Wavemaker Conversations

Michael Schulder
  • 5.0 (27)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

Network news veteran Michael Schulder hosts in-depth conversations that take listeners to a place where curiosity meets hope. Featuring some of the most creative thinkers, respected leaders, and preeminent authors in a wide variety of fields, including history, sports, the arts, business, current affairs, journalism, mental health, and more. For updates please subscribe to the Wavemaker Conversations newsletter (link below) and visit https://wavemaker.me https://michaelschulder.substack.com/subscribe

  1. 2d ago

    Talk to Strangers (and other paths to wellness)

    Michael delves into how the body, mind and spirit impact wellness with three featured guests at this summer’s Nantucket Wellness Festival. We can’t beat the guest introductions delivered by the Festival’s co-founder, Joann Burnham:  Dr. Shieva Ghofrany, MD:  “We knew we had to have a gorgeous goddess represented on the panel... goddess is a big word. So finding a science-based goddess was our mission. And we think Shiva Gofrani fits that bill. She's a board certified OBGYN who's been caring for women since 1999. She blends decades of clinical expertise along with a really deeply personal, empathetic approach to medicine. She has a private practice in Stamford, Connecticut. She also leads a telehealth practice dedicated to supporting women through midlife. Her ability to translate evidence-based OBGYN knowledge into real, relatable conversations has helped countless women feel seen, informed and motivated to advocate for their own wellbeing at every stage of their life.” Ben Rein, PhD: “Now when you get into this wellness thing, people always ask, is there any science behind it? So it was really important to me that we had a science guy. And Ben Rein is our science guy. He's an award-winning neuroscientist, author, science communicator. He's the chief science officer of the Mind Science Foundation, head of Science Communication and Research Hub Foundation. Is that enough science for you? He's an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University and a clinical assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo. He has published over 20 peer reviewed papers on neuroscience and his book is available throughout the weekend Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection. Ben is also an overall great guy and he's a brand new dad.” Ian Lopatin: “Ian Lopatin is a visionary entrepreneur, author and frequency architect. He's best known as the founder of Course Sanctuary and Spiritual Gangster. Who has a spiritual gangster T-shirt? I do. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, UCLA Law School, and he's widely regarded as a bridge between business and spirituality. His core philosophy, My Frequency Creates My Reality. His first book, which we are so excited about... [is] called The Way of a Spiritual Gangster, and it will be released later this year. It's offering readers a roadmap to higher frequency living and purpose-driven success.”

  2. Jul 9

    Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny & Freedom

    Timothy Snyder is one of the world’s leading historians of fascism. His bestseller, On Tyranny, is a palm-sized North Star for democracy — featuring twenty lessons from the 20th century for how each of us can resist authoritarianism and protect our republic — all of which feel doable. He and I had this conversation in 2021. I am sharing it here now as we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of independence.  America, said Benjamin Franklin, is “a republic, if you can keep it.” Tim Snyder is a guide to keeping it.

  3. Jul 1

    Liaquat Ahamed: Boom, Bubble, Bust

    When it comes to the global economy — and its impact on politics and society — Liaquat Ahamed has an eagle eye for pattern recognition.   Ahamed won a Pulitzer Prize for Lords of Finance:  The Bankers Who Broke The World — his history of the Great Depression, and its aftermath.   This past weekend, at the Nantucket Book Festival, he and I spoke about his newly released prequel, 1873, about the breathtaking first truly global economic boom, and bubble, and the bust that followed.  We can’t know for sure if 1873 foreshadows what’s to come as a result of the tsunami of money chasing Artificial Intelligence.  But if you want to develop that eagle eye for pattern recognition, while being entertained, I strongly recommend listening to our thoroughly improvisational conversation.  Thanks to Nantucket Community TV — NCTV — for providing the video and audio of this and all the fascinating author events at the 2026 Nantucket Book Festival.

  4. Jun 24

    What Moved Clive Davis

    In this conversation with legendary music executive Clive Davis, Michael tries to figure out how one man, with no musical background, managed to identify, shape and guide so many stars in so many different genres over half a century. Davis died this week at the age of 94. What did he experience that drove him? What did he hear that moved him? Michael and Clive share a lot of laughs and insights exploring those questions together in this 2013 conversation for the radio program CNN Profiles.

  5. Jun 10

    Liaquat Ahamed: 1873 & 2026 - a short preview

    Liaquat Ahamed, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his history of the Great Depression is out with a prequel called 1873, the story of the breathtaking, first, truly global economic boom, and the bust that followed. I'll be in conversation with Ahamed at The Nantucket Book Festival on June 14th. I reached out to him now for a brief chat, because a lot of educated readers are wondering - is 1873 a preview of what's to come?

  6. Jun 3

    Robert Malley live in conversation at the Dreamland Theatre

    Robert Malley is a veteran U.S. Middle East peace negotiator, and, as I’ve come to learn, an inspired and devoted teacher. He has participated in multiple U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. He was on the team that negotiated the Iran nuclear inspection deal in 2015, and more recently served as U.S. Special Envoy to Iran. Under President Obama, he also served as the White House point person in the campaign against the Islamic State. Malley is now a Senior Fellow and lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. There have been so many major developments in the Middle East since we had this conversation last August before a live audience at Nantucket’s Dreamland Theatre. But the stories and insights that Malley shared, are as timely and compelling as ever.

  7. May 23

    Min Jin Lee: Time Is Our Teacher

    I’m always on the lookout for an inspiring graduation speech. Last weekend, at Yale College, I heard one that I can’t stop thinking about. Min Jin Lee, the Korean-American author of Pachinko, a Yale graduate who, as a student, had far more B’s than A’s, channeled the ancient Greeks, and her own struggles, including a terrifying battle with liver disease, to help us figure out how to “choose the important over the urgent.” Her speech was about an hour. I recommend listening to every minute of it on the Yale youtube channel. But for those of you who are pressed for time right now, I’m offering a couple of key excerpts. It’s not a Wavemaker Conversation. It’s an empowering conversation starter.

  8. May 13

    Laura Galante: Cyber Attackers v Cyber Defenders

    AI is shifting the ground beneath us in many fields. When the ground shifts in the world of cyber security, Laura Galante is a great person to have on your side. Galante served as the U.S. government’s Director of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center from 2022 to 2025. She has represented the cyber intelligence community in dozens of White House Situation Room meetings. I reached out to her soon after Anthropic announced that it had created a powerful new AI model, or bot – too powerful to release to the public – called Claude Mythos Preview. Anthropic says that its new bot discovered  vulnerabilities in every major computer operating system and web browser – vulnerabilities it was able to exploit. Which makes this an important time to speak with Laura Galante.

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5
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Network news veteran Michael Schulder hosts in-depth conversations that take listeners to a place where curiosity meets hope. Featuring some of the most creative thinkers, respected leaders, and preeminent authors in a wide variety of fields, including history, sports, the arts, business, current affairs, journalism, mental health, and more. For updates please subscribe to the Wavemaker Conversations newsletter (link below) and visit https://wavemaker.me https://michaelschulder.substack.com/subscribe

Information

  • Creator
    Michael Schulder
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Michael Schulder
  • Show Website
    Wavemaker Conversations

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