This September, Professors John Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato released their controversial new book, “How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy.” Mearsheimer, a longtime Professor at the University of Chicago, ranks among the most well-known advocates for the realist school of international relations. Put simply, realism argues that states act in their own interest. Rosato, a Professor at Notre Dame and fellow traveler, joins as his co-author.   Among other assertions,...

While the US has managed to stave off a recession–at least for the time being–the global economy has nonetheless experienced a rocky couple of years: the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. this spring; the growing impact of artificial intelligence on virtually all industries; inflation in the West and deflation in China, and the subsequent interest rate hikes.  Fortunately, today’s guest on Deciding Factors is a veteran expert who can take us behind the curtain of the Federal Reserve...

Although social media has enabled the public to obtain a more intimate and detailed understanding of the “real lives” of famous people, including our political leaders, this transparency doesn’t necessarily help us understand how the real work of lawmaking gets done in Washington.  In today’s political climate, the art of deal-making, of enacting an agenda, of reading a room, remains as mysterious as ever.  In today’s episode of Deciding Factors, Eric speaks to one of DC’s smartest...

For many of us, the word “college” conjures images of old brick buildings, studying on the quad, and lecture halls full of students fervently scribbling notes and engaging in debate.  But at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), the entire idea of college—and how we define success there—has been flipped on its head.  While four thousand students learn on-site at the school’s campus, a whopping 180,000 more study completely online.   The school’s innovative approach speaks to its own...

The past month has been a volatile one for the banking sector, and its impact has been felt across the entire global economy.  On Friday, March 10, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized control of Silicon Valley Bank after a run on its deposits left it insolvent.  The next domino to fall was crypto-friendly Signature Bank, which shut down on Sunday, March 12.    While Credit Suisse has also since been absorbed by UBS, many lawmakers have criticized U.S. federal agencies' actions...

Since it launched in November 2022, the artificial intelligence bot known as ChatGPT has generated a lot of both excitement and controversy.    The conversation around ChatGPT invites larger questions around the role of artificial intelligence in our lives: where and how should we set limits? How can we employ it in a way that allows us to advance while minimizing collateral damage?  And can computers ever attain the ability to demonstrate empathy?  In this episode, Eric speaks to Rajen...

Since 2019, GLG has conducted a survey of global CEOs to help our clients and the broader public better understand how these trends impact business, and what business leaders expect for the future.  In our fourth annual survey, we interviewed more than 450 executives. And the results tell a markedly different—and less optimistic—story than in previous years.  Yet numbers don’t tell the whole story. Fortunately, our guest today, Sheri McCoy, the former CEO and Director of Avon Products, Inc....

On the long road towards the 2022 midterm elections, the passion – and outrage – around the candidates, the polls, the talking points and the endless Twitter angst has reached a saturation point.   Yet this state of chaos leaves us wondering how to evaluate candidates amid this noise, and which factors impact the results of an election.   Wild times require a sober mind for guidance. On today’s episode of Deciding Factors, Eric speaks to Greg Schultz, the longtime political strategist who...

Navigating the ups and downs of the real estate market has always been challenging, but 2022 has presented would-be buyers and sellers alike with a singular set of complications.  The COVID pandemic and the rise of remote work have changed our calculations for deciding where we want —and can afford— to live. Significant inflation —and rising interest rates— have further muddied the equation.   In today’s episode, Eric speaks to Dr. Rob Dietz, ​​Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for...

 The combined forces of the COVID-19 pandemic, soaring inflation, and a looming recession have aligned to rock virtually every sector of the American economy; our education system has not been spared.   As a result, those working within the education sector—as well as parents and students themselves—are left to grapple with a set of newly urgent questions: can we learn effectively in a remote setting? Can educational technology help students find the employment they seek? Can online learning...

This episode marks our first with an individual who has made decisions regarding our military, in times of war: Decisions that impact the safety and well-being of millions of people, potentially for years to come. How exactly does one navigate such extraordinarily high stakes situations? Ambassador Douglas Lute is a retired three-star general and the former US Ambassador to NATO. In 2007, then-President George W Bush appointed him to oversee the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a role...

As countless employers and job seekers alike can attest, we’re in the midst of an extraordinary shift in the job market – and that includes the hiring process. COVID-19 has changed our understanding of how people get hired, as well as the wages and work environments that employees seek. This  has wrought confusion and challenges at every level of the job market. The system can seem to be broken.   In today’s episode of the podcast, we speak to Mona Mourshed, the founding CEO of Generation, a...

Although many of us often find ourselves feeling discouraged and helpless in our fight to combat the climate crisis, there are still some reasons to remain optimistic. One example is the emerging field of ESG investing: the act—and art—of evaluating companies through the lens of their environmental, social, and governance standards. Today’s guest, Arun Sharma, is a leading advocate of ESG investing. Throughout his career—both as the current President of Grovepike Associates, a global...

As mask mandates and other COVID prevention measures ease across the country, companies are planning how they will bring their employees back into the office. But in the two years since millions of Americans began working remotely, the entire world of work has changed. And it’s not going back to the way it was.  In this episode, we speak to Kian Gohar, co-author of the new book, Competing in the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest, about some of the...

Of all the social media platforms that have become ubiquitous to modern living, Twitter has been among the most influential.  The company’s success, however, has been a double-edged sword: utilized to spotlight wrongdoing and organize for positive change, it can also fuel echo chambers and further divide us from one another.   In today’s episode, Eric speaks to Kirstine Stewart, the former Founding General Manager of Twitter Canada and the former VP of Media in North America, to learn more...

Each year since 2019, GLG has surveyed CEOs around the world to gauge their outlook on the global economy and the challenges they anticipate in the year to come.  This year, the 2022 GLG CEO Survey, a truly global document includes input from nearly five hundred executives from across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, examines a year like no other.  The survey includes insights into both these executives’ concerns for the global economy and their own businesses in 2022, as well as...

It’s been more than a year and a half since the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe, and while some aspects of the crisis have been brought under control, others remain extremely difficult to manage.  Navigating the pandemic, particularly at its outset, required resourceful experts who could make decisions of enormous consequence with limited data or precedent.    In this episode, we speak to Dr. Oxiris Barbot, who served as Health Commissioner for New York City from 2018 to 2020,...

You don’t have to look far these days to see that many Americans are skeptical of our political leaders, and even our political system writ large.  Despite our wariness, however, many of us remain eager to participate constructively in the political process, or even run for office. Yet the path to getting involved in politics can be difficult to navigate, or even find.  In this episode, John Podesta - former chief of staff to President Clinton, counselor to President Obama and chair of...

In May of this year, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, a top gauge of inflation, showed that April 2021 prices had jumped 4.2% over those recorded in April 2020. Prior to this, inflation had remained relatively dormant. But COVID-19 changed that.  In this episode, Maurice Obstfeld, Professor of Economics at Berkeley, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, discusses the current state of inflation, where we might be heading, and the...

The streaming world has grown complex. In simpler times, there was Netflix and Hulu, along with a handful of niche services to choose from. But now there are more than 200 streaming services crowding the marketplace, competing for viewers every day. The good news is that only about six or seven of those are dominant, but that doesn’t make the space any less contentious.  Though the field is turbulent, Susan Ennis, a former Executive V.P. at HBO, brings with her the expertise and insight that...

The fact that the climate is changing is an incontrovertible fact. If we do nothing – or fall short of what is needed – human beings as a species are headed toward unprecedented disaster.   Our guest in this episode, Dr. Ruth DeFries, Professor of Ecology and Sustainable Development at Columbia University and Co-founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School, is one of the people committed to addressing the factors driving climate change and helping us see a path other than the one we are...

There are many voices in the United States that government has struggled to hear, thus failing to consider every point of view when it comes to policy making. While government has made progress in listening to marginalized communities, much more work remains to be done.  In this episode of Deciding Factors, our guest played a large part in moving government closer to the goal of including these groups in the discussion, listening their voices in order to create policy that can better benefit...

Virtually everything we do in our lives today relies on technology. Yet, between five and six million Americans still don't have access to high-speed internet. And while that number is startling, it has fallen significantly in the last four years.  In this episode of Deciding Factors, Ajit Pai, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, talks about the role his administration played in decreasing the digital opportunity gap, and the work that’s still to be done. Ajit also...

Dr. Slaoui achieved historic success overseeing Operation Warp Speed, where their investments helped enable the development of several highly effective vaccines with unprecedented speed.  In doing so, Dr. Slaoui had to make tough decisions – placing...