In episode 14, Akash Goel, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center and human rights advocate, spoke to us about the medical response and food system in the United States, as well as poverty, purpose and dignity after #Covid19.

In episode 13, Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences and Director, Center for Urban Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, discussed the pandemic and climate change, and what the climate movement can tell us about societal responses to systemic risks.

From tipping points to policy, from technology to anxiety, from consumption choices to communicating science, we embarked in an honest and far-ranging conversation informed by his decades as a scientist, academic and policy advisor in the US and abroad.

In episode 12, Jenny Vaughan, human rights director at BSR, talked about how responses to the crisis look from the perspective of business and human rights, and how organizations can built resilience by tackling systemic risks.

In episode 11, Navtej Sarna, former Indian Ambassador to the United States, spoke about the impact of the pandemic on Indian society, and diplomatic, cultural, and economic relations between India, the U.S., and the world.

In episode 10, JS Nelson, associate professor of law at Villanova University, spoke about her work on surveillance, management culture, and compliance. The workplace has seen a striking acceleration of surveillance-led management over the past several years, and the pandemic has given these efforts more momentum. Nelson described why surveillance can often be counterproductive to effective organizational culture, human agency, and human rights, defending the imperative to resist unnecessary surveillance.

In episode 9, Preventable Surprises CEO Jerome Tagger presented the results of a survey of ESG influencers on the response to Covid-19. Raj Thamotheram engaged Prof Hans. V Hogerzeil, Chair, Expert Review Committee of the Access to Medicine Index, formerly WHO Director for Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies on the pharmaceutical industry’s response to Covid-19.

In episode 8, Peter Christian Hall spoke about his 2012 novel, American Fever: A Tale of Romance and Pestilence. In this episode, we talk about fiction, history, the lived experience, and how to navigate the medical and political unknown in the coming weeks and months. Or, as one listener said, this is the “I need a Valium” episode.

In episode 7, Charles Green, CEO, Trusted Advisors Associates, put people back at the center of the trust equation and discussed why trust is so widely misunderstood and mischaracterized. A fascinating look at what it takes to give, and to receive, trust, in fractured times.

In episode 6, Dr Jill Atkins, Chair in Financial Management, Sheffield University Management School, outlined a global agenda for finance, business, and biodiversity. The pandemic is finally bringing business and investor attention to biodiversity issues, which are comparable in scale and impact to the climate crisis and have many of the same root causes.

Episode 5 featured Damon Silvers, special counsel at the AFL-CIO. From the echoes of corporate power in the 1920s to the reverberations of the 2008 crisis, from workers’ rights to the instability of the financial system, this was an exciting journey through the past and future of the labor market. One takeaway: America’s economic system was built to fail its people in a pandemic.