Grounded, Not Divided

Matt Burgess
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Grounded, Not Divided is a podcast about leaders who are getting important things done in the real world.  It is hosted by Matt Burgess, an economics professor at the University of Wyoming.  Our guests are leaders in business, government, non-profits and civil society, who are making progress on some of society’s hardest problems, like poverty, disease, innovation, environmental protection, and education. Society's deepest divisions come from the virtual world: social media, online and cable news, and the pundit class. It’s easy to oversimplify, misinform, and demonize people when we’re trying to sell a narrative and get clicks. But when we’re working to get things done in the real world, reality keeps us honest. In other words, when we're more grounded, we're less divided. Our guests' stories show us how much we can accomplish if we’re willing to learn from each other, work hard, and work together. guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

  1. NOV 3

    Episode 12: Ron Rabou: Blessed are the peacemakers

    Show notes: To combat today’s political polarization and violence, a distinguished group of Wyoming faith, business, and community leaders recently launched the “Become a Peacemaker” initiative, “calling Christians to restore grace in public life”. In the biblical Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9), Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God”. My guest on today’s episode is Become a Peacemaker board member Ron Rabou. In addition to his work on Become a Peacemaker, Ron Rabou is President and CEO of Rabou Farms, a noted public speaker, and author of Keep It Simple: The 12 Core Values that Lead to Personal and Professional Success and Make Your OWN Way: One Family’s Story of Breaking the Mold and Achieving Independence in American Agriculture. We discuss the Become a Peacemaker initiative, its connection to the biblical concept of grace, and the challenge of political polarization in America and Wyoming. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 13, on finding common ground on K-12 and higher-ed issues, with Brian Kisida, Associate Professor in the Truman School of Government & Public Affairs at the University of Missouri and Co-Director of the Arts, Humanities, & Civic Engagement Lab. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 8m

  2. OCT 3

    Episode 11: Shaka Mitchell: Secrets to successful charter schools

    Show notes: Today’s episode is the third in what has become a three-part series on bright spots in K-12 education. In the previous two episodes, I talked to Karen Vaites about the “southern surge” successes of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama in K-12 reading; and I talked to Paul Bennett about Quebec’s long-standing leadership in K-12 math. In today’s episode, I talk to Shaka Mitchell about charter school success stories and the school choice debate in the United States. Shaka Mitchell has led high-performing charter school networks, including Rocketship Education and LEAD Public schools, serving over 2,500 students in Nashville. His students include some of the most disadvantaged in the city. He is a Senior Fellow at the American Federation for Children and an adjunct faculty member at Belmont University. He writes on Substack, at Shaka’s Substack. We discuss the importance of school safety, high standards, building strong relationships between schools and families, and more. We also discuss Shaka’s new initiative, the Come Together Music Project, which uses music to bridge political divides. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 12, with Ron Rabou, President and CEO of Rabou Farms, author and speaker, and, most recently, co-founder and board member of Become a Peacemaker: a non-denominational faith-based initiative to reduce political polarization in Wyoming. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 4m

  3. AUG 27

    Episode 10: Paul Bennett: Why Quebec is ahead in K-12 math

    Today’s episode is the second in our series on bright spots in K-12 education. In the previous episode, I talked to Karen Vaites about the “southern surge” successes of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama in K-12 reading. In this episode, I talk to Canadian educator and researcher Paul Bennett about the success story of Quebec in K-12 math. Quebec has consistently led North America in K-12 math outcomes. What is behind that success and what can school systems in other places learn from it? Paul Bennett is one of Canada’s leading thinkers on K-12 education. He is founder of Schoolhouse Consulting, and Director and Lead Researcher of the Schoolhouse Institute. He is also Chair of researchED Canada, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Adjunct Professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the author of many reports and articles, as well as the 2020 book The State of the System: A reality check on Canada’s schools. Before becoming a researcher, he had a 35-year career as a teacher, vice-principal, headmaster, and elected school board trustee in some of the top schools in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. To follow Paul’s work, you can find him on X here, and you can follow his popular blog, Educhatter, here. Don’t miss our next episode! Make sure to subscribe, and stay tuned for our next episode, Episode 11, with Shaka Mitchell, on the secrets to building successful charter schools in underserved areas, and on the school choice debate in the United States. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    57 min

  4. JUN 24

    Episode 9: Karen Vaites: How southern states surged ahead in K-12 reading

    Today’s episode is the first in a two-part series on K-12 education. Many K-12 education outcomes in this country are heading in the wrong direction, and K-12 education is becoming an increasingly fraught and polarizing issue. Yet, most people agree on the core objectives of K-12 education. We all want our kids to learn to read and do math at school, even if we might disagree about what books our kids should read. Which places are doing these things well, and what can we learn from them? That’s what these next two episodes will focus on. In the next episode, we will take a look at the success of mathematics education in Quebec. But first, we’ll take a look at an amazing success story in reading education in the southeastern U.S. called the Southern Surge. Over the past decade or so, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama have gone from having some of the worst K-12 reading outcomes in the country to having some of the best. How they did this was not about being rich or blindly spending more money—these are some of the poorest states, with some of the most disadvantaged students, in the country. Instead, it’s a story about strong leadership, evidence-based policy and curricular reform, teacher support, and, perhaps most of all, an unwillingness to accept an unacceptable status quo. To guide us through the Southern Surge story, we are very lucky to have Karen Vaites joining us. Karen Vaites is an education entrepreneur, children’s advocate, , author of the School Yourself newsletter on Substack, and contributor to the Curriculum Insight Project. She was an executive of several K-12 education start-ups before shifting her career towards advocacy work, where she focuses on writing about and promoting evidence-based teaching practices. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 10m

  5. MAY 29

    Episode 8: Michael Chambers: The future of biotechnology

    Michael Chambers is Founding CEO and Executive Chairman of Aldevron—a DNA and RNA manufacturing company that has become a key part of the supply chain for a wide range of breakthrough medical technologies, including the COVID-19 vaccines and, more recently, patient-tailored gene therapy. Aldevron’s remarkable story begins when Michael was an undergraduate student working in a research lab at North Dakota State University. Michael is also an investor and advisor who serves on several corporate boards in the artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology industries. We discuss his fascinating life and career, the futures of biotechnology and AI, and how universities can better prepare their graduates for success in the business world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    50 min

  6. APR 30

    Episode 7: Bradley Rettler and Andrew Bailey: Debating bitcoin

    What’s the deal with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Depending on whom you ask, they are either energy-sucking, climate-destroying Ponzi schemes that facilitate illegal activity, or they are a key part of the future of global finance. Whatever they are, the Trump administration has made it a priority to promote them, for example by creating a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve. As a longtime crypto skeptic myself, I wanted to talk to someone close to the industry who could challenge my view by making the strongest case possible for crypto. Enter my UW colleagues Brad Rettler and Andrew Bailey, co-authors (along with Craig Warmke) of the best-selling book: Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin. Bradley Rettler is an Associate Professor of Philosophy here at the University of Wyoming. Andrew Bailey is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, but he will soon be joining our faculty at the University of Wyoming as well. We discuss their book, and the arguments for and against bitcoin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 14m

  7. MAR 26

    Episode 6: Ed Seidel: Navigating the past five years as a university president

    Ed Seidel is the President of the University of Wyoming. As a computational physicist, President Seidel is also one of the most highly cited members of the University of Wyoming’s faculty. This is rare among modern university presidents. He has led large research groups and worked in university administration in many different parts of the United States, including Illinois and Louisiana, and in other countries including Germany and Russia. He started his presidency here at the University of Wyoming on July 1, 2020. His five-year tenure here has therefore spanned one of the most challenging and interesting times in the history of higher education. We discuss his career, the challenges he has helped the University of Wyoming navigate, and what he sees as the most important impacts that university leaders can have on their campuses. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 24m

  8. MAR 6

    Episode 5: Calum Chace and Finbar Curtin: The future of artificial intelligence (AI)

    ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok, AlphaFold, self-driving cars, mass automation, superintelligence. There seems to be a new artificial intelligence (AI) story every week. The future of AI raises both awe-inspiring possibilities for progress and existential questions about the future of humanity. In this episode, I talk through some of these issues with Calum Chace, “The AI guy”. Calum Chace started out as a journalist, working for the BBC, the Financial Times, and Forbes, before becoming an entrepreneur, investor, and futurist. He has written five books on AI, including Surviving AI and The Economic Singularity, and he co-hosts the London Futurists Podcast. We are also joined in the conversation by University of Wyoming Economics Ph.D. student Finbar Curtin. Finbar Curtin studied electrical engineering before coming to UW, and he is doing his Ph.D. research on the economic and environmental impacts of AI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

    1h 9m
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About

Grounded, Not Divided is a podcast about leaders who are getting important things done in the real world.  It is hosted by Matt Burgess, an economics professor at the University of Wyoming.  Our guests are leaders in business, government, non-profits and civil society, who are making progress on some of society’s hardest problems, like poverty, disease, innovation, environmental protection, and education. Society's deepest divisions come from the virtual world: social media, online and cable news, and the pundit class. It’s easy to oversimplify, misinform, and demonize people when we’re trying to sell a narrative and get clicks. But when we’re working to get things done in the real world, reality keeps us honest. In other words, when we're more grounded, we're less divided. Our guests' stories show us how much we can accomplish if we’re willing to learn from each other, work hard, and work together. guidedcivicrevival.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Burgess
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Matt Burgess
  • Show Website
    Grounded, Not Divided