s government on improving transparency in the electoral process and then in the field of information disclosure. Her story gives a fascinating insight into Mexico’s shift towards a more pluralistic political system and the cultural shock that came with it. Our conversation switches gear to e...

In this episode, Lasha Kasradze shares his journey from growing up in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic to witnessing the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union and eventually moving to the United States as a teenager. The conversation explores how his experience of straddling cultures and striving to integrate shaped his worldview, fuelled his drive to survive and thrive in the U.S...

In this episode, I speak with Sang Yeob Kim. Sang shares his experience growing up across cultures, being exposed to Latin America as a child. This planted the seed for him to return as an adult to work as a diplomat, initially working for Chile. In our conversation, Sang shares his secrets about navigating high stakes diplomacy at the UN and, at the other end of the spectrum, about delivering res...

In this episode, I speak with David Kovar. David shares his thought leadership in the field of cybersecurity and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles forensics. David’s work addresses cyber crime and informs domestic and international policies on these important  yet often poorly understood topics. David shares his philosophy about bringing the temperature down, finding a common language and translating compl...

In this episode, I speak with Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher, Dean of the Fletcher School. In our conversation, we explore how Kelly’s early life and exposure to air pollution shaped her desire to dedicate her life to environmental issues. Kelly shares the insights of her research on China in the late 1990s and her realisation that China would become a world leader in climate issues, both as emitt...

In this episode, I speak with Olena Tregub. Olena shares her fascinating trajectory, growing up in Soviet times and witnessing her country’s independence. The relative immaturity of the political landscape at the time prompted her to get involved politically at a young age. Olena shares the unique role that civil society plays in Ukraine and its power to affect deep change. Her organization, NAKO,...

In this episode, I speak with Professor William Moomaw. Prof. Moomaw is a world renowned expert in sustainable development. He has been a long-time contributor and lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including in 2007 when the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Prof. Moomaw has changed the worldview of many of his students as part of his teaching at the Fletcher Sch...

In this episode, I speak with Jeff Dodson. Jeff shares his life and leadership lessons from his multiple careers, first as an investment banker working on Wall Street, then in the beverage industry, then pivoting to the executive search business, and most recently as a high school teacher. In our conversation, we reflect on what characterises the best leaders, what they think about in the shower,...

In this episode, I speak with Jivan Gjorginski. Together we dive into the complexities of diplomatic efforts to regulate biological and toxins weapons that Jivan has been spearheading. We also touch on his earlier work on lethal autonomous weapons. Jivan reflects on his personal journey, straddling Macedonia and Canada, and how his drive for calming things down guided his decisions and career. Rec...

In this episode, I speak with Ifeoma Okali. Ifeoma shares her journey growing up in Nigeria, finding her way into the legal profession, animated by a strong sense of the importance of equality and protecting civil rights in a society that was still very male dominated. We talk about her experience of 12 years working  for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the role of internatio...

In this episode, I speak with Adam Barbina. Adam shares his memories of growing up in rural Ohio in a hard working, religious and conservative family. After studying at a liberal grad school and living in New York City, Adam still remains connected to his roots and understands conservative viewpoints, wishing more people could see both sides. We talk about his career break into geostrategy consult...

In this episode, I speak with Zack Peterson. Zack founded 1000 Days Fund, an NGO addressing childhood stunting in Indonesia at a grassroots level with specially trained community health workers. Zack was working at the World Bank when he was confronted with the pernicious creep of stunting that was about to affect his daughter - and he decided to jump out and start his NGO. 1000 Days Fund has had...

In this episode, I speak with Carolina Neal. Carolina is originally from Costa Rica, a country with a deep connection to the wisdom of nature. Her grandmother, the powerful head of her family, had picked Carolina out among her many siblings for her smarts and sent her for higher education. Carolina’s life was destined for high political office, but love got in the way and she ended up in Joplin, M...

Nino Kalandadze was one of our first guests on this podcast. Then, she spoke about her experience forged as a young politician while her country, Georgia, was fighting a war with Russia. In this conversation, Nino sheds light on the direction Georgian politics have taken, as a capture of state institutions is under way by interests aligned with Russia. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and the...

In this episode, I speak with Dana Dumitrascu. Dana just published a book, How To Discover Your Vocation. In our conversation, we explore Dana’s backstory and how she grew into becoming a vocational coach. Her book helps people, young and experienced in life, shed the conditioning we’ve all inherited about work and jobs, and look at vocation in a new way. Dana’s framework is practical and involves...

In this episode, I speak with Bernard Zongo. Bernard’s story inspires me in so many ways. He grew up in a poor environment where the odds were stacked against him doing much with his life. His relentless determination to pursue education, with a sprinkle of help along the way, led him to blaze a path in local development, urbanism, humanitarian interventions in conflict zones and more recently, in...

In this episode, I speak with Michael Brasseur. Michael is a man of the seas, who’s made a living sailing the oceans for the US Navy and grappled with some of the most fascinating naval and security challenges of our time. Michael shares his leadership lessons from decades of building winning teams, summed up as having a vision, clear values and a strong culture. He talks about his journey of inje...

In this episode, I speak with Professor Diana Chigas. Diana is one of the foremost experts in international negotiation and conflict resolution. She has worked in El Salvador, South Africa, Ecuador and Peru and in the Georgia/South Ossetia peace process, facilitated inter-ethnic dialogue in Cyprus and in Central and East Africa. She co-directs the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Project that ai...