What is the true purpose of religion? How can we find peace within our own faith when some of what has been institutionalized appears to be incongruent with 21st century values? How do we engage with and reform rigid cultural boundaries that prevent us from living a life of our choosing? And what habits can we cultivate that help bring congruence to our own beliefs, emotions, intellect, and faith?

Find out from former Wall Street Journal reporter, Asra Nomani, as she recounts her struggle-filled yet inspiring journey of finding hope in the midst of tragedy, in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Asra Nomani is an acclaimed journalist, researcher, author, speaker, civil rights leader and an award-winning educator in journalism. She has taught journalism at Georgetown University, reported for the Wall Street Journal, and currently serves as Senior Contributor for The Federalist, and as Senior Fellow in the Practice of Journalism for the Independent Women's Network. An expert in investigative reporting, writing, editing and storytelling, Asra has written several books including Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam, Tantrika: Traveling the Road of Divine Love, and Woke Army, the Red-Green Alliance that is Destroying America's Freedom. She is the co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, a global coalition of Muslim reformers, dedicated to peace, human rights and secular governance. Her work has been featured on both national and international media outlets including The Washington Post, New York Times, TIME, PBS, CNN, BBC and Fox.

In this episode, Asra reveals:

1. The true purpose of religion
2. A habit that can help bring congruence in our own beliefs, emotions, intellect, and faith
3. How to address and reform rigid cultural boundaries that prevent us from living a life of our own choosing

How can we nurture hope in the face of deep loss and convert our pain into meaningful purpose? What wisdom can we gain about our own lives, purpose and happiness when we perform an audit of our own values? How can leaders light a fire in the hearts of people across the enterprise, and create a virtuous cycle of excellence, both at the individual and collective level?

Find out from Niren Chaudhary, Chairman of Panera Brands, exclusively in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Niren Chaudhary is the Chairman of the Board of Panera Brands, one of the world’s largest fast casual restaurant companies with nearly 4,000 locations in 10 countries. In his previous roles, Niren has served as CEO of Panera Brands and Panera Bread, COO and President of Krispy Kreme, and spent 23 years at Yum! Brands serving in global leadership positions including Global President of KFC and President of Yum! India. Niren is guided by his deep passion for serving others and building future leaders. He spends his personal time sharing his personal and professional journey with students and professionals, often wielding a guitar to sing about his life or even a new Panera menu item; serves on the Tufts Medical Centre Board and as an advocate for DKMS, a leading non-profit with the world’s largest stem cell donor registry. Niren also holds a black belt in Shotokan karate and is an avid golfer, tennis player and musician with his own rock band.

In this episode, Niren reveals:

- The wisdom we can gain about our own lives, purpose and happiness when we perform an audit of our own values

- How to create a virtuous cycle of excellence at the individual and collective level

- Three values that can inspire us to live fully and meaningfully, even through our most difficult times

How can leaders better track their people's well-being, and foster a culture that supports open discussions about mental health? As the cultivation of their people’s well-being emerges as a crucial requirement for organizations, how can we equip managers to support their teams’ well-being? What scientific methods can we adopt to transcend our personal circumstances and become stewards of our own well-being? And how can we become agents of inspiration and support those around us on their well-being journey?

Find out from Jen Fisher, a leading voice on the intersection of work, well-being, and purpose, exclusively in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Jen Fisher is a sought-after speaker, bestselling author, podcast host, and serves as Human Sustainability Leader for Deloitte US. She has previously served as the first-ever Chief Well-being Officer for Deloitte, and has built and led the creation and execution of a pioneering holistic and inclusive well-being strategy that has received wide acclaim. Jen frequently writes on issues impacting the workplace today, including mental health, social connection, resilience, happiness and productivity, and has been featured in leading media including CNN, CNBC, Fast Company, Fortune and HBR. She’s the co-author of the bestselling book, Work Better Together: How to Cultivate Strong Relationships to Maximize Well-Being and Boost Bottom Lines, a TEDx speaker, Editor-at-large for Thrive Global, Host of the “WorkWell” podcast series, and has just started a brand new Substack Newsletter called Thoughts on Being Well.

In this episode, Jen reveals:

- Three tangible ways to scale well-being in the workplace

- Science-proven methods we can adopt to become stewards of our own well-being

- How leaders can learn to better evaluate their people's well-being, and foster a culture that supports open discussions about mental health

How can we turn polarizing conversations into beautiful moments of self-discovery, mutual kinship and deep connection? What changes in us and in our relationships when we stop labeling others? Can our ego manipulate and stop us from being open to new perspectives, and how do we overcome it? What are the five skills of moral courage, and how can we use them to win hearts and minds?

Find out from the recipient of Oprah’s “Chutzpah Award” for boldness, Irshad Manji, in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Irshad Manji is the founder of Moral Courage College, which equips people to turn polarizing issues into productive conversations and solutions-driven teamwork. The recipient of Oprah’s "Chutzpah Award" for boldness, Irshad is also a New York Times bestselling author. Her first book, an international blockbuster, is The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. Irshad’s latest is Don't Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars. (Fun fact: the entertainer Chris Rock calls this book “genius.”) A professor of leadership at New York University for many years, Irshad now teaches with the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights.

In this episode, Irshad reveals:

- The five skills of moral courage, and how we can use them to win hearts and minds

- The opportunities we miss when we label others and put them into buckets

- The truth about human nature, how our ego can stop us from gaining new perspectives and how to overcome it

Is it possible to reform those that fell wayward? Can gang members, if treated with dignity and tenderness over punishment and incarceration, be transformed into loving human beings? And what fundamental principles can we adopt to move society, from a culture of judgment and denunciation, to mutual kinship and appreciation?

Find out from Father Gregory Boyle SJ, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, as he reveals his extraordinary journey of mass human transformation and why serving at the margins is powerful and replenishing, exclusively in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Father Gregory Boyle SJ is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, offering an “exit ramp” for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. In the early 1990s, Father Boyle served as the pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles that also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city. Having witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community, Father Boyle and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings. For his service to humanity, Father Boyle has received the California Peace Prize and has been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, President Obama named Father Boyle a Champion of Change. Father Boyle is also the author of several books including Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, and the New York Times-bestseller Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.

In this episode, Father Boyle reveals:

- Why our quest for morality only fuels division and polarization

- A radical approach to transforming anyone, even gang members, into loving human beings

- Two fundamental principles for moving society from a culture of judgment and denunciation to mutual kinship and appreciation

In a world teeming with division and discord, can emotional and social intelligence, sown early in the fertile minds of children, grow into a force strong enough to unite the world while dismantling past prejudices? Is it possible that our greatest teachers could be the youngest among us, those whose innocence and capacity for love remain pure? What drove a celebrated filmmaker to abandon a successful career, take on a fresh new challenge of pioneering reform in global education, and seek to create positive life outcomes for all future generations?

This episode of Intersections Podcast invites you on a journey with Leslee Udwin, from the depths of suffering and personal adversity, sparking global movements through powerful, cinematic storytelling, to the forefront of a movement aimed at transforming early childhood education on a global scale, exclusively in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa.

Leslee Udwin is a BAFTA and multi-award winning filmmaker, actress, director, producer and a human rights activist. Her documentary India’s Daughter has been critically acclaimed around the globe, winning 32 awards (including the Peabody Award and the Amnesty International Media Award) and sparked a global movement to end violence against women and girls. The searing insights yielded by the two and a half year journey of making this film led Leslee to shift her focus from filmmaking and devote herself to Think Equal, a non-profit organization she has founded to introduce social and emotional intelligence learning to children between the ages of 3–6 years. For her humanitarian work, Leslee has received many prestigious awards including Activism in Arts and Education award from the UN Women for Peace Association, The Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award, and was voted by the New York Times the. No 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015, second to Hillary Clinton.

In this episode, Leslee reveals:

- One fundamental competency that sticks like glue with all others to co-create a more unified and compassionate world

- Stories that illuminate how the youngest among us can become agents of positive change and transform outcomes for adults

- Pivotal experiences that compelled her to abandon a successful career in filmmaking and take on the challenge of pioneering reform in global education

How can we translate life’s worst setbacks into miraculous comebacks? Can prison inmates and the formerly incarcerated be role models for those on the outside? How can we cultivate a single-pointed focus for personal growth despite the cards we have been dealt with in life, and the choices we may have made in the past? And what can someone’s twenty years in prison teach us about life’s possibilities?

Find out from Jason Bryant’s incredible story of redemption and societal transformation, as recounted in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast.

Jason Bryant is the Director of Programs at CROP (Creating Restorative Opportunities & Programs), a non-profit dedicated to reforming California’s criminal justice landscape. With 20 years of lived experience within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation center, Jason has dedicated his term of incarceration to higher education and serving other people through thoughtful conversations and coaching about new possibilities for people’s lives. While incarcerated, Jason earned a master's degree, two bachelor's degrees, an associate degree, a paralegal certificate, became a certified alcohol and drug counselor and has participated in extensive self-help programming. In 2020, Jason’s sentence was commuted along with his immediate release from prison due to his remarkable contributions in transformative and rehabilitative work while incarcerated. He has also co-authored, Men Built for Others: Life Lessons from Those Serving Life Sentences, a powerful book that shows how one can transform life's worst setbacks into miraculous comebacks and be happy regardless of where they are.

In this episode, Jason reveals:

- What 20 years of prison time can teach us about life’s possibilities

- How we can translate life’s worst setbacks into miraculous comebacks

- How to create a virtuous cycle of paying our gratitude forward

How can we create a group of selfless teammates that works purposefully towards a collective, positive goal? What conditions allow an individual and team to perform extraordinarily? What power do our thoughts hold in the unfolding of our own legacy, and how can we mindfully work with our mind to unlock the masterpiece within us?

Find out from “The Performance Whisperer,” George Mumford, in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa, on Intersections Podcast.

George Mumford, also known as “The Performance Whisperer,” is a globally recognized speaker, sports psychologist, mindfulness coach and an influential author. For the last three decades, he has taught the art of performance and mindfulness to people from every walk of life—from CEOs, Olympians and NBA superstars to the chronically underrepresented. George has helped many of his champion clients transform their careers and leadership, including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal; and has presented to some of the world’s top brands including Nike, Google, PayPal, American Express and Lululemon. His books include The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance and Unlocked: Embrace Your Greatness, Find the Flow, Discover Success, published recently in May 2023. With a passion for teaching, and helping others learn about resilience, social responsibility, and navigating uncertainty, George conducts weekly classes through his YouTube channel, and created several Master Classes including "The Mindful Athlete Course" for his online community, and "Playing The Inner Game" for high-school and college students. George has been featured in leading media including 60 Minutes, ABC News, The Huffington Post, and The Boston Globe, and was included on Good Morning America's "Inspiration List" for Black History Month in 2021.

In this episode, George reveals:

- Why we need to forget ourselves before we can begin to find our true selves

- The difference between peak performance and pure performance

- How our thoughts determine what we become and what actions we take, and a profound parable on how to course-correct

How do we live a life that is aligned with our highest values? What transformative power does the role of service hold in our lives? When we feel a deep concern for humanitarian issues, how can we move from inaction to action and make a meaningful, positive contribution towards building a healthier and happier society? And how can we mobilize resources, intelligence and support networks, not just for individual and organizational success, but for humanity’s success?

Find out from pioneering changemaker and public health leader, Ellen Agler, in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa, on Intersections Podcast.

Named as one of Fortune Magazine’s “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2019, Ellen Agler is a renowned changemaker and public health leader who has worked in the global health and humanitarian response for over 25 years in more than 70 countries, for organizations including Operation Smile and International Medical Corps. She is the CEO of The END Fund, a private philanthropic initiative set-up to control and eliminate the five most commonly Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in the world, affecting about 1.5 billion people. During her tenure at Operation Smile, Ellen managed international programs across 4 continents; worked on “health as a bridge to peace” initiatives bringing together Israeli and Palestinian surgeons; and organized medical programs in partnership with the government, civil society and guerilla groups in conflict zones in Colombia. She has also led international operations for International Medical Corps, with a focus on international disaster response and delivery of medical care in complex humanitarian emergencies in over 20 countries. Ellen serves on the board of The Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank that promotes policies that lift people from poverty to prosperity, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Security Advisory Board. She is also the co-author of Under the Big Tree: Extraordinary Stories from the Movement to End Neglected Tropical Diseases, through which she has managed to make these overwhelming and complex health problems understandable to everyone.

In this episode, Ellen reveals:

- The role of service to others in our own lives, and how to move from inaction to action in our current spheres of influence

- Why solving complex global problems requires the use of a systems leadership mindset

- How to live a life that is aligned with our highest values and do the greatest good for the greatest number of people

What are climate issues actually trying to teach us? Are these purely external changes in weather patterns, or are they more deeply connected with our values and lifestyles? How can one frame this in a way that is highly meaningful to every individual’s life choices? Find out from one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, Paul Hawken, in conversation with Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa on Intersections Podcast. Paul discusses the mindset that is critical to transforming how we live and work today to ensure that our planet’s ecosystem thrives tomorrow – and the mindset that is at the root of all strife, division and polarization in the world.

Paul Hawken is a renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, speaker and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, and a pioneering architect of corporate reform with respect to ecological practices. His work includes founding successful, ecologically conscious businesses, writing about the impacts of commerce on living systems, and consulting with heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. Paul is the founder of Project Drawdown, a non-profit dedicated to researching when and how global warming can be reversed. The organization maps and models the scaling of one hundred substantive technological, social, and ecological solutions to global warming. He authors articles, op-eds, and peer-reviewed papers, and has written eight books including five national bestsellers. His most recent book, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, was a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. Paul has appeared in leading media including the Today Show, Bill Maher, Larry King, and has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including Esquire, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Business Week.

In this episode, Paul reveals:

- The source of all strife, division, and polarization in the world

- What the climate emergency is actually trying to teach us, and its intricate connection with our our values, feelings, thoughts, beliefs and intentions

- The wisdom in moving from an extraction mindset to a regenerative mindset, and how to place life at the center of our every action and decision

- How the business ecosystem today needs to be reformed for the planet’s ecosystem to thrive tomorrow