Conversations | The Tällberg Foundation

US decline or US reset?

Cecilia Nordstrom — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 01:37:31 +0000

It matters to all of us whether the United States is in terminal decline or just going through one of those bouts of madness and self-doubt that, from time to time, seem almost to overwhelm America’s better angels. This is more than just a challenge match between American Carnage and American Dream. Rather, it’s whether the anchor of the current global order has the capacity, will and moral fiber to cope with its demons in ways that could underpin a revitalized globalism—which is obviously needed to cope with challenges like Covid and climate that are fundamentally global—or whether we are about to explore a brave new world of post-America.

Of course, the answer is unknowable, but we ought to try to understand the dynamics, identify scenarios, and consider what actions (if any) we can take to help shape a better outcome or, at least, to minimize damage that might come from an America “transfixed by disease, carnage and outrage.”

In the spirit that every journey starts somewhere, our “Hunkered down together” conversation on Thursday, June 11 is an opportunity to begin thinking about how to think about the United States and its future. What do Americans care about? What are the hopes and fears of non-Americans, who have to cope with whatever the United States does to itself, but have no ability to affect the outcome? Is it just about Trump and, in what may be a fairy tale, if he goes away somehow we would pop back to some past golden age? Or is this the skirmish before Thucyides trap war between the fading and legacy powers? Etc.

Climate change during — and after—Covid

Cecilia Nordstrom — Fri, 29 May 2020 04:00:17 +0000

In this conversation we considered Climate Change during — and after—Covid. We were joined by Tomas Anker Christensen, Denmark’s Climate Ambassador; Daniel Martinez-Valle, Chief Executive Officer of Orbia, a Mexico based global company; and Mogens Lykketoft, Danish politician and former President of the UN General Assembly.

Will the intense focus of governments, corporations and—most importantly—citizens on coping with the pandemic obscure the urgent need to make progress on cutting global emissions at least in half by 2030? Or, could the lockdown-induced cleaning of the skies demonstrate to enough people the world we want for ourselves and our children, and then lead us towards policies and actions that produce the same result, but in ways that are compatible with economic growth and prosperity? Who needs to do what to make this happen?

We encourage you to listen to the podcast with Tomas and Daniel on this topic here: Is it possible to be optimistic about climate change?
and the podcast with Mogens here: https://tallberg-snf-eliasson-prize.org/is-europes-future-green-or-black/

What is the state of the union?

Cecilia Nordstrom — Wed, 27 May 2020 22:02:20 +0000

Has the American dream become an American carnage? The Covid-19 epidemic has laid bare many pre-existing fissures and deep distress in American society. Can the exhausted majority reassert itself through this crisis? Will the epidemic focus minds on a culture of competence and experience with regards to leaders and their teams and more generally organizations? These are some of the questions Scott Miller, CEO of the Core Strategy Group and Co-founder of Sawyer/ Miller Strategic Consulting Group, and Josh Steiner, Chairman of Castleton Commodities, a Senior Advisor to Bloomberg LP and who serves on a variety of for and non-profit boards including Yale University, address in conversation.

We encourage you to listen to the podcast with Scott and Josh on this topic here: The American Condition

How does the pandemic offer a unique opportunity on constructive climate action?

tallberg_admin — Fri, 01 May 2020 03:41:09 +0000

In this session, we are joined by Tomas Anker Christensen, Climate Ambassador of Denmark and Kevin Noone, Professor of Chemical Meteorology at the Department of Environmental Science (ACES) at Stockholm University.

Inspiration for the online conversation came from the “New Thinking for a New World” podcast with Christiana Figueres—climate activist, one of the key architects of the Paris Climate Agreement and 2016 Tällberg Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner—who passionately believes that the pandemic offers a unique opportunity to focus on constructive climate action. She discusses the possibility of leveraging the massive political and economic resources that governments around the world are mobilizing to stimulate the global, regional, national, corporate and individual actions needed to cut emissions in half by the end of the decade. Is it possible to overcome “politics as usual” to inject some green into massive recovery spending? What should business leaders and individuals do to demand their governments act with eyes on the future, instead of the past?

The online conversation took place on April 30 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.

Will leaders be driven by values in times of crisis and panic?

tallberg_admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 07:55:35 +0000

We are joined by Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Shahidul Alam and Sitawa Namwalie to talk about values. At this moment of crisis and panic, if countries, companies, religions and other organizations—but, most importantly, their leaders—aren’t driven by universal, human values, they seem destined to fail. Now more than ever, we need our moral compasses or we will be doomed to end up in bad places, as individuals and as societies. However, “values” don’t seem to be the filter that most are using as they respond to the challenges of Covid-19 and its consequences. Can we bend the arc? And, can we do it in time?

We invite you to listen to the New Thinking for a New World podcast on The value(s) of democracy with Shahidul Alam

The online conversation took place on April 23 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.

Will democracy be another casualty of Covid-19?

tallberg_admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 08:05:08 +0000

Democracy and democratic institutions were under severe pressure well before the novel Coronavirus appeared. Could the added burden of the pandemic break the back of democracy as we have known it? How worried should we be by governments proclaiming wartime powers and instituting new kinds of location and information tracking, all in the name of safety?

Gabriela Cuevas, Mexican Congresswoman and Inter-Parliamentary Union President, and Paula DiPerna, strategic environmental advisor and former U.S. congressional candidate, discuss the risk that our democracies could be another casualty of Covid-19—and what we should do about it. Both Gaby and Paula have served as jurors for the Tällberg Eliasson Global Leadership Prize.

They recorded a podcast, moderated by Alan Stoga, as part of the “New Thinking for a New World” series. https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/will-democracy-survive-covid-19/

The online conversation took place on April 16 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.

Window on the current pandemic

tallberg_admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 08:09:37 +0000

Anne Goldfeld, 2019 Tällberg/Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner, a clinician and a medical doctor with long experience—in the lab and on the front lines of care—with epidemics hosted this conversation with the Tällberg/SNF Fellows. That experience will provide us a window on the current pandemic. What can we expect from the scientists, medical professionals and public health specialists who are racing to mitigate the human suffering caused by Covid 19? Is this a once in a century event—1918, 2019? How do pandemics start—and how do they end? More questions than answers, but our conversation will be at least a starting point.

Listen to Anne Goldfeld in an interview Alan Stoga, chairman of the Tällberg Foundation, in our podcast series “New Thinking for a New World”: https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/understanding-coronavirus-and-its-implications/

The online conversation took place on April 9 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.

How do we protect our neural identities?

Cecilia Nordstrom — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:38:02 +0000

In this conversation, we focus on our brains, with Rafael Yuste, Columbia University professor of biological sciences (and much more) as well as a 2018 Tällberg/Eliasson Global Leader. He talks about his work and his deep concern about protecting each of our neural identities.

You can listen to an interview by Alan Stoga with Rafa that you will find as a podcast, “What is a Thought?” They discuss such questions as could our evolving understanding of the human brain lead to a new Renaissance, what are the implications of this new knowledge and how do we protect each individual’s neural identity.

The online conversation took place on April 3 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.

What do we want to happen when we get to the new post-Covid normal?

Cecilia Nordstrom — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:53:27 +0000

Alan Stoga, chairman of the Tällberg Foundation starts off the conversation based on the article, Civilization Interrupted, which asks us to consider, what happens when Covid-19 is only a bad memory? More to the point, what do we want to happen when we get to the new post-Covid normal? The online conversation took place on Thursday, March 26 as part of the Tällberg SNF Fellows “Hunkered Down Alone Together Conversations”, a weekly long-distance discussion series.