In this episode, I speak with Adam Barbina. Adam shares his memories of growing up in rural Ohio in a hard working, religious and conservative family. After studying at a liberal grad school and living in New York City, Adam still remains connected to his roots and understands conservative viewpoints, wishing more people could see both sides. We talk about his career break into geostrategy consultancy and how the private sector grapples with geopolitical issues. Adam reflects on his difficult journey with health, his sense of gratitude, and how it’s shaped who he is today.

Recorded on 31 October 2024.

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/adam-barbina-2b076b3/.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface

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In this episode, I speak with Zack Peterson. Zack founded 1000 Days Fund, an NGO addressing childhood stunting in Indonesia at a grassroots level with specially trained community health workers. Zack was working at the World Bank when he was confronted with the pernicious creep of stunting that was about to affect his daughter - and he decided to jump out and start his NGO. 1000 Days Fund has had incredible results, even with the painstaking work of tackling malnutrition household by household, challenging the conventional model of dumping food aid on people. Being in Zack’s presence to record this conversation moved me deeply, Zack is incredibly authentic and purpose-driven with a raw energy that I’m sure you’ll find infectious too.

Recorded on 26 September 2024.

Connect with Zack on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/zackpetersen1/. Watch the recently released documentary, Indonesia’s Silent Emergency: Stunting in Rural Populations.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

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In this episode, I speak with Carolina Neal. Carolina is originally from Costa Rica, a country with a deep connection to the wisdom of nature. Her grandmother, the powerful head of her family, had picked Carolina out among her many siblings for her smarts and sent her for higher education. Carolina’s life was destined for high political office, but love got in the way and she ended up in Joplin, Missouri. Carolina shares her fascinating reinvention, the way she connected the many dots in her life, and started restoring historical buildings with her husband, with an incredible impact on her new community. In our conversation, we reflect on what it takes to build roots and to nourish our inner purpose.

Recorded on 25 September 2024.

Connect with Carolina on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/carolina-neal-1275b19b.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

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Nino Kalandadze was one of our first guests on this podcast. Then, she spoke about her experience forged as a young politician while her country, Georgia, was fighting a war with Russia. In this conversation, Nino sheds light on the direction Georgian politics have taken, as a capture of state institutions is under way by interests aligned with Russia. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and the question of whether a peaceful transfer of power can occur will mark a turning point in the country’s history. Nino argues her country may fall behind a new Iron Curtain, reshaping Europe’s future.

Recorded on 9 September 2024.

Connect with Nino on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ninokalandadze. Nino recommended the book A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich, Yale Books.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

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In this episode, I speak with Dana Dumitrascu. Dana just published a book, How To Discover Your Vocation. In our conversation, we explore Dana’s backstory and how she grew into becoming a vocational coach. Her book helps people, young and experienced in life, shed the conditioning we’ve all inherited about work and jobs, and look at vocation in a new way. Dana’s framework is practical and involves building on our natural inclinations to regain agency over what we choose to do. Her toolkit helps fill a void in meaning that individual pursuits never fully satisfy. Her advice takes on a spiritual dimension as she links vocation and fulfilment with serving others.

Recorded on 3 September 2024.

Connect with Dana on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/danatudosetianu. Dana's book is How to Discover Your Vocation [Amazon.com].

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!

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In this episode, I speak with Bernard Zongo. Bernard’s story inspires me in so many ways. He grew up in a poor environment where the odds were stacked against him doing much with his life. His relentless determination to pursue education, with a sprinkle of help along the way, led him to blaze a path in local development, urbanism, humanitarian interventions in conflict zones and more recently, in stakeholder management for the mining sector. And this is far from the whole story: Bernard is accomplished in sports, theatre, music and writing, and has used his talents to shape political reform in Burkina Faso. I feel there is so much more to come for him, but let's learn from his already incredibly rich journey.

Recorded on 16 August 2024.

Corrigendum: Bernard's scholarship when at the University of Montréal was 450 Canadian dollars, not Euros (450 CAD was equiv. to 300 EUR). Bernard also refers to Botswana as an example of a country that wasn't colonised, when it was a British Protectorate. He intended to use the example of Ethiopia.

In the conversation, Bernard mentions Professor Ian Kershaw's book, Hitler: A Biography.

Connect with Bernard on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/bernard-zongo-316a1929.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!

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In this episode, I speak with Michael Brasseur. Michael is a man of the seas, who’s made a living sailing the oceans for the US Navy and grappled with some of the most fascinating naval and security challenges of our time. Michael shares his leadership lessons from decades of building winning teams, summed up as having a vision, clear values and a strong culture. He talks about his journey of injecting imagination and creativity in NATO to incorporate robotics and AI as a resource multiplier in the Persian Gulf in record time: this is the story of Task Force 59.

Recorded on 26 July 2024.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/michael-d-brasseur-53b23645/.

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!

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In this episode, I speak with Professor Diana Chigas. Diana is one of the foremost experts in international negotiation and conflict resolution. She has worked in El Salvador, South Africa, Ecuador and Peru and in the Georgia/South Ossetia peace process, facilitated inter-ethnic dialogue in Cyprus and in Central and East Africa. She co-directs the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Project that aims to improve the effectiveness of anti-corruption programming in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. In our conversation, we reflect on the evolution of the field of negotiation to encompass social factors such as identity and narratives, and the importance of systems thinking, with corruption as a key barrier to unlocking durable development.

Recorded on 22 July 2024.

Instagram: @at.the.coalface

Connect with Diana on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/diana-chigas-732b283/. The organisation she co-leads has a fascinating blog accessible at corruptionjusticeandlegitimacy.org/blog.

And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!

Support the show