New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

A companion episode to our conversation with Ye Jin Min. Sit back and listen to three pieces she imagined, composed, and played: Vinyl Road, Honey, and Four Moons with Koriobots.

Making a living as a musician has always been hard. For classical and experimental artists, it can feel nearly impossible. Ye Jin Min knows this firsthand. A violinist, composer, singer, and conductor equally at home in Carnegie Hall and the avant-garde, she has spent her career navigating the brutal economics of professional music-making. Her answer is Unboxed Musicians — a bold new venture desig...

Democracy may be struggling across much of the world, but Bangladesh offers a rare counterexample. In the summer of 2024, a student-led movement forced out the long-ruling government of Sheikh Hasina. Less than 20 months later, the country conducted elections widely described as mostly free, fair, and peaceful—leading to a democratically elected government replacing the interim administration led...

What does great leadership look like today? In this special episode, we bring together the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize laureates: Rhett Ayers Butler, founder of Mongabay; Bryan Doerries, founder of Theater of War Productions; and David Gruber, founder of Project CETI. Moderated by Helena Nilsson, Prize jury member and Deputy CEO of the MiL Institute, the conversation spans j...

Much of the world’s attention remains fixed on Iran, Israel, and the Palestinian question. But another rivalry is quietly reshaping Middle Eastern politics: Saudi Arabia versus the United Arab Emirates. Once close partners, the two Gulf powers now find themselves moving from cooperation toward competition—and perhaps even confrontation. In this episode, Professor Rob Geist Pinfold explores what is...

As the world braces for another difficult year, a single global event promises to capture the attention of billions: the FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In this episode, New Thinking for a New World takes a detour from geopolitics and climate to explore how an event of this scale actually comes together. Gabriela Cuevas—an experienced Mexican political leader—ha...

For decades, warnings about the destruction of the Amazon and Congo rainforests have grown louder, even as meaningful action has lagged behind. International summits and political declarations continue, but the forests edge closer to dangerous tipping points. In this episode, we ask whether a different approach is needed. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Dr. Fernando Trujillo, and Sam Muller bring pers...

The world is entering a new era of conflict: more violent, more fragmented, and with more civilians caught in the crossfire than at any time since World War II. But the consequences of war may extend far beyond the battlefield. Rana Dajani, Jordanian molecular biologist and long-time member of the Tällberg network, is part of a research team uncovering how traumatic violence might alter gene expre...

Sperm whales are among the most extraordinary creatures on the planet—massive, deep-diving, highly social, and constantly communicating. David Gruber, marine biologist and founder of Project CETI, leads a global team of scientists using cutting-edge technology to decode the vocalizations of these remarkable animals. A 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner, Gruber explains how u...

For thousands of years, Greek tragedies have helped people make sense of fear, grief, conflict, and the complexities of being human. Bryan Doerries—co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions and a newly selected Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner—has spent nearly two decades bringing these timeless texts to contemporary audiences. In this episode, he reflects...

Climate change is accelerating, but reliable information about what is really happening on the ground is still far too rare. Rhett Ayers Butler—founder of Mongabay and a 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner—has built one of the world’s most trusted platforms for independent environmental journalism. In this episode, he explains why empowering communities with accurate reportin...

“May you live in interesting times,” goes the old saying—and for Colombia, these are indeed interesting times. The country faces rising political violence, institutional strain, and the possibility of a constitutional crisis. In this episode, Paula Moreno—former Minister of Culture and founder of Manos Visibles—explores what leadership looks like when everything seems uncertain. Drawing on her exp...

Thirty years after the United Nations first called for global action on climate change, progress remains painfully slow. Year after year, world leaders meet, make promises, and defer real solutions. Why? Because top-down global governance continues to fail in a world divided by power, politics, and inequality. In this episode, Linwood Pendleton, Global Coordinator of the Ocean Knowledge Action Net...

The snow leopard, a mysterious and endangered big cat, roams the High Himalayas across a dozen countries—many of them rivals in politics, religion, and ideology. Yet these nations have found rare common ground: protecting this remarkable animal. In this episode, Dr. Charu Mishra, Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Trust, explains how a shared commitment to conservation has become a bridge for...

What happens when a failed War on Drugs collides with a War on Terror? President Donald Trump has rebranded drug cartels as terrorist organizations, blowing up “go-fast” boats in the Caribbean, putting a $50 million bounty on Venezuela’s president, and deploying major military force to the region. Is this truly about national security—or the start of a new forever war? Host Alan Stoga explores the...

In the second half of this two-part conversation, host Alan Stoga continues his discussion with journalist Francesca Borri, former Iranian diplomat Hossein Mousavian, and Hebrew University lecturer Abraham Silver. Together they probe deeper into the aftermath of the recent war, the fragility of the ceasefire, and the broader question of whether Iran and Israel are on the path to peace—or simply pr...

Six weeks after Iran and Israel fought a brief but intense 12-day war, a fragile ceasefire holds—but for how long, and at what cost? In this two-part conversation, host Alan Stoga is joined by journalist Francesca Borri, former Iranian diplomat Hossein Mousavian, and Hebrew University lecturer Abraham Silver to unpack what really happened, what it means for the region, and whether peace is possibl...

The Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest, is vital to global climate health. But unlike the Amazon, its biggest threat isn’t farming—it’s the demand for minerals driving the Green Transition. Could the race to electrify the world cost us the Congo? Jaap van der Waarde, WWF’s Conservation Director for the region, explores how the demand for rare minerals risks tipping the Basin’s frag...

Can profit and planet go hand in hand? As public climate financing falls short, attention turns to the private sector. But can businesses do good for the environment while still making a return? Tânia Trindade of SODEFOR, a forestry company managing a million hectares in the Congo River Basin, believes they can. She shares how the company balances sustainability and profit in one of the world’s mo...

We’re living through a moment of global upheaval—where the old order is crumbling, and the future feels dangerously uncertain. At the heart of this instability is the evolving, uneasy relationship between the U.S. and China: two powers with the ambition and capacity to shape whatever comes next, yet with fundamentally different worldviews. In this episode of New Thinking for a New World, we hear f...

President Trump’s trade war, regulatory overhaul, and fiscal shake-up aim to rewire the U.S. and global economies. Can it work—or backfire? Economist Marco Annunziata, former Chief Economist at GE, joins host Alan Stoga to explore the promises and pitfalls of Trumponomics—and what it might mean for your job, savings, and future.

Great art is timeless—it reveals how we think and why we act. What if classics like Greek tragedy or Shakespeare were used to explore today’s challenges—racism, war, corruption? That’s what Bryan Doerries and Theater of War have done for nearly 20 years. The results are healing, raw, and real. Listen as Bryan shares how personal loss led him to reimagine an ancient art form for modern times.

In 2019, Brazilian scientist Carlos Nobre warned of an approaching Amazon tipping point. Five years later, record droughts and fires suggest that moment may have arrived. Yet Francisco “Pacho” von Hildebrand, who grew up in the Amazon and now leads Gaia Amazonas, still believes the rainforest can be saved—if Indigenous communities are empowered to protect what remains. Listen as Pacho shares why h...

Does Congress still matter in the Trump era? With presidential power expanding and checks and balances under pressure, this question is more urgent than ever. Tom O'Donnell—veteran congressional insider and longtime aide to Democratic leader Dick Gephardt—joins host Alan Stoga to explore the growing clash between Congress and the White House. Who will come out on top?

Healthcare is personal. Whether it’s a baby in Uganda struggling to breathe or a father in New York contracting MERS after surgery, individual experiences matter more than national statistics. Can innovative technology solve what ails us? Dr. Kristian Olson, a Harvard internist, pediatrician, and global health designer, thinks so. As founder of the Center for Affordable Medical Technology (CAMTech...