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.

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.

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.

There are approximately 35 million digital nomads - workers who work online from various places around a country or around the world - and the number is poised to grow rapidly. As tools that enable remote work improve and travel infrastructure grows, the idea of taking a family with children still in school on a digital nomad journey is becoming much more appealing to many parents.

Annika Paradise is one of the co-authors of the book “Wonder Year” - a guide to long-term family travel and worldschooling - in which she chronicles the twelve-month around the world adventure she, her husband, and their three young children took. In this conversation, Annika discusses the challenges faced and benefits gained from her family’s wonder year. She dispels the myth that this is something only the wealthy can do and she goes on to talk about what she learned about herself, what their children learned about her and her husband, and she provides advice for anyone who wants to do something as audacious as packing up their lives and living them on the road for a year or longer. Annika makes the case for why their wonder year was the best learning her children have ever had, the best learning she has ever had, and why taking a wonder year will become a growing trend.

Annika Paradise and her husband, Will, worldschooled their three children across three continents and twelve countries including Nepal, Laos, China, Cambodia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Italy and Greece. With a cello. Annika is co-author of the book “Wonder Year” and is an adjunct instructor of English at Front Range Community College in Longmont, Colorado.

Just over 200 years ago, 90% of all humans lived in abject poverty. Life expectancy was less than half of what it is today. Business and capitalism take a lot of criticism for creating inequality and leaving some people behind, but capitalism, businesses, and global trade are largely responsible for creating a world that is on the edge of abundance. Dr. Emily Block and her colleague Viva Ona Bartkus are working to help organizations create viable business opportunities in the most vulnerable places on the planet - places they call “the frontlines.”

In this interview, Dr. Block discusses the benefits to companies willing to work in the planet’s most challenged places, the difficulties they will face, the moral responsibility leaders have in creating thriving business environments in these places, and the results she has seen when companies commit and collaborate with local communities. She goes on to talk about how the principles she has honed working in these “frontline regions” can be applied in disadvantaged communities in countries that are otherwise flourishing.

Dr. Emily Block is an Associate Professor of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Management and the George Cormie Chair in Management at the Alberta School of Business. Her research program explores how values pluralism impacts the processes of legitimacy and change, the nature of social evaluations and how organizational theory can be used to understand and address grand challenges. Emily’s research has been published in journals such as AMJ, SMJ, JBV, JOM, MISQ and JMS. Her book, “Business to the Edge,” (Basic Books, July 2024) explores how business can both thrive and improve lives in post-conflict environments. She serves on the ASQ editorial board and is a Visiting Professor at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya. She received her BBA in Management from the University of Notre Dame and her PhD in Organizational Behavior from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.

Never in human history have people had more powerful tools than right now. At the same time, the tools of distraction are everywhere. The quest to reach individual potential is both enhanced and disrupted by these tools. Dr. Jason Womack helps people use the tools that will amplify their performance while teaching them to ignore the noise that prevents them from realizing their potential.

In this interview, Dr. Womack discusses the common obstacles that prevent people from performing their best and how people can overcome those obstacles. He dives deep into the power of self-talk and the importance of feedback. Dr. Womack discusses a number of ways that he has helped people work smarter and he gives advice for what can be done when someone is working for a poor leader. In addition, Dr. Womack talks about how people can better manage their time, energy, attention, and tools and resources.

Dr. Jason ‘JW’ Womack works to strengthen the connection of Teammates throughout the organization to themselves, the mission, and one another. Dr. Womack is a Certified Professional Innovator, an ICF-ACC certified coach, and an emotional intelligence trainer with a doctoral degree in organizational leadership from the University of Southern California (USC). His mission is to help Teammates sharpen their human domain leadership skills which are essential for operating in complex and dynamic environments.

Artificial intelligence is touching elements of our lives that most people couldn’t have predicted even five years ago. No aspect is being disrupted more than our work and our jobs. As Michael Kanaan said on 12 Geniuses back in 2021 in The Future of Artificial Intelligence, “there is no job on the planet that AI doesn't have its rightful place to do the job better.” Exactly how jobs will be redefined is largely dependent on the mindset companies have toward their talent and these new tools that are able to do magical things.

In this interview, Deloitte Consulting’s chief futurist Mike Bechtel discusses the two common ways in which companies are approaching the artificial intelligence revolution. Mike says that some companies are using AI to cut costs and replace people with technology. Other companies see AI as “rocket fuel” for their talent. While the “short-termists” that are using AI to minimize expenses might please shareholders for a brief period of time, Mike says the companies that have a longer-term view on the combination of their people and these powerful tools will ultimately be winners in this unique period in business. Mike goes on to talk about the differentiating traits that leaders should be seeking as they hire new people in an AI workplace and Mike shares his advice for how individuals and leaders should think about career development into the future.

Mike Bechtel is a managing director and the chief futurist with Deloitte Consulting LLP. Mike helps clients develop strategies to thrive in the face of discontinuity and disruption. His team researches the novel and exponential technologies most likely to impact the future of business, and builds relationships with the startups, incumbents, and academic institutions creating them.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Mike led Ringleader Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2013. Before Ringleader, he served as CTO of Start Early, a national not-for-profit focused on early childhood education for at-risk youth. Mike began his career in technology R&D at a global professional services firm where his dozen US patents helped result in him being named that firm’s global innovation director. He currently serves as professor of corporate innovation at the University of Notre Dame.

Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about these actions—when we focus on the precise way they are performed—they can instead become rituals. Shifting from a “habitual” mindset to a “ritual” mindset can convert ordinary acts from black and white to technicolor.

In this interview, Harvard Business School Professor Dr. Michael Norton discusses his new book “The Ritual Effect” and how the power of establishing rituals can enhance performance in personal lives and at work. Dr. Norton explains how a ritual is different from a habit. He talks about how to create rituals that last and he says a bottom up approach is the best way to establish effective rituals in the workplace. To finish the interview, Dr. Norton discusses what research has taught him about what people commonly get wrong about their money.

Dr. Michael Norton is a leading behavior scientist, behavioral economics researcher, Harvard Business School Professor, and business speaker obsessed with unlocking the secrets of human behavior and well-being, from happier spending to the power of rituals. Dr. Norton’s research focuses on behavioral economics and well-being, with particular attention given to topics such as happiness, spending, and, most recently, rituals and habits. His book The Ritual Effect focuses on the surprising and versatile power of rituals. 

For generations, when you purchased a car what you bought is what you got. That is changing. It’s accepted that self-driving, electric vehicles are the future. However, what many people might be surprised to know about the future of the vehicle is that cars, trucks, and SUVs will operate more like a cell phone than they do like the vehicles of yesterday. They will get feature updates, adapt to your particular needs, and continuously improve using massive amounts of data much like the ubiquitous smart phone.

In this interview, Álvaro Marquez - product designer and customer experience expert - discusses driverless vehicles, the concept of the Software-Defined Vehicle, the infrastructure necessary to enable mass electric vehicle adoption, fleet management and ownership, and how humanity will benefit from a reimagined relationship with vehicles. Álvaro says that as vehicles become more capable and connected they will become a viable “third place” (after the home and workplace) where some people connect with others, go for privacy, manage their personal lives, watch movies, and even do activities like sing karaoke. While Álvaro says a vehicle will not replace the smart phone, it will offer a more comfortable place to do many of the activities people do on their phones.

Álvaro Márquez is an established figure in the field of user-centered design and experience strategy, currently serving as Chief Experience Officer at icon incar where he leads an international multi-disciplinary team in the development of future-oriented R&D projects for the automotive and mobility industry. His work is globally recognized for his thoughtful, systematic and occasionally irreverent approach, which tends to explore idiosyncratic moments of everyday life from emergent futures.

Since Dr. Matthew Johnson first appeared on 12 Geniuses in September of 2020 to discuss The Future of Psychedelics, popular opinion in favor of this category of drugs has surged and so has the research and potential uses for psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, ayahuasca, and other drugs that fit into the broader category of psychedelics. Dr. Johnson and his research have been critical to fueling these growing trends.

In this interview, Dr. Johnson discusses the advancements in psychedelic research that have been made in the last few years, how favorable public opinion about the use of these once taboo drugs continues to grow, and he closes the conversation with his sobering advice for people who are experimenting on their own with these drugs, going on weekend psychedelic retreats, or even going to South America to have ayahuasca experiences with a shaman.

Dr. Matthew Johnson is Senior Investigator in Psychedelics at Sheppard Pratt and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University where he is one of the world’s most published scientists on the human effects of psychedelics. He has conducted seminal research in the behavioral economics of drug use, addiction, and risk behavior. Dr. Johnson published psychedelic safety guidelines in 2008, helping to resurrect psychedelic research.