Remake

TODAY'S GUEST

David Peter Stroh is the bestselling author of Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide for Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results.

For the past 40 years, David has helped leaders to apply systems thinking to organizational strategy, and achieve breakthrough, sustainable change. He is a founding partner of the influential consulting firm Bridgeway Partners, a faculty member of the Academy for Systems Change, and a charter member of the Society for Organizational Learning.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How he was exposed as a child to both natural and urban complexity growing up in Inwood, at the very northern tip of Manhattan, NY.
• How he fell in love with transportation systems, but ended up studying Organization Development at MIT.
• How his search for greater impact and a seat at the table led him down the Systems Thinking path, and eventually to founding a consulting firm alongside Charlie Kiefer, Robert Fritz, and Peter Senge, later of The Fifth Discipline fame.

We also discuss:

• What's a system, and what's systems thinking?
• Why do complex systems often yield unintended consequences?
• What are the benefits of systems thinking, especially in the world of impact?
• What does it tell us about wealth inequality and poverty?
• And why David has come to see systems thinking as an almost spiritual practice?

David's book and his blog are must reads for anyone interested in making deep and lasting positive impact, and avoid undesirable consequences. And this conversation can serve as a good, and I think, exciting intro to the topic.

So let's jump right in with David Peter Stroh.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:34] Life During Covid

[6:00] The Advantages of Various Points of View

[12:17] The Birth of Innovation Associates

[18:05] Defining Systems Thinking

[22:57] The Role of Intent In Systems

[33:32] The Benefits of The Systems Thinking Approach In Creating Change

[42:56] The Spiritual Aspects of Systems Thinking

[59:03] A Sermon for Those Who Wish to Create Change

EPISODE LINKS

• David's Links
  • 🌍 BridgewayPartners.com
  • 🌍 Bridgeway Partners' Blog
  • 📘 Systems Thinking For Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results
  • 📝 Overcoming the Systemic Challenges of Wealth Inequality in the U.S.
  • 🌍 Applied Systems Thinking
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @davidpeterstroh
  • 📺 YouTube Channel

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
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• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Today, we talk about anger.

Everywhere you look, it feels like outrage and anger are on the rise. Populist politicians win elections based on popular anger, and when they lose, they claim their elections had been stolen to further sow outrage. Social media seems to feed on and amplify anger. So much so that we now have new names for the various things that people do when they are angry online — words like cyberbullying, trolling, and doxxing.

At the same time, our political systems are becoming so extreme that it's now possible for some, even in longstanding democracies, to undermine the basic common agreements of a free society: the rule of law, respect for institutions, and the belief in truth.

And in less established countries, civil war has become a growing specter, if not an everyday reality.

And yet, the dangers of anger have been identified aeons ago. The Stoic philosophers warned that anger has the power to take away our reason. That it always costs far more than the offense which triggers it.

Seneca wrote about anger that: "No plague has cost the human race more dear."

The Stoics have also given us tools to deal with anger and other destructive emotions.

Which is why I was thrilled to sit down with Donald Robertson. Donald is an author, TED speaker, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and trainer. He is one of the founding members of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit, and the founder and president of Plato's Academy Centre in Athens, Greece. He specializes in teaching evidence-based psychological skills, and is known as an expert on the relationship between modern evidence-based psychotherapy and classical Greek and Roman philosophy.

His books include Stoicism and the Art of Happiness, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, and the graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

We spoke in mid-December 2022, and I found Donald to be an engaging and fascinating speaker and a great explainer of Stoicism — what it is, who were the Stoic thinkers, and why should we care in this day and age about what they had to say?

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How he discovered Greek philosophy at an early age.
• Why Stoicism was considered obscure and not taught for the longest time, and why it's having its resurgence these days.
• Stoicism as an ancient therapeutic tradition.
• The relationship between modern CBT and Stoicism.
• What is Stoicism? Who were the Stoics?
• The most common misconceptions about Stoicism.
• Then we dive into anger:
  • Is anger good or bad?
  • What did anger mean to the Stoics?
  • What can we learn from the Stoics that can be applied to modern-day?
• Fear and anxiety in the Stoic tradition, and the view from above as a possible solution.
• We also talk about his books and his journey as a therapist and student of Stoicism.

I love finding nuggets of very practical wisdom in ancient texts, especially when they line up so beautifully with what science has to teach us. And the Stoics are definitely a rich source for those insights. More than anything, I think their approach to anger could and should guide us in finding systemic ways to making our technologies, communities, and institutions act as dampeners rather than amplifiers of outrage.

We have some amazing episodes lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and activists, answering questions like:

• Why are more and more people around the world turning to coliving communities as an attractive idea?
• What do most people still need to understand about transgender and non-binary individuals?
• What's the importance of prototyping and prototypes?
• Does everyone need a manifesto?
• And what does it mean to have creative hustle?

But before these episodes can get to you, they need to be edited, audio mixed, and published, and Remake is now in a time of transition as I'm preparing to move my life and business to the United States with a lot of uncertainty around the future of the Israeli business. In order to keep our team running and protect the podcast from the vicissitudes of life, politics, and business, we're asking for your support.

If you value the podcast and the hard work that five different people are putting in on every episode, please consider supporting us at RemakePod.org/support, or go to our website and click "Become a Supporter". You can make a one-time donation, or join as a monthly or yearly supporter, which will entitle you in the future to access any premium episodes, longer versions of episodes, video interviews, and a paid Remake newsletter.

We have a lot of plans on how to make Remake into a real community and invest in more content, including short-form content. And of course, the podcast itself will always feature in-depth conversations with people who are trying to change our lives for the better. But right now, we really need your support.

So once again, you can go to RemakePod.org/support, or go to our website and click "Become a Supporter".

And now, let's jump right in with Donald Robertson.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[7:24] Life in the Present

[9:23] Childhood Driving Forces

[11:05] A Journey to Stoicism

[14:52] The Origin of CBT

[20:29] On Stoicism

[33:36] On Anger

[42:26] The Alternative to Anger

[48:17] On Fear and Anxiety

[55:57] A Graphic Novel Journey

[1:04:56] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Donald's Links
  • 🌎 Donald J. Robertson Website
  • 🌎 Modern Stoicism
  • 🌎 Plato's Academy Centre
  • 📘 Stoicism And The Art Of Happiness
  • 📘 How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
  • 📘 Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
  • 📘 Build Your Resilience
  • 📘 The Practice of Cognitive-Behavioural Hypnotherapy
  • ✍️ Medium - Donald J. Robertson
  • ✏️ Interview: Zé Nuno Fraga
  • 🎤 TED Talk
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @DonJRobertson
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🏠 Airbnb
  • 📕 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
  • 📕 On the Passions and Errors of the Soul by Galen
  • 📕 On Anger: De Ira by Seneca
  • 📕 The Handbook (The Encheiridion) by Epictetus
  • 📕 Memorabilia by Xenophon
  • 🌎 Google Ngram Viewer
  • 🎥 Gladiator
  • 📚 Yale University Press
  • 🗣️ Facebook
  • 📕 Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis
  • 📕 Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Donatella Caggiano is a Global Creativity Hacker. With her methodology crossing design, storytelling, and strategy, she works at applying creativity to processes of change and transformation for brands, communities and people.

She made a crucial decision to leave the high powered Business World of Corporate America in mid-life, return to her home country of Italy, and to do so intentionally, and mindfully.

Her new podcast in the making, "The Design of Return", will deal with personal stories of transit as told by the "in-betweeners".

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we discuss:

[2:59] Donatella's childhood, leaving her home town. Home is where you are.

[8:48] What it means to be a Creativity Hacker, and what Donatella does professionally these days.

[16:30] Making a home by separation.

[20:55] Leaving Milan to the US, her time in NY.

[26:45] The loneliness of living in a new country.

[30:05] The differences between US culture and Italian and Israeli culture.

[34:32] The weirdness of Orange County, California.

[45:00] Leaving the US, heading back to Italy.

[56:53] The challenges of returning.

[1:03:09] A culture-shock with one's own culture.

[1:15:25] Returning skillfully.

[1:29:40] 500 Days without Social Media.

[1:32:43] The Juliet Club.

[1:38:00] Finding a community of fellow returners.

[1:44:40] The Design of Return podcast-in-the-making.

[1:49:05] Becoming Home vs. Finding Home.

EPISODE LINKS

• Donatella's Links
  • 🖼 Instagram: @donatellacaggiano
  • 🌍 LinkTree: @donatellacaggiano
  • 🌍 Donatella's Medium Blog
  • 📣 Twitter: @donaworldwide
  • 📺 Videos: "The Design of Return" Talk
• Other Things Discussed
  • The Juliet Club -
    • 🌍 Website: JulietClub.com
    • 🖼 Instagram: @julietclubofficial

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Today, we talk about the practice of design, and how designers who learn to work with and understand technology can bring a humanistic, creative perspective to technology that can truly transform our understanding of what it can do. I've long believed that advanced technology can be beautiful, poetic, and philosophical in nature. In fact, that's what's called for in an age where tech shapes our lives, takes an increasingly greater part in creative work, and even makes decisions for us.

That's why it was so rewarding to sit down with Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy, the married couple behind CW&T. They've managed to carve out the space for their own creative, almost contemplative practice.

Their studio, CW&T, is an award-winning design practice creating mind-bending products. Over the last 13 years, their work has spanned from interactive software to human scale tools that enhance our relationships to work, life, and time. They center around an iterative process of sketching, prototyping, testing, writing code, machining parts, and building each addition themselves to assess their intuitions around improving everyday experiences. Their projects range from devices that alter the perception of time, an electronics curriculum for artists, an astrological compass for space travelers, to objects engineered to last multiple generations.

Wang and Levy lecture extensively, and they teach courses on time, electronics, hardware, programming, inflatables, and morphology at Pratt Institute, New York University, and the School for Poetic Computation. In 2022, they won the National Design Award for Product Design from Cooper Hewitt.

We spoke in mid-November 2022, and I was excited to talk to them after I saw some of their more thought-provoking pieces engaging with time. I was a little concerned with my ability to interview two people at the same time. Usually, I tend to go deep with one person and I wasn't sure how the format would work, but as usually happens with creative people, the conversation took a life of its own and was a delight.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Being a couple who works together.
• Balancing parenthood with business and creative design work.
• The gratitude they feel for being able to have an ongoing creative practice.
• Their creative principles.
• Why they insist on building what they want to see.
• What does the phrase "buy lots of lottery tickets" mean to them?
• Their origin story.
• What did Che-Wei learn while fixing his dad's typewriter as a kid?
• What did Taylor realize about The Beatles?
• How did they meet and become a couple?
• Their creative projects, including Time Since Launch and Solid State Watch.
• The School for Poetic Computation.
• Generative design, and how it can change designers' work.
• The importance of learning to understand time.
• And how to make room for your creative practice.

We have some amazing episodes lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and activists answering questions like:

• How can we program and control human cells?
• Why did the stoic philosophers think anger was the most destructive of emotions, and how did they suggest fighting it?
• Why are more and more people around the world turning to coliving communities as an attractive idea?
• And what do most people still need to understand about transgender and non-binary individuals?

But before they can get to you, these episodes need to be edited, audio mixed, and published, and Remake is now in a time of transition as I'm preparing to move my life and business back to the US with a lot of uncertainty around the future of the Israeli business.

In order to keep our team running, and protect the podcast from the vicissitudes of life, politics, and business, we're asking for your support.

If you value the podcast and the hard work that five different people are putting in on every single episode, please consider becoming a supporter or making a one-time donation at RemakePod.org/support. Or go to our website and click "Become a Supporter". You can make a one-time donation or join as a monthly or yearly supporter, which will entitle you in the future to access any premium episodes, longer versions of episodes, video interviews, and a paid Remake newsletter.

We have a lot of plans on how to make Remake into a real community and invest in more content, including short-form content. And of course, the podcast itself will always feature in-depth conversations with people who are trying to change our lives for the better. But right now, we really need your help.

So if you value what we do, please once again, go to RemakePod.org/support.

And now, without further ado, let's jump right in with Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[8:09] Life in the Present

[12:17] Early Childhood Lessons

[16:00] A Journey to Design

[23:09] Love at First Sight

[27:42] CW&T

[31:22] Time Since Launch

[38:13] Solid State Watch

[42:21] Project Principles

[47:46] The School for Poetic Computation

[51:49] Generative Design

[56:18] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Che-Wei and Taylor's Links
  • 🏛️ Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) - NYU Tisch
  • 🏛️ Pratt Institute
  • 🏛️ Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT
  • 🏛️ School for Poetic Computation: SFPC
  • 🌎 CW&T
  • ⏰ Time Since Launch - CW&T
  • ⌚ Solid State Watch - CW&T
  • 🎤 Che-Wei Wang - TNW Conference 2018
  • 🎤 Che-Wei Wang – The Conference 2019
  • 🌎 Taylor Levy Website
  • 💼 Che-Wei's LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 💼 Taylor's LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Che-Wei's Twitter: @sayway
  • 📣 CW&T's Twitter: @cwandt
  • 📺 Che-Wei's YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🏆 National Design Awards - Cooper Hewitt
  • 🎵 The Beatles
  • 🛍️ Tokyu Hands
  • 🧑‍🚀 John Glenn - NASA
  • 🔭 NASA
  • ⌚ F91W-1 - CASIO
  • ⌚ CASIO
  • 🌎 Darius Kazemi
  • 🌎 XOXO Festival
  • ✈️ Ostrichpillow®
  • 🤖 DALL·E 2 - OpenAI
  • 🤖 Midjourney
  • 🤖 Stable Diffusion Online
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Kathy Davies wears many hats - she's a Design Lecturer at Stanford University. She's the Managing Director of the Stanford Life Design lab, where she and her team have trained 150 universities globally to use the life design processes on their campuses to help students design, prototype, and test the right career paths for them.

She is also a Cofounder and CEO at DYL Consulting where she uses design thinking and life design principles to build a better world.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode we discuss:

• [02:56] Challenges during the pandemic, transitioning into virtual classes and workshops.

• [18:34] Kathy's early desires to connect, and to combine science with art in her work.

• [29:23] Kathy's engineering experience.

• [33:14] Getting into Design Thinking at Stanford.

• [48:59] The journey into Life Design.

• [1:02:22] Why is it so hard for us to figure out what we want to do in life?

• [1:07:31] The Life Design process.

• [1:19:39] Life Design for women.

• [1:30:02] The future of Life Design, and its impact.

EPISODE LINKS

• Kathy Davies' Links
  • 🌍 Stanford Life Design Lab
  • 🌍 DYL Consulting
  • 🌍 Stanford Product Design Program
  • 📘 Designing Your Life Book
  • 🌍 Designing Your Life for Women
  • 🗓 Designing Your life for Women Event Page
• Other Things Discussed
  • 🌍 Seth Godin's Akimbo Workshops
  • 📺 How to Make Hard Choices, TED Talk by Ruth Chang

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePodcast.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Dr. Bayo Akomolafe is an academic lecturer, a spiritual leader, a disillusioned activist, and the author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home.

He was born in 1983 into a Christian home, and to Yoruba parents in western Nigeria. Soon after he was born, his family emigrated to Bonn, Germany with his father on his first diplomatic assignment. This, Bayo's first trip, would foreshadow a life of travel, both literally and figuratively. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont.

He's also Professor of Practice at Middlebury College. He sits on the board of many organizations including Science and Nonduality, Unashay Sanctuary, and more.

Now living between India and the United States, Bayo is a proud father and a devoted husband.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up in transition, Nigeria to Germany, and then many other places.
• Family being a constant value in his life.
• His love-hate relationship with India.
• His activism and his postactivism, and what does it mean to be a postactivist or to be postactivistic? And specifically, what it means to discover as an activist that your very activism has become part of the problem you're trying to solve.
• What does it mean to engage with the world without trying to apply your prejudices on it?
• Hope, and why it too can be problematic.
• How he sees the world, and how he tries to not get trapped by images and words, to experience a world that's alive and not static and dead. And to avoid overly defining things and overly restricting our view of the world through that definition.

I talked to Bayo at the end of January, and it was right after a Design Sprint with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie (a former guest of the podcast), where Bayo's work and his online course was one of the demos that we looked at as an example.

I'm very excited to bring you this conversation with Bayo, and I was very excited to talk to him. His writing is intensely beautiful. He speaks and seems to think in poetry. His words paint pictures that move us, but avoid being captured. I think Bayo is an awakened person. He clearly sees things in a way that's deeper and that's hard to comprehend sometimes. But his efforts at clarity and communication are very obvious and evident here, and I think it will be appreciated. I'm a little bit worried that people who don't really have any strong spiritual background might find some of these topics hard to understand or relate to. So I want to leave you with this recommendation.

I would like you to imagine the world as a dynamic, elaborate, interdependent, ever-changing and shifting, an intensely alive cloud of interactions, where nothing is quite as solid or as clear-cut as it seems to be. Now, imagine seeing this mess so clearly you can feel it in your being, and then having to find the words to describe it, knowing full well that every word and sentence leaves out as much as it brings in. And so, as you listen to Bayo with words, I would like you to try to understand that he's trying to communicate something that's intensely nonverbal. That's at least how I connect with it and how I find my way into it.

This is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, entrepreneurs, and activists, who are working to change our world for the better. So please follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now let's jump right in with Dr. Bayo Akomolafe.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[6:35] Life During Covid

[14:51] Early Childhood's Silent Lessons

[17:28] A Mode of Transit

[19:15] A Love-Hate Relationship with India

[24:11] Activism vs Postactivism

[29:20] Enacting Reality

[33:46] Invisible Forces at Work

[39:10] Thinking Happens in the Farm

[42:33] Corelessness

[43:53] The End of Hope

[53:06] Name the Color, Blind the Eye

[58:50] The Gift of Children

[1:03:49] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Bayo's Links
  • 🌎 Bayo Akomolafe Website
  • 📘 These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home
  • ⛰️ We Will Dance With Mountains
  • 🌎 The Emergence Network
  • 🌎 Science & Nonduality
  • 🌎 UNESCO
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @BayoAkomolafe
• Other Links
  • 🎧 Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie Interview
  • 🎧 Christian Madsbjerg Interview
  • 📕 Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm by Christian Madsbjerg
  • 🎧 David Peter Stroh Interview
  • 📕 Systems Thinking For Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results by David Peter Stroh
  • 🎧 Dr. Angel Acosta Interview
  • 📕 The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
  • 📕 Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant
  • 📕 The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST Max Rashbrooke's TED Talk on upgrading democracy has touched a nerve, and has been viewed over 1 million times in a matter of months. He's a Wellington-based writer and public intellectual, with twin interests in economic inequality and democratic renewal. His latest book is Too Much Money, about wealth disparities in New Zealand, and his previous books include Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-Scale Collective Action. Max is a Senior Associate of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. His work appears in outlets such as the Guardian and Prospect magazine.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How moving from a wealthy school to a failing school in a low income neighborhood opened his eyes to his own privilege and the extent of poverty in the world.
• How he became fascinated with the problem of entrenched and compounded inequality and lack of mobility as a financial journalist in London during the financial crisis.
• The dangers of increasing inequality and immobility, and how it leads to a mistrust in institutions, an attraction to populist authoritarianism, and a crisis for democracy.
• How he proposes to upgrade democracy for the digital age, by increasing participation and incorporating tools like citizen assemblies, online consensus building, and participatory budgeting.
• And why having faith in our fellow citizens and in the power of the government to do good is essential to healing democracy in our lifetime.

I really enjoyed talking to Max, and hope that you'll enjoy his excellent introduction to the growing movement of more participatory democracy. Max is one of dozens of great conversations with thinkers, activists, and makers who are trying to remake our lives in some meaningful way. If you don't want to miss them, please make sure you subscribe in your favorite podcast player.

And now let's jump right in with Max Rashbrooke.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:31] Life During Covid

[7:06] Early Life Lessons

[13:03] A Journey to Economic Inequality

[17:00] Compounded Inequality

[18:34] A Lack of Progress

[20:13] A Lack of Trust

[22:31] The Rise of Authoritarianism

[24:53] A Mistrust of Institution

[28:08] Defense of Democracy

[32:05] Upgrading and Renewing Democracy

[35:59] Citizens Assemblies

[40:06] Political Brands

[41:45] Online Consensus Building

[46:02] Participatory Budgeting

[48:43] The Delegation of the Vote

[54:11] A Mindset of Faith

[57:52] Working Together

[1:00:25] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Max's Links
  • 🌍 Max Rashbrooke Website
  • 🏫 Institute for Governance and Policy Studies
  • 📘 Too Much Money: How Wealth Disparities Are Unbalancing Aotearoa New Zealand
  • 📘 Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-Scale Collective Action
  • 🎤 TED Talk
  • 🎤 TEDx Talk
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @MaxRashbrooke
• Other Links
  • 🚗 Uber
  • 🌍 Polis
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
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• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Alan Lightman is an American writer, physicist and social entrepreneur. He served on the faculties of Harvard and MIT, and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. Currently, he serves as professor for the practice of the humanities at MIT. In his scientific research, he has made fundamental contributions to the astrophysics of black holes and cosmic radiative processes.

He is the author of numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction, including Einstein's Dreams, an international bestseller, The Diagnosis, a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction, and his latest book, Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings, where he discusses questions of nothingness and infinity, the mind, and the specialness of life.

Alan's essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper's, Nautilus, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, and living between physics and the humanities.
• What it was like to study physics at Princeton and Caltech.
• Working with Richard Feynman.
• Writing Einstein's Dreams.
• The connection between physics and spirituality.
• The topics of entropy and life.
• The rarity of life.
• On nothingness and infinity.
• On the value of wasting time, and many other topics.

This conversation with Alan Lightman is one of a dozen or more upcoming conversations with bestselling authors, thinkers, designers, scientists, and makers who are reimagining our world and experience. So please follow us on your favorite podcasting app, if you haven't already, so that you can make sure you don't miss them.

And now, let's jump right in with Alan Lightman.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:12] Life During COVID

[6:40] Early Influences

[12:42] On Writing and the Origin of Einstein's Dreams

[17:53] A Convergence Between Physics and Spirituality

[19:42] The Origin of the Universe

[24:40] The Rarity of Life

[29:06] A Distinction Between Life and Death

[33:26] Nothingness and Infinity

[36:39] Finding Meaning in a Multiverse

[39:34] The Benefit of Wasting Time

[42:33] A Sermon on Disconnection

EPISODE LINKS

• Alan's Links
  • 🌍 Harpswell Foundation
  • 📘 Einstein's Dreams
  • 📘 Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings
  • 📘 The Diagnosis
  • 📘 In Praise of Wasting Time
  • 📘 The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
• Other Links
  • 📕 "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman": Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
  • 📕 Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
  • 📕 What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger
  • 📕 Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse
  • 🎤 Alain de Botton TED Talk: Atheism 2.0

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

Today, we talk about worthiness.

Worthiness, and the lack of it, is something that's been a primary part of my struggles to start sharing more of my thoughts and beliefs, to allow myself to assume a leadership role in business and in other areas, and to search for an enduring romantic relationship.

Lack of worthiness seems to be at the root of perfectionism, workaholism, fear of failure, and fear of success. It's often the stumbling block in feeling a sense of well-being and belonging with others.

The topic of worthiness is really hard to unpack, or it was for me, because it is distinct from self-confidence. Throughout most of my life, I've been fairly confident in my abilities to do things or figure them out. In fact, I think too often I used confidence as a way to escape the fact that I didn't like myself that much.

It is only in my late 30s and early 40s that I feel my sense of self-worth is starting to catch up to my sense of confidence.

Worthiness is also one of these foundational topics that seems connected to almost everything in the world that I care about. It's at the core of belonging and othering, political inclusion or exclusion, status and privilege in society, religious and political extremism, online trolling, sexism, good and bad leadership, and the global decline of democracy.

That's why I'm so happy to be talking to Dr. Adia Gooden today. Adia is a clinical psychologist and a TED speaker who works in the area of unconditional self-worth and helps people to embrace it. Adia is also an author and the host of her very own podcast called Unconditionally Worthy. Adia gained her bachelor's at Stanford and her PhD at DePaul University, and worked at the Counseling Center of University of Chicago.

Today, she works as a speaker and coach, and is working on a new book in the making about the mental health of black women.

I spoke to Adia in early November, and I was excited to talk to her since I saw her powerful TED Talk on the subject of worthiness. Adia is an energizing and empowering speaker, so it was a joy to chat with her and hear her insights as well as practical advice that can help us feel better about ourselves.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• What growing up feeling lonely as a child instilled in her.
• What's wrong with trying to be perfect?
• What is worthiness, and how self-worth is different from self-confidence?
• Why is worthiness important?
• The rise of depression and anxiety.
• The effects of COVID, as well as social media and phone addiction.
• How to systematically improve our self-worth.
• What does the journey of self-worth look like?
• What's an imposter syndrome, and is it good or bad for us?
• How are worthiness and spirituality connected?
• What's the connection between worthiness and human dignity?
• And how she'd like to change the narrative of black women's mental health in the US.

What stayed with me from this conversation is how relatively straightforward and systematic our approach to self-worthiness can be. Following a relatively simple formula of self-forgiveness and acceptance, we can confront our feelings of unworthiness and start building a stronger foundation. And the effects of that can cascade throughout our lives, whether it's our professional lives, our family life, our relationships, and how we feel moment to moment.

This conversation is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with hackers, designers, thinkers, makers, authors, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now let's jump right in with Dr. Adia Gooden.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[5:48] Life in the Present

[7:28] Early Childhood Challenges

[11:20] Problematic Perfectionism

[13:53] An Academic Journey

[17:18] What is Worthiness?

[21:22] Self-Worth vs. Self-Esteem

[24:26] Why is Worthiness Important?

[27:32] The Rise of Depression and Anxiety

[33:49] Embracing Your Self-Worth

[37:11] Worthiness and Courage

[41:14] Worthiness vs. Achievement

[43:39] Imposter Syndrome

[45:15] Faith and Spirituality

[49:34] Black Women's Mental Health

[52:43] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Adia's Links
  • 🌎 Dr. Adia Gooden Website
  • 🏛️ Stanford University
  • 🏛️ DePaul University
  • 🏛️ The University of Chicago
  • 🌎 Unconditionally Worthy
  • 🎧 Unconditionally Worthy Podcast
  • 🎤 TED Talk
  • 📘 Promoting Black Women's Mental Health: What Practitioners Should Know and Do
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📷 Instagram: @dradiagooden
  • 📣 Twitter: @DrAdiaShani
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🌎 Brené Brown Website
  • 🌎 Forbes
  • 🌎 Adam Grant Website
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned documentary filmmaker, TED speaker, author, poet, folkteller, educator, community therapist, and master diversity trainer at Stir Fry Seminars and Consulting, a diversity training company he founded. He's most famous for his truly incredible documentaries, like The Color of Fear, Last Chance for Eden, and If These Halls Could Talk. His films feature hard-hitting, honest and raw conversations about race relations, racism, sexism, systemic inequality and more, with participants from different backgrounds and ethnicities.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up as a Chinese American kid, just trying to fit in.
• His love for teaching and how he became a teacher.
• The day that changed his life, his mother's murder by an African-American man, which started his journey into ultimately becoming a therapist and diving into the topics of race, inequality, and hatred.

We also discuss:

• His documentary, The Color of Fear.
• The implicit racism of who we see and how we see the people in front of us.
• The names we're willing and the names that we're unwilling to learn.
• The minority group society doesn't bother to get to know and to make feel welcome.
• The critical importance of empathy and listening.
• What he's learned about facilitating workshops, discussing tough topics in a mindful way.
• On standing up for others who are different from oneself.
• His autobiography in the making, River of Jade.
• And many other topics.

I was really touched by this conversation with Mun Wah. He brings such ease and openness to the conversation, even when the topics are quite challenging. He helps us see our society from points of view other than our own and teaches us the skills to reach out and connect across differences, which is the first step towards correcting some of the structural injustice embedded in our systems.

This conversation is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and entrepreneurs who are working to change our world for the better. So please follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now let's jump right in with Lee Mun Wah.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:36] Life During Covid

[9:15] Early Life Lessons

[19:21] Relational Relationships

[25:48] A Tragedy and a Transition

[35:52] A Journey Through Grief

[40:00] Every Day a Lifetime

[44:51] A Mindfulness Approach

[55:55] Diversity 101

[1:08:51] A Ripple Effect

[1:12:06] River of Jade

[1:23:47] Writing Our Own History

EPISODE LINKS

• Mun Wah's Links
  • 🌍 StirFry Seminars & Consulting
  • 🎥 The Color of Fear
  • 🎥 Stolen Ground
  • 🎥 If These Halls Could Talk
  • 🎥 Last Chance for Eden
  • 📘 Let's Get Real: What People of Color Can't say and Whites Won't Ask About Racism
  • ❓ What Stands Between Us
  • 🎤 TED Talk: The Secret to Changing the World
  • 🎤 TED Talk: Curiosity is the Gateway to the Heart
  • 🎤 TED Talk: But...I am an American
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🌍 American Psychological Association
  • 🎬 San Francisco International Film Festival
  • 🎥 My Fair Lady
  • 🎥 Slumdog Millionaire
  • 💧 Harbin Hot Springs
  • 💻 Hewlett Packard
  • 💻 IBM
  • 📕 Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium