12 Geniuses Podcast

Don MacPherson

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EVERY TWO WEEKS

12 Geniuses Podcast Podcast

The difference between average and greatness might be one or two well executed things. 12 Geniuses explores the highly successful people in business, athletics, and music so we can all learn how to perform at our highest level.

3 HR AGO

Staying Curious on Contentious Issues with Scott Shigeoka

Election season often highlights a range of hot-button topics, from abortion to immigration, which becomes trickier to navigate when conversations pop up with friends or at the dinner table. While we’re often told to be curious about other perspectives, many of us do not know where to start. Worse, we don’t know how to stay curious about issues that elicit our strong opinions. In this interview, curiosity expert Scott Shigeoka shares his research and in-the-field experience using curiosity to navigate polarizing issues. Scott talks about the personal benefits experience when people are curious. He goes on to talk about how people can become more curious and why maintaining boundaries and earning the right to be curious are important. He finishes the discussion by sharing what he learned on a year-long, 4,500 mile “curiosity journey” across the United States that gave him the opportunity to meet, talk with, and connect with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Scott Shigeoka is a globally recognized curiosity expert, speaker, and the award-winning author of SEEK: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World. He popularizes research that promotes positive well-being and relationships, including at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and through his groundbreaking courses at the University of Texas at Austin. He has spoken at universities, schools, companies, and conferences around the world. He is also a screenwriter and playwright.

38 min
17 SEPT

Catching A.I. in the Act with Jesús Mantas

AI-generated content has exploded into people’s feeds, and with that comes greater concern over deep fakes and misinformation. As we scroll through election content this season, how can we ensure we know when something is real or fake? In this interview, IBM's Jesús Mantas addresses how his work proactively stops “fake news” and what we, as ordinary citizens, can do to spot and combat misinformation, especially AI-generated. Jesús Mantas is the Global Managing Partner in IBM Consulting responsible for Business Transformation Services, leading the $10B unit transforming and operating mission critical businesses with digital technology and AI. He also serves as an Independent Director and Chair of the Compensation and Management Development Committee in the Board of Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), a leading biotechnology company focused on neuroscience. He serves as a member of the Audit Committee as well. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum AI Global Council. Prior to joining IBM, Jesús was a Partner in the High Technology practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, an adjunct professor at University of California Irvine Graduate School of Management, and an officer in the Air Force of Spain.

42 min
10 SEPT

Cultivating Better Dialogue Amidst Campus Division with Dr. Pano Kanelos

Colleges have become a hotbed of division as students from all walks of life cross paths with each other, and academic agendas shape discourse and student life on campuses. As Gen Z casts some of their first ballots in 2024, how can they learn to have more respectful dialogue about the issues that matter most to them? In this interview, Dr. Pano Kanelos provides his perspective and ideas on how to encourage open dialogue on college campuses and educational settings. Dr. Panayiotis (Pano) Kanelos is the Founding President of the University of Austin (UATX). Lauded by Forbes as one of higher education’s “academic entrepreneurs,” Dr. Kanelos was President of St. John’s College, Annapolis, the nation’s most storied great books liberal arts college. During his tenure, St. John’s successfully launched a historic initiative that included the most significant tuition reduction at any American college, accompanied by a $300 million campaign. He is widely acclaimed as one of the country’s most powerful advocates for liberal education and believes polarization on university campuses today reflects a “hardening” of empathy within American culture. He and the other co-founders started the school in response to their belief that college campuses were no longer a place where students and faculty could openly exchange ideas. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

43 min
3 SEPT

A Media Literacy Diet for Elections with Dr. Geoffrey Baym

The blurred lines between journalism, advertising, and entertainment have contributed to a lack of media literacy in today’s audiences. So, how do we discern when we have all the facts, particularly as we gear up toward an election? In this interview, Dr. Geoffrey Baym explains the history of political content in media and how we can practice better media literacy in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Dr. Geoffrey Baym is a professor of media studies and directs the PhD program in Media and Communication at Temple University. A former TV news producer, Dr. Baym explores the shifting styles and standards of broadcast journalism, public affairs media, and political discourse. His work particularly examines the melding of news, entertainment, politics, and popular culture. His publications include the award-winning From Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News and the edited collection News Parody and Political Satire Across the Globe. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

41 min
25 AUG

Countering Culture Wars and Political Conflict with Amanda Ripley

Political violence and threats of political attacks, from the national to community level, have soared in recent years. Political conflict and culture wars dominate headlines, causing Americans a sense of dread and despair, leading 42% to actively avoid the news. How can we turn the heat down while we choose our next leaders? In this interview, investigative reporter and conflict mediator Amanda Ripley explains her research to understand better the political conflicts that turn into violent threats and attacks. Her insights teach us to focus on “good” conflict to lessen our perception gaps of each other and provide conflict hacks that can help us break free from the cycle of outrage and blame. Amanda Ripley is a New York Times bestselling author and the co-founder of Good Conflict, a company that creates workshops and original content to help people get more thoughtful about how they fight. Amanda’s recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. In her books and magazine writing, Amanda combines storytelling with data to help illuminate challenging problems—and solutions. She follows people who have been through some kind of a transformation—including the survivors of hurricanes and plane crashes, American teenagers who have experienced high school in other countries, and politicians and gang members who were bewitched by toxic conflicts and managed to break free. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

47 min
19 AUG

The Threats to American Democracy

Finding and fighting against national security threats is a crucial job. In any election cycle, it’s even more necessary as political enemies and disinformation can pose serious threats to our democratic process. As a career veteran and defense specialist, Vance Cryer helps spotlight the threats we may face in the intersection between polarization and national defense and how we can overcome them. Vance describes America’s external threats, what they stand to gain by a weakened America, and how they are using America’s division as a tool to undermine democracy. Vance Cryer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1968. To help pay his way through school, Vance worked as a journeyman plumber and also helped his grandfather in a business that prewired new houses for telephone service. During his first semester of school, he joined the Air Force ROTC. He then got a job at the local airport filling airplanes with gas and scraping bugs off windshields, using the cash he earned to pay for flying lessons thereby fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a pilot. By the end of that first semester, he contracted with the Marines to compete for one of two slots in north Texas for Officer Candidate School. Vance's 27-year career with the Marines took him through flight school in Pensacola, Florida; to Top Level School at the National War College in Washington, D.C., where he earned a master's degree in national strategic studies; to four AV-8B squadron tours, including as the commanding officer of Marine Attack Squadron 211. He completed six combat tours in Iraq and served two tours of duty at the Pentagon-Headquarters Marine Corps in the Department of Aviation. In 2013, he was promoted to colonel and commanded the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton. In 2016, he was handpicked by Secretary Ray Mabus as the Marine Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. In August 2018, Vance retired from active duty in the Marine Corps and is now serving as a Director for Special Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control (MFC). He serves as the liaison between MFC and Lockheed Martin Aerospace, working on the leading edge of missile and sensor technologies and future capabilities. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

48 min
19 AUG

The Value of Democracy with Dr. Karthick Ramakrishnan

How has democracy enabled Americans to thrive over the last 240+ years? Dr. Karthick Ramakrishnan shares his “only in America” story, talks about how the United States, despite its challenges and problems, is a land of opportunity, and why democracy is an important reason for these opportunities. Dr. Karthick Ramakrishnan has served in leadership roles that span academia, government, public policy, and philanthropy. He is currently a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and director of AAPI Data, a nationally recognized publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He is also Strategy Lead for the Americas at School of International Futures, and Senior Advisor at States for the Future. Dr. Ramakrishnan previously served as Executive Director of California 100, a transformative statewide initiative focused on California’s next century, and as president of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. He also served for 4 years as associate dean of UC Riverside’s School of Public Policy and for 19 years as a professor. He has published many articles and 7 books, including most recently, Citizenship Reimagined (Cambridge, 2020) and Framing Immigrants (Russell Sage, 2016), has written dozens of opeds and has appeared in nearly 3,000 news stories. More information at www.karthick.com. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

46 min
19 AUG

Deprogramming the Partisan Brain with Dr. Jay Van Bavel

Why do we side with a political party? How do social identity and partisanship play in today’s politics? Why do we view the other side as the problem? Author and researcher Dr. Jay Van Bavel explores the psychology and neuroscience behind why our brains think the way we do and how we can overcome the toxic polarization in this upcoming election. Dr. Jay Van Bavel is a co-author of “The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony” and a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab. From neurons to social networks, Jay’s research examines how social identities and morality shape the mind, brain, and behavior. His work addresses issues of group dynamics, cooperation, intergroup bias, social media, and public health. He studies these issues using a combination of neuroimaging, social cognition, and computational social science. Dr. Van Bavel has published over 150 scientific publications and co-authored a mentoring column, called Letters to Young Scientists, for Science Magazine. He has written about his research for The New York Times, BBC, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, LA Times, and The Washington Post and his work has appeared in academic papers as well as in the U.S. Supreme Court and Senate. Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

43 min

The difference between average and greatness might be one or two well executed things. 12 Geniuses explores the highly successful people in business, athletics, and music so we can all learn how to perform at our highest level.

Creator

Don MacPherson
Years Active

2018 - 2024
Episodes

179
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 12 Genisues
Show Website

12 Geniuses Podcast