Mellody Hobson’s life—from her tough Chicago childhood to becoming Starbucks board chair to her marriage to George Lucas — has shattered stereotypes. Here, the president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments talks about pursuing excellence, how to become indispensable, tricks for managing time, the need to take risks, and much more.

Chew on this: The way food looks, smells, and even sounds affects how much we like it. We have taste buds in our stomach. Adding salt to grapefruit makes it sweeter. There’s an amazing story behind why we love some foods and not others. Everyone who eats should listen to this conversation with food expert extraordinaire, Barbara Stuckey.

Surgeon, professor, public health leader, bestselling author, global healthcare legend. Listen as Dr. Atul Gawande talks about the astonishing success of modern medicine, how countries that spend far less on healthcare than the U.S. achieve similar outcomes, the global effort to increase lifespan, the future of healthcare, and much more.

3 Takeaways brings you conversations with people who are changing the world.  The world’s foremost thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, scientists and other newsmakers share three key insights to help you understand the world in new ways that can benefit your life and career. In this special year-end episode, we present the most powerful and compelling takeaways of 2023. 

Can you guess which takeaway is from each guest before we tell you who it is? The guests include former Director of the CIA, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CEO of Chevron, former Foreign Minister of Israel and other amazing guests.

Top Takeaways of 2023 include excerpts from the following episodes: 

• Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on Previously Unknown Reasons For The Stunning Success of Operation Warp Speed (#174)
• Former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami on the Hamas Israel War (#171)
• Yale Professor Zoe Chance Reveals Smart, Simple Ways To Influence People To Get What You Want (#156)
• Chevron CEO Mike Wirth On The Race To Meet The World’s Energy Needs With Lower Carbon Solutions (#170)
• Innocence Project Head Christina Swarns on The Horrors Of Our Criminal Justice System And How To Improve It (#176)
• Former Ford and Boeing CEO Alan Mulally On Love By Design, The Secret Behind Two Remarkable Turnarounds (#152)
• A Chilling, Mind-Blowing Talk about War In The Age of AI With Pentagon Defense Expert Paul Scharre (#151)
• Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked With NYU’s Adam Alter (#150)
• Karl Rove Takes A Riveting No-Holds Barred Look At The Frightening State Of American Politics (#168)
• Former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Bill Owens on Our Critical Need To See “The Other Side of The Story” (#157)
• Former CIA Director David Petraeus on The Russia Ukraine war (#128)
• The Complex and Bizarre World of Government-Imposed Racial Classification With Law Professor David Bernstein (#130)
• President and CEO Dan Weiss of NY’s Metropolitan Museum On Its Critical Role In Modern Life (#148)
• The Good Life Unpacked: Discovering What Makes Us Thrive with the Head of Harvard's 80-Year Study Robert Waldinger (#127)

Four index funds are now so large they have unprecedented, concentrated power in public companies, enabling them to exert enormous influence over our politics and economy. While the cause for concern is clear, the solution is not. Join us, as Harvard law professor John Coates shines a bright light on this serious and growing problem.

“Two companies control 10 to 15 to maybe 20% of all of the stock of all the companies on all the U.S. stock exchanges.”

Credible journalism is crucial for democracy, and trust in our news media is alarmingly low. The CEO of U.S. News & World Report, Eric Gertler, explains why and talks bluntly about the dramatic rise of opinionated and fake news, the impact of a generation getting its news from social media, transitioning from analog dollars to digital dimes, and more.

Many people have important personal goals they want to achieve, but come up short. Here, behavioral change expert and Wharton professor Katy Milkman shares scientifically proven strategies for affecting deep personal change. Two key insights: Willpower alone usually isn’t enough. It helps to make difficult tasks enjoyable.

Katy Milkman is the author of the bestselling book How To Change.

Ashley Merryman is an expert on the science of winning and has helped Olympic and professional athletes, Fortune 100 execs, and military leaders compete more successfully. Here, she reveals strategies that have transformed the world of elite performance — including how to thrive under pressure, benefit from a loss, and more.

She is the co-author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing.

It’s no secret the U.S. criminal justice system is failing people of color. But the issue is bigger and more horrific than people think. Here, Christina Swarns, a top criminal legal reform expert, discusses wrongful convictions, false confessions, plea deals, the critical role of DNA — and most important, what can be done to improve the system.

Christina Swarns has argued and won before the U.S. Supreme Court. She is the Executive Director of the Innocence Project, which gets wrongfully convicted people out of prison.

The birth rate in many countries is plummeting below what’s needed to maintain the population. In China, it’s estimated the population will shrink by 50%. In the U.S., by about 20%. Should we hit the panic button? According to American Enterprise Institute scholar, Nick Eberstadt, the answer is a thoughtful “no.” Listen and find out why.