What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Revealing, intimate conversations with visionaries and leaders in the arts, science, technology, public service, sports and business. These engaging personal stories are drawn from interviews with the American Academy of Achievement, and offer insights you’ll want to apply to your own life.

  1. Cindy Sherman: Illusions of Identity

    13 AVR.

    Cindy Sherman: Illusions of Identity

    Cindy Sherman, one of the world's most renowned contemporary art photographers, started posing for her own photos in the 1970's, long before the advent of selfies. But she says her images are not self-portraits. Instead, she uses sets, costumes and makeup to create an elaborate array of characters. In this introspective interview about her journey as an individual and an artist, Cindy Sherman reveals how and why she hides herself from view.

    42 min
  2. Tara VanDerveer: A Vision for Victory

    27/11/2025

    Tara VanDerveer: A Vision for Victory

    She is one of the greatest basketball coaches in history, and an inspiration to generations of young women. Tara VanDerveer was head coach of the Stanford Women's Basketball team for 38 seasons. She led her team to three NCAA Championships. She also led the national women's basketball team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Here she talks eloquently about her lifelong love for the game and about her frustrations early in life, before Title IX, when there were no women's teams available to her.  She also talks in detail about her unique and winning approach to coaching, and describes the ways she finds basketball metaphors in everything she does!

    50 min
  3. Billie Jean King: Racquet Revolutionary

    27/10/2025

    Billie Jean King: Racquet Revolutionary

    She is a sports icon and a trailblazer for women. She won 39 Grand Slam tennis titles during her career, and she fought for equal pay and equal opportunity for women in the game. She founded the Women’s Tennis Association and was the first woman named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated Magazine. She captivated the world when she won "The Battle of the Sexes".against Bobby Riggs. Now 81 years old, Billie Jean King has a lot of thoughts about her storied career, and many tales to tell!

    51 min
  4. Jane Goodall In Memoriam: A Dedicated Pursuit

    02/10/2025

    Jane Goodall In Memoriam: A Dedicated Pursuit

    As a girl in England, Jane Goodall dreamed of traveling to Africa to study animals in the wild.  In 1960, that dream brought her to Tanzania, to observe the wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Park. As she describes in this episode, other scientists did not believe that a young woman could survive alone in the bush, but Jane Goodall did more than survive. Her work revolutionized the field of primatology.  She was the first to document chimpanzees making and using tools, an activity that had been thought exclusively humans. Over the years she also witnessed cooperative hunting and altruism, but also brutality and even warfare among chimps. Her work, the longest continuous field study of any living creature, has given us deep insights into the evolution of our own species.  Since the 1980's, she has devoted herself single-mindedly to educating the public worldwide about the connections between animal welfare, the environment, and human progress.   (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017

    35 min
  5. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: Shivering with Curiosity

    29/06/2025

    Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: Shivering with Curiosity

    Ozempic is one of the most important new medications in a generation. The driving force behind it is the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which has been invested in GLP-1 research since the early 1990s. The leading scientist in this domain, a self-described "nerd," who grew up on a farm in Denmark and has no interest in the limelight. Lotte Knudsen started her career working on laundry detergent enzymes, but eventually joined a team at the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk that was tasked with looking for new treatments for diabetes. She was convinced that a recently discovered human hormone called GLP-1 could be made into a powerful medication, not only for Type 2 diabetes, but also for weight loss. It took 20 years of hard work and persistence for her and her team to figure it out, but their creation now shows promise as a worthy foe of heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson's, alcoholism & Alzheimer's as well. In this episode Lotte Knudsen tells her story, and we hear from two of the other scientists who made critical contributions to this revolution in medicine: Mads Thomsen and Daniel Drucker.

    59 min
  6. Gustavo Dudamel: The Power of Music

    22/02/2025

    Gustavo Dudamel: The Power of Music

    When he was just 26 years old, Gustavo Dudamel arrived from Venezuela to become conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He immediately became one of the world's most beloved figures in classical music. He's collaborated with pop stars (including Billie Eilish, Nas and Christina Aguilera). He's played the Super Bowl half-time show. He even the model for the main character in the hit tv series "Mozart in the Jungle". Sixteen years later, after making an enormous mark on the LA Phil and the city of LA, Gustavo Dudamel is preparing to move east, as music director and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. He talks here about coming up as a musician and a budding conductor in "El Sistema", Venezuela's classical music training ground for children of all backgrounds. He describes conducting his toy figurines while listening to the world's greatest orchestras, before he even understood what conductors actually do. And he shares his love of music - all music - and his work to erase boundaries between audiences.

    51 min
  7. BestOf(2024)_Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice

    28/09/2024

    BestOf(2024)_Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice

    Johnny Cash had a voice that could make a mountain quake. And his impact on the world of music is so legendary that this week a new 11 feet tall bronze statue of the singer, guitarist and humanitarian was unveiled at the United States Capitol Visitor's Center. It was donated by the state of Arkansas and it is the first-ever statue of a musician in the collection. To celebrate, we invite you to take a new listen to the very first episode of What It Takes.  You'll hear the deeply introspective Cash near the end of his career (1993). He reflects on how he overcame considerable personal obstacles and turned his failures into the stepping stones to success. He also talks about the first music he remembers, the voice teacher who advised him to stop taking lessons, and the source of his creativity.

    20 min
  8. In Memoriam_James Earl Jones: The Voice of Triumph

    10/09/2024

    In Memoriam_James Earl Jones: The Voice of Triumph

    In honor of James Earl Jones, who has died at the age of 93, we bring you this encore episode. James Earl Jones had a voice like no other. It reverberated so deeply that you could feel it in your chest. No one was better suited to give voice to Darth Vader. For 60 years, Jones captivated audiences with that voice and with his commanding presence -- on stage and on screen. In this episode, which originally posted in 2017, he talked about how he overcame a stutter that silenced him for years. He explained how the radicalism of the 1960's changed the world of acting, and opened the door to his success. And he described how growing up on a humble farm taught him to treasure contentment over happiness.   The theme music for What It Takes is written and performed by KaraSquare.com.   (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017

    33 min
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À propos

Revealing, intimate conversations with visionaries and leaders in the arts, science, technology, public service, sports and business. These engaging personal stories are drawn from interviews with the American Academy of Achievement, and offer insights you’ll want to apply to your own life.

Informations

  • Création
    Academy of Achievement
  • Années d’activité
    2015 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    228
  • Classification
    Contenu explicite
  • Copyright
    © American Academy of Achievement 2015-2026
  • Site web de l’émission
    What It Takes®

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