It is not news that democracy is in trouble almost everywhere. Poll after poll shows that people in most countries—especially in the West and throughout the Americas—are disappointed with democracy as it exists today. This is particularly true among young people, many of whom seem to prefer a strong leader to the apparent impotence of their democratic leaders.

Know a leader who's shaping our global future with courage, innovation, and ethics?

What does leadership look like in practice? This episode brings together the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize laureates for a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Helena Nilsson.

The laureates represent three distinct yet interconnected paths to impact:

Rhett Ayers Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay, redefining environmental journalism through a global network of independent reporting.

Bryan Doerries, artistic director of Theater of War Productions, using ancient texts to create brave spaces for dialogue and healing.

David Gruber, founder and president of Project CETI, pioneering efforts to decode whale communication and reimagine humanity's relationship with non-human life.

Guided by Helena Nilsson's thoughtful moderation, the discussion explores leadership beyond politics---leadership rooted in innovation, empathy, accountability, and universal values. Audience questions deepen the exchange, revealing both the distinctiveness of each laureate's work and the shared principles that unite them.

You can watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hInSO2ZCC-4

No, not Iranians and Israelis on the brink of war. And, no, not the seemingly endless search for a Palestinian state. Rather, to the implications of the newest rivalry that is defining Middle Eastern politics: Saudi Arabia vs. United Arab Emirates.

These two countries are rapidly passing through the geopolitical equivalent of the five stages of grief: from allies to collaborators to competitors to adversaries and---possibly---to enemies.

Why? What's at stake? Is it personal or just business? What are the potential consequences?

It is probably too soon for answers, but not for informed speculation. Professor Rob Geist Pinfold is a close observer of the Arab Gulf and the Levant. Listen as he explores how the Saudis and the Emiratis---and their leaders, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed---are maneuvering for power in a region that is critical to all of us.

Know a leader who is courageous, innovative, and rooted in universal values?

Three winners receive unrestricted $50,000 awards, global recognition, and entry into the Tällberg leadership network.

Help us find them. Submit a nomination by March 31.

This year is going to be memorable for all sorts of reasons, most of which already look to be depressing. The biggest offset to that is likely to be a global event that will distract much of the world from dismal headlines about war, climate, and tariffs. On June 11th, the FIFA World Cup kicks off, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

For decades, environmentalists and climate scientists have warned about the catastrophic consequences of the shrinking and erosion of the Amazon and Congo rainforests. Politicians have echoed and amplified the warnings, but have done little of consequence to slow the actual pace at which the rainforests are moving towards tipping points.

The recent UN climate summit in Belem was supposed to change all that. However, it would take an unusually large dose of magical thinking to believe what happened at COP 30 will have much more impact than what happened at its twenty-nine predecessors, at least concerning the Amazon and Congo River Basins.

Maybe what's needed is new thinking. Protecting the Amazon and the Congo isn't just an environmental challenge but also a governance challenge, a justice challenge, and an economic development challenge. And stopping---or even slowing---the tipping probably requires bottom-up local action, not just top-down global declarations of intent.

To discuss potential new approaches, we gathered three people who have skin in the game: Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Ugandan wildlife veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health; Dr. Fernando Trujillo, Colombian marine biologist and world-leading expert on river dolphins; and Sam Muller, Dutch lawyer with extensive experience in global justice and environmental practices.

Listen as they explore how to define and execute new approaches to saving the rainforests.

Here's the link to the webinar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RxbWsGUosyM

The number of active conflicts today is the highest since the end of World War II. The world has clearly entered a new, more violent, and fragmented era.

We can and should debate "why?" But we also need to focus on "so what?" What are the consequences, not only for warriors but also for the innocents caught up in spreading conflict? Is it possible that the impacts of traumatic violence could be transmitted across generations?

A group of scientists believes their work proves that war trauma can alter gene expression, thereby impacting the children and grandchildren of victims of war. Among the authors of a profoundly important scientific paper published last year was Rana Dajani, a Jordanian molecular biologist and long-time participant in the Tällberg network. Listen as she explains the science and its implications.

What do you think?

Read the paper: Epigenetic signatures of intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees

Podcast website: https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/inheriting-trauma/ ‎

| "The whale has no voice," Herman Melville wrote in Moby Dick. "But then again," he went on, "What has the whale to say?"

Turns out he was wrong: not only do sperm whales have voices, but these massive, amazing mammals talk constantly to each other. They are humongous creatures: males can be 18 meters long and weigh 45 tons. Think something the weight of an industrial dump truck, but twice as long. Despite their massive size and the capacity to dive more than a mile into the depths of the ocean, they apparently are quite sociable.

How amazing would it be if we could decipher what they are saying? That's the passion of David Gruber, a marine biologist and technologist who organized and leads Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative). He has gathered a team of 50 global scientists and technicians dedicated to understanding what the sperm whales are saying to each other---not so we can talk to them, but so that we can understand how they think about the world we share.

David is also one of the recipients of the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, who was honored for his work with CETI and his underlying drive to help humans and nature co-exist.

Listen as he discusses what drives him and CETI here: https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/what-has-the-whale-to-say/

Learn more about Project CETI here: https://www.projectceti.org/

The Greek classics are timeless because they provide insights into our souls, into how we think and why we do what we do. Of course, few of us regularly read or ponder the wisdom of those epic tragedies. But what if they could be made accessible in ways that shed light on the specific challenges of life in the 21st century?  

The results could be amazing, healing, entertaining, and educational---partly by stripping away what we think is so special about our time, focusing instead on what makes us human.

That's exactly what Theater of War Productions,** Bryan Doerries, and a host of actors have been doing with global audiences for almost two decades.  **

Six months ago, we recorded this podcast with Bryan, who co-founded Theater of War Productions and serves as its artistic director. We share it again in recognition that Bryan Doerries has recently been selected as a winner of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. The jury honored him for creating brave spaces where art, empathy, and dialogue aim to restore human connection, reimagining the role of culture in public life.

Listen again and let us know what you think. 

By almost every objective indicator, the process of dramatic climate change grinds on. However, the optimists are currently making a big deal out of the notion that warming might top out between 2.5 and 3°C over pre-industrial levels, compared to earlier and much higher scenarios. And Bill Gates now assures us that it is poverty, not climate change, that is potentially catastrophic.

No one should be reassured!

When it comes to the environment, what people around the world need is reliable, fact-based information about how the places in which they live are actually changing. They need to be empowered with accessible science, and the voices and knowledge of those directly impacted by environmental change amplified in ways that could actually produce positive outcomes.

Thank God for something called Mongabay. Rhett Ayers Butler founded and built Mongabay as a global digital platform for high-quality journalism about the environment. He and they have deservedly won endless journalism awards. Far more importantly, Mongabay is practically the only reliable source for consistently objective reporting on conservation and the environment on a global basis.

Butler is a world-class conservationist and journalist. He is also one of the recipients of the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize Winners. 

Listen as Rhett talks about the world as he reports on it….

“May you live in interesting times,” the saying goes—and for Colombia, these are truly that. Rising violence, political divisions, and economic uncertainty test the limits of leadership. Paula Moreno—former Minister of Culture and the first Afro-Colombian woman to hold a cabinet position—joins this episode to explore how leadership grounded in purpose and empathy can meet the challenges of our era.

Paula Moreno served as Minister of Culture under President Álvaro Uribe, becoming the first Afro-Colombian woman minister in her country's history. She is the founder and president of Manos Visibles, a Colombian NGO dedicated to strengthening local leadership, fostering inclusion, and empowering communities to drive sustainable change.

Podcast webpage → https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/interesting-times-colombia-edition/