Chris Riback: Recent Episodes

Chris Riback

Podcast by Chris Riback

In the always changing, highly-competitive private equity world, what makes InTandem Capital Partners stand apart?

InTandem invests in – and helps accelerate the growth of – small to mid-sized companies in select health care and insurance services sectors.

But what sets them apart isn’t what they do – it’s how they do it.

The team is comprised of former business executives and experienced investors uniquely qualified to provide strategic, acquisition and operating expertise to help companies in the healthcare sector significantly increase value over time. They provide active support to management of portfolio companies directly, and provide access to a network of operating partners and industry executives. Their goal: To build excellent businesses of significant value working collaboratively with management team partners.

So what, exactly, is the InTandem approach?

In a series of conversations, InTandem Managing Partner Elliot Cooperstone will discuss what it means – how the firm builds and maintains trust with management, intermediaries and all key players, from before a deal is ever sourced, during due diligence and investment, and all the way through the lifetime of a portfolio company’s growth.

As you’ll hear from Elliot, they offer a team of on-field player coaches who are there, 24/7, with and for management teams and their companies.

Yes, it’s a differentiated approach. It’s the InTandem approach.

Where do ideas and investment intersect?

Michael Moe is founder of GSV, a modern merchant bank that invest, advises and partners with some of the fastest growing companies in the world; what they call the stars of tomorrow. As you'll hear, GSV, which stands for Global Silicon Valley, runs various investment vehicles including the publicly traded GSV Capital.

It's quite possible you know some of the companies GSV has invested in. Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, Lift DropBox, Coursera among others. I thought you did.

But GSV is far from your traditional investment play. They also incubate ideas. GSV labs is just one example. Next generation insights and technologies that they expect will help drive next generation business solutions.

How does it work? As Moe explains, GSV has created an active web of companies, advisors, ideas, and investments across several key emerging growth industries including education, big data, sustainability, social mobile, and more. The result was a terrific conversation that covered the principles of emerging growth investing, thoughts on the pros and cons of tech's role in our daily lives and what exactly drives innovation today.

With Veterans Day almost here, this conversation is particularly timely and troubling – it’s about Veterans’ medical debt.

How do veterans in this country have medical debt? With all of the ways we seek to thank and support those who gave service to our country – and especially with the VA health services – how can they accrue medical bills that turn into debt?

That’s what I asked Col. (Ret.) Mikel Burroughs. Among many other roles – and after, as you’ll hear, 42 years, 8 months, 23 days of service, including 37 years on active duty – Mikel is Director of Military Debt Acquisitions and Relief for RIP Medical Debt.org.

Before my conversation with Mikel, a quick word about our sponsor RIP Medical Debt and the incredible work they do:

RIP Medical Debt locates, buys and forgives medical debt on behalf of individual donors, philanthropists and organizations who provide financial relief for people burdened by unpaid and unpayable medical bills.

Here’s part of what makes RIP so interesting – and so good at what they do: They were founded in 2014 by two former collections industry executives. Despite working for decades in health and debt collections, they had no idea of how many Americans shoulder the burden of unpaid medical debt — and the enormity of that debt. They wanted to help.

Funded by the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations, RIP seeks out distressed medical debt in the collections industry and the community of medical providers, including hospitals and medical practices. RIP offers to buy this debt for pennies on the dollar, which is how RIP can make such a significant impact. The average ratio is 1 to 100. That means A donation of $50 can buy as much as $5,000 in medical debt, and $1 million can buy $100 MILLION in debt!

And here’s the punch line: Once this debt is in their possession, it’s abolished as a gift from RIP to the patient. No strings attached. A gift made possible by complete strangers. People, bailing out people.

It’s a simple, powerful solution to an incredible problem. Check them out at RIPMedicalDebt.org.

The problem is challenging and enduring – and to listen to John Denniston, it also just may present the perfect opportunity to both do good and do well.

It’s called the Yield Gap – the difference in agriculture yield from farms in developed countries – which are more efficient and deliver more food per acre – vs. emerging countries, which are, of course, the very places where food is most needed.

And that gap is part of the reason why Denniston, whose career has included investing in green tech and more as a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as heading Tech Investment Banking in the Western U.S. at SalomonSmithBarney, launched Shared X – which he describes as a for-profit agriculture impact company with two key goals: Generating financial returns and generating social returns.

But for this longtime investor, the aha moment that led to Shared X came not through number crunching – though he does plenty of that – but rather on a trip with his kids. What did he realize on that family vacation that changed their outlook and their lives? That’s what we discussed…

I’m Chris Riback. This is my new podcast that focuses on important, difficult, but addressable part of health care in America – Medical Debt.

This launch episode is sponsored by RIP Medical Debt, and before I get to my conversation with two researchers who are looking to document – for the first time – the impact that resolving medical debt can have on people’s lives, I want to tell you about the incredible work being done by RIP Medical Debt:

RIP Medical Debt locates, buys and forgives medical debt on behalf of individual donors, philanthropists and organizations who provide financial relief for people burdened by unpaid and unpayable medical bills.

Here’s part of what makes RIP so interesting – and so good at what they do: They were founded in 2014 by two former collections industry executives. Despite working for decades in health and debt collections, they had no idea of how many Americans shoulder the burden of unpaid medical debt — and the enormity of that debt. They wanted to help.

Funded by the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations, RIP seeks out distressed medical debt in the collections industry and the community of medical providers, including hospitals and medical practices. RIP offers to buy this debt for pennies on the dollar, which is how RIP can make such a significant impact. The average ratio is 1 to 100. That means A donation of $50 can buy as much as $5,000 in medical debt, and $1 million can buy $100 MILLION in debt!

And here’s the punch line: Once this debt is in their possession, it’s abolished as a gift from RIP to the patient. No strings attached. A gift made possible by complete strangers. People, bailing out people.

It’s a simple, powerful solution to an incredible problem. Check them out at RIPMedicalDebt.com.

Now to our conversation:

As you surely know, Congress is actively discussing massive changes to the American health care system – changes that, if nothing else, are expected to vastly increase Americans’ level of medical debt: In other words, real health costs the people take on and simply can’t afford.

• Even today: Some 43 million American adults (one in five) have delinquent medical debt on their credit reports. • For 15 million, medical debt is the only debt shown in their credit reports. • Medical debt contributes to more than 60 percent of the bankruptcies in America.

In the face of this massive and growing problem, four university researchers have launched a first-of-its-kind economic impact study of medical debt forgiveness – in what tangible ways does forgiving medical debt affect people’s lives?

The researchers come from the economics and public policy departments of UCLA, University of Chicago, MIT, and UC/Berkeley, and I spoke with two of them:

Wes Yin is an associate professor in the Department of Public Policy and the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, and is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Economic Policy at the Department of Treasury, and as a Senior Economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Ray Kluender is another of the four researchers. He is Doctoral Student in Economics, MIT.

Yin and Kluender joined me recently from opposite coasts to discuss medical debt, their study, and the difference they hope to make in people’s lives.

It’s a question that any executive or wannabe executive asks: What defines great leadership? Are great leaders born – or can the skills be learned? And how does strong leadership get connected to successful business outcomes?

To learn more, I spoke with someone who not only spends much of his time thinking about leadership, he also writes and talks about it – and most importantly, has spent much of his life doing it.

Ron Williams is the former Chairman and CEO of Aetna. When he joined Aetna in 2001, its loss from continuing operations was $292 million, with earnings per share loss of $0.46. By the time Williams left in 2011, the company’s full-year operating earnings were $2 billion, with operating earnings per share of $5.17. During his tenure, Aetna was named FORTUNE's most admired company in the Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care category for three consecutive years.

Since Aetna, Williams has continued to help drive leadership in business, including in private equity. He as served as Operating Advisor to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, where he is chairman of CD&R's portfolio company, agilon health, and successfully guided two other CD&R portfolio company exits.

His influence and experience doesn’t end there: Williams is a Director of American Express, The Boeing Company, Johnson & Johnson, Envision Healthcare and is a member of Deutsche Bank’s Americas Advisory Board. He also served on President Obama’s President’s Management Advisory Board from 2011 to 2017, where he worked to bring the best of business practices to the management and operation of the federal government.

As you can tell, Williams is motivated by leadership – why it matters, what it looks like, what it can do to improve business and, frankly, society.

For many Americans, a central reason that the inequality gap may be getting worse can be summed up in one word: Jobs.

Job openings have been increasing. And yet as we all know – perhaps personally, perhaps from the news, and definitely from the most recent U.S. election –employment prospects for workers left behind by the current economic expansion seem increasingly dim.

Now, there are many causes for this trend, many of which come under fierce debate. One is the skills gap.

As LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said recently: “Is there a skill gap, is there not a skill gap? I think when you think about it in the aggregate across the United States, you can debate it. But unquestionably, at the local level, there are skills gaps. There are cities that are hiring, they're hiring quickly. They've got fast-growing industries and they don't have the talent with the requisite skills to take on those roles.”

Jake Schwartz is trying to do something about it.

Jake is CEO of General Assembly, a pioneer in education and career transformation, specializing in today’s most in-demand skills. Specifically, General Assembly bridges the gap between job seekers and companies needing talent with relevant skills. In just about 6 years, they’ve opened 20 campuses on four continents, with more than 35,000 graduates.

When Jake and I talked, I wanted to start with the central question: the global skills gap.

Interactive Health CEO Cathy Kenworthy recently joined Steve Grzanich on WGN's Opening Bell to discuss why workplace wellness matters and how a well-run program should work.

You may not be aware, but one of the most prominent and important players in the workplace wellness space is the American Heart Association.

The reasons are simple. As the AHA itself says: “Despite spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world, America’s health lags behind other peer nations.” And as they add: “This isn’t just a medical and public health crisis, it is also an economic crisis.”

To help advance change, the American Heart Association has gotten active. They launched the AHA CEO Roundtable, more than 20 CEOs from some of America’s largest companies joining to help promote evidence-based approaches to workplace health. They created the Workplace Health Playbook, an outline of actionable advice to help employers and employees better understand what works in workplace health.

To learn more about the AHA efforts – the challenges of encouraging people to better focus on health in the workplace and the opportunities that can come from even small success – I spoke with Chris Calitz, Director of the AHA’s Center for Workplace Health Research and Evaluation.

This is special edition of Working Capital Conversations.

Sadly, there is no shortage of work these days for global human rights abuse investigators.

From Syria to Yemen to Sudan and beyond, the horrible ways in which humans torture, starve, and kill other humans seems unending. We all condemn the horrors, but most of us find ourselves with little opportunity to do anything directly.

Today I’m talking with someone who does.

Alexa Koenig is Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, a 2015 winner of a prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. As Koenig describes, the Center is “a research organization that brings the tools of science and law together to address some of the world’s most pressing human rights issues.”

How much impact has the group already made? The Center has led investigations and research in more than a dozen countries, including Iraq, Rwanda, Uganda, and the former Yugoslavia. It also has launched what it calls the Human Rights Investigations Lab.

But unlike frontline and onsite human rights workers, these students do the bulk of their work from an undersized space on the UC Berkeley campus. So how does the Human Rights Center chase global perpetrators while sometimes never setting foot in the offending and offensive locations?

As I learned in my conversation with Alexa: Welcome to the power of the Internet.

By the way, if you are moved by the conversation and want to support the Human Rights Center, there’s a link embedded in the text introduction to this podcast. You also can go to hrc.berkeley.edu.

The role and importance of global investing continues to grow – and get more complicated. At the same time that globalization trends, cross-border transactions and supply chains, technology and more have flattened the world and extended the range and importance of investing, new counter trends of protectionism and nationalism may be changing the game.

The need for understanding, education, and heightened capability around global investing skills arguably has never been higher.

What are these skills? Which trends will be most important as we consider the next generation of global investing?

Kevin Burke is managing director of the Notre Dame Institute of Global Investing at the University’s Mendoza College of Business. In fact, he’s the Institute’s first managing director; Burke is spearheading the launch of this important effort within one of the world’s leading universities to create a first-class research and education facility that, among its many goals, seeks to help integrate graduates into leadership roles within the competitive global investment markets.

Cathy Kenworthy joins Steve Bertrand on the WGN Wintrust Business Lunch (Jan. 31, 2017)

Be honest – when you think about Corporate Social Responsibility, what comes to mind? Colleagues taking an afternoon off to build a house or paint a schoolyard? Perhaps, a fundraiser to send money across the world for an emerging environmental concern?

Well, if you haven’t been paying attention, a massive transition has occurred in corporate social responsibility, or CSR.

CSR is now more about hands on, deeply embedded activity that not only delivers direct benefit to the city or country where corporate employees and leaders visit, but also measurable benefit accruing back to the business itself. When done right, CSR has moved from a nice to have – a highlight in the annual report – to a concrete business opportunity generator.

• Why has this transition occurred? • How does this new approach work? • And specifically, how do businesses themselves benefit?

One person to ask is a fellow who helps companies do it every day. Paul Benson is Senior Corporate Partnerships Development Manager at Voluntary Service Overseas. VSO works with corporations and volunteers globally to actively support and affect Sustainable Development Goals. Since 1958, VSO has engaged over 43,000 volunteers to work on international development programs in more than 120 countries.

If you think you’re not familiar with Dr. Brian Wansink – or wonder how he has impacted the way America approaches healthy eating – I have four words for you:

Hundred Calorie snack packs.

Yes, compiling and presenting the data that helped food makers understand that they could help folks consume healthier portions while simultaneously growing their business is just one of myriad contributions Wansink has made to healthy eating globally.

Wansink is the highly-energized, always-engaging John Dyson Professor of Marketing in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. He is also Director of the iconic Cornell University Food and Brand Lab

The Food and Brand Lab is one of its kind: Established to change how food is purchased, prepared, and consumed. They use new tools of behavioral science to invent healthy eating solutions for consumers, companies, and communities.

Today, of course, we will focus on companies: • What can America’s workplaces do to help employees eat and stay healthy? • And does taking action help more than an employee’s waistline? Can it also help a company’s bottom line?

Many answers come not only from Food & Brand Lab research, but also from Dr. Wansink’s book: "Slim By Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life."

So many of the new technologies start the same way – publishers and developers, advertisers and hardware makers trying to figure out who leads? From streaming video to cloud storage and beyond, finding ways for key players to work together can often mean the difference of success or failure for an entire industry.

It’s no different for virtual reality.

According to SuperData Research, a leading provider of games and interactive media intelligence, VR should become a $30.5 billion in the next 5 years. But getting there is far from guaranteed and anything but simple.

What will it take? For one, SuperData is putting together what they call a VR Data Network, to provide “major virtual reality companies the ability to collaborate on insights projects and sizing efforts to verify the scope and trajectory of the market.”

This will mean data on unit sales, software, performance, as well as consumer sentiment and behaviors.

How will it work? Why is the time right now? And what lessons can the VR market learn from technologies that came before it?

Those were just some of I discussed with Stephanie Llamas is Director of Research and Consumer Insights and Head of VR+AR strategy at SuperData.

You’ve seen them nearly everywhere – from Soul Cycle to Flywheel to Equinox and beyond. Boutique fitness outfits that might seem, at first glance, to be engaging, if not mildly costly places to get or stay in shape.

And if that’s how you see them, you’re only half right. The part you’re missing – Big fitness is also big business.

In fact, Health, wellness and fitness, as the sector is called, is now estimated to be $3.4 trillion global industry. And as you’d expect, that has attracted the full range of financial players: From private equity to big banks, entrepreneurs to seasoned managers.

So while fitness has been around for decades, how did this industry experience exponential growth in just the last one? What are the trends – social, fashion, even status – behind the movement? Are they sustainable?

Jason Kelly is the person to ask. Jason is Bloomberg’s New York Bureau Chief. His first book was “The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything,” but his most recent one explores, as he puts it, “an entire economy… in apparel, gear, and entry fees” that has formed around people’s “pursuit of wellness.” His book is “Sweat Equity: Inside the New Economy of Mind and Body.”

You see them nearly everywhere – from Soul Cycle to Flywheel to Equinox and beyond. Boutique fitness outfits that seem to be engaging – and challenging – places to get or stay in shape.

But could they also be part of a well-run workplace wellness program? Indeed, is there a connection between the rise of interest wellness in the workplace and the growth of the health and fitness sector overall?

Jason Kelly is the person to ask. Jason is Bloomberg’s New York Bureau Chief. His new book is “Sweat Equity: Inside the New Economy of Mind and Body." It explores, as he puts it, “an entire economy… in apparel, gear, and entry fees” that has formed around people’s “pursuit of wellness.”

We frequently hear that Virtual Reality is the next big thing. From immersive storytelling to shopping and product demos to the ability to engage and stir emotions, VR is on everyone’s digital radar.

But like any other new technology, there’s promise and then there’s reality. VR very well might be the next big thing, but as with any big things, there will be winners and losers. So to be the former and not the latter, what do you have to know?

The Interactive Advertising Bureau and its Mobile Marketing and Digital Video Centers of Excellence recently released a new report “Is Virtual the New Reality?: A Market Snapshot of VR Publishing and Monetization.”

They talked with two dozen leading voices in advertising, publishing, VR software, and developer platforms to learn the key takeaways, key lessons, and future plans in the emerging VR field.

Among the questions: • What are VR’s Strengths and Opportunities? • What are the Weaknesses and Threats? • How is Success Measured? • And what do VR Experts Predict for the Next 24 Months?

To find out, we tracked down one of the authors.

Eric John is Senior Director, Mobile at IAB. He is also co-author of the new report: “Is Virtual the New Reality: A Market Snapshot of VR Publishing and Monetization.”

It’s no secret that corporate boards have increasingly come under increased scrutiny. And for good reason. From corporate scandal to CEO compensation, from cyber security to risk, investors and the general public want to know who’s in charge – and who’s keeping an eye on management.

And with this scrutiny, the makeup of corporate boards is slowly shifting, too – away from clubby groups and towards a collection of experts -- finance, human resources, law, and more.

But what about Investor Relations? As new board level issues emerge from seemingly endless directions – and as investors demand more answer more quickly – should boards more strongly consider adding the IR perspective?

Bob Ferris certainly argues they should.

Ferris is an investor relations and crisis counselor expert, with more than four decades of experience with both domestic and foreign issuers. He’s also a former chairman of National Investor Relations Institute’s Senior Roundtable.

Several significant questions around buyout funds and managers have often included:

1) How do buyout funds compare – not just to each other – but to the public markets? 2) Can LPs properly judge GPs based on performance quartiles? 3) How can we properly measure the capital risk of buyout funds?

New research from Peracs’ Oliver Gottschalg sheds light on all of these questions and more.

Dr. Gottschalg is Head of Research at Peracs, a specialized advisory firm providing advanced private equity fund due diligence and benchmarking services. He also is part of the Strategy Department at the HEC School of Management in Paris; he serves as HEC’s Academic Dean for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program.

Warren Buffett once said on CNBC: “The world—there's always uncertainty. Now the question is, what do you do with your money?”

Buffett may have been talking about public markets – even personal – investing. But even on the institutional side, given that we are continually surrounded by uncertainty and given that stuffing cash under a mattress – while relatively certain – carries no financial return, how should today’s institutional investors think about uncertainty?

More specifically, is there a way to consider uncertainty –use it as an investing philosophy – to drive outsized returns?

And if so, where can we turn for a guide?

It turns out there is a small group of long-horizon end investors who consistently perform well in private markets. Their superior performance in this area of investing has contributed heavily to their overall superior long-term performance.

That group is endowments.

And if investing into uncertainty feels like a potentially uncomfortable approach, it’s also one that Daniel Feder has discussed, practiced, and succeeded with for years.

Feder is the Managing Director of Private Markets at the Washington University Investment Management Company. That’s the group that runs the endowment for Washington University in St. Louis. Previously Feder served as Managing Director of Private Markets for the Sequoia Capital Heritage Fund, an endowment-style investment fund sponsored by Sequoia Capital. He also served as Senior Investment Manager in the endowment services area at TIAA-CREF, and Managing Director at Princeton University Investment Company, the investment office for Princeton University’s endowment, where Dan led the development of a $4.0 billion global private equity and venture capital portfolio.

It often feels like the continual trade off for any consumer product – the balance between maximizing customer experience vs. driving product revenue.

We’re often told they’re they same: Optimize your customer experience and the revenue will follow. But is that truly the case – Especially in the mobile digital app world, where the game or the app is the thing, but internal advertisements and upsells drive the business viability?

Getting that balance right becomes even trickier, of course, when you consider the continual maturing and benefits of Big Data. Given the granular information we can learn about users – and then target sell via ads or other placements: • How should developers think about the tension between maximizing transactions and continual upsell vs. the need for design and experiential elegance? • How do you know where those curves cross? • And in case of a tie, which side wins?

Dr. Niraj Dawar is a professor in marketing at the Ivey Business School in Ontario, Canada. He has held posts literally around the world – France, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Michigan. He is author of the book “TILT: Shifting your Strategy from Products to Customers, as well as the recent Harvard Business Review article: “Use Big Data to Create Value for Customers, Not Just Target Them.”

It’s hardly controversial to say that innovation remains one of the most important – and, perhaps, most misunderstood – concepts in business. Companies large and small bend over backwards to innovate – both in fact and in self-description. And for good reason:

Successful innovation is key to gaining market share, driving profit, blocking competitors and upstarts, as well as generating shareholder value. Innovation becomes even more important for firms to capture and master in a slow growth environment.

The challenge: Many business leaders and strategists feel that innovation relies disproportionately on serendipity or fortunate happenstance. Put simply: Innovation comes to the lucky.

But luck doesn’t scale. And there’s no formula to take data and algorithms and analytics and drive innovation in a sustainable, scalable way.

Or is there?

Dr. Thomas Fink is founder and a fellow at the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the London Institute, the UK's first private institute for theoretical research. He is also a physicist at the Curie Institute/CNRS. Martin Reeves is a Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner and Managing Director, and Global Head of the BCG Henderson Institute, BCG's vehicle for exploring new ideas in business and research on topic of corporate exploration. Reeves is also co-author of the award winning management book Your Strategy Needs a Strategy.

Reeves and Fink are working at the intersection of science and business, applying math to the question of “Strategy Versus Serendipity.” They’re answering the question: “Is there a formula that businesses can apply to increase their probability for successful business innovation?” with something they call “information-enabled innovation.”

It goes without saying that, from wellness programs to health plan design and beyond, nearly every U.S. company seeks new, effective ways to attack rising health care costs while also helping drive improved employee health. And to find ways to do both simultaneously? Any business would say: Tell me more.

OK, here’s more.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – the CDC – is partnering with businesses, health insurance plans and doctors to help tackle costs and improve health. One program: The 6/18 Initiative. This effort helps businesses targeting six common and costly health conditions and offers 18 proven specific interventions that formed the starting point of discussions with purchasers, payers, and providers.

• What should businesses do? • How can employees gain real and actionable health benefits? • Is reducing health costs while improving employee wellness truly a reachable combination?

Dr. Laura Seeff is Director of the Office of Health Systems Collaboration in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of the Associate Director for Policy -- helping maximize CDC’s collaboration between public health and the health care sector. Her group runs the 6/18 Program, working to find the sustainable options that often mean a coordinated effort among employers, health insurance plans, doctors and more.

How much money would your employer need to offer you to lose weight? Would money work? Or might other methods help you change your eating behaviors and take on a healthier lifestyle?

The question of incentives is often central in any workplace wellness program. How much is the right amount? How should the incentives be structured? What works best – carrot, stick or a little of both?

Finding the right formula can become a challenging combination of behavioral economics, health planning, and just plain human psychology.

Which is why we talked with Dr. Mitesh Patel.

Dr. Patel is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s also a Staff Physician at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and a faculty member at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation.

Among other areas, Dr. Patel focuses on leveraging “concepts from behavioral economics to design connected health approaches to improve individual health behaviors.” He has co-authored at least two reports this year on incentives and workplace wellness.

As Peracs’ Oliver Gottschalg has noted, “The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association recently reported that GPs raised just $676 million in Latin America during the first quarter of 2016, a decline of 56%, year-over-year. As this large and diverse investment market becomes increasingly volatile, LPs struggle to find a meaningful benchmark to identify strong emerging market players and rank them against their peers.”

That’s because the majority of private equity benchmarks are less than perfect for many reasons.

• Why are these benchmarks less than ideal? • How much does that matter? • And, most importantly, what should an LP – or even a GP – looking at the Emerging Markets do going forward?

One person who has not just a point of view, but also the data is Dr. Oliver Gottschalg. Dr. Gottschalg is Head of Research at Peracs, a specialized advisory firm providing advanced private equity fund due diligence and benchmarking services. He also is part of the Strategy Department at the HEC School of Management in Paris; he serves as HEC’s Academic Dean for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program.

We know that exploration matters. As children, we naturally explore the world though trial and error, preparing ourselves for the future. It’s how we learn to live. As adults, we celebrate the explorers – from deep space to deep seas, from business innovation to science. Explorers’ energy and sheer bravery have improved the way we live in ways big and small.

Yet despite this drive to live and celebrate, most of us at some point stop exploring. Some earlier, some later. Instead, our focus turns to exploiting our knowledge, applying what we have learned.

But as we exploit the knowledge from our previous discoveries, how should we balance that action with generating our next big ideas? How do we know how much weight to give each side of the equation?

Put simply: As societies, companies and individuals, how should we consider the importance and challenge of continuing to explore?

Few have made the art and science of exploration more central to their personality and accomplishments than Anousheh Ansari. As an entrepreneur, Ansari is co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems, the technology and software leader helping make the “connected home” a reality and empowering the Internet of Things. She also sits on the board of the XPRIZE and helped fund the Ansari XPRIZE, the $10 million competition that challenged teams to build a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship capable of carrying three people 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface twice within two weeks. The prize was awarded in 2004 and a new private space industry was launched. Ansari is also a true explorer in her own right – the first Iranian woman in space, the fourth overall self-funded space traveler, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station.

Martin Reeves is a Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner and Managing Director, and Global Head of the BCG Henderson Institute, BCG's vehicle for exploring new ideas in business and research on topic of corporate exploration. Reeves is also co-author of the award winning management book Your Strategy Needs a Strategy.

Usually when we consider workplace wellness programs, we think of the activities – biometric screenings, proper eating, staying active – that through plan design and an organized approach can help employees either stay or get healthy – reducing their disease risk and increasing their productivity and quality of life.

But what about in helping address the most common cancer in women worldwide and second leading cause of cancer death in American women, exceeded only by lung cancer? What about breast cancer?

• What role can wellness programs play in either breast cancer prevention or with the recovery stage? • How active should workplaces be? • And what obstacles might prevent such action?

Dr. Marc Hurlbert is Chief Mission Officer of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, overseeing the foundation's global research grants program and a nearly $50 million annual research-granting budget. Marc previously helped launch the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, and has served as the Chairman of the Board of the International Cancer Research Partnership, the Health Research Alliance and is also the former chairman of the Cancer Committee Advisory Board for the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The premise behind any business partnership seems obvious: Build a structure and set of rules around performance and profits that not only create agreed upon fairness, but more importantly, position the partnership for long-term success.

That seems simple enough. But a new study indicates that many private equity partnerships have institutionalized economic gaps – intergenerational conflicts around who gets how much of the profits – that not only threaten their own stability, but also may raise serious questions for global managers who invest in them.

Why does this gap exist? How real is the problem? And what lessons might exist for other types of business partnerships?

Dr. Josh Lerner is Chair of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit and the Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School. He also serves as Vice-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Investing and Director of the Private Capital Research Institute, a nonprofit devoted to encouraging access to data and research about venture capital and private equity. Lerner was named one of the 100 most influential people in private equity over the past decade and one of the ten most influential academics in the institutional investing world. His latest paper is “Pay Now or Pay Later?: The Economics within the Private Equity Partnership”

From our local soccer fields to store shelves to NFL stadiums every October, we see the pink, and we know what it stands for. We all also, seemingly, know someone who has suffered from the disease. But what about a cure? Once you get beyond pink, what is the right best path to help put an end to breast cancer – the most common cancer in women worldwide and second leading cause of cancer death in American women, exceeded only by lung cancer?

Talk to many people who dedicate their lives to finding a cure, and the answer you’ll hear most often: Research.

• So where are we with global scientific research into breast cancer – its causes and cures? • Which latest findings offer the best hopes, biggest surprises, most frustrating obstacles? • How can the research go faster – find hidden clues more quickly? • If science is the key to a cure, what steps can we all take to help researchers open the lock?

Dr. Marc Hurlbert is Chief Mission Officer of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, overseeing the foundation's global research grants program and a nearly $50 million annual research-granting budget. Marc previously helped launch the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, and has served as the Chairman of the Board of the International Cancer Research Partnership, the Health Research Alliance and is also the former chairman of the Cancer Committee Advisory Board for the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The math would seem to be simple: Top quartile means someone or something ranks in the top 25 percent of a defined group. So how can some 75 percent of private equity firms truthfully claim top quartile status?

Is IRR the right measure? Perhaps more importantly, are there skills – implementation skills – that a consistent, highly-functioning PE firm needs to demonstrate and perfect to consistently reach elevated status?

Today we continue our conversation on proper measurement of private equity performance with Dr. Oliver Gottschalg.

Dr. Gottschalg is Head of Research at Peracs, a specialized advisory firm providing advanced private equity fund due diligence and benchmarking services. He also is part of the Strategy Department at HEC School of Management in Paris; serves as HEC’s Academic Director for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program; Director of the Entrepreneurship Track in the HEC MBA program; and he directs the HEC Buyout Research Group.

It’s an obvious question for any LP or investor: How can I consistently team up only with GPs who will outperform the market? How do I maximize Alpha?

While it’s clearly fantasy to always get that right, thoughtful investors relentlessly seek access to the best data and most thorough analysis – trying to determine what attributes from past performance are reasonable to apply to the future?

And it’s not just small or midsize investors who wonder this? It’s some of the biggest in the world, including CalPERS, which manages the largest U.S. public pension fund. CalPERS recently asked its GPs for carried interest data, which subsequently raised a global debate around incentive fees and a straightforward question: Is Private Equity worth the money?

One person who studies the data – continually reviewing a range of inputs to create unique and headline-making analysis – is Dr. Oliver Gottschalg. Dr. Gottschalg is Head of Research at Peracs, a specialized advisory firm providing advanced private equity fund due diligence and benchmarking services. He also is part of the Strategy Department at the HEC School of Management in Paris; he serves as HEC’s Academic Dean for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program.

The idea behind any workplace wellness program is fairly straightforward: Help employees gain the information, insights, and tools they need to live healthier lives – improving what they do at the office with colleagues and extending what they do at home with their families.

So how do you know when these programs work?

It’s not a trivial question. From health advocates to CFOs, from ROI to healthy outcomes, questions around the effectiveness of workplace wellness programs remain active. And like so much else in business today, it often comes down to measurement.

But how, exactly, should employers measure the impact of their wellness programs?

In an age of growing concern around data privacy, how can firms properly collect just the information they need – and should have?

And are outcomes all that matter? Or are there other important areas to consider?

Dr. Michael O’Donnell is Director of the Health Management Research Center in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan. Not only has Dr. O’Donnell managed health promotion efforts in four major health systems, but he has helped more than 100 additional employers, health care organizations, government agencies, foundations, insurance companies, and health promotion providers refine existing programs – and develop new ones. He is Founder, President, and Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Private equity, of course, is a core part of most large institutional investors’ portfolios. How core?

As of last year, some 90% of large U.S. public pension funds maintained allocations to private equity – an investment amount that totalled nearly 10% of all U.S. pension assets. In fact, for some global endowments, public pension systems and sovereign wealth funds around the world, the dollar-weighted average proportion of total AUM invested in private equity had increased from 6% to 12% in just the previous two years.

But while private equity continues to grow as an asset class, many LPs seek new strategies, moving beyond the traditional fund investments, including co-investments, co-sponsorships, and even direct investments – bypassing the PE firms completely.

Within this evolution of investment opportunities, a new approach has quietly been gaining traction. It’s called Solution Capital -- highly customised transactions tailored for sellers who want to keep a substantial minority interest in the business being sold.

How does Solution Capital work? Why would a seller consider this route? What’s its probability for success?

Nate Sleeper is a Partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. He has led or participated in dozens of these investments across a range of sectors – including one that recently hit wires in an announced $1.5-plus billion sale.

You know the line from the old Sam Cooke song: “Don't know much biology?” Well, if you’re looking for strategy to survive in business today, you might want to learn about it. Quickly.

A recent Harvard Business Review piece laid out the case. It’s titled “The Biology of Corporate Survival.” Numbers explain why it matters:

After reviewing the histories of more than 30,000 U.S. public firms over 50 years, the authors found that “Businesses are disappearing faster than ever before.” • Corporations have a one in three chance of being delisted in the next five years, because of bankruptcy, liquidation, M&A, and more -- six times the rate from 40 years ago. • In fact, corporations die, on average, at a younger age than their employees.

So what’s a corporation to do to survive? And what’s biology got to do with it?

Dr. Simon Levin is the George M. Moffett Professor of Biology at Princeton University. He is also a 2016 winner of the National Medal of Science, our nation's highest scientific honor. Martin Reeves is a Boston Consulting Group Senior Partner and Managing Director, and Global Head of the BCG Henderson Institute. He is also co-author of the award winning management book Your Strategy Needs a Strategy.

Reeves and Levin researched “the intersection of business strategy, biology, and complex systems focusing on what makes such systems—from tropical forests to stock markets to companies themselves—robust.”

Their conclusion: “Companies are identical to biological species in an important respect… and the principles that confer robustness in these systems, whether natural or manmade, are directly applicable to business.”

As we approach the depths of the Christmas buying season, today we head straight to the core of holiday spirit: e-commerce and online shopping.

Chances are, if you’re shopping this season – or, really, any day of the year – you do some, if not all of it, online. Few industries are bigger than e-commerce, with online sales expected to break $400 billion within three years.

And as the sector grows, new players – and new models – will challenge the longtime leaders. One of those newcomers – one with an incredible amount of momentum behind it – is Jet.

Jet has grabbed lots of headlines since its July launch: Some for its recent new round of funding that put its valuation at the magical $1B mark. Some for its innovative business model, which we’ll get into. But also some attention for a quick retreat off one of the key parts of that business model – its membership fee.

So where does Jet stand? What are they doing right – and, like any new business, what needs to change quickly? And what’s it like competing in a massive and growing space – but one that already includes massive and growing players like Amazon and Wal-Mart?

Liza Landsman is Jet’s Chief Customer Officer.

U.S. employers face complex challenges in today’s workplace ranging from the $263 billion economic burden of worker injuries and illnesses to a rapidly changing workforce and the costly consequences of work-related stress and chronic disease management.

In 2013 alone, 4 million new nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses and more than 4,000 deaths from work-related injuries were reported. Additional business challenges: • Temporary or contingent workers’ safety and health risks; • An aging workforce; • Work-related stress; and • Chronic conditions caused or worsened in the workplace

What science based solutions – innovative employer strategies – exist for businesses to address emerging safety and health issues?

Dr. L. Casey Chosewood is Director of the U.S. CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office for Total Worker Health.

Are there lessons in personal investing that can be learned from the successes and failures hedge fund activity.

Victor Haghani grew up in the fast lane of finance. Before teaching at the London School of Economics, Haghani was a managing director at Salomon Brothers famous bond arbitrage group. He then became a founding partner of Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund that collapsed in 1998 following the Russian default. It was one of the largest Wall Street collapses in history, eclipsed obviously by events a decade later.

Today Haghani runs an active index investment fund called Elm Partners. How does their strategy reflect lessons from his hedge fund days – in terms of risk, leverage, shorts, even diversification?

Moreover, given today’s geopolitical realities, what regional and asset strategies does Haghani apply?

The promise of online education is clear: The highest standards, deepest standards, and immediately actionable information – all with the convenience and power of digital connection and global reach.

Done right, these education platforms have the potential not only to transform how people learn, but perhaps more importantly who can learn. The democratization of access and information stands as one of the most powerful opportunities of the Internet Age.

But executing these goals – at the MBA and executive MBA levels – is obviously easier said than done. To turn vision to reality means delivering flawlessly in two key areas: Curriculum and faculty.

How does that get done?

Two people who know first hand are Craig Clawson and Michael Zeliff. Clawson earned his MBA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He has held senior roles with Duke Corporate Education and the Corporate Executive Board. Today he is Dean Of Curriculum at the Jack Welch Management Institute. Zeliff holds a PH.D in Marketing from the George Washington University. He has served as Chief Strategy officer at JWT Inside and Chief Marketing Officer for the United States Marine Corps, among other roles. He is Dean Of Faculty at the Jack Welch Management Institute.

It’s a question that educators at every level – from the earliest pre-school to the most advanced PhD – have debated: How do you make education matter?

For today’s business schools, the question is more urgent than ever. In a world where businesses are regularly started in garages by high school students – and for that matter, college dropouts – what can our MBA and Executive Education programs offer that helps students become better businesspeople. Indeed, what does it mean to become a better businessperson, when we live in a time where what often matters is less “what you know” and more “what can you do?”

One person who sits at this intersection of action and teaching is Jeff Brooks. His so-called “day job” is as a finance executive at Proctor and Gamble, where he has served as the Divisional CFO of two separate multi-billion dollar divisions and held operational roles in three continents. Brooks also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Jack Welch Management Institute teaching Finance and Accounting to MBA students.

Frequently in business, we hear about the cost of environmental improvements – how they may change requirements in building, plant and equipment, raise expenses, and ultimately, increase consumer prices as the added investment costs get passed to you and me.

But what about the money to be made? Increasingly, to borrow a phrase, the economics of environmental improvement strategies can mean good things to smart investors. The so-called “clean environment” sector is now a well-defined, if not potentially rich opportunity for the smart investor.

So what does this sector look like? What areas within the sector are investment ready – and present sustainable investment opportunities – as opposed to simply green fads? And when we think about innovation in the environment, can private investment spur public action – or is it the reverse?

Few have been more active in defining, solving, and investing in environmental improvement strategies than Carter Bales, Chairman & Managing Partner, NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm investing in the Environmental Opportunities sector primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Bales previously served at McKinsey, where he founded several of their practices, including environmental management. He helped prepare their 2007 report: “Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?,” and he’s co-author of the Foreign Affairs piece “Containing Climate Change.” Bales serves on the boards of multiple leading environmental organizations, including The Center for Market Innovation at the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Nature Conservancy.

As summer comes to a close, our attention naturally shifts from beaches and mountain retreats to our other vast spaces of reflection and spiritual, if not intellectual, enrichment: Our nation’s great universities. Yes, school’s back, a time when our nation’s youth naturally turn to the three great academic traditions: Football, parties, and Shakespeare.

Ok, maybe only one is actually an academic tradition, but that's the one we focus on today. For those taking kids to college — or any of us who remember the speeches our parents gave — we know the mantra: Study hard now if you want to be successful later.

Which raises a natural question: Is that true? As we live our lives in the corporate or entrepreneurial world, which lessons matter now? Most specifically: What can the Letters and Arts that we learned in college yesterday — from History to Philosophy, Literature to Poli Sci —teach us about being successful in business today? Can the Arts help explain a very current question: why do we work?

Few are more qualified to speak to the topic than John McGreevy, the I.A. O'Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at the University of Notre Dame. McGreevy teaches courses in American political history and American religious history, as well as the graduate reading course on the twentieth century United States. He has received numerous fellowships, written many dozens of articles and reviews, and published two books with another on the way.

There is perhaps no place in the world more emblematic of American black culture than New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. And within this area, there may be no more important research center than the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

As part of the New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center is world-renowned — a globally-recognized authority on the history and culture of people of African descent. Locally, the Schomburg Center’s role is just as key — a point of pride, prestige, culture and education in a thriving, growing community — a place for professors, researchers, students and their families to learn.

The problem is, this monument to black culture has fallen in disrepair. Budget limits wouldn’t allow improvements: Improvements like the proper way to preserve invaluable archives; technology advancements; even a proper façade.

With the New York Public Library budget stretched, how could the Schomburg Center acquire the needed financing? This globally-famous institution got some creative help from Citi, a global bank looking to make a local difference, which leveraged a federal tax program. How did they do it?

Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Ph. D is the Director at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Gina Nisbeth is the Director of Citi Community Capital.

Americans’ interest in energy efficiency can be seen in the numbers: The vast majority of us believe in it. In one recent national poll: 87 percent said renewable energy is important to the country's future. In another, 57 percent said the best way to solve our nation’s energy issues was conservation.

However, one of the hardest places to implement a clean energy lifestyle just may be the place where most of us spend most of our time: Our homes. And one of the biggest reasons may also be among the hardest to solve: Cost.

While we know that clean energy solutions will save us money in utility bills over the long run, the initial short-term investments stop many from making the necessary infrastructure changes.

But a new partnership is actively attacking this public policy problem, and the place they’re doing it just may surprise you: The private markets.

The partnership is called WHEEL: Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans. It’s a combination of non-profits, state leaders and agencies, national associations, a specialist in innovative renewable energy financing and even one of the world’s largest banks.

The group started by leveraging public funds with private capital to provide loans that help home owners invest in energy efficiency changes. And now, new headlines that should allow the program to truly scale and help a wider number of home owners reach their energy efficiency dreams: The recent announcement of the creation of the first-ever secondary market for these loans.

How does it work? Colin Bishopp, Vice President at Renew Financial and Bruce Schlein, Director of Alternative Energy Finance at Citi, explain.

The road to business success is obviously a challenging one — indeed, there’s no proven straight path. Or if you have one, please let us know.

But one path many try to take is to learn from the masters — the successful leaders, entrepreneurs or managers that came before us. If we’re lucky, we find such a mentor in our own company. But what if you can’t? Or, better, what if you could learn from one of the true masters of the craft — former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch?

Odds are, you don’t have his number. But one place that does is the Jack Welch Management Institute. Instead of a traditional MBA, this successful organization delivers qualified participants an online MBA. And while Welch serves as Executive Chairman, they deliver access to other CEOs and instructors and successful business leaders as well. How does it work? Why is this different than a traditional MBA? And does getting admitted also provide you with Welch’s phone number?

Dean Sippel is Chief Executive Officer of the Jack Welch Management Institute.

Wouldn’t life be easier if only getting into college were determined solely by price – who could pay most? Or marriage – love to the highest bidder? Or a new kidney – How much you got to survive?

The ideas seem laughable. Yet we live in an era that celebrates free markets and seems to celebrate the role of pricing in markets. But thanks to a range of factors – some old, like tradition; some new, like smart phones – new markets are popping up everywhere. And they’re not always developed by the traditional free market rules or price dynamics.

So how do and should these new markets work?

That’s what the Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences Alvin Roth set out to define. He explored the dynamics – rules, processes, expectations and more – of matching markets. Roth is Professor of Economics at Stanford, and one of the world’s leading experts in market design and game theory. His newest book describes that market design. It’s called “Who Gets What – and Why?”

The challenge of work/life balance continues confound. Employees insist they want it. Many companies – through flex schedules, job shares, training and more – try to offer it. And yet, so many of us – men and women – feel like we’re just not doing it right.

To make it worse, we then combine that frustration with the ideal that we can – or at least should – have it all. We think we see the alleged examples parading in front of us every day – the so-called superstars who hold down high-powered jobs, work out constantly, volunteer incessantly, love their spouses and kids, and surely in their free time, compose music like Mozart, paint like Monet and cook like Julia Child. You know who they are. We come to believe that to reach that next level – perhaps even to have it all – we only need to lean in a bit harder.

So why doesn’t it happen? Why aren’t we all walking around feeling like we have it all?

Award-winning writer Susie Orman Schnall wanted to find out. So she did the obvious thing: She asked. In a series of interviews with powerful, accomplished, seemingly have-it-all women, she asked their secrets to having it all. And the answers – what these women acknowledged – just might surprise you.

The interview series is called, quite appropriately, The Balance Project, which you can find at susieschnall.com. And now it’s transformed as well into Schnall’s second novel, an engaging, funny and often uncomfortably accurate read called “The Balance Project: A Novel.”

Many of us spent our recent Memorial Day weekend not only welcoming summer and paying respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, but also we kept an eye on Texas and Oklahoma.

You surely know: Devastating tornadoes and storms caused widespread damage and terrible flooding: At least five people died, and more are missing; Houston officials declared an emergency at the highest level of its four-tiered emergency management system; schools and businesses were closed or delayed.

The human toll is terrible and occupies our thoughts and prayer. For survivors – residents and businesses – their next set of prayers just may be to answer the question: Will my insurance cover this? And how will my rates skyrocket now?

Insurance and risk management are central to business and personal well-being – They’re also a very hard to understand. How should risk be measured and analyzed? Given that natural disasters – from Florida to New York to Texas and beyond – regularly and unexpectedly create massive business and personal loss, how can individuals and organizations, private and governmental, make better decisions regarding risk? Indeed, what should the public-private relationship in insurance look like?

Few think about the mechanics, consequences and business of insurance more than Howard Kunreuther. He is Professor of Decision Sciences and Business and Public Policy at the Wharton School, as well as co-director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center. He has served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council and written numerous papers and books – including the landmark “Insurance and Behavioral Economics: Improving Decisions in the Most Misunderstood Industry” – on his long-standing interest in ways that society can better manage low-probability, high-consequence events related to technological and natural hazards.

It's one of the oldest rules in business, if not life: Keep It Simple, Stupid. So why is it so hard to do?

We are, it seems, overwhelmed by complexity – especially in business. Contracts. Fine Print. Procedures. It’s no surprise that nearly every company seems to have it’s own BPU – Business Prevention Unit.

So what if you actually want to get something done. Not just in business, but in your life? What if you want to cut through the morass and red tape… and simplify. How does that get done?

Donald Sull believes he has an answer. Sull is a Senior Lecturer in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management group at the MIT Sloan School of Management. With his co-author, Sull has studied companies and people who make simplicity work.

Turns out, these people don’t live in some magical world, where everything is easy. They create frameworks that simplify the things that are meant to be hard.

And now those frameworks themselves have been simplified for the rest of us in Sull’s book “Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World.”

You know the old game: If you could have dinner with three people from history, whom would you choose?

We won’t cover all the options, but you’ll agree, you could do a lot worse than Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Andy Grove. These technology CEO icons just may have more influence on how we live our lives – how we work, communicate, think, exercise, shop, read, listen to music and even put our kids to bed – than any group you could name (ok, let’s hold the Beatles aside).

Of course, getting these three together was nearly impossible even when they were all alive. But don’t worry, because two leading business school professors, researchers and thinkers have done the next best thing.

It’s hardly an exaggeration that Harvard Business School Professor David Yoffie and MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Michael Cusumano collectively may know more about Gates, Jobs and Grove than anyone else on the planet. They have written books and cases studies, sat on boards, interviewed hundreds of employees, consultants and colleagues. They know or knew all three. And they now have taken that collective knowledge and deep insight and answered the question many of us would ask if we could eat just one meal with Grove, Gates and Jobs: “What should I do to be successful in business?”

Their new book is “Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs.”

We face no shortage of negative news around the financial industry. And within this zone, one the most damning phrases is “financial engineering.” Following the economic crisis – and even before – financial engineering came to symbolize the worst of what a free and active system of capitalism can provide.

But what if financial innovation could help find a cure for cancer? Or help address homelessness? Or send lower-class youth to college?

These efforts represent the other side of financial engineering. And while the negative – the real pain that real people felt and continue to feel – must be addressed and should never be ignored, the incredible innovation that has driven global and local economies for centuries is also fascinating and important.

Andrew Palmer thinks and writes about both sides of this financial innovation coin. He is Business Affairs Editor at the Economist. He is also author of the new book: “Smart Money: How High-Stakes Financial Innovation is Reshaping Our World for the Better.”

At a time when many of the large or publicly-held companies globally are focused relentlessly on how to grow, today we talk about one growth strategy that, at first glance, might not seem closely related: How to sell.

More specifically, Divestments.

It’s no secret that many companies see divestments as a fundamental part of their capital strategy, especially to fund growth. What you may not know is: We now should expect that trend to grow.

How do we know? Ernst & Young recently released a new and important review: It’s 2015 EY Global Corporate Divestment Study. They spoke with more than 800 corporate executives across sectors and around the world. And the headline is clear: More than half of the companies surveyed expect the number of strategic sellers to increase in the next 12 months.

Why is divestment such an important strategy? Which sectors will use it most and why? Most importantly, what defines success?

Paul Hammes is the Ernst and Young Global Divestiture Advisory Services Leader and co-author of the study. He works on carve-outs, tax-free spinoffs, roll-ups, IPOs and more across a range of industries.

How should a CEO behave? Bold? Maybe. Decisive? Probably. But how about humble? Attentive? Accessible?

CEO behavior – or, more accurately, reputation – arguably has never been more important than it is today. With growing social networks and changing social expectations, a CEO’s reputation is trickier to maintain and more central to a company’s bottom line than ever. And we’re only just at the beginning of this trend.

Screen Shot 2015-03-20 at 4.31.38 PMThese are just some of the findings of a new and insightful report titled: “The CEO Reputation Premium: Gaining Advantage in the Engagement Era.” But if the reality that CEO reputation matters is clear, the question remains: How do you do it? At a time when every word, every misstep, every wrong tweet becomes front page news, how does a leader walk the balance of being out there – but not too much and only in the right ways?

To find out, we asked the author.

Leslie Gaines-Ross is Chief Reputation Strategist at Weber Shandwick, the leading global public relations agency, and co-author of the CEO Reputation Premium report. Gaines-Ross is one of the world’s most widely recognized experts on reputation—how they’re built, enhanced and protected. She is the author of a couple of books on CEO reputation, she speaks frequently and globally on the topic; and she finds herself on several Most Influential People and Top Thought leaders lists.

We all know that with the global economy, cross-border transactions have all but erased traditional boundaries. We know what these changes have meant for finance, technology, trade, operations and more.

But what about sustainability? As sustainability has evolved from a nice to have – from a cute addition to the annual report or an easy way to appease angry shareholders – and into a core business strategy central to profitability, how have global realities affected the way businesses consider exactly what sustainability means? In an interconnected world, how do successful businesses address sustainability today?

These are among the questions addressed in a recent MIT Sloan Management Review report. And the answers may surprise you.

“Joining Forces: Collaboration and Leadership for Sustainability” was prepared through a partnership of the MIT Sloan Management Review, the Boston Consulting Group and the United Nations Global Compact.

One of the named authors is Martin Reeves, senior partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group. He also leads the BCG Strategy Institute globally.

It’s called the Sharing Economy – businesses like Uber or Lyft or AirBNB rewriting traditional business models so that people like you and me can compete with major corporations.

Thinking to stay at the Hilton on your next Paris vacation? Why not rent a room – or a condo – from a local Parisien, getting more space at a lower cost. Tired of waiting for a taxi during New York rush hour? Hire a private car, and get alerts telling you once it’s arrived.

But just as the Sharing Economy is changing personal economics, it also impacts big business, with tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and transactions. The newcomers gain billions in valuation and revenue. Major brands create sub-brands to compete.

So what’s it really like inside the Sharing Economy? What does it mean to be a buyer or a seller? Is this a passing fad – the selfie of global business?

Joel Stein wanted to find out. Stein, of course, is a writer, reporter and humorist at Time Magazine. His cover story – “Baby, You Can Drive My Car, and Do My Errands, and Rent My Stuff…” – explores the Sharing Economy and provides answers with the mix of insight and absurdity that Stein has delivered for years

Among the many wonderful areas where science has created new hope and opportunity, baby surrogacy – a woman carrying a child to term for another family – surely ranks among the most fantastic.

But it’s also among the most controversial, as this positive hope also created challenges and concerns, perhaps none better known than the case of Baby M, the first contested surrogacy case in US history. Sure, there was a contract. But there also was a surrogate mother who didn’t want to lose Baby M. What happened then? And what has occurred at the intersection of science, law and the miracle of life since?

Jill Rosenbaum is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Baby M and the Question of Surrogacy.”

Remember the medfly? All bugs are pesky, of course, but the Mediterrean Fruit Fly might have been the peskiest. And a little bit scary. The threat was imminent: A tiny creature was going to ruin California’s agricultural industry.

But the battle of the Medfly soon became a battle over pesticides – mainly, one called Malathion – and the widespread spraying of California’s towns and cities – even Los Angeles.

What happened to the medfly? More importantly perhaps, with widespread spraying of pesticides to fight the pest, why did our public officials, news media and even the public get so concerned about this crisis? Which side of the science was right?

Josh Fisher is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Fly Wars: Battling the Medfly."

Few stories were more disturbing. Systematic child molestation in our nation’s preschools.

It started, of course, with the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, CA in the early 80s. The allegations were offensive and shocking. Child abuse. Even Satanism. And as the allegations grew, more stories from more preschools across the nation. We had, it seemed, an epidemic.

But after years of trials and front page news, nothing. No Convictions - lives ruined – both for the people who ran the McMartin preschool and for many of the children who were allegedly abused.

What have we learned from the McMartin Preschool case? Could therapists, investigators, journalists – even we the pubic – get something so wrong again?

Barbara Dury is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “McMartin Preschool: Anatomy of a Panic.”

Often the only positive to come out of a disaster is the promise that it won’t happen again.

That certainly was the case in 2007, when the I-35w bridge in Minneapolis collapsed with hundreds of cars on it, most falling into the Mississippi River 10 stories below.

Thirteen died; 145 were injured. Following the horrific accident and aftermath, promises – from the states, from the federal government – that a review of American bridges would occur. Our infrastructure, long ignored, surely now would get the attention it needed and we deserved.

But nearly seven years later, what has occurred? Were promises kept? Are our bridges safe?

Drew Magratten is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “When a Bridge Falls.”

If you think that stealing secret files to reveal rampant spying by the federal government on American citizens – their personal mail, phone calls and more – started with Edward Snowden, then get ready for another story.

Long before Al Qaeda, there was Viet Nam. And long before Snowden, there was the Media, PA Eight. Instead of a computer programmer, they were professors, grad students and a taxi driver. Instead of electronic files, paper files. Thousands of them stolen when they broke into the Media, PA FBI office. Right from the file cabinets! And when the Media 8 got their hands on the files, they did the same thing as Edward Snowden – sent them to a journalist for publishing and the world to see.

This all occurred back in 1971 and remained in the background because the thieves were never captured and never talked. Until now.

Bonnie Bertram is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important news events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Stealing J. Edgar Hoover’s Secrets,” based on the new book by Betty Medsger, "The Burglary."

It was one of the worst oil spills in US history. The Exxon Valdez hit a reef off the Alaska coast in March 1989, spilling some 11 million gallons of crude oil. We remember the images: Birds, seals and other sea life, covered in black crude. Oil washing on beaches up and down the coast.

And many of us may think we remember the cause: The ship’s captain. He had been drinking, left the bridge and the ship hit that reef.

But, it turns out, fault for the Exxon Valdez spill went way beyond the captain. A key question: Where were the supposed emergency recovery plans – equipment, personnel – oil companies promised would be ready for disaster? What we subsequently learned about those emergency plans – or lack of them – raised questions then that remain relevant and concerning even today.

How concerning? Scott Michels is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines faded. Their new video is “Exxon Valdez: In the Wake of Disaster.”

It used to be simply a baseball a baseball term – Three strikes and your out. But in the early 90s, the phrase took on new meaning.

A seeming rise in violent and random crime – mixed with growing hard drug use – created a potent cocktail. Following some particularly horrific murders in California, the voting public had enough. “Three Strikes and You’re Out” became law.

Over the decade, the them spread to other states – and earned the backing of then-President Bill Clinton.

But how has Three Strikes worked? Did it in fact reduce crime? Or was this an understandable, but off-target result of a public that was simply too disgusted to give any of these criminals another at bat?

Karen Sughrue is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines faded. Their video “Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out.”

Few words did more to raise fears of environmental disaster over a generation than “Love Canal.” The small neighborhood outside Niagara Falls became big news when toxic chemicals – buried three decades earlier – began oozing from the ground.

The script that played out – new at the time – today feels like a long-running play: Fears, confusion, denials, public demands – demands for information and safety that largely went unheard and unacted upon. Until, that is, compelled by one local woman who kept up the fight, the government not only helped the residents move out, but eventually set up the landmark Superfund legislation in 1980.

But instead of that being the end of the story, some 15 years later, spurred by refurbished homes at below market prices, people moved back to Love Canal. And now it turns out some of them might have gotten more than they bargained for.

Here to explain: JP Olsen, a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines faded. Their new video is “Love Canal: A Legacy of Doubt.”

From secret eavesdropping to surreptitious email gathering, we all have an increased sense of how far the government seems willing to go in the war on terrorism.

But as many of us recall, in those first days and years following 9/11, the fear and wonder of how far terrorists had infiltrated our cities and towns was real – how far had they gone to integrate themselves into our societies, waiting to strike unannounced? The concern was so-called Sleeper Cells, and when the FBI arrested three Arabs in Detroit just 6 days after 9/11 on false document charges, our worries were confirmed.

However, what if it turned out that these alleged terrorists weren’t terrorists at all? That this alleged sleeper cell was, in fact, just a dream? What if, as we debate today government’s reach and the tension between public safety and civil liberties, we had fair warning nearly a decade ago that terrible mistakes are extremely easy to make? What, if anything, have we learned?

Peter Klein is a Reporter and Director at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “The Sleeper Cell That Wasn’t."

It was the day the lights went out across the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada. Just more than 10 years ago, August 2003, 50 million people from New York to Ottawa were left in the dark.

The first thought for many was terrorism. But then it became clear: This disaster was not the product of some terror network, but of our power network. It had overloaded and shut down.

This was the warning shot many in the power industry had predicted: An old infrastructure, lacking sufficient investment and modernization left millions without electricity. No lights. Elevators stuck. Subways shutdown. For some, no water or bathrooms in the dangerous heat of summer. If bad things happen in the dark, this was a nightmare.

Now, 10 years later, are better prepared? Have we made the investments needed to keep the lights on?

Jonathan Gruber is a director at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “The Day the Lights Went Out.”

Dov Seidman, founder of LRN, discusses how to structure a company to get the most from the entire firm.

Virtually all of us have dreams for a cure to cancer. But in December, 1971, the hope for a cure couldn’t have been higher. President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, launching America’s War on Cancer. With some reports predicting a cure by the bicentennial, the full power of the U.S. Government would go behind fighting this destructive disease.

Needless to say, more than 40 years later, cancer continues to ravage our society. Some 13 million people currently live with cancer in the U.S. About 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed yearly; and more than half a million Americans die of cancer each year. And while, thankfully, great progress has been made – more people not just surviving, but beating cancer – we all know someone who has suffered.

In looking back, were hopes of a quick victory overplayed by politicians and the media? And whatever happened to the promises made in that historic bill signing four decades ago? Can victory ever be declared?

Jill Rosenbaum is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “The Long War on Cancer.”

With the government shutdown and debt ceiling battles behind us – at least until January – focus has turned to what in politics passes for the long term: Next year’s midterm elections. The fight for next November is on.

But who has the momentum? Did the shutdown reveal Republicans’ as too far outside the political mainstream – or, worse, too divided internally to ever unite around an electable platform? For Democrats, will a disastrous debut for the government’s health care website turn Americans against them and Obamacare? And what about this talk of a so-called Democratic Wave?

Helping us make sense of the policy and the politics: Stu Rothenberg, Editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report and Columnist at Roll Call.

For a while, it was the storm of the century. Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, with a bulls eye on New Orleans. We know what happened. The city lost.

For days, virtually no help to be found. And then for years, very little additional help. The recovery and rebuilding – to the extent it occurred – became a blue print for how to neither recover nor rebuild. If nothing else, out of Katrina’s devastation and hopelessness came the hope that next time, we’d be ready.

Next time was Hurricane Sandy. Almost a year ago to the day, the latest storm of the century hit the east coast, with a bulls eye on New Jersey and Long Island. But in the storm’s wake, did we learn from Katrina’s lessons? Are we getting the recovery right?

Drew Magratten is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “In the Shadow of Katrina."

It was the poster child for a legal system gone haywire. In 1994, an Albuquerque, New Mexico jury gave $2.9 million dollars to a local grandmother who spilled McDonald’s coffee in her lap.

Within days, the story went global: New York. Germany. France. And then, Capitol Hill, where it became a political centerpiece for Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America and the Common Sense Legal Reform Act.

But as this story grew, did it become more fiction than fact? What if this cause célèbre of a case got that way, because in the oversimplification of storytelling and lawmaking, people didn’t understand what really happened?

Bonnie Bertram is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important news events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Liebeck v. McDonald’s: The Big Burn.”

From drones to tomahawk missiles to Navy SEALs, it’s no exaggeration to say that the US military has a range of incredibly effective weapons at its disposal. But it’s at most only a minor exaggeration to suggest that the military’s most effective weapon might not be found in an arms depot, but in fact might be down the hall in your teenager’s bedroom. I’m talking about video games.

From single shooter games to specially-customized, near-real-life military scenarios, video games have become an incredibly important tool in how we recruit, train and even heal US soldiers – important to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

How did video games take on such an outsized role? How, exactly, do they make us safer?

Corey Mead is an Asst. Professor of English at Baruch College. He’s also the author of the new book “War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict."

It was a scientific feat for the ages. A result so exciting and scary, that one reporter wondered , “Should we be applauding a mind-boggling scientific breakthrough or be nervous about where it might lead us?”

February 1997. Scientists in Scotland succeeded where no man had gone before. A mammal was cloned. Sheep number 6LL3. Her name was Dolly.

Dolly became an overnight sensation and fears of counting the same sheep over and over again – or, worse, the same cloned human being – took hold. But those concerns – some moral, and some the stuff of science fiction movies – soon got in the way of other promising science. Science that might have saved lives.

How did Dolly spin out of control? And to what extent did our fears at the time come true?

Matthew Spolar is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Dolly the Sheep.”

It was a scientific feat for the ages. A result so exciting and scary, that one reporter wondered , “Should we be applauding a mind-boggling scientific breakthrough or be nervous about where it might lead us?”

February 1997. Scientists in Scotland succeeded where no man had gone before. A mammal was cloned. Sheep number 6LL3. Her name was Dolly.

Dolly became an overnight sensation and fears of counting the same sheep over and over again – or, worse, the same cloned human being – took hold. But those concerns – some moral, and some the stuff of science fiction movies – soon got in the way of other promising science. Science that might have saved lives.

How did Dolly spin out of control? And to what extent did our fears at the time come true?

Matthew Spolar is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that follows important events after the headlines fade. Their new video is “Dolly the Sheep.”

Dov Seidman, founder of LRN, discusses how to structure a company to get the most from the entire firm.

How did we arrive at our economic situation? What can we do to get out? According to Daniel Alpert, we suffer from "oversupply."

Today’s economic challenges link to a global event we all welcomed with joy – the collapse of Socialism. But that freedom for billions also added billions to the global labor force. It drove a boom in production capacity. Toss in a glut of capital, and you have a global economic disaster – a disaster for which common prescriptions for economic recovery aren’t going to work.

Alpert is a founding Managing Partner of Westwood Capital and a Fellow of The Century Foundation. He is also author of the important new book “The Age of Oversupply: Overcoming the Greatest Challenge to the Global Economy.”

We hear it nearly every time news breaks. The Boston Bombing. Newtown, CT. Even the recent Navy Yard Shootings. Speculation on who did it. Speculation that often is spectacularly wrong.

But perhaps no whodunit speculation was more wrong that what occurred in 1996. The Atlanta Olympics, Centennial Olympic Park. A bomb goes off. One killed; more than 100 injured. But quickly – to nearly everyone’s relief – the FBI had a person of interest. Richard Jewell.

His face and name were everywhere. The media followed him from home to work and back again. According to widespread media reports, Jewell fit the profile of a potential terrorist. Many felt sure we had our man. Of course, it turned out Richard Jewell was missing one key quality: He wasn’t a terrorist. He didn’t commit the crime.

How did the media – and law enforcement – get the story so wrong? And when getting it wrong often means destroying an innocent reputation, why does it keep happening?

JP Olsen and Scott Michels are producers at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines faded. Their new video is “Richard Jewell: The Wrong Man.”

In 2007, the Washington Post reported on horrible aftercare at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Active duty Army soldiers living and rehabilitating in decrepit conditions: Moldy rooms, holes in walls, mice and rats. Perhaps worse: A stifling bureaucracy that couldn’t – or wouldn’t – make things better.

To fix the problem, the US Army kicked out the old brass, brought in new blood and set up a new system: Warrior Transition Units. How does that system work today? Do our soldiers get the care they deserve?

Harry Hanbury is a producer at Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines have faded. Their new video is “Walter Reed: The Battle for Recovery.”

Virtually no legal drug in American history carries as much fear as Thalidomide. A wonder drug, imported from Germany in the late 50s, that would help calm the nerves – even being prescribed for morning sickness among pregnant women.

But the drug had not been properly tested, and the side effects were devastating. Thousands of children, across the world, born deformed – arms, legs. The drug was taken off the market and banished.

But the Thalidomide story doesn’t end there. It turns out another use has been found, and this villain that caused so much suffering may have a second chance at becoming the wonder drug that was promised. How could this comeback occur? Is it worth the risk?

The story is being told by Retro Report, the non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines have faded. Kit Roane produced their new video “The Shadow of Thalidomide.”

It might not feel like it while trapped in rush hour traffic, but Americans are driving less. Much less. After a nearly 60-year driving boom following World War II, newly released federal government data show that driving continued to decline in the first half of the year – the eighth straight year of decline.

And while the trend cuts across state lines, it might surprise you that one group in particular leads the way: Millenials.

Why the drop? Will it sustain? And if it does, what does that mean for how we should think about transportation investment? Dr. Phineas Baxandall is a Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy at US PIRG. He analyzed the Federal data from disparate sources for his latest report: “Moving Off the Road: A State-by-State Analysis of the National Decline in Driving.”

Some 20 years ago, the surprise hit film "Free Willy" followed a boy’s fictional quest to free a dancing, swimming, performing whale named Willy.

While you likely remember the movie, you may have forgotten that there was a real-life Willy, and his name was Keiko. Keiko played Willy on screen, and following the film’s success, lots of movie goers asked the same question: If Willy gained freedom, why not Keiko?

That launched a movement to Free Keiko and deliver his own Hollywood ending. But Keiko met a far different fate than Willy, and his story – and the stories of the humans who tried to save him – continues to affect the global animal rights movement even today.

It’s a story being told by Retro Report, a non-profit news and documentary group that specializes in following important news events after the headlines have faded. Their new video “Freeing Willy” can be found at retroreport.org. Josh Fisher is the Retro Report producer who spent months put it all together.

When we talk today of the WWII Allies, many of us immediately think US, Britain and Russia. We forget, some of us at least, the fourth Ally: China. In fact, China’s involvement in World War II not only predated the other Allies – they began fighting Japan in 1937, some two years before war in Europe.

But we should forget China’s WWII experience at our own peril. Because much as the war shaped other countries’ futures, today’s China – the Communist takeover, the rise of a global super power, deepening tensions with the US and Japan, among others – can be best understood through the WWII lens. Few have considered – or can explain – the connections between China’s past and its global present better than University of Oxford professor Rana Mitter. He’s author of the new book “Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II 1937-1945.”

The topic is as contentious as it is enduring: Desegregation in America’s Schools. What began with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 advanced with busing and other maneuvers – and our schools became less segregated. Then, in the late 90s, a change. Lawsuits and more court decisions. And a generational push against busing. The verdict in many places: Desegration largely had succeeded, and as a result, institutionalized techniques like busing were no longer required.

What happened next is not only surprising, but also provides a clear example of the precarious tensions among race, education and equality in America. And of how quickly things can change.

This complex and important story is being told by Retro Report, a non-profit news and documentary group. Their new video is “The Battle for Busing” and focuses on ground zero for busing's ups and downs: Charlotte, NC. The co-producer is B. Drummond Ayres, Jr., a former New York Times National Correspondent who covered the Civil Rights movement, desegration, busing and Charlotte.

Newly released federal government data show that driving continued to decline in the first half of the year – the eighth straight year of decline. And while the trend cuts across state lines, it might surprise you that one group in particular leads the way: Millenials. Why the drop? Will it sustain? And if it does, what does that mean for how we should think about transportation investment? Dr. Phineas Baxandall is a Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy at US PIRG. He analyzed the Federal data from disparate sources for his latest report: “Moving Off the Road: A State-by-State Analysis of the National Decline in Driving.”

Much of the innovation in America today comes not from federal or state governments, but from our metropolitan areas. And often, transportation innovation is key to that success. Bruce Katz is Director of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. He is also co-author of "The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros  Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy.”

It’s no secret that our cities are growing – fast. The World Health Organization reports that today more than 50 percent of the world's population lives in our urban centers. By 2050, it will be 70 percent. As countries and cities globally consider their next stages of economic growth, more and more it seems that future may tied to one area in particular: Transportation. As our urban centers grow, how do we rethink what urban mobility means? What does the next age look like? Greg Lindsay is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute and co-author of "Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next."

Much of the innovation in America today comes not from federal or state governments, but from our metropolitan areas. With Washington stuck in budget standoffs, sequestration and political gridlock, cities from New York to Portland are driving real progress in areas from cross-town transportation to international trade. Bruce Katz is Director of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program. He is also co-author of "The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy.”

With another round of sequester cuts pending, tensions over military budget cuts continue to grow. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined a stark choice: Maintain a high-tech force that may not have enough troops to deal with major conflicts or keep a larger but less well-equipped force that could leave troops’ lives in danger. Is there a way out? Michael O’Hanlon is Senior fellow with the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence and director of research for the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. He’s also author, most recently, of “Healing the Wounded Giant: Maintaining Military Preeminence while Cutting the Defense Budget.”

What is truly going wrong in Congress – literally, what isn’t working – that blocks the whole system and generates such frustration? Robert Kaiser, Washington Post Associate Editor and senior correspondent, looks at the problem through the lens of the Dodd-Frank Law -- the 1500-page regulation that either saved or ruined our banking system, depending on whom you ask. With incredible and essentially full access, Kaiser shows us how things do and don’t get done in Congress. He’s just put it all in a book – “Act of Congress: How America’s Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn’t.”

Of all the destabilizing threats coming from China today – a slowing economy; military growth; computer hacking; relations with Japan – none may be a greater risk to regional stability than one basic resource: Water. It sounds simple, but controlling water rights – where water flows and how much – has become an issue of international concern. Last week, Elizabeth Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, provided Senate testimony to the Senate about the threat. She joins me now.

Chris Riback, co-editor of Roll Call's Topic A: Defense blog, discusses the sequester and its impact on the military and other government areas with WFLA radio (@970WFLA).

As we consider our incredible range of urgent international and defense affairs – challenges with our deepest Intelligence Gathering secrets revealed, China, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran… all while coordinating a military exit from Afghanistan, a question: How much does Presidential Leadership matter? Joseph Nye is a former US Asst. Secretary of Defense and currently University Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His new book is “Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era.”

I’m happy to report that for the first time in months, the biggest monarchy news of the week had nothing to do with Princess Kate’s baby bump! It came from the Netherlands, where Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne, making room for her 46-year-old son, King Willem-Alexander. For us Americans who struggle to understand the British monarchy and the succession throes there, the Dutch might confuse us even more: Queen Beatrix makes the third consecutive royal leader in Holland to stand down. How are we supposed to understand this? Simon Kuper is a Financial Times columnist who grew up in Holland and has lived in London. Few would seem better qualified to help us make sense of it all.

Among the many questions the arrest of alleged Boston Bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev raised, few have gone more to the heart of American law and indeed the US Constitution, than the question of his rights. And while questions of rights may be clear in criminal cases – we have more than 200 years of precedence – the changing nature of terrorism and the changing decisions from the US Executive Branch make them less clear now. To help us understand the issues at hand – Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General and US District Judge.

It seems nearly every analysis of the future of American competitiveness comes back to one topic: Education. And that highlights the problem: If a college degree is a requirement for employment – and with access to college tied to significantly to wealth – how do we find innovative and fair ways to make education available to anyone who qualifies and wants it? Or, to paraphrase the American Educational Research Association: Can schools provide individuals a way out of poverty. Few educators are more thoughtful about this issue – or spend more energy tying to solve it – than Dr. Antonio Perez. Dr. Perez is President of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, which just celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

There is, perhaps, no better symbol of the American economic system than the New York Stock Exchange. Today, while still the largest by stock market in the world by trade volume, the NYSE is one of many global markets. And much of the yelling and screaming has been replaced by the gentle whir of computers and algorithmic trading. Technology moves markets. But with algos and dark pools and even the occasional hacked Tweet that wrongly sends markets tumbling in seconds, the technology cuts many ways. Where will it take us next? Few would have better insight than Larry Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer of the NYSE/Euronext. Larry has responsibility for operations management, global cash execution and global listings, and he joins us now.

The battle to teach Creationism in classes is playing out in the Bayou. In 2008, Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, which many people say actually is an end around to allow teachers to refute Darwinism with Creationism. The law is supported by Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, among others, but now, the debate has gone global. More than 70 Nobel scientists and scores of clergy have lined up behind an outspoken and well-organized leader who wants the Act repealed. Who is that leader? Zack Koplin is a Baton Rouge-born, 20 year old college sophomore at Rice University. He is leading the charge and he joins me now.

It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that Paul Theroux is one of the great American writers period, with a special – though not exclusive – affinity for travel. He took us by train from London’s Victoria Station to Tokyo and back again by way of the Trans-Siberian Railway. He later took the Orient Express to begin a journey that led to Sri Lanka and Turkey. He now returns, you might say, to his roots. Africa. He first arrived there as a recent college grad in the 60s and his new book, “The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari,” continues a voyage he wrote about some 10 years ago. How has that continent changed? How does hope for progress there breathe within the realities of government and urban sprawl? Theroux joins us now.

Harvard University recently announced the Top 25 programs in this year’s Innovations in American Government Award competition. We’re here to talk about one of them. It’s called LAUNCH. It’s a partnership among NASA, USAID, the State Department, and NIKE, the apparel company — and it uses online collaboration and crowdsourcing, as its mission says, to do no less than maximize human potential. What does that mean in actuality? How does it work? Diane Powell is from NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist, the area where LAUNCH was launched.

The fact that the Boston bombing occurred at a marathon – a celebration of one of America’s most popular participation sports – is not lost on many of us. My next guest, Cameron Stracher, calls running a marathon “an act of faith,” and he has written about the freedom that comes with putting on a pair of shoes and hitting the pavement. Stracher is the author of “Kings of the Road: How Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar Made Running Go Boom."

Ever wonder why, if so much of our economy is based on service, great service is still so rare? Or why, if your call is important to us, you still have to hold indefinitely for an operator? Or, if call centers are in business to judge and manage call volumes, they continually apologize because we’re experiencing higher than usual call volumes? So has my next guest. Anne Morriss is CEO of GenePeeks, a genetic information company, and co-author of “Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business.”

Of all the changes technology brings every day to our lives, there may be no impact more significant to what it means to interact in a human society than Big Data. Nearly every nanosecond of every day, we and the machines around us generate billions of bytes of data – information – that when analyzed reveal not just what we’ve done, but what we’re thinking – even what we might not know we’re going to think. The reality and potential around Big Data are hugely positive – from public health to smarter shopping – and scary negative – the ability for governments and neighbors to pry into our privacy in highly uncomfortable ways. You might say Big Data sits at the intersection of technology and morality. Viktor Mayer-Schonberger is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University. He is also co-author of “Big Data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think.”

Today more than ever, great, new, innovative ideas come from anywhere. But if you had to name a capital for this place called anywhere, it just might be the MIT Media Lab, where researchers design technologies for people to create a better future. This group of incredible thinkers and doers take existing and non-existing technologies and evolve them to make our every day lives better. How does that happen? Within the Media Lab is something called the “Tangible Media Group,” and within the “Tangible Media Group” is my next guest – Dan Rose, visiting scientist, product designer, teacher, and serial entrepreneur.

With the death and capture of the of the Tsarnaev brothers, an area unknown to many Americans has now jumped to our front pages: Chechnya. Russia has sought US agreement to classify Chechnya a terrorist state. Is it possible now that this terrorist activity has reached our shores? What else should we know about this region? Few know the area and conflict better than Graham Allison, professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Prof. Allison has devoted much of his career to Russian studies, served in the Defense Department under Presidents Reagan and Clinton and twice earned the DOD’s highest civilian award: The Distinguished Public Service Medal.

ESPN's 30 for 30: What began as 30 documentaries to celebrate the network’s 30th birthday has become a signature for some of the best storytelling around the role of sports in society. The series is headlined by award-winning directors – people like Barry Levenson and Ice Cube and Jonathan Hock. An 8-time Emmy winner, Hock’s 30 for 30 films include one on football flameout Marcus Dupree and another on the inspirational 1983 North Carolina State NCAA championship basketball team.

As communications in this age of Twitter and Facebook and email and texting and targeted ads and so on, have gone – shall we say – a bit haywire, something of a trend has emerged among those who do it well: Simplicity. Today more than ever, if you want to get your message heard, you’ve got to keep it simple. And the style – the language – used for simple messaging is equally simple. It’s called Plain English. And if that’s not clear to you – if I’m not making it simple enough – my next guest will. Because, with only slight exaggeration, Alan Siegel founded Simplicity. And he did it more than 40 years ago. Since then, Siegel became an icon in the branding world, helping groups like the NBA, Xerox, American Express, Caterpillar, The Girl Scouts and others define who they are and how they say it. He founded the global firm Siegel + Gale, recently launched SiegelVision, and his latest book is “Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity.”

You might think this is the political off-season, but you’d be wrong. In South Carolina, with 48 hours to go, a special election for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Why is one seat in a medium-sized southern state interesting political talk? Because it’s a battle between former Gov. Mark Sanford – yes, he’s the one who said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he in fact was liaising in South America – and Elizabeth Colbert, a businesswoman and Stephen Colbert’s sister. Then there’s Virginia, where the off-year election will be a first major sign of what we might expect in the 2014 midterms. Who do we call when we want to talk politics? Taegan Goddard, of course. He’s Publisher of Political Wire.

If you’ve ever watched kids programming on Disney Channel or Nick – or seen a kids movie – they all seem to have the same general world view: Adults know nothing, and everything would be a lot better if kids ruled the world. For some 35 years, one educator has put that theory into action. Starting with an in-class game he calls “World Peace,” John Hunter has spent decades letting school children – from high school down to 4th grade – address and solve various issues. The result has been an incredibly hopeful and inspirational series of lessons so simple a child can understand them, that if applied by adults, just might be able to change the world. John Hunter, teacher, author of “World Peace and other 4th Grade Achievements” has brought his ideas to the Pentagon and the United Nations and elsewhere.

Ever wonder why, if so much of our economy is based on service, great service is still so rare? Or why, if your call is important to us, you still have to hold indefinitely for an operator? Or, if call centers are in business to judge and manage call volumes, they continually apologize because we’re experiencing higher than usual call volumes? So has my next guest. Anne Morriss is CEO of GenePeeks, a genetic information company, and co-author of "Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business."

Here’s how Penn Professor Kevin Werbach tells it: The University’s Wharton School of Business – where Werbach teaches – is one of the oldest, most prestigious institutions in the world. Since opening in 1881, more than 92,000 people have graduated. However, in the last 8 months, in just two sessions of a single course, Werbach has taught some 140,000 students in 150 countries. How is that possible? Welcome to the power of MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – which are revolutionizing – and democratizing – education. According to Werbach, his course on Gamification generated “more than 2 million video views and nearly 20,000 forum posts.” The numbers stagger. How incredible is the potential for online learning? And why do some say it’s no big deal? Professor Werbach joins me now.

For anyone keeping a political scorecard at home, we have just completed a week that covered more of the biggest issues we face than any other week in memory: Homeland Security, Miranda Rights, Gun Control, Immigration – all at the top of the political agenda. Where do things stand? And do the events threaten to derail President Obama's second term agenda. Few understand America’s political pulse better than our friend Taegan Goddard, Publisher of Political Wire and editor-at-large at The Week.

For all the talk of the decline of public education, we take a moment to celebrate one of the most famous public high schools in America – Bronx High School of Science, which turns 75 this year. With 8 Nobel Prize winners – more than Australia, they point out, and tied with Norway – Bronx Science is one of the most accomplished public schools we have. It is also home to an incredible alumni list, including writer E.L. Doctorow, architect Daniel Libeskind, and my next guest, New York Public Library President & CEO Dr. Anthony Marx. The former President of Amherst College, Dr. Marx has spent his career promoting higher education for low-income students and today runs the one of the largest public libraries in the world -- at a time when technology and digital are completely overhauling not only how we learn, but perhaps even what it means to be a library.

It’s what every company in the world – big and small – wants. It drives revenue. Cuts expense. Extends reach. Delivers happiness. And separates winners from the losers. Companies spend billions to secure it and hold onto it and for good reason – they can lose it in an instant. And yet, it’s nearly impossible to define. I’m talking about Customer Loyalty, that emphemeral sense we all have towards brands we like and companies where we want to spend our money. How do the world’s largest organizations drive customer loyalty? How hard do they think about how to keep us coming back? Few business leaders have been more successful in driving Customer Loyalty than Hoyt Harper, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Leader, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts Group. At a time when many hotels were reducing their Club offerings, Harper doubled down, investing more than $100MM to drive greater customer benefit and loyalty. What were the risks? How has it worked?

With just a month to go before the biggest movie night of the year, I want to talk about a book. And not just any book, but the thoroughly compelling story of a boy and a tiger and, if not the meaning of life, then at least a reflection on the existence of G-d. A story that captured the world's attention, winning the Booker Prize and selling more than 9 million copies. It was made into a movie, earning an astonishing 11 Academy Award nominations. What makes Life of Pi so popular? Why does this tale of a boy from a faraway land speak so clearly to so many of us? Few should know better than the author, Yann Martel, and he joins us now from Canada.

This conversation is for the most rational among us. You know who you are: You collect the data. You even assign probabilities. Guess what -- all that thinking, science and math can come undone in an instant through your emotions. But the impact of emotions on our decision making can be awfully hard to measure. From the simple choice to tell a harmless white lie to larger transgressions of love or money that play out on the front pages, connections among emotions and social behavior -- in short, our character -- often feel like an unsolvable mystery. Mystery solving exactly the mission of Dr. David DeSteno, Director of Northeastern University's Social Emotions Group and co-Author, "Out of Character: The Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All of Us."

If you heard President Obama’s Inauguration speech last week, it was as surprising to many as it was unmistakable: Climate change is back on the front burner. But why, after laying low as policy talk turned to tax increases and debt ceilings, is climate change hot again? And how do Americans really feel about it? Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz can give us a hint. He is Research Scientist and the Director of the Yale University Project on Climate Change Communication, and among their various projects is “Global Warming’s Six Americas” that analyzes Americans’ interpretations of and responses to climate change.

As America faces real threats from an increasing range of enemies -- some organized nation states, others rogue loosely-affiliated groups -- the calls for weaponized response capability continue. And the debate largely centers around recent developments: Are drone attacks the right way for us to eliminate bad guys? How can we disengage as quickly as possible from Afghanistan? How should the process work to fully integrate women into our frontlines of battle? Seldom do you hear an even more basic question: Why do we have nuclear weapons and are they actually useful? That's the question and argument from Ward Wilson, Senior Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies and author of "Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons."

She may be the most famous little girl in America. With her red curly hair and cute dog Sandy, she never fails to remind us that no matter how bad today might be, there's always tomorrow. Even better -- she never ages. But for all her dimples and curls, Annie would have never existed beyond the comic pages -- would never have sang a word, much less performed tens of thousands of times across stages big and small -- without my next guest, Broadway legend Martin Charnin. He brought Annie and its songs and words to life. The awards have piled up for Charnin -- Emmy's, Tony's, Grammy's -- but it seems impossible to measure the impact his show has had on theater in America.

As President Obama’s second term begins, he -- and we -- find ourselves yet again at foreign affairs crossroads. A possible nuclear rise in Iran. A so-called Arab Spring that has morphed into crises from Syria to Egypt, Mali, Libya, Algeria and beyond. In Asia, continuing questions about what role China will play regionally -- and globally. And now, a change at the top of the US State Department comes while many Americans are turning ever-more inward. How to navigate these challenges, where the stakes cannot be overstated? Dr. Robert Kagan is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in Foreign Policy at Brookings. He serves as a member of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and his most recent book is “The World America Made”.

You blinked, and the world of media and content has changed again. That’s right -- it’s once again the next new age of New Media. Online display ads? Forget’em. Sponsored content is the new way advertisers earn your trust -- and your spending dollars. Total unique users? Talk today is about each individual piece and its Likes or Tweets or mentions. Corporate ownership? Online media stars are saying enough of that and going direct to readers for financial support. One media group driving this new age: Buzzfeed. The social news web site recently earned new financial support of their own, closing a nearly a $20MM round. Ben Smith is Buzzfeed’s editor, and he joins me now.

When was the last time you watched television alone? And by alone, I don’t mean with no one else in the room -- I mean, without a digital device at the ready. I mean your smart phone or tablet or laptop -- email your friends, reading running commentary on Twitter, clicking on advertisers’ sites to check out the sale they just enticed you with. Thanks to social, online media has long ceased to be a solo activity -- and now the trend has hit your family room. How are the trends of mobile technology, universal connectivity and the good old TV merging to once again change our lives? Here to help us understand: Kelly Hoey, a start up advisor and Founder of Women Innovate Mobile, the first startup accelerator and mentorship-driven program designed for women-founded companies in mobile technology.

For many of us -- perhaps even President Obama -- it felt like his second term political honeymoon didn’t last much beyond the start of his Inauguration Speech. Thanks to the real-time Tweets and online commentary, we saw right away that his declaration of governing for the next four years was not going to be quietly accepted. So if you were feeling a bit sad that the election was over and we’re now destined for the quiet and serious business of governing, don’t look so down. It’s as if our US political motto has become: The campaign is dead; long live the campaign! So which way is forward? Few follow US policy and politics more closely than our good friend Taegan Goddard, Founder of Political Wire and Editor-at-Large at The Week.com.

It’s a story we hear every day. Student debt is rising out of control. At graduation -- and with jobs so hard to find -- our best young minds, the ones with the newest and shiniest ideas, immediately move back home with their parents and then take the first job they can in order to start paying down their loans. It might not be the best job -- but they take what they can get. Many of us hear these stories and think nothing beyond how lucky the new grad is to have a job. Dave Girouard heard these stories and thought: Market Opportunity. Dave is the founder of Upstart, an online marketplace that lets financial backers invest in individuals. The backers give recent graduates immediate funding in exchange for a predetermined percentage of the grad’s future earnings. Can an online marketplace for human talent really work -- and what might it mean for the way our future grads think about their first jobs? Upstart founder Dave Girouard joins me now.

It was the military announcement of the week, if not the last 25 years: One of the last barriers in US warfare will come down -- Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta announced the Pentagon would lift the ban on women in combat: A move that should open thousands of new roles to women. What are the impacts -- immediate and long term -- from such a policy change? What are the risks? Or, looked at from another view, what took so long? Few have thought and written about the potential for women in combat and their role in the military more than Juliette Kayyem, Boston Globe National Security columnist & Former Asst Secy, Dept. of Homeland Security.

As the US begins the process to nominate its next Secretary of Defense, there is no shortage of military threats that we face -- From a nuclear Iran to a more bellicose Russia to continuing questions about China’s ambitions. But beyond these sponsored states, there is terrorism. Often loosely organized, these threats are continual and growing. And it’s nearly impossible to determine where they’ll hit next. Bill Roggio is the Editor of The Long War Journal and Senior Fellow Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Of all the issues that stand in the way of a country’s ability to reach its full economic potential -- and there are so many -- few are more globally pervasive, and harder to solve, than poverty. But how does the path that connects economic potential and personal poverty get not just identified, but solved? What role can a pro-growth policy play? And, as we consider yet again how to address economic growth and poverty in the US, what can and should we learn from international examples. Few think through the pros and cons of international economic policy more cleverly or deeply than Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, Senior Fellow for International Economics at Council on Foreign Relations, and University Professor at Columbia University. And his book “Why Growth Matters” will be published in the US in April.

It was just about now, exactly 100 years ago on that terrible day, April 14, 1912, and at that terrible time when the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. Just 2 hours and 40 minutes later, the boat had sunk. Since then, the legend and the glamour and the tragedy has captured our imaginations, where even today, we cannot forget. The tragedy has certainly caught the imagination of Charlie Pelligrino, a scientist and author who has written extensively about the Titanic -- Most recently in “Farewell, Titanic”.

The US Presidential Election finally turned to the inevitable this week, as Rick Santorum pulled out of the race to be the Republican nominee and Mitt Romney became, essentially, the sole survivor. So what are the next trends? What are the issues that will lead us to our next President? Here to explain it all, Taegan Goddard, Founder and Publisher of Political Wire, the must read for anyone who wants to know what is happening in the political world and newly named by Time Magazine as one of the Top 140 Twitter feeds @Politicalwire. Taegan, congratulations and thanks for joining us.

After what feels like years of watching China's rise, new questions about how sustainable their growth is are creeping up. Manufacturing conditions. Political instability in the face of pending leadership change. Environmental issues. Internet freedom and more -- factors seem to be piling and weighing against this global leader. Which way will things go? Few people on this planet are more qualified to offer analysis than James Fallows, National Correspondent of The Atlantic. Former Presidential speechwriter, National Book Award winner, longtime award-winning journalist, he lived and reported from China for much of the last six years. His new book, out in May, is “China Airborne”.

By now you surely know that one of the world’s great democracies is in the middle of a Presidential election race where the main issues have been a leading contender’s extra-marital affairs, record unemployment, destabilizing economic threats from within the Euro Zone, and the rise of Islamic violence that threatens domestic security. What you might not know is the voting for this race occurs not this November, but next Saturday. That’s because the country is France. And if you think the issues and the scandals here are crazy, you forget what’s been going on over there. One person who knows full well what’s going on over there is Guy Lagache, the leading French journalist, longtime host of their most popular news shows called Capital, and now Vice President of Programs and News at Direct 8. Guy joins us now from the City of Light. Guy, thanks for staying up with us.

Restauranteur David Bouley was one. And Candy entrepreneur Dylan Lauren. And Rachel Maddow. Amare Stoudemire. What do they all have in common. They have all been named to Crains New York’s 40 Under 40 -- many before any us had heard of them. They are all pioneers in their fields, succeeding in their 20s and 30s the way many hope to do over their entire careers. The list is equal parts inspiring -- I can do that -- and humbling: I haven’t done enough yet! Here to make me feel even worse about myself is the person who oversaw this year’s list, Crains New York’s Deputy Managing Editor Valerie Block.

Just one year ago, all eyes were on the Middle East -- in particular, Egypt -- as the Arab Spring sprung. One year later, the region sits in as much turmoil as ever. Syria. Iran. And in at the end of May, in Egypt, we'll get our first answers to the question of what democracy may look like in the region. That's when the first Presidential elections will be held since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. And unlike the visions of student-led democracy that many thought might occur, we seem to be facing a battle among the Islamists -- and just where on that scale Egypt may fall. What can we expect? Here to talk to us about that -- as well as the role of energy in shaping democracies -- is Timothy Mitchell, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University and Author: Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil.

How many times, when your kid or your spouse or your friend, has done that one thing that really bothers you -- have you said: “Why do you do that?” And, invariably, the answer back is: “I can’t help it.” Turns out, they’re half right. It’s not your kid or your spouse or your friend -- it’s their habits. And the key is finding a way to break or change those habits. Charles Duhigg is author of an important new book: The Power of Habit. He argues: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch Vladimir Nabakov read the famous opening to “Lolita” in English and then in his original Russian? Or how about the current world’s greatest soccer player, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, playing soccer when he was 5 years old? Thelonious Monk playing Copenhagen in 1966? Video of Picasso painting through glass? I know -- Jean-Luc Goddard filming the Rolling Stones playing “Sympathy for the Devil!” OpenCulture.com is the best site you may have never heard of, although it gets some 1.2 million visits per month. It is single-handedly making every television in my house useless, because I’m spending too much of my leisure time seeing, reading and hearing incredible moments in history I never thought I’d see. And the person I blame for that is with us right now -- Dan Colman, founder of OpenCulture.com

Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London. He is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a 'philosophy of everyday life.' He’s written on love, travel, architecture and literature. His books have been bestsellers in 30 countries. Alain also started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain's latest book is titled Religion for Atheists and is published in the Netherlands, Italy, Korea, Turkey and Brazil in 2011 and in the UK, US and other territories in 2012.

If all the international challenges our next President will face, perhaps none is as complex, risky and integral to our economic, environmental and security future as China. Friend or foe? Competitor or ally? Human rights supporter or denier? Investor or debt-holder? And these questions come at a time, potentially, of major change in both the US and China. An election here that could see a new President in January. And a transition to new leadership in China, with Xi Jinping, in just the next few weeks. How to make sense of it? Elizabeth Economy is a Senior Fellow and Director, Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations. She writes a blog called "Asia Unbound" and she joins me now.

It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that 50 years ago tonight, we sat on the edge of World War III. We were nearing the end game of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a who-blinks-first nuclear stand off between the Soviet Union and the United States. Thankfully, we know how that ended, a masterstroke of diplomacy and brinksmanship by President Kennedy. Now, looking back on the anniversary, what did we really learn? And, on the eve our the Presidential elections, what lessons should be applied to our current international crises? Harvard University’s Graham Allison wrote the seminal analysis on the Cuban Missile Crisis: Essence of Decision. He has served our country in the Defense Departments under Presidents Reagan and Clinton and he has twice earned the DOD’s highest civilian award: The Distinguished Public Service Medal.

It seems there are no small issues in Robert Wright’s world. From the Evolution of God and the role of religion in social order to the philosophical connections between science and how we behave, Wright has taken on some of the biggest questions of our time. Robert Wright is editor of Bloggingheads.TV, author of several best-sellers, contributor to The Atlantic and, in 2009, was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. Tonight, we start between the big and the small, with the upcoming elections.

Ask most people in our country to describe Oklahoma City, and the first response will likely be Western. Maybe home to the NBA finalists Oklahoma City Thunder. But if they really knew Oklahoma City, the first word they should choose just might be “skinny.” That’s right. Skinny. And it’s because of their three-term Mayor Mick Cornett. When he decided to lose weight about five years ago, he made it a civic cause. He challenged his city to lose weight with him – one million pounds. Not so they could look good, but because it fits perfectly with the vision he is implementing: To make the improvements needed to drive up Oklahoma City’s quality of life. And it’s working. How is it working? That’s what Mayor Mick Cornett is here to tell us.

You don't have to follow professional cycling -- heck, you don't have to know how to ride a bike -- to know that Lance Armstrong's downfall is is an epic, a Greek tragedy played out in the mountains of France. Armstrong, of course, announced last month he would no longer fight the overwhelming evidence that he systematically used and his the use of performance-enhancing drugs to become the greatest cyclist in the sport's history. He has since been stripped of his record 7 Tour de France titles, dropped by sponsors like Nike and Oakley, even kicked out of his world-renowned charity Livestrong. So what drives an intense, even obsessed competitor to the point where they'll do anything to win -- and more. Almost no one has looked closer at this issue than Daniel Coyle. Most recently Dan co-wrote "The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France". Before that, he wrote “Lance Armstrong’s War”, which provided “a hugely insightful look into the often inspiring, always surprising core of a remarkable athlete and the world that shapes him.” Interestingly, Dan is also the author of “The Talent Code”, the New York Times Bestseller that explains new tools with which we can unlock our own talents.

In late 1977, many of us were amazed by the possibility: NASA had launched Voyagers I & II to study the outer reaches of space. These vessels would do more than thrill Trekkies -- they would help us understand where the solar system ends and maybe more. Fast forward some 35 years later. Today Voyager I either has or is about to leave our solar system. What will it find? What lies beyond? What might we learn? Few this side of Captain Kirk spend more time thinking about what lies beyond outerspace -- and, indeed, how it all began, than Lawrence Krauss. Where to start: Dr. Krauss is a theoretical physicist and Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. He is the author of several bestselling books, including “A Universe from Nothing,” which was a NY Times best-seller and was translated into 19 languages... In other words, you might say Dr. Krauss spends his time determining the scientific answer to the world's oldest question: What is the meaning of life?

It’s got no trees. No grass. No culture has ever lived there. It was the site to the greatest race among explorers in our time. It’s about 1.5 times the size of the US and for half the year, it sits in darkness. Of course, I’m talking about Antarctica. And if you’re at all like me and you spend too much time watching nature shows that take you to the furthest reaches of the Earth, you’re fascinated by the idea of this ice continent. It’s also a place that has drawn -- some five times -- scientist Gabrielle Walker. Dr. Walker has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge. She has taught there and at Princeton and she recently pulled together her views on what she calls “the most alien place on the planet."

As you surely know, yesterday Egyptians voted on a new draft constitution. At first glance, this would seem like cause for great celebration for lovers of democracy and freedom. First, the people rise up and longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak falls. The free elections bring to office an Islamist who seems to indicate a desire to shed his more radical past and move forward in positive, democratic, institution- and peace-building ways. Now a people’s vote on a new constitution. But, of course, this fairy tale may not be playing out as many would have hoped. Where do we believe Egypt is headed -- and what does its progress mean for this highly unstable region? Eric Trager is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute.

If you want to really feel panic, I’ve got some news for you: Only 8 shopping days left until Christmas. And if you’re still trying to figure out what to get for that special someone, you may want to listen up. You know the expression “give from the heart?” Turns out, that could be the worst gift-giving advice around. Instead, what you might need to understand more is not the emotion, but the science of giving. That’s right, the science. Strip away the warm feeling and sentiment, and what you get to is the science -- and it just might be what you need to understand why you give and what people really want for Christmas. Leon Neyfakh is the Boston Globe’s Ideas reporter. He writes about new research and thought coming out of academia and his latest piece is for all you late shoppers out there...

On Newtown, CT and the politics of gun control.

Only a month after the first change to the head of China’s Communist Party in a decade, and already, the change is being felt. From a campaign against corruption to a push for greater military strength, the impact of Xi Jinping is already being felt. In March he is expected to take over as Chinese President, running a country that has seen its economic engine slow and internal threats from the environment to privacy to activism continuing to grow. How should we think about China’s changing role in the region? What does it mean for global business and, indeed, our US domestic economy? Sheryl WuDunn is a China expert at advising middle market firms and a former Pulitzer Prize winner at the New York Times.

If you’re looking for a region that provides a grab bag of major, potentially destabilizing issues, you’d have to look first at the Middle East. Egypt. Syria. Iran. Israel. Gaza. Nearly everywhere, a major issue and major choices. How to engage with Egypt, as President Morsi seems to reach for more power? How to balance quickly changing events in Syria, where the Russians weighed in this week just as President Obama officially recognized the Syrian rebels. How to walk this line? Nicholas Burns has had plenty of expereince. A former Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Burns served in the US governement for 27 years, around the globe. He now is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School.

Of the many areas that Hurricane Sandy exposed in New York, New Jersey and beyond was the importance of our public infrastructure -- and just how fragile it is. From our subways to our roads, it didn’t take much to see how a major storm could reduce us all to our basic needs. But of all the infrastructure failures, perhaps none was more devasating -- or long-lasting -- as what happened to our power grid. People were without electricity for weeks, bringing questions and anger to the front of peoples minds. What are our options? Is it even possible to make the wholesale changes needed to upgrade our power grid? From a public policy point of view -- and a business competitive point of view -- can we afford not to? Former NY Gov. George Pataki, now with the law firm Chadbourne & Parke in New York, has been studying the issue and comes with possible solutions.

We all know the drill: A problem comes up at the office -- A new sales area, new potential product, new customer segment. The boss says, I don't want the same old solutions; we need to be more innovative. And so you get a couple of colleagues, and you innovate. At least you try to. But what if instead of sharing your challenge with a couple of colleagues and benefiting from just their feedback, you shared your challenge with more than 200,000 innovators around the world. And they thought about your problem – for free – until you chose a solution from this global pile of solutions and then -- and only then -- you paid for the service. It's called Crowdsourcing and it drives something called open innovation. And one company has created a marketplace to drive this organized Crowdsourcing. It’s called InnoCentive. Steve Bonadio is a vice president there, and he joins me now.

With just 10 days to go before the election, any political junkie would want to be on the campaign trail. Eating bad food, sleeping in cheap hotels, chasing so-called undecided voters and getting yelled at by partisans. This is where elections get won. Callum Borchers is covering the race for the Boston Globe and he joins us now.

A conversation on the new ways the political campaigns -- particularly President Obama's -- use data to target likely voters and encourage them to get to the polls.

The headlines from the Middle East don't seem to stop. In Egypt, a vote on a draft constitution that many in the opposition felt would be anything but constitutional. In Israel, just weeks after violent battles in Gaza, continuing worry over instability across the region and upcoming elections where the left and center-left struggles to find a candidate. And we haven't touched Syria, Iran or Jordan. How to make sense of all the movement? Dan Perry is AP Jerusalem Bureau Chief and interim Middle East Editor, and he joins us now from Israel.

Who is more fickle than consumers? Fads come and go. Tastes change. As a result, marketers spend billions to keep their fingers on the pulse of consumer sentiment. Research. Analysis. Insights. And the holy grail of consumer insight is real-time analysis. How can I learn – at exactly the right moment – what the customer wants so I can offer exactly the right product? Dr. Emma Macdonald is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Cranfield School of Management – one of the oldest, most prestigious business schools in the UK. She is also Research Director of the Cranfield Customer Management Forum, that brings together pioneering thinkers from academia and industry to share best practice. She has devised new ways to understand customer thought and behavior, as close to the point of purchase as possible. If successful, it could change not just the way we buy, but the way we’re sold to.

With just 15 days until the Fiscal Cliff -- the cocktail of tax increases and budget cuts -- is scheduled to hit, businesses are asking real questions about how to plan for the future. Nowhere is this uncertainty being felt more than among our nation’s small businesses. After hearing about them throughout the Presidential campaign, they’re back, this week in a very negative report from the National Federation of Independent Business. It’s well-known and closely-followed Small Business Optimism Index showed one of its lowest readings in history in November. And things may be getting worse. Dr. William Dunkelberg is Chief Economist for the NFIB.

Who said we’re in the quiet period of the US Presidential race? It was a blockbuster week in what was supposed to be the “let’s all take a moment and collect ourselves” stage of our campaign marathon. First, President Obama announced his support for same sex marriage. Then, just as Gov. Mitt Romney offered a mild rebuttal, the Washington Post reported a terrible story of horrendous behavior by then teenage Romney -- attacking another teenager thought to be gay. Is this the end of the 2012 campaign -- or the beginning? Here to help us decipher, Taegan Goddard, publisher of Political Wire and one of Time Magazine’s Top 140 Twitter feeds @Politicalwire.

You know how you’ve been told don’t just a book by its cover? Our next guest will tell you the exact opposite. In fact you can tell a lot by the design of a book’s cover, as well as the design of a web site, even the existence and placement of the universal pricing code, the lines and numbers that serve as the fingerprint on the packaging of nearly everything we buy. The art of graphic design signals for us, consciously and unconsciously, a message. And it's fascinating and important to understand -- in simple ways -- how design impacts. How it impacts our understanding of and connection with ideas and experiences. Here to help us understand is Steven Heller. He writes the Visuals column of the NY Times Magazine, he serves at the School of Visual Arts, and he is the author of “100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design.”

From France to the United States, this year we will see a series of incredibly important elections that can and will change the course of nations. But it’s hardly an exaggeration to say that of all of them, none may be more game-changing than the vote that begins in just 11 days. That’s when the Arab Spring that began in Egypt’s Tahir Square last year will lead to that country’s first Presidential election since the fall of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak. And the battle, which is turning into a contest between secular and islamist rule, is on. What can we expect? And what will the results mean, not just to Egypt but to the future of freedom in the Middle East? Here to tell us, Steven Cook, Council of Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies & author: "The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square."

While a declining number of us may be watching our national political conventions on television, an increasing number of journalists are attending in person. By some estimates, some 15,000 journalists descended on Charlotte this week to witness Democrats denominate President Obama to be their candidate. One of them was Steve Kornacki, co-host of MSNBC's The Cycle. And Steve joins us now to tell us what he saw, what he learned, and perhaps most importantly, where the heck do 15,000 journalists sleep?

If you were to list some of the world’s most secretive institutions, you surely wouldn’t be surprised to see the CIA or the Bin Laden family in the series. But how about an American, publicly-held corporation? In fact, a top Fortune 500 company. How about ExxonMobil? The same two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author who investigated the Bin Ladens and the CIA has now turned to Big Oil. Steve Coll is President of the New America Foundation, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.”

With the launching of Facebook’s $100 billion IPO bid and their stunning $1 billion purchase of the photosharing app Instagram, we have clearly hit a new high in tech excitement. But at a time when other tech launches, including Linked In, have recently come back earth, how excited should we be? And what should we be looking for next? Steve Blank has sat on the boards of no fewer than five start-ups, including Macrovision, Immersion and E.piphany. He also lectures on Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and he joins us now.

On the Presidential Campaign and Wisconsin Gubernatorial recall vote.

It is just over a year since the hunt for America’s No. 1 enemy, Osama Bin Laden, ended in a one-sided firefight in a walled compound in a middle class suburb an hour outside Pakistan’s capital. That mission’s importance is now being debated in the US politics, but the heart-stopping, frustrating and ultimately for Americans thrilling nature of the 10-year search is undeniable. That play-by-play excitement has been researched and documented by Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst and the only western journalist to actually interview Bin Laden. His new book is “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad” and he’s with us now.

From Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” to Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places” to today’s hidden camera TV shows that put unsuspecting people in morally-challenging situations and ask: “What would you do?”, questions about ethical behavior among the social classes has always been the stuff of literature, movies and TV. Now, it’s the stuff of science. A group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley [and the University of Toronto] have pulled together data from seven separate studies to look at which social class has a higher probability of ethical behavior. And the results may surprise you. Paul Piff, Social Psychologist at UC Berkeley, and co-author of “Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior” joins us now.

For anyone unfortunate enough to need the heads up, in a matter of minutes or hours depending on where you are, it is Mothers Day! Let’s be clear, if you haven’t written your card, turn off the radio and start writing immediately. But if you have, you may want to listen to our next guest. Because while there is not -- and this has been proven imperically -- a better mother than whichever one you’re about to wish a Happy Mothers Day to, according to Pamela Druckerman there is a place with the greatest skills on how to raise a child. And that place is France. The book is “Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting,” and Pamela is with us now.

It’s one of the greatest brands in the world. A sport that has gotten everything right -- stars, television, global interest. But now the NFL has gotten sacked. It turns out that one of the teams, the New Orleans Saints, was systematically trying to injure opposing players. It was a bounty system -- hurt an opposing player, get paid. Knock the player out of the game. Get paid more. And this was known by the players, the coaches, even the general manager. And like many scandals, it was not just the actions themselves that were offensive, but the cover up. Now penalties -- including year long suspensions have been handed out -- and the NFL is trying to recover. Will it? That’s what Michael Silver, Yahoo! sports columnist and one of the people who broke this story, is here to tell us.

On Newtown, CT and the politics of Gun Control. Also, the Fiscal Cliff.

After years of hearing about jobs leaving our country for overseas -- offshoring -- there’s a new trend in American business. It’s called “reshoring.” From service industries to manufacturing, a range of incentives is leading companies to use American workers in new ways. Just this week, Apple announced it would invest some $100MM to produce some Mac computers in the US. Was this a publicity stunt for Apple or more evidence of the reshoring trend -- or both? Mark Coopersmith is a UC Berkeley Lecturer on Entrepreneurship. He is also active in companies of his own, some of which are on the cutting edge of the reshoring movement.

If you thought this year's political conventions were meant to highlight the political parties -- introduce their platforms, candidates, rising stars -- you're forgiven for being greatly mistaken. Most times it felt like both conventions were put on -- at a cost of some $150MM -- as a coming out party for social media. Watching a speech without also following on Twitter? You must be stuck in 1960. Haven't liked a candidate’s Facebook page? That's very 1980 of you. Didn't follow the Presidents "AMA" -- that's "ask me anything" for the un-indoctrinated? This isn't 1992 people! But if you want to know how social impacted the Conventions and how it's changing journalism as we know, my next guest is one of the leading forces of that change. Liz Heron is Director of Social Media and Engagement at The Wall Street Journal, which she joined from the NY Times about six months ago. I've been trying to get her as a guest ever since, and she finally broke down.

What causes well-being? What enables some people and societies and countries to prosper and others to fail? What does it mean to prosper -- is it the same as being happy? Starting about 30 years ago -- and picking up exponentially in the last decade -- academics really began to research the question in new ways. Looking at the data and trying to draw conclusions. But while each set of conclusions may be interesting on their own, how can we -- as societies -- put them into action. How can they collectively influence our social policies -- and should they? A research team from the New Economics Foundation in London has attacked this question. They have looked at research covering the last 30 years and beyond to begin, as they put it, “transferring the large and growing body of academic literature to policymakers” in a range of countries. The piece is called “Well-being evidence for policy: A review,” and joining us now from London, co-author Laura Stoll.

In July 1944, more than 700 delegates representing all 44 Allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH. The goal was the find new ways to manage global finance following World War II. Among the agreements - establishing the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the International Monetary Fund. But detailed notes -- transcripts -- of the heated discussions were never known. Until now. Dr. Kurt Schuler of the US Treasury Dept. is also an economic historian. And in a nifty bit of economic sleuthing, he not only found one copy of the transcripts, he found three. And he has spent his free time cleaning up the transcripts and, now, publishing them as an 800-page e-book by the Center for Financial Stability.

Many of us have children with a very clear goal for our offspring: We want to raise a mini-me someone who reminds us our childhood selves, participating in and engaging in the activities that made us who we are. Not Joel Stein. He is the proud father of a three-year-old boy who he’s hoping will be nothing like he was. Joel is the Time Magazine columnist, writer for hire, and author of “Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity.”

Few ideas are as ingrained in what it means to be an American as the right to free speech. Short of shouting “fire” in a crowded theater, we feel -- on the right and the left -- we can say anything. Violence is one thing; words are another. As every pre-schooler knows: sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can never hurt me. However, now comes an argument from NYU and Oxford Philosophy of Law Professor Jeremy Waldron that words, in fact, CAN hurt. Specifically, hate speech. It should be regulated, as he says, “As part of our commitment to human dignity and to inclusion and respect for members of vulnerable minorities.” And now he’ll tell us why.

The background of a CEO at one of America’s best known companies, it turns out, is not exactly what we thought it was. Another CEO uses company resources to fund his personal finances. Another covers up a personal relationship. Yet another makes an improper stock trade. In all of these cases, questions like: Where was the Board of Directors? If you feel like you’ve seen this movie before -- back in the days of Enron or World Comm -- well, the ending of the current picture hasn’t yet been filmed, but you may be correct. You have seen this before. How is this possible? Have CEOs, corporate boards, even the American public, have we not learned how to behave and what to expect? Jeff Sonnenfeld teaches at the Yale School of Management. He is also founder and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and he joins us now.

Of the many topics I'm where I'm better off asking the questions rather than answering them, fashion has to top the list. No one is coming to me for fashion advice -- or, in a serious way, an understanding of fashion's role is shaping and reflecting society's evolving values. But Harriet Worsley is. She is the author of “100 Ideas That Changed Fashion.”

If you’re like most of us, you have more shirts, pants, dresses, suits, shoes, ties, belts than you could possibly wear -- and than you do wear. And while you don’t want -- and won’t get -- fashion advice from me, you may want to know that the fact you own all those clothes is not exactly your own fault. From cheap labor to cheap materials, from outlets to TJ Max, the result of the evolution in how clothes are made and sold sits in your closet. Another result comes from Elizabeth Cline, author of “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.”

Four years ago, no matter how you voted, there was a sense that, maybe, just possibly, we as a nation would be ready to come together. After a divisive 16 years -- eight Clinton and eight Bush -- and with a financial crisis serving as a collective call to arms, many hoped we would turn the corner. How long ago -- and, frankly, how naive -- that seems. From Occupy Wall St. to the Tea Party, our political divide seems as wide as ever. Do we have a way out or are we doomed to a nasty and divisive existence. Few people spend more time thinking about the state of our country than EJ Dionne, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution, Georgetown University, Washington Post columnist and Author, "Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent."

The Queen’s 60 year jubilee in England is not the only major anniversary of an institution this week. This also marks the 50 year anniversary of Wal-Mart, and yesterday the retailer held its annual shareholders meeting. It’s not the smoothest of times for Wal-Mart. Bribery scandals in Mexico. Criticism around employee treatment. And now several state pension funds are voting to oust Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke and other directors. What’s next for Wal-Mart? Bloomberg Businessweek Senior Editor Diane Brady has been reporting the story, and she’s with us now.

On Shareholder Activism, as seen through Dan Loeb and Yahoo!, Bill Ackman, Carl Ichan and more.

Is there a more important topic in the world today than the future of energy? From global economies to local politics, from what we breathe to what we eat, trust me, energy and energy sources are at heart of it. And questions surrounding energy’s future come from all directions: From China’s exponential energy demand to climate change to global commodity markets to military security to the price of gas at your corner station. Tying together -- and making sense of -- all these competing urgencies would seem almost too much for one person to do. But one person has, and he’s with us now. Daniel Yergin is, by far, the world’s leading energy expert. He almost literally wrote the book on oil, and now he has done it again on the future of energy with “The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World.”

As if enough wasn’t already happening in and around Israel -- internal calls for new elections, tensions with Iran, a pending Presidential vote in Egypt -- this week, a stunner: Just days after calling for early elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had formed a new coalition government -- not with parties to the right of his, but with the centrist Kadima Party. The move has, once again, reshuffled everything in the always shifting world of Israel politics. It’s at times like these that we turn to our man on the ground, Dan Perry, AP Jerusalem Bureau Chief and special editor for international news and -- can I say “more importantly”? -- great friend of the show.

Facebook’s IPO missteps aside, there can be no argument that social media is a major -- if not THE major -- next step in human connection. More than a billion of us sign up to post comments and photos and stories about ourselves. But what about businesses? Is the social environment a place where businesses and other enterprises not only can play, but can win? If so, how? Joining us now, is one of the most important and thoughtful minds on the topic. Clara Shih is not just CEO of Hearsay Social. At 30, she has already been named one of FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs of 2011, one of Fast Company's Most Influential People in Technology, and one of Businessweek's Top Young Entrepreneurs of 2011. She also sits on Starbucks’ Board of Directors, and Clara joins us now.

You may be going through life thinking you are what you eat. But, it turns out, you may be more WHERE you eat. Even with a fast food, your calorie intake -- and enjoyment -- may result less from choosing chicken nuggets over burgers than Mozart over Metallica. A fascinating new Cornell study has show that ambience -- lighting, music and color choice -- instead of making you more relaxed and willing to kick back and eat more, may make you more relaxed and willing to eat less! why does this happen -- and what might it mean for our super-size calorie debates? Dr. Brian Wansink is a Professor of Consumer Behavior at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. He studies food psychology and behavior change, and he co-authored the study: “Fast Food Restaurant Lighting and Music can Reduce our Calorie Intake and Increase Satisfaction.”

Of all the areas and rules that technology seems to be rewriting, it seems no changes come faster or with more impact to our daily lives than media. From how we watch it to how we’re marketed to, to how content is created in the first place, the rules are changing almost as we speak. What does the convergence of technology and media mean for consumers? What does it mean for media companies? And who actually wins? As the convergence first began, Andrew Heyward was President of CBS News and he has spent much of the last 15 years thinking about this challenge. Andrew now helps individuals and corporations make sense of the changing media landscape, and he joins us now.

If you look just at the numbers, folks, this one is too close to call. After nearly two years of campaigning, we’re down to 10 days – and the race to determine our next president will come down to a handful of states: Colorado; Florida; Iowa; Nevada; New Hampshire, North Carolina; Ohio; Virginia, Wisconsin. Who is trending where? Tom Jensen is Director of Public Policy Polling and he’s here to tell us.

With just 10 days to go until our nation comes together to choose our next President, we already have a winner in this election: Social media and crowdsourced news. The days of waiting for a bunch of editors or TV talking heads to tell us what is important are gone. Today, information trends – and the news that gets the most likes, posts, plus 1’s… in other words, the more information goes viral, that’s what the headlines will be. And it’s driven much of the political coverage, just as it will once the election is through. And the leader in this trending form of trending information is BuzzFeed. They have reported on the election from the start, and their editor is Ben Smith.

From pro football to the pee wees, international soccer to girls youth leagues and beyond, the latest concern in sports has nothing to do with competition, sportsmanship or even TV money. It's concussions. As quickly as we realized that seat belts save lives and texting while driving kills, a whole new consciousness exists around what happens when your brain shakes violently. This sociological and medical shift occurred seemingly overnight, faster than cigarettes were snuffed from resataurants or calorie counts appeared on menus. If you're not aware of the issues around concussions, then you may not have listened to Dr. Robert Cantu, professor of neurosurgery at Boston University, senior consultant to the National Football League and co-author of “Concussion and Our Kids: American’s Leading Expert on How to Protect Young Athletes. As much as anyone, Dr. Cantru drove the concussion discussion, and he joins us now.

Marc Goldwein is Sr. Policy Director, Committee for a Responsible Budget and a member of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (The Fiscal Commission), which delivered the Bowles-Simpson report.

One of the big questions that came out of our national political conventions was not so much "what?" -- as in "what do the candidates have to say" -- as "why? -- as in, "please remind me why these things exist? To many, conventions are a relic, a piece of times gone by that hang out intw attic, only to get dusted off every four years for the family reunion. Should they be reconfigured? Do they matter? Why do people keep going -- and why do some of us keep watching? Henry Brady is Dean of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy and a historian of our political conventions. If anyone can answer the "Why?", Dean Brady is that fellow.

The question "how children succeed" is as complex and controversial as it is direct. It's a question that antagonizes on the micro level -- what parent doesn't worry endlessly about what skills and advantages Johnny or Susie needs? -- just as it confounds on the macro level -- how should our country educate the young in a hyper-connected world where competition is global, intense and increasing? For many of us it’s been called the “Rug Rat Race,” the answer has seemed to be: Push your child more. Provide more and more information. Learn and test. Learn and test. But what if that answer is wrong? What if instead of learning "what", our kids should be learning much more "how." How to connect. How to adapt. How to persevere? Based on a whole lot of research and stories to fill out the science, that's the conclusion of Paul Tough, author of the appropriately named and influential new book "How Children Succeed".

After you hit send on an email or search on Google or click a hyperlink on a site via Internet Explorer, what happens? I don’t mean what happens like -- the email sends or the search searches or the hyperlink links. I mean how does the email send? How does Google search a gazillion places for millions of results in nanoseconds. I mean how does the Internet work? What’s it made of? Is Cyberspace a place? I have no doubt that if Lewis and Clark were alive today, this is the land they would try to discover. This is the unmarked territory, our manifest destiny, but who can map it? Andrew Blum can. A journalist who writes about architecture, technology and infrastructure, Blum is now the author of “Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet” and he joins us now.

My next conversation is with a shark. That’s right – and I’ll call her that to her face. That’s because she is Lori Greiner, inventor, entrepreneur, star on one of the hottest shows on TV – ABC’s Shark Tank – and, as if you didn’t know, the Queen of QVC. The numbers are staggering: Lori has created more than 300 consumer products; she holds over 100 patents; she has sold half a billion dollars of products on two continents, through television and the Internet. She has hosted her show on QVC for 10 years, and “Shark Tank” is the highest-rated show on Fridays, bringing in more than 7MM viewers. Lori, thanks for joining me.

You know how you’ve often thought -- and, admit it, sometimes said -- that you need some time alone? Turns out, you’re not alone. And a lot of people are acting on that notion -- and they’re pretty happy about it. It has been called the biggest demographic shift since the Baby Boom, and the numbers tell the story: More than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million—roughly one out of every seven adults—live alone. People who live alone make up 28 percent of all U.S. households, which makes them more common than any other domestic unit, including the nuclear family. Why might this lifestyle lead to personal happiness? Helping us understand is Eric Klinenberg, New York University Sociologist and author of “Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone.”

It would be hard to find a more troubled part of the world right now than the Middle East. In Syria, terrible massacres, including last week’s killings in Houlu, are leaving scores of children and other civilians dead -- the total by some counts has now reached thousands. And while many nations have expelled Syrian diplomats, the collective willingness to take real action just isn't there -- Just yesterday, Russia President Vladimir Putin rejected calls for outside intervention in Syria. Meanwhile, in 14 days, Egypt will choose its first president since Hosni Mubarak left power. The campaign -- between a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood and a former Mubarak official -- risks violence. Where is this region headed? What can outside countries, including the US, do? Here to help us understand, Juliette Kayyem, Boston Globe National Security columnist & Former Asst Secy, Dept. of Homeland Security.

New US employment numbers were released yesterday, and as you surely know by now, they brought bad news. This happened, as did this... And you could almost hear the collective frustration at the thought that things might not be getting better. Getting a job is hard, but how much of it has to do not with what you do for a living, but where you do it? What if the three most important parts of employment were location, location, location? Enrico Moretti is a UC Berkeley economist, Fulbright Fellow and author of the new and important book "The Geography of Jobs."

Both off and on the field, college sports has again hit the front pages. This time it's football. The week began with the fast and clear guilty verdict in the case of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn St, coach charged with sexually abusing several boys over some 10 or more years. It called into question the integrity of -- allegedly -- one of America's great programs. Then on Tuesday, another decision, this one will affect play on the field. For the first time, after seemingly annual controversies over who's No. 1, the college presidents voted to institute a playoff system in 2014. Will this end the controversy? After Sandusky, will anyone care? College football, a multi-billion dollar business is at a crossroads. To help us with directions, we're joined by Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times columnist.

From potential bank runs in Spain to full revolt in Greece. From new leadership in France to new tensions in Germany. From fallout in Ireland to fallout in England, there’s no doubt that Europe and the European Union is unstable at best. The tensions can be felt in economic policy and employment -- the questions of austerity vs. investment -- and in cross-border relations. They also can be felt here in the US, where much of our own economic uncertainty comes from European fears. What comes next -- And might this journey just get worse before things get better? Here to help us understand, Joseph Nye, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs & Chair of the National Intelligence Council on the European Union -- now professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His latest book is “The Future of Power.”

Just a over a year since the famed Arab Spring blossomed in the Middle East -- and notably in Cairo’s Tahrir Square -- Egypt today swore in Mohamed Morsi as the country’s first democratically-elected and civilian leader. It’s an event that would have been hard to imagine only 18 months ago. Does today mark a hopeful, first step towards true democracy, not only in Egypt, but in the region -- or, is the electing of the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate the first step towards Islamist law in this important country. And all of this, of course, in the shadow of continuing killings in Syria and the potential for all-out war with Turkey. How to make sense of the latest in the Middle East? Joining me to help, Thanassis Cambanis, fellow at The Century Foundation and Ideas columnist at the Boston Globe.

If the calendar says June, it means only one thing for my next guest: The end of the US Supreme Court term. The session end always brings a flurry of important decisions, and this year will be no different. The future of health care in our country. Immigration. And all in the middle of a presidential race. What should we expect? Yale Law School’s Linda Greenhouse won a Pulitzer Prize covering the Court for the NYT, and she's also the author of new book, "The US Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carnegie Hall. MOMA. We all know the world-class list of places to appreciate art or music in New York. But what if you learned that some of the city's greatest works weren't hanging on walls in front of your eyes, but instead were some 1,000 yards under your feet in the 1 line. That's right, the subway. And the trains. And buses. They're all run not by the Met, but by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the MTA. It displays an art and music collection so impressive, that when it released its app in March -- that's right, the MTA has an app where you can view all the works right on your phone -- the NY Times Art Critic called it the most underrated art museum in NY. Sandra Bloodworth oversees it all as Director, MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design -- the master curator of the MTA. And she joins us now. Sandra terrific to talk with you.

As a born and raised Chicagoan, I don't know if any headlines this summer are bothering me more than the ones marking a terrible rise in shootings and killings in one of America's great cities. Chicago’s murder rate is suddenly up some 37 percent over last year, with 240 deaths already as of mid-June. And this while other large cities, including Los Angeles, have seen their rates hold steady or drop. Why is this happening? Can it be brought under control? Few people know Chicago better -- or have spent more time fighting crime and wrong-doing there -- than David Hoffman. He recently stepped down as Chicago's Inspector General to run for US Senate to fill Barack Obama's old seat. Before that, he served for 7 years as Asst. US Attorney in Chicago, and spent the last three of those years running the office’s Gang Unit along with an anti-gun violence effort called Project Safe Neighborhoods. He's with us now. David, always great to chat.

If you haven’t filled out your summer reading list yet, you may want to grab a pen and paper right now. And if you have, get ready to cross some of your current choices off the list. The US Library of Congress -- our oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world -- has compiled its list of “Books that Shaped America.” In fact, this is more than a list -- it’s a full Exhibition that opened just this week, and as we head into the 4th of July, it’s a perfect subject for the time. Here to tell us about it: Roberta Shaffer the Library of Congress’ Associate Librarian for Library Services. Roberta, thanks for joining us.

One of the most-watched Supreme Court decisions in years came down on Thursday. As you certainly know, the Court decided 5-4 to uphold President Obama's central piece of legislation -- the Affordable Health Care Act. For policy and political watchers, it was a huge day, setting the stage for the 2012 Presidential campaign. But for Supreme Court watchers, it may have been even more monumental. Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by a Republican President, provided the deciding vote, siding with the 4 Liberal Justices. Was it a shocking turn? Or was this the ultimate show of judicial restraint, in keeping with Justice Roberts conservative roots. One well-known Supreme Court watcher is Jeffrey Rosen, Law Professor at George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic. His most recent book is “The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America”, and he's with us now to help make sense of it all. Professor Rosen, thanks for joining.

We all lost someone incredibly close to us this week. Nora Ephron, writer, director, filmmaker, author, journalist and so much more, died Tuesday at 71. At least one of her productions is surely in your top 10 list: When Harry Met Sally; Julie & Julia; You’ve Got Mail; Sleepless in Seattle. The list goes on. And so did her lines. Yes, she wrote the famous reaction line to Meg Ryan’s famous scene in Katz’s Deli -- “I’ll have what she’s having.” She began her career as a mail girl at Newsweek, but her talent took her to the top. Helping us remember Nora Ephron, one of her real friends, a friend for 25 years, Cynthia McFadden, ABC News Nightline anchor. Cynthia, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your friend.

How would you like to have no boss? Instead of having a direct manager choose your priorities, how would you like to have your company’s mission as your daily guidance and -- working with your colleagues -- go from there? I know this sounds like a tricky infomercial -- but it’s not. It’s a core business philosophy of a person Time Magazine called one of “the innovators and problem-solvers that are inspiring change in America.” It’s also how that person, Dov Seidman, runs his global company, LRN, which works with leading companies to meet their legal obligations and inspire principled performance in their operations. He is the author the transformational book “How” -- it was a statement, not a question, and it’s no exaggeration to say that Dov Seidman is one of the most interesting social, philosophical and practical thinkers of our time... and he joins us now. Dov, thanks for the time.

On the 40th anniversary of Watergate, the topic of national security leaks has again come front and center. In recent weeks, we’ve seen public disclosures on how the secret Predator drone program works; how an undercover agent infiltrated al Qaeda and disrupted an airline bomb plot; and how the US and Israel allegedly implemented the computer virus Stuxnet into Iran uranium enrichment equipment, disrupting the program. These leaks -- and others -- have raised serious national security concerns and calls for high level investigations. President Obama has denied charges that his administration had purposefully leaked classified national security information and Attorney General Eric Holder has asked two US attorneys to investigate. But many don’t believe this goes enough. Judge Michael Mukasey is the former US Attorney General under President Bush and former US District Judge. And he has been outspoken and clear: The leaks are a serious problem and should be investigated by Congress. Judge Mukasey joins us now -- Judge, thank you for your time.

Of the many sports that have seen allegations and evidence of performance-enhancing drugs -- baseball, football, cycling -- that list has a new, four-legged companion: Horse-racing. For the last several months, a disturbing and devastating series in the NY Times has shown how horses are overmedicated - with drugs like corticosteroids, anti-inflammatories that can have dangerous consequences - and poor or limited oversight have put the horses in danger and the sport under suspicion. In fact, just this month, Members of two Congressional committees investigating the drugging of racehorses sent letters to racing regulators in 39 states for information on how trainers with multiple drug violations are disciplined and how often certain performance-enhancing treatments are used. Walt Bogdanich is one of America’s great investigative journalists. He has won four Polk Awards and an incredible three Pulitzer Prizes. And with this current investigation, he will likely be considered for a fourth. Walt, thanks for joining me.

Sebastian Junger knows chance. As author of the book-then-movie "The Perfect Storm", Junger first became widely known for his terrifically reported and heartbreaking tale of New England fisherman who got lost at sea -- A once in a generation storm. Junger also knows danger. He and his colleague Tim Hetherington produced the award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary "Restrepro," which reported on the perils of US soldiers based in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. Sadly, he also knows loss. Hetherington was killed last year while reporting on the conflict in Libya. Now Junger, one of our times greatest storytellers of drama and danger, is trying to make sure the next wave of journalists know how to protect themselves -- from chance, danger and loss. He has started RISC -- Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues and he joins us now.

It’s certainly not often that a company’s naming a new boardmember becomes news that goes viral on the Internet. But Faceboook is not just any company. And Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is not just any new boardmember. She’s the FIRST female boardmember at the company that carries a bit of a boys club reputation. She also gains this title in the middle of another discussion that grabbed attention this week -- one that Sandberg herself has helped champion: The question of whether professional women can have rewarding work-life balance. It’s been called “Having it all.” I don’t know if Businessweek Bloomberg Senior Editor Diane Brady has it all... but she surely has most of it. And she always has all the answers. She joins us now. Diane, thank you as always for the time.