What can spycraft teach business leaders? Marc Polymeropoulos is one of the CIA's most decorated operatives. He spills secrets to Robyn Curnow about the leadership lessons he learnt in the shadows.

Memorial Day honors America's fallen warriors. The CIA men and women killed in action are remembered by stars at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Marc lost colleagues and agents because of mistakes made in the field during post-9/11 years in hostile environments.

Marc Polymeropoulos talks to Robyn Curnow about the nine principles that leaders in any organisation can use to strength and clarity in times of stress; even if they're not in badlands of Afghanistan or Iraq.

This is a bonus episode of a conversation between Marc Polymeropoulos and Robyn Curnow. In Part 1 he talks about dive bars, Damascus and the death of colleagues. In Part 2 Marc recounts when he was attacked by an energy weapon while in Moscow, which left him with traumatic brain injury called Havana Syndrome that has incapacitated numerous American intelligence operatives around the world.

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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

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Out of all the foreign policy tit-for-tats to have - why has President Trump picked South Africa? Why is he concerned about minority white farmers who speak Afrikaans in the rural areas of a continent that's not a strategic priority for the USA?

Robyn Curnow is South African, lives in Atlanta, Georgia and she was CNN's Africa correspondent for many years. She has known the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa since the 1990's when he was part of Nelson Mandela's team. She has also interviewed many American Presidents.

She offers a unique perspective - understanding the instincts on both sides - after a fractious Oval Office meeting between the South Africans and the Americans.

There is good reason, Robyn says, why Trump has honed in on the death of white farmers in South Africa. And the South Africans need to tread carefully as they try to manage a transactional US President - without falling back into familiar ideological defiance rather than much-needed realism.

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

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Business schools across America should run an MBA course on corporate succession and the Catholic Church says Robyn Curnow who's covered the Vatican.

The ease of transition from one leader to another is smooth and seamless. And it's a key part of the enduring nature of the Vatican's well-oiled machine.

Pope Francis to Pope Leo, and the others that came before them for hundreds of years, are chosen by their peers (or the Holy Spirit, if you so wish) to lead the church (corporation) and to keep it profitable and with a steady supply of customers (parishioners and the faithful.)

As the new Pope shook hands with world leaders this past weekend, I thought; why do Popes matter in an increasingly secular world?

In times of change... what stays the same? The Catholic Church.

In time of change... what offers leadership continuity? The Catholic Church

That stability is is both the church's strength, and weakness.

The tension is always there. A push for innovation and modernity ... with the pull to preserve the thousands of years of ritual and dogma.

One part of the leadership continuity is the choosing of a new papal name... a name that harkens back to the past while supposedly giving us a clue as to the future.

Listen to this week's episode about Leo the new papal lion, the meaning of his name and the time I named a cheetah after a pope (we like big cats on the show.)

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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

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What happens to our stuff when we die? The estate of Robyn Curnow's late neighbor has been up for sale next door. Antique bargain hunters and second-hand vultures have been 'shopping' the contents of the couple's house.

Strangers streamed through the neighborhood carting off everything the elderly couple owned, loved and collected for decades. Tupperware, silver, mattresses were all carried out of their front door for a few dollars.

Everything was sold off to the lowest bidder.

The odd-couple relationship between America and China is founded on American consumerism and Chinese productivity. There are deals, or not, on the table over realigning Washington and Beijing's trade.

Watching the garage sale next door made Robyn Curnow think about tariffs and the stuff we buy.

Quality versus Quantity and the things we leave behind

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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're in the middle of graduation season. Americans love a party, a theme and an excuse to put signs in their front yards announcing the celebration of the moment. Sometimes it's an election, other times it's July 4th and for these few weeks of spring.... it's graduation.

There is a constant rotation of goodbye parties. Graduation is not just a ceremony, it's a never-ending marathon of emotional and expensive moments.

Nowhere else in the world goes so BIG when school is finished. I'm embracing it because my eldest daughter deserves to be celebrated with trumpets, bagpipes and an endless supply of monogramed college cakes.

She started school in the USA in Obama's America and is now ending it in Trump's America. She has navigated a revolving set of strange cultural oddities and constant change.

Americans might not agree on everything but they do agree on these things:

Hope you enjoy, and congratulations to the Class of 2025!

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Being in the Vatican during a Pope's funeral and conclave is fascinating. Robyn Curnow was in Rome when John Paul II died. She remembers those days in St Peters. So, what to expect from the next conclave?

Robyn has covered many papal deaths and reported on the politics of the Catholic church.

Pope Francis was a different kind of pope to John Paul, and Ratzinger who succeeded him.

Both John Paul and Francis were epoch defining popes.

John Paul was one of the 20th century's great leaders against communism. Hewn from stone behind the iron curtain he was unbending and formidable. Dogma and traditionalism held fast.

Francis was from Argentina... a priest who came of age within the legacy of liberation theology. A woke pope, perhaps, but man of his times.

She wonders, if like the American presidency, the papal shifts will swing like a pendulum between left and right in the upcoming conclave.

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What do you think of when you read the words... STRIP MALL?

Firstly, there's no stripping. No pole dancing. No one dollar bills.

Secondly, they're everywhere and form the backbone of Main Street - the small mom-and-pop businesses that underpin American capitalism.

The rows of grubby one-story shops occupy a slice of real estate along side main roads and intersections. We have a bunch littered around us. Odd places, but filled with fascinating slices of Americana.

In just about every strip mall, even if they're near each other, there is nail salon run by a phalanx of Vietnamese, an eyelash extension shop run by an African-American woman in sequins and a Chinese dry cleaner. Fast food chains are hard to avoid but but if you trust the locals you'll find some of the best places for Ho Chin Minh City pho, Mexican burritos or Korean hotpot.

Stores and restaurants in strip malls are not fancy. Mostly rundown. Often near a Dollar Store or charity shop.

You have got to know where the gems are.

Hiding in plain sight, in a nondescript plaza near us, is a legendary drinking hole.

It's modeled after Cheers, the bar in the TV series, where everybody knows your name

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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

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When politics get crazy who do you listen to? Your financial advisor who’s watching the stock market? A friend in government?

Robyn Curnow turns to her favorite analyst when times get complicated.... her 101 year old grandmother.

She's has lived through world wars that redrew the map, economic depressions that shattered lives, technological revolutions that have fundamentally altered how we connect and communicate. She’s seen empires rise and fall, social norms transform, and scientific breakthroughs once relegated to science fiction become everyday realities.

What does to she remind us when the only certainty is uncertainty?

Not every fleeting headline demands our constant attention.

Listen to Robyn Curnow dissect the lessons of the view long.

(Plus... hear what her grandmother's secret is to a long life.)

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Robyn Curnow moved to America she didn't take her family to Washington, or New York or Disney. Instead, they went on a pilgrimage to Graceland. The home of the King of Rock 'n Roll.

Elvis Presley is a rare thing in America. Most Americans would agree that his legacy and his music are the best of the USA. Robyn Curnow reflects on why she made a trip to Graceland.

It wasn't just Elvis and his music she was paying homage too, it was also the journey to Graceland that the Paul Simon sings about in his Grammy-award winning album Graceland.

In complicated times, she is Searching for the America - and Americans - that bring people together.

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
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More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The paper-white flowers of the dogwood trees are out, along with fairy pink blossoms and bright azaleas. Spring is here in the American South.

After hosting an event with Prince Albert in Monaco, Robyn Curnow reflects on coming 'Home' to America and using her new US passport for the first time.

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• Got a great idea for an episode? Drop Robyn a message here with the subject line PODCAST IDEA
  Subscribe to Robyn's Substack.
• Visit her website here.
• To book Robyn to speak at your event, get in touch here.

More about Robyn's public speaking
Robyn Curnow is a sought-after public speaker on what it takes to create positive leadership in complicated times. As a South African now living in the American South, Robyn is determined to bring a hopeful and light-hearted tone to all conversations. 

She reflects on her interviews with U.S. Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter and First Lady Michelle Obama. She has impactful stories of working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Lauretes Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

She has delivered talks and hosted events around the Blue Economy in the Principality of Monaco where she introduced Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, Prince of Wales and French President Emmanuel Macron, the Lincoln Centre in New York, the Science Museum in London, the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm, the YPO annual conference in Cape Town, the United Nations, a Haaretz newspaper panel in Jerusalem, the Nantucket Yacht club and many more. 

She has recently worked with Prince Albert II Foundation in Monaco and Philadelphia, the Swedish royal family in Stockholm, Made by Dyslexia in London, the Red Cross of Georgia in Atlanta alongside Delta Airlines.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.