Podcasts about informal

Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, talks about the competitive congressional races in New York's primary, and what voter turnout is signaling so far. Jon Campbell, Albany reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, talks about the Democratic primary in NY-17, where the candidate that wins will take on Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the general election in November. Photo: Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani votes at Frank Sinatra School of Arts in the Queens borough of New York City on November 4, 2025. New Yorkers will pick a new mayor on November 4 after an unpredictable race that has drawn attention from far beyond the largest city in the United States, with President Donald Trump branding frontrunner Zohran Mamdani "a communist." Breakout Democratic Party candidate Mamdani, a naturalized Muslim American who represents Queens in the state legislature, leads former governor and sex assault-accused Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing his party's primary contest to Mamdani. (Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP) (Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What builds trust when you don't have a title or position of authority? SUMMARY According to Lt. Col. Joe Bledsoe '11, it's honesty, integrity, humility presence and action. Tune in as he shares practical leadership lessons learned from the Academy, combat aviation and years of mentoring others.   SHARE THIS EPISODE FACEBOOK  |  LINKEDIN   COL. BLEDSOE'S TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS 1. Leadership starts before the title. People follow your example, ideas, and presence long before you get formal authority. 2. Informal leadership is as real as formal leadership. Class president, wingman, or peer—your influence, credibility, and support role matter even without rank. 3. Be “clay to be molded.” Show eagerness, humility, and effort; people notice fresh attitude and willingness to embrace hard things. 4. You can't lead alone—build a trusted team. Time management and heavy responsibility force you to delegate to people you trust and empower them. 5. Trust has two layers: inherent and earned. Start with inherent trust (shared values, shared background) and deliberately grow earned trust through behavior. 6. Five traits that build credibility fast: Honesty, integrity, humility, presence (actually being there, engaged), and decisive action. 7. Debrief like a fighter pilot: brutally honest, never personal. Separate the person from the performance, do root‑cause analysis, fix errors, and then move on—no re‑litigating. 8. Own your mistakes out loud. Saying “I'm sorry,” “I was wrong,” or “I don't know, but I'll find out” accelerates trust and models humility. 9. Mentors and mentees are non‑negotiable. Continuously seek guidance from those ahead of you and invest in those behind you to sharpen your own thinking. 10. Prioritize relationships and pride in the mission. Treat family and friends well, cultivate the Long Blue Line, and remember you're on the A‑team—act like it.   CHAPTERS 00:00:00 — Opening & Guest Intro Show open, Naviere introduces Lt Col Joe “Paveway” Bledsoe and his career highlights. 00:01:13 — Voluntold to Lead: Becoming Class President Basic cadet training, being “voluntold,” interview gauntlet, and getting elected class president. 00:04:09 — What a Class President Actually Does Informal vs formal leadership, picking the class exemplar (Robin Olds), dining‑ins, spirit missions, and accountability. 00:08:38 — From Future Doctor to Fighter Pilot Arriving at USAFA wanting to be a physician, loving biology and medicine, and the first seeds of doubt. 00:10:03 — Ops Air Force, Powered Flight, and the Pivot Deployed Ops Air Force in CENTCOM, exposure to flying in theater, powered flight, and choosing pilot training over med school. 00:12:22 — Mentors, Family, and Making a Hard Call Mentorship from family, upperclassmen, and permanent party; emotional weight of changing paths and family's reaction. 00:14:08 — Leading Without Rank: Credibility and Trust Informal leadership as a young wingman, lessons from time management and delegation as class president, inherent vs earned trust, and key traits (honesty, integrity, humility, presence, action). 00:22:06 — Fighter Pilot Debriefs & Radical Feedback Culture Brutally honest debriefs, owning mistakes, root‑cause analysis, safety and mission focus, and how that mindset translates beyond the cockpit. 00:27:48 — Leadership at Home: Marriage, Parenting, and ‘Knock It Off' High‑school‑sweetheart marriage, parenting, using accountability and humility with kids, and balancing “fighter pilot” mode with being a husband and dad. 00:30:30 — Future Conflict, Growth, and Pride in the Long Blue Line Risk and future fight, Institute for Future Conflict, exposure to other AFSCs and logistics, daily growth habits (mentors, mentees, reading, writing, running), advice to younger self, and closing message on being proud of USAFA and the A‑team.   ABOUT COL. BLEDSOE BIO Lt. Col. Joseph “Paveway” Bledsoe '11 is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and recognized leader whose career has spanned combat operations, advanced airpower development and service to the Long Blue Line. A native of rural Pennsylvania, Bledsoe graduated from the Academy in 2011 with a degree in biology before earning a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland.  He is Currently assigned to the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy where he studies the future of airpower, emerging technologies and the challenges of great-power competition. Prior to joining the Institute, he helped lead training and operational planning efforts at the 366th Fighter Wing, contributing to major exercises and the wing's first deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. His work bridges the gap between today's operational realities and tomorrow's strategic challenges. A recipient of the Association & Foundation's Young Alumni Excellence Award, Bledsoe is widely respected for his emphasis on faith, family and service. Throughout his career, he has remained deeply connected to the Academy community through mentorship, alumni leadership and a commitment to developing the next generation of leaders. On this episode of Long Blue Leadership, he shares lessons learned from leading peers, building influence before authority and navigating high-stakes decisions in both the cockpit and the profession of arms.   CONNECT WITH JOE LINKEDIN   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LINE PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Please note: we are only considering USAFA graduates as guests at this time. Ryan Hall | Director:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org     ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE AT USAFA.ORG/LONGBLUELEADERSHIP AND ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     FULL TRANSCRIPT Guest, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Joe "Paveway" Bledsoe" '11  |  Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99    Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz 0:01 Sometimes leadership begins long before you've ever been put in charge. It starts when people trust you enough to follow your example, your ideas or your vision. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99; Long Blue Leadership starts now. Well, Lt. Col. Joe “Paveway” Bledsoe the Third. Welcome to Long Blue Leadership. Lt. Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:20 Naviere, it's great to see you. Thank you for having me here today. I'm looking forward to the conversation. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:24 So, Joe, your career has been exciting so far, and you're still in it. You know, you have been operational leader, obviously an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot. You've been deployed, you have been a researcher, you're a Young Alumni Excellence Award winner for our Association & Foundation, you've been an AOG board director and a fellow for the Institute for Future Conflict. And that, that's just, you know, a short little list, because you're a student heading back into, over to, is it North Carolina, right? Seymour Johnson.   Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:53 That's correct. Seymour Johnson, yep.   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:54 In the cockpit, yeah. Col. Joe Bledsoe 0:56 Yeah, we're super excited. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 0:59 Yes. Well, we're going to touch on probably many of those places, but I want to dial it back to something that only one graduate in every class experiences, and for you it happened shortly after Basic Cadet Training. Your class selected you as your class president. How did that come about? Col. Joe Bledsoe 1:14 How did that all go down? That's a great question. So there we were, right after basic training. I was in Cadet Squadron 19 for my freshman year, and I got the opportunity — this is one of those voluntold moments, right — where the upperclassmen and BCT cadre said, “Joe,” or “Cadet Bledsoe, report to H-1 during transition week.” That's when everybody's coming back, and you're like, “Sure, yep, yes, sir, yes, ma'am. Here we go.” So I show up with 40, 50 other fourth-class cadets, and we come to find out it was for us, and we were going to go through who was going to be the class officers. So first off, as I look back on that experience, a lot of respect and no humility being asked to go like represent Squadron 19, right? Like, I didn't volunteer, they just kind of pointed me in that direction, so we show up and got to interview with the upperclassmen, class officers, and there's funny interview questions, real serious interview questions. You know, I was just honest, right? Like, I'm here. This is what I think about what being a leader looks like, and how I could help serve the class, not thinking I would ever be selected, right? And as the night is going on, and ACQ is right around the corner, they kind of whittle it down to four or five of us, and we get up in front of the rest of the cadets and classmates that were there, and it was an open forum, like you know, back in Rome times, like you're standing in the gauntlet, Yeah, like it was like Roman voting, right? And asked a bunch of questions, and I remember standing up there with, you know, preppies, prior enlisted, and then me, just like straight off the street, and there's a couple other of us up there, and just answer the questions honestly, and at the end of that, there was a vote, and you know, they read the results, and I was like, "Holy smokes, I'm class president. How did this, how did this happen,” right? And I think there's a lot that — it was daunting at first, right? And then also, like, “This is awesome, I don't know what I'm getting into,” right? I just found out about it. I remember walking back on the Tizo. This was the first time I can say this now, because you know, grad, and I didn't run the strips because the upperclassmen and class officers walked me back, and I distinctly remember to — back to my squadron to — Jordan Kraft and Forrest Underwood walked back and were given some mentorship to me, like here's how to succeed, here's things we would recommend, and it was just an awesome opportunity to like kind of learn what pure leadership looks like, what it means to be in this not org chart that is unique to the Academy, and that's where the, that's where the adventure started for class president. I'm still, I haven't been fired yet, and I still proudly serve the Class of 2011 — Robin Olds' class — as their class president, and it's one of the best jobs that I have the privilege of doing. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 4:10 My goodness. I mean, just to unpack that a little bit, obviously, in basic cadet training, you did enough to impress your cadre, I'm sure that there was probably some sort of cadre selection to bring however many of them forth first. Would you say that you would you agree with that, or is that — am I way off? Col. Joe Bledsoe 4:28 Yeah, I would say —I think when I look back my time at basic training, like I wanted to come to the Academy since I was in your school, right? So, like, I thrived — I'm not saying it was easy by any means, right? We all know that, but I thrived in like this new adventure, right? And I took everything, I embraced everything. I think that may have been something they saw, right? Like I was clay to be molded, right? And I had some prior opportunities in basic to show that to my BCT cadre, and they picked up on it. It wasn't that I was trying, but I think looking back on that experience, there was moments of like my freshness, my eagerness, my like pride in that I made it to basic training, that I wanted to just try as hard as I could, and I think some of that probably shown through, and ultimately may have been why I was selected to go try that interview process, right? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 5:20 So that interview process, at the end of the day, you were elected by your peers, and you know it — to your point — you said in that unusual, the not normal org chart, right, the one that doesn't exist, but yet you have leadership of your class. What did that look like? How did that translate? Because not many of us are class president, I'm certainly not my class president, and so I'm not sure what that leadership role looks like. Can you share a little bit more about some examples? Col. Joe Bledsoe 5:46 Yeah, I think that that leadership role was very different each year, right? As a freshman and a sophomore, as a four-degree and a three-degree, before any official academy leadership position starts to present themselves, that they do for two-degrees and firsties, it was a lot of helping the class stay as a collective whole, right? So one of the first big things as freshmen was selecting our class exemplar, right? And running like — how do, who do we select? How do we come together and figure that process out? How do we then, once we have a name, once we selected Robin Olds, how do we have a formal dining in? Things that I had never even heard of, right? As well as on the other side, the shenanigans, right? So, the spirit missions, right? There was many times I've had to go to the commandant's office and say, I don't know where the class crest is, like, out of pure honesty, right? But, like, that is, that was like a way, as an underclassman, that we kind of got that informal leadership, but also you're the leader by default here, so we're gonna, we're gonna make you accountable for your class. So I got to see both sides, that transitioning a little bit more to two-degree and first a year was now taking a little bit step back in writing in the informal leadership position, so I looked as myself as like a supporting agent, supporting member to our cadet leadership, and I always presented that like, “Hey, if you need our class to do something, I will do that, but if militarily you own that, like, I'm not ever going to step on your toes or push back,” right? The other thing we got, I was able to do is also help provide, like, morale inputs, right? Like you kind of had the pulse of morale, I think, more as the class president sometimes than in the official leadership, so could help provide some inputs along those ways, and there are some, say more shenanigans or morale events that we get to help put forth and present those to the cadet leadership for official approval later on as we firsties. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 8:04 Gosh, well, that was, I mean, it's really insightful for us to understand some of the roles that a class president and class cabinet plays, and so understanding that it's — I like how you put it as a supporting agent to the formal leadership. And we're gonna touch on this a lot more, because I think there's going to be times when you'll share how you build that trust and credibility throughout, both when you're a cadet and as an officer. But before we jump there, I happen to find out, Joe, that you weren't coming to the Air Force Academy to become a fighter pilot, but to become a physician. Can we talk about that for a moment? Col. Joe Bledsoe 8:37 Absolutely, that's absolutely a — I came to the Air Force Academy, wanted to be a doctor. I knew I wanted to be a biology major. I declared, I think, the first day I could declare and went through the gauntlet of getting ready for med school applications, and I loved every second of it. It was awesome. Even my fellow classmates would say he was a huge nerd and studying all the time, because that was my goal, right? I came into the Academy, and I wanted to be a doctor, and I knew the gauntlet that is, that that is required to do such a thing. And I still love medicine, right? I still love — I think medicine is fascinating. Every time my probably get there someday, or in the conversation, but anytime my kids have to go to the ER, like I'm like, “Can I scrub in,” right? All that kind of stuff. Yeah, put me in. I love medicine, and it wasn't till the summer between my two-degree and firstie year did I have that midlife crisis at the age of 21 and then firstie year is when that crisis kind of came to a head, and new doors opened, and here we are today, right? So that, yes, you're absolutely right. Always wanted to be a doctor. I was still fascinated by medicine, but now I'm just a pilot. So, there we go. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 9:57 So, can we, can you expand a bit more on it? So, was it a decision you wanted to make or a decision you had to make? Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:03 Yeah, yeah, that's great. It was a decision I had to make, ultimately, myself. Right? No one, no one said, “Joe, you can't be a doctor.” So, the summer — there's two key things that really happened that helped influence that decision. The first one was the summer between two-degree in firstie year, I had the opportunity to deploy to the Middle East, and we've heard of Ops Air Force. You know Ops Air Force. Well, at that time we had a deployed Ops Air Force, so they sent cadets overseas to deployed locations to see what was, you know, to get the full experience in a deployed location. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:40 Wow. Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:40 So I had the opportunity to do that. Spent the summer in CENTCOM and kind of opened my eyes to… Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:47 Oh, Central Command. Col. Joe Bledsoe 10:47 Yeah, sorry, Central Command, and got to experience — I got attached to a C-130 unit, right, and I got to see what flying looked like in a deployed environment, and I kind of opened my eyes, where I've been hyper focused on medicine, right? Like, you know, so focused on this is what it takes to be a doctor. I kind of like put my blinders on to what the rest of the Air Force did, right? So I was like, “This is pretty, this is, these guys and gals are doing awesome stuff, like this is this is the pointy end of what was going on.” And that planted a seed, that planted a seed. So it came back, firstie year was doing the med school applications, going through, I had some free time in my academic calendar, and I got to go down to the airfield and do the powered flight program. So, I got to see flying over the summer, and then I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to go fly an airplane, and I was like, “OK, the seed was planted, let's see if I get air sick, like, let's see if there's anything else here that might make me not want to do this.” And I loved it. Right, I fell in love with flying down at the airfield. I came back, and I was like, I'm gonna pause the med school applications and put my name in the hat for pilot training, and the rest was history, right? So, doors open, doors close, right? But that was my story, and I loved getting to talk to cadets about that, because so many can be — so many times we see some that are hyper focused, and like there's always other options out there, and it's OK to have a crisis we can talk you through. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 12:23 I think that's a fantastic lesson that you actually learned early, because you know it's interesting — had you not been sent to Ops Air Force at a deployed location, you might not have taken Alex flight, and so you know when you think about leadership opportunities and lessons, this is one of those moments where it actually steered you in a new direction. So, as we think about that, I'm curious, how your family responded to that, because, you know, you had come to the Air Force Academy to be a doctor. Were they happy for you? Were they surprised, a little nervous? Col. Joe Bledsoe 12:57 Yeah, there was a ton of mentorship there, right? Not just from my family, but from upperclassmen peers, permanent party, like, “What are you doing? Like, you came here telling us this was your goal. Where did this new goal come from?” So, there was a lot of time talking that through, and I needed that myself. It wasn't, as you know, in any decision, like, it wasn't a snap decision. So, a lot of time walking through that decision process and leaning on mentors and kind of asking the questions, like I knew what four years of med school, and then residency, but I knew what that like, what does pilot training look like? How long does that take, right? So, a lot of questions to help answer, or to find answers through, and ultimately, my family was super supportive, super supportive, and they still joke, like, “Hey, how come you're not doctor.” Well, because I fly F-15s now, right? But all supportive all throughout the process, right? And that's where you lean on others, right? Lean on others, because it very much felt like a crisis, like I still have scar tissue over it. But looking back on it, it wasn't just me making — I ultimately made the decision, but they helped me through it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 14:08 That's fantastic. You know, I think about you as an officer, as a fighter pilot, and obviously there's a lot of steps you took to get there on the road was certainly not easy. Often, though, I think that there can be some misconceptions, or maybe this is accurate, that earlier in your pilot life or your aviator life, there's probably not a lot of leadership lessons where you're leading others. Maybe, maybe that's a misperception, and we'd love to talk about that. You know, how do you find the leadership opportunities then when you are, you know, you're party of one, right? You don't necessarily have any direct reports. What does leadership look like there? Col. Joe Bledsoe 14:43 Yeah, can we take that back to like some lessons I learned at the Academy?   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 14:46 Oh, absolutely.   Col. Joe Bledsoe 14:47 Right, I think, I think that's where I've leaned most heavily in, like, not in there's this difference between formal leadership and informal, positional versus informal, and I was blessed enough at a pretty young age to learn the plus — the how to succeed and how to fail in informal leadership. I've tried to carry that throughout my career. So when you say like the younger days of being a wingman in the F-15 community, it's a lot about credibility. It's a lot about that peer leadership. How do you build the credibility? How do you build the trust to be someone that others look up to in that informal system, right, in that informal system. When they look down their phone, like, “Who do I call? Who do I have to call? Who do I want to call?” Right? and I think that's where you have to balance some of that stuff, and I spent time thinking about that, and trying to lean on lessons that I learned from the Academy, and while formal leadership positions were never handed to me, that doesn't mean you're not a leader, right? Like, you can't beat it, doesn't mean you don't just get to sit back and not lead. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:02 Can you share an example of a time when you learned that about yourself, or what that looked like?   Col. Joe Bledsoe 16:09 In the flying world? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 16:11 Or as a cadet?   Col. Joe Bledsoe 16:12 Yeah, as a cadet, I think the biggest one was — I'll take it back to, like, freshman, sophomore year, where I learned one of the key pillars that I'm convinced the Air Force Academy teaches all us grads about is time management, right? And I thought I was pretty good at time management, and then when you're now the president of 1,000 other cadets, your inbox fills up very quickly, right? Or you're like, “I thought I was good at time management.” And I learned very quickly that you can't do it alone, right? You can't do it alone, and I had to learn to surround myself with people that I trusted and that I could delegate or hand tasks off to, and just say, “I need this accomplished,” and I did that to my friends that I knew would get the mission done, right? And I had to have that level of trust, and I think that is translated throughout my career, where I inherently trust people with a project, right? I think there's two versions of trust, inherent trust and earned trust. When I look at the graduate network, whether that's the Air Force Academy, Navy, West Point, and I see a class ring, I'm like, “I inherently trust you,” and I can, I believe, or I see some other veterans have on — like, “I inherently trust you,” and then in other cases where I've had to learn and work with people, it's now, “I'm earning your trust, and I hope you're earning mine as well,” and that is this unique balance of I inherently trust you, I learned that at the Academy. Now let's build on that as a foundation and get this earned trust to as high as we can. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 17:54 What does some of that earned trust or becoming more credible look like when young leaders don't have the benefit of time? Right, so I, the more time I work with you, the more I learn about you. You build that credibility, etc. How does one accomplish that, maybe either shorten the gap or do that a little quicker or impactfully earlier? Col. Joe Bledsoe 18:18 Yeah, time is always — like we always need more time, right? How often do you say, like, “I only have 24 hours, but I need more time,” right? So, if we're always fighting time, like, and everybody's fighting time, then, like, that's a constant. So, let's not worry about time. So, I look at it as, like, what traits do people bring to the table, or what traits can we can we sharpen? Honesty, right? Honesty is huge. You have to be honest, and that's a pillar of trust. Integrity, right? Integrity first and showing people that you display integrity is really important. Humility, I think, is also really important. Humility is really important. I was listening to a podcast the other day, and it really struck home to me, a sense of humility is — if a leader is able to say three things, they're gonna — I know I could, I can build that trust, no matter what that time gap is. “I'm sorry,” “I was wrong,” or one of the seven basic responses: “I don't know, but I'll find out,” right? I think that's really important with humility. The other one is presence, not with a T, like we're not giving presents, but presence. Being present is really important character trait in my mind, and the fifth one that I try to reflect on a lot is action. Right? I think defaulting to not doing something is not what we want. That doesn't help build trust. Taking action with what knowledge you have and making a decision is really important, and I think those are the traits that help build that credibility, help build that trust in that time gap, whatever that looks like. If you can hit those, the five that I try to hit home. If you can do that, hopefully you're building that relationship that is going to foster — have great fruition out of it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 20:06 That's outstanding, and that's really helpful, I think. I love how you took out the constant of time being an excuse, right? Like, we don't always have the benefit of time, whether it's time and getting more experience or just time in general, I think those are outstanding examples of how you can build credibility. So, thank you for sharing that. You know, one of the things that I also would love to kind of dig into a little bit of your experiences, Joe — because they've been really vast, right? So, I don't believe that everyone has the same kind of path. How have you grown as a leader in these different experiences that really, again, aren't positional leadership roles? I'm just curious, how your growth has been in that space. Col. Joe Bledsoe 20:47 Think a lot of it's been through failure. I think a lot of it's been through failure. These might not be huge, like we lost a million dollars, or like, not through those kind of failures, but relationship failures, or conversation failure at the micro level, and how I've tried to handle that is surround myself with people that will tell me that the emperor — I'm gonna go back to the, I'm gonna go back to the old fairy tale, or fable, right? If you surround yourself with people that are able to come up to you, and you trust them, and you trust their feedback, that is something I've tried, that was Cadet Bledsoe, advice given to me is Cadet Bledsoe. Surround yourself with people that you will listen to and take their feedback honestly. And sometimes that means if I don't have that person in the room and I know I fumbled a conversation or I made a poor decision, it's going to that individual and saying, “I messed up, I'm sorry, I was wrong,” or “I don't know,” right. And that's how I try to use that to present humility, I think, and that's important, because we're all fallible, we all make mistakes, and if I can't admit that, then, like, we're off to the wrong foot right away. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 22:06 Do you think some of that that skill that you've developed over time has been something that you've learned in, and forgive me, I don't know if it's a fighter pilot community, specifically, or you know, I think about when you do your sorties and you have some sort of debrief, right? I feel what I've heard, I've not actually sat in one, but they're very real. Like, there's no, it's not about making you feel good about it, like it's about the safety and the mission, and so I'm curious, if that skill of humility, and you know, calling a spade a spade, and calling it I'm wrong and I'm wrong, did that come from some of that experience, and maybe you can talk through what that's like, because not everyone, I think, practices at that level of transparency. Col. Joe Bledsoe 22:46 Yeah, the fighter pilot debrief. I learned some of the importance of that through mentorship as a cadet, and then that was sharpened as a fighter pilot. And I learned the importance of that through the form, my formal job, right, the mission, the lives at stake, aircraft, that kind of stuff. And I think I've tried, I've only honed that skill through Air Force training, right? The Air Force has trained me to think like that, and I've tried to translate that into my personal life and leadership positions, because I think there's tons of value to that. There is tons of value in being willing to find a mistake, own up to that mistake with the knowledge and hope that it doesn't happen again, right? And if that is like, if you, if that's your north star, we don't do this again, like, why wouldn't you want to be on that team? Why wouldn't, why don't you want to be? That's how we get better, right? And I think that seed again was planted as a cadet. Like, let's, I tell cadets all the time, like, you're joining the A-team, so put in A effort, right? Like, if you're going to join the A-team, I don't want B-players, and this is what we got to get, like, let's go, right? It's a motivating factor in my mind. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 24:08 What are some of the ways to approach that in a leadership conversation for someone who would be interested in taking on some of those, those learned lessons? Col. Joe Bledsoe 24:18 Yeah, I think the first thing is transparency and honesty right up front. Like this, Naviere, if we were flying together, right and you were my instructor, your job is not to degrade me as a human, but to prove to me that I made a mistake with the ultimate goal of making me better, right? Your job is to always, like — and the relationship you and I have as an instructor and a student is my — I'm gonna sit here in the debrief and go, and Naviere is here to make me better, right? Like, that's your, that's your job, right? Right. So, once you start that as the foundation, like, it can only get better if I know your job is to make me better, and your job is I'm supposed to make this guy better, right. And often we can, when feedback is provided, you're like, this could be a personal attack, or, like, that's all left out, that's all left outside the debrief room, right? Like, we're here to make everybody better, and I think that's where it starts: with that transparency and honesty up front of the expectation. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 25:15 So you'll actually say that. You would actually… Col. Joe Bledsoe 25:17 No, I think that's just a common, that's a common theme, right? That's the expectation in the community. And not just in the fighter community. I think it's throughout the Air Force, right? I think that's what makes us really, really unique. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 25:32 Because feedback is something that we, we do — although maybe some can do it better than others — I think that's a really fantastic way — before you're giving someone feedback, you're really clear on this is what we're hoping to accomplish by having this time together. And so, I think what you just said can make feedback so much more impactful, because it's not about the person, it's about what are we trying to accomplish and helping you, I guess. It is about you, but ultimately helping you. Col. Joe Bledsoe 25:59 Absolutely, right? Like the where every debrief starts is we had a mission objective and we had tactical objectives. Did we do them? If we didn't, let's figure out why, right? So translating to the business world or private sector, it's a root cause analysis, right? It's a root cause analysis, and we will get down to the nitty gritty of like, what type of error — did you make a decision error? Did you perceive the environment wrong? Did your actions cause the error, right? And we get down to that level, so that when the student, student Paveway walks away, Naviere, knows, Naviere, you gave me the exact, like, you decided wrong, because X, Y and Z; don't do that again. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 26:43 Right. Col. Joe Bledsoe 26:44 Here's your fix. You know, that debrief can take hours, and that's the beauty of it, right? “We're gonna sit there, and we're not gonna let anything not be uncovered, because we're gonna go do this again tomorrow, and we can't make the same mistake tomorrow,” right? “We can't make the same mistake.” Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:01 No, that's, that's fantastic. I mean, to have it that clear, and to know it, like, OK, we're not gonna, we don't stay in that space. We've addressed it, we know we've identified a fix, and we move forward. Is that what you said? Col. Joe Bledsoe 27:12 Absolutely. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:13 There's no like, continue to revisit, like… Col. Joe Bledsoe 27:15 Yep, that's the point, right? Like, “I've learned something, I know, I've acknowledged my mistake. Let's move on. This wasn't personal, this was you making me better.” Iron sharpens iron, right? So, here we go, and then move on. And now that translates, as you asked kind of a couple minutes ago, right, that can translate to so many things in your life, right? And I try to do that sometimes, like my wife will tell me, I go too fighter pilot, but there's versions of that that translate as we are not in a fight or pilot debrief. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:50 You literally got in my head because I was gonna say, now I want to put you on the spot, because Joe, you are married to your high school sweetheart, you make a 2% club, right? Like, you actually started the Academy with a sweetheart and ended with the same sweetheart. And now you have three amazing, beautiful children. How do you translate that to, you know, feedback to your family or your personal life? And I love how your wife said too fighter pilot, but how about to your kids? Col. Joe Bledsoe 28:15 Yeah, married my high school sweetheart, Alicia. We started dating our sophomore year, and we've been together ever since. So she is not a grad, but she has a lot of Air Force in her blood, so that's great, and the kids, I would say there's a couple things when it comes to taking some things I've learned or been trained in the Air Force, translating on the home front. The first one goes to accountability, right? I think accountability is really important because in an aircraft, you have to be accountable for your actions, and I think that translates to being a parent, as well as trying to teach the kids some humility. Right, where to be humble, when to own up to your mistakes, and sometimes that works in the fighter pilot way, sometimes it doesn't, and I think that's leadership, right? You can have leadership skills and be consistent in some, in some ways, but other times adaptability is really important, especially with the kids, and each one of my kids is very unique, and we have to cater to each one of them and their unique skills. I will say about my wife, I love her with all my heart, but she knows the words “knock it off” as well, right, because that's a sacred word, not just in the military, but on our, in our homefront, and that usually means stop being a full fighter pilot, like go back to being Dad, right? So she knows, she knows the words and how to make that all go down. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 29:47 I love that it's another language, right? You have your, your fighter pilot language, and you have a home front language. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. You know, I'd like to switch gears a little bit to your time operationally, and maybe this translates into now your work at the Institute, or your most recent work at the Institute for Future Conflict and preparing cadets for the future fight. I'm curious, how all of these skills that you've learned, and these leadership traits that you've continued to develop in yourself, have translated in moments of, you know, like, real conflict, real distress, like when the stakes are high, and how you prepare cadets to think that way, even though maybe they've not experienced that. I'm just curious, what that looks like. Col. Joe Bledsoe 30:31 Yeah, it is hard to translate — like cadets love war stories, right? Like, “So there I was…” but it's hard to translate some of, like, the putting, having the cadets put themselves in the shoes of someone that has 15 years of flying under their belt, right? Like, that's hard for them to grasp, and I understand that, and that's not what I'm asking of them to do, but there are certain skills that I think are really important, and that I've got to experience and talk to cadets and research and spend time thinking about at the Institute for Future Conflict at the IFC. One is risk, right? How do we, how do we think about risk, right? Are we risk prone? We risk adverse? How do we think about risk, not just in this moment, but how does our decision today affect five days from now, a month, right? And, as you remember, because I know it happened to you as a cadet, like you're just in the, like, “What's my next problem,” right? What's my next — OK, how does, like, fixing this problem affect next week? Right. And I think that's what I've got had the opportunity to think a lot about the IFC, as well as try one thing I've learned being back here at the Academy was my experience as a cadet is not the same experience as the cadets now. And what do I mean by that is when I graduated, GWOT, Global War on Terror was the thing we knew what we were getting into. I very much knew flying, going to the Middle East. Now the cadets looked to me and other permanent party, and like, what's our fight going to look like? And right, the question mark is, I don't know, but let me tell you, think about this, and I could be wrong, and I think that is where I've had a lot of time to think about future conflict and what's problems, maybe not nations or adversaries, but like big meta level things they'll have to think about, information access, information sharing, trust, right? How do you, how do you help develop some of these skills in the cadets? And that's where I've spent a lot of time the last two years trying to think and spend, spend some brain bytes, like what does air power look like in this unknown environment? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 32:52 And as you're about to step back into it, I'm thoughtful of that, and so now you're taking what you've helped cadets start to hone in and think about. How are you different now as a leader going back into the cockpit than you were when you came to the Academy? Col. Joe Bledsoe 33:09 Yeah, let me get back to the cockpit, and everyone can tell me what, how I'm different. We'll use that as the test. But here's one thing I think — I've reflected on this recently, going back to the Strike Eagle community. One has been my exposure here in Colorado Springs and at the Air Force Academy, meaning I've learned a lot about what others do that I wasn't — I knew other jobs existed, I knew other AFSCs did things, but not being in a flying day-to-day ops tempo, I've had the opportunity to sit down and, like, “What do you say you do?” “Oh, that has some effects here, here, and here,” and I use a specific vignette would be, I've got to spend a lot of time in the management department and helped teach in the global logistics minor, and like, I knew there was logisticians in the Air Force, and like, that's yeah, right? That's how stuff got here, but like, understanding the importance of, like, that's how my bombs got here, this is how the b…, right, like, truly understanding their frustrations, I think will make me get less frustrated in my day to day, right, and I think that has been one thing that the Academy has given back to me the second time I've been here, is a little bit more exposure to the Air Force, as well as the Space Force, being here in Colorado Springs, like seeing what each team member, like each cog in the machine brings to the fight, right? And I think that's been a blessing here. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 34:42 So those that you will begin to get back working with — your men and women in your community — they won't have had that exposure, and so I'm now going back to our where we started with the sense of informal leadership. How do you help others gain that experience and thought, and maybe thought process informally, since they haven't really been exposed to that? How would you help them navigate it? Col. Joe Bledsoe 35:09 Naviere, I think the best way to do stuff like that is, like, you raised your hand when you said logistics officers, like Naviere, we're doing a podcast with my next squadron, you're coming to talk, right? Col. Naviere Walkewicz 35:19 Right, it's like that was like a long time ago, we need someone more recent. Col. Joe Bledsoe 35:24 But, OK, Naviere, it's not you, but you know people, that's how stuff gets done, right, that's how stuff gets done. And while I by no means want to stand up in front of everybody and say I'm the expert on logistics, but I, I'm not that person, but I trust Naviere, Naviere's contact here, and that's how, like, you create this network of knowledge and this network of trust and credibility. And to my, to the fighter pilots that I'll be flying with, it's somewhat like throwing mud at the wall sometimes, like we're gonna keep throwing mud and see what sticks, but at least they know it's there, right? Like, we're gonna, your job is still to go kill things and blow things up, but at the same time, you know there's this other network out there that you can lean into. But let me be a conduit to make that happen. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 36:15 That is awesome. That's fantastic. So I want to go into this period now, where we talk about you and your continued growth as a leader. What is something, Joe, that you're doing every day to be a better leader? Col. Joe Bledsoe 36:30 I have mentors, and I've tried to find mentees. I think that is where growth can happen, leaning on others for mentorship and mentees to try to talk through some things you've thought through and give experience and exposure to others, right? And that's that network we were just talking about, right? Other things I think are really important is reading and writing. Read a lot, write a lot, nobody writes good anymore, right? Thanks, ChatGPT. But being able to communicate in the written form is really important. So, writing and reading. And the other thing, too, is as a leader, just find an outlet, find something, find a hobby, find something that's fun to do, right. So, I got into running here at the Academy, because we're at high elevation, and I'm, why not, right? But find something that, like, rounds you out, right? It's fine, find an outlet that helps give you some relief from all the stresses that can happen in leadership. That's where I would say I spend a lot of time, or what I think about trying to sharpen my skills. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 37:34 Daily. So, what are you reading right now? Col. Joe Bledsoe 37:37 Oh, that's a great question. I have a couple books that are on the table. Mask of Command is one that I'm reading as I get ready to go back and potentially be in a leadership role. There's a couple other books that come to mind. I'm reading a baseball coaching book, because I coach my baseball, it's a basketball book by Coach K from Duke, as I go back to North Carolina, but it's a book, how to coach kids, right, Leadership on the Court, and it's fun to just think about training and coaching kids and how to keep them inspired. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 38:18 Oh, that's awesome. So, speaking of kids, if you were to go back in time, and talk to younger Joe Bledsoe, the third, what advice would you give him? Col. Joe Bledsoe 38:30 Yeah, if I had to go back, I would say it's worth it. Every second, work hard at the Academy, right? The doors that it opens, that's where my mind went when you asked the question, like, younger me at the Academy. Be good to Alicia, my wife, right? Be good, because she's going to be with you for a long time. So be good to her, as well as foster your, foster your friendships. They're going to mean a lot to you in the future, right? The relationships you build on that hill are going to come back in ways you have no idea years to come. So take time and prioritize the people that you meet. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 39:10 Those are really great reflections. Joe, is there anything that we haven't covered in our conversation that you would love to share with our Long Blue Leadership listeners and viewers? Col. Joe Bledsoe 39:24 Absolutely, be proud of this institution. I'm proud of it. I know you are too, Naviere. Proud of this Academy. Be proud of the cadets, be proud of the permanent party that work here. There's an A-team out there, and this is this is where it starts, right? And it's not just if you're serving in blue or in the Space Force, right? If you're out there doing awesome things for our country on the private, in the private sector, thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. There's no shade of blue in the Long Blue Line, that's my, my phrase for that one. There's no shade of blue. Serve your country, be proud. And that's — just be proud to be an Academy grad. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 40:07 That's fantastic. So, you know, in our time together, I have loved this, this, this leadership conversation, because we really span an area that I don't think a lot of people talk about, and it's, how do you demonstrate leadership in an informal way, you know, without titles and without necessarily key positions or in the hierarchical structure, and so some of the things that really stood with me, Joe, that you've covered, have been being credible, being present, and humble. I really like that, and you didn't say this in these words, but what I took from that was, you know, being honest and truthful is almost one of the most kind ways you can be right, because you're actually helping someone be better, and that really stuck with me, you know. I don't, we have an A-team, we don't need B-players, that I think you exactly said that, so definitely stuck with me. But watching the way that you have led, not with your class, not just the cadets, and, you know, certainly not the squadron that you will have here shortly as a director of operations, but I think you've continued to just be who you've always been, which is someone who leads with integrity through those pillars and certainly by example. So this has been an incredible conversation, and for anyone that is watching us and listening to this, for others that are in their leadership journeys, this is another one you're going to want to share, because it's not just about, you know, Lt. Col. Bledsoe's journey right now, it's been all of these moments and experiences and memories and they really do connect with anyone on a leadership journey. So, be sure to join in on longblueleadership.org or wherever you get your podcasts, not just to see this one, but all of our other conversations. So, Joe, thank you so much for joining us today. Col. Joe Bledsoe 41:46 Thank you Naviere. Go Air Force! Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:48 Go Air Force!   Col. Joe Bledsoe 41:49 There we go. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:50 Absolutely, until next time, we'll see you on Long Blue Leadership. KEYWORDS informal leadership, peer leadership, Air Force Academy leadership, USAFA class president, fighter pilot debrief culture, building trust and credibility, leadership humility, future conflict and airpower, Long Blue Leadership podcast, military leadership lessons.     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation          

Katy Schnitzler returns to The Full Stop five years on — now fresh off submitting her PhD — to dig into one of the thorniest workplace issues for people who are childless not by choice: holidays, leave, and boundaries. The conversation moves from the personal (the strange non-celebration of finishing a PhD, the "full stop" feeling of an ending without ceremony) into the structural: school-holiday leave bias, rota and shift unfairness, "informal favours" for parents, and the particular pressures faced by teachers, midwives and nurses who are childless. Katy shares findings from her doctoral research and her Pronatalism at Work project, and the group works through practical, non-judgemental ways organisations can make leave, language and culture fairer for everyone, without taking anything away from parents. We're talking about ... Holiday and school-term leave bias against childless employees "Informal favours," rota unfairness and the assumption that childless staff have nothing to rush home for Teaching, midwifery and nursing as flashpoints for childless professionals Ambiguous and disenfranchised grief — why childlessness grief isn't always recognised, even by therapists Pronatalism in the workplace: baby showers, scan photos, "doing it for the kids" culture The intersection of childlessness with disability, chronic illness, singleness and bereavement Practical, low-cost fixes: transparent leave/booking systems, anonymous feedback, external training, first-come-first-served leave policies Takeaways Holidays are emotionally loaded for people without children — naming that openly (without banning the topic) helps everyone. "Gentle challenge" responses ("that's not always how it feels") put the work back on the person making assumptions, not the person experiencing them. Transparent, first-come-first-served leave systems can remove parental status from the equation entirely. Anonymous feedback on workload and leave can surface disparities before they become resentment. External, MIST training takes the emotional load off the person going through it — they don't have to "out" themselves to get change. This isn't bashing parents. It's about making space at the table for everyone's story. Guest Katy Schnitzler — academic and corporate trainer specialising in reproductive health and childlessness (pregnancy loss, infertility, menstrual health, menopause). Founder of MIST Workshops (est. 2020), and author of doctoral research including the Pronatalism at Work project. Listen to the Full Conversation We cover a lot of ground, from anticipatory grief and adoption to the specific dynamics of shift work, IVF and rota fairness. Learn about the Full Stop on our website and donate to our work at KOFI Childless people are invited to join the Full Stop Community for support, episode discussion and conversation. Learn more about Katy's work and book training for your organisation at MIST Workshops. The Full Stop is a podcast for people who are childless not by choice, and for everyone who loves, works alongside, or supports someone who is. New episodes drop regularly — subscribe wherever you listen.  

Our Special Subject for June is Wong Kar-wai's so-called "Love Trilogy": Days of Being Wild (1990), In the Mood for Love (2000), and 2046 (2004). Our discussion walks a tightrope of abstraction as we consider the philosophical implications of Wong's treatment of the theme of love: whether it can be consummated and how time, secrets, androids, and epistemology are involved. Proust, Tarkovsky, and of course FOTP Henry James get their due mentions.  Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s:     DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 0h 29m 47s:    IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 0h 46m 55s:    2046 (2004) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 1h 05m 06s:      So This Is Sarris (The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris) – Garson Kanin +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" * Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!  Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join! 

"Leadership, I think it's really walking the talk." "I think it comes from within, being genuinely very interested in people." "You can't win every battle, and you're crazy if you try to." "Let's look at the spirit of what they're trying to achieve." "To be successful in Japan, I think you have to be patient." Campbell Hanley is the Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Japan, one of Japan's longest-established international public relations and communications agencies. Originally from Torquay near Melbourne, Australia, he came to Japan in 1992 after deciding to live in a non-English-speaking country and develop international experience outside Australia. His career in Japan has moved across public relations, journalism, content marketing, advertising, digital communications and agency leadership. Hanley began in a small PR company, moved into marketing and digital work, and then became a staff writer for the Mainichi Daily News. He also worked on special projects for Fortune and Time magazine, developing an editorial perspective that later became central to his communications career. Before joining Weber Shandwick Japan, he worked in a major American advertising company, initially as managing editor of a content marketing business and later in international advertising sales and digital marketing. At Weber Shandwick Japan, he was originally hired to build a content marketing unit but soon took on broader business, digital and leadership responsibilities. His career reflects the adaptability required to succeed in Japan: learning the language, understanding local business expectations, building credibility over time and translating global ideas into practical Japanese-market solutions. Campbell Hanley's leadership journey in Japan began long before he became Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Japan. Arriving in 1992 from Australia, he did not come with a grand corporate plan or a fixed career pathway. He simply wanted to live in a country where English was not the dominant language and experience a society very different from the relatively homogeneous environment in which he had grown up near Melbourne. Japan became that destination. What began as a one-year overseas experience developed into a decades-long career across public relations, journalism, advertising, content marketing, digital media and leadership. Hanley's career progression is a useful example for foreign professionals who build their lives in Japan not through a single breakthrough, but through accumulated credibility, language ability, adaptability and a willingness to learn from every role. His early work in a small PR company gave him an introduction to communications. A subsequent role in marketing exposed him to digital work at a time when digital communications meant something very different from today's social media, AI platforms and always-on content ecosystems. Later, he joined the Mainichi Daily News as a staff writer during a period when traditional media organisations were adjusting to digital distribution. That journalism experience became a defining advantage. It taught him to think like an editor rather than simply like a promoter. He learned to distinguish between a genuine story and what he describes as propaganda. That distinction became central to his later work in content marketing and public relations. Clients may want to tell the market everything about themselves, but audiences, journalists, customers and stakeholders only respond when the story is relevant, credible and useful. Hanley later joined a major American advertising company, where he became managing editor of a content marketing operation. It was his first meaningful leadership experience, managing a team of editors and content specialists. He discovered that leading experienced writers required more than formal authority. Editors see their writing as craftsmanship. They have opinions, pride and professional standards. Trying to win every argument would damage motivation and reduce the team's willingness to contribute ideas. The answer was negotiation. Leaders need clear standards, client requirements and editorial principles, but they also need flexibility. Hanley learned that credibility comes from explaining why something should change, listening to experienced contributors and recognising that good leadership does not require winning every battle. At Weber Shandwick Japan, he initially joined to lead a newly formed content marketing division. The intended leadership structure was meant to include a business leader, a digital leader and an editorial leader. Instead, the business leader moved into another area of the organisation and the digital leader never arrived. Hanley found himself managing the editorial, business and digital dimensions of the operation at the same time. That intense period gave him a much wider view of leadership. He had to understand profit and loss responsibility, client needs, digital platforms, team capability and the internal politics of integrating new services into a traditional PR organisation. He later moved into the core Weber Shandwick Japan business, working to embed digital communications throughout the agency rather than treating it as a separate specialist division. His approach was practical. Rather than forcing every team to adopt new digital services at once, he found allies. He worked with colleagues who were curious, receptive and ready to experiment. Together, they met clients, developed communications ideas and used examples from Weber Shandwick's global network to show what was possible. This approach recognised a key truth about Japan. A global campaign may work in the United States, Europe or another Asia-Pacific market, but that does not guarantee success in Japan. The core idea may be relevant, but the delivery needs localisation. Japanese stakeholders need to understand the purpose, feel ownership and have confidence that the programme reflects their market reality. In that sense, digital transformation is not just about technology. It is also about nemawashi, trust-building, internal consensus and creating the conditions for people to support change. As Managing Director, Hanley places strong emphasis on engagement, consistency and psychological safety. He believes employees can sense whether leadership interest is genuine or manipulative. Employees are unlikely to become engaged simply because their employer launches an engagement initiative, an employee survey or a new corporate value statement. Engagement is built over time through repeated behaviour. Hanley's practice of meeting one employee each week over breakfast or lunch is a small but important example. These conversations have no rigid agenda. They are designed to understand how people are doing, what they are seeing and what may be happening beneath the surface of formal reporting lines. In Japan, where employees may hesitate to bring bad news to senior leaders, those informal conversations can help surface problems earlier. He also recognises that approachability is relative. A leader may believe that they are open and accessible, yet employees may still struggle to raise difficult issues face-to-face. One colleague who appeared calm during a discussion later sent a detailed and emotional email. That experience reinforced the importance of offering multiple channels for communication. Hanley's broader leadership lesson is simple but demanding: leadership in Japan requires patience. Executives who arrive with aggressive turnaround plans, fixed KPIs and a desire to make immediate changes can easily misread the organisation. Sustainable success comes from learning the landscape, identifying trusted partners, listening to quieter high performers and allowing relationships to develop over time. For Hanley, leadership is not about issuing instructions from above. It is walking the talk, creating clarity, modelling the values expected from others and building an environment where people can contribute honestly, creatively and confidently. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Leadership in Japan is unique because progress often depends on trust, relationships, consensus and careful internal alignment rather than visible executive force. Foreign leaders can underestimate the role of nemawashi, the informal process of building support before a decision becomes official. They may focus on the formal meeting, the ringi-sho approval or the announcement, without recognising that much of the real decision-making has already happened through conversations behind the scenes. Japanese employees may also be more cautious about challenging senior leaders directly, especially in formal settings. That does not mean they lack ideas or commitment. It means leaders need to create multiple ways for people to contribute. Informal meetings, regular one-to-ones, anonymous suggestion systems and consistent follow-up can all help reduce the distance between senior management and the broader organisation. The leadership challenge is not to become passive or avoid difficult decisions. It is to understand that change is more sustainable when people feel included in the process. In Japan, consensus is not simply about avoiding conflict. It is often a method for reducing implementation risk. Why do global executives struggle? Global executives often struggle in Japan when they assume that a successful strategy from another market can be transferred without adaptation. A campaign, operating model or leadership style that works in the United States, Europe or Singapore may not receive the same level of buy-in in Japan. Hanley's experience in communications shows that global programmes often fail not because the original idea is poor, but because Japanese stakeholders do not feel ownership over the delivery. Global headquarters may see a campaign as proven and scalable. The Japan team may see it as culturally disconnected, commercially unrealistic or difficult to execute with local customers, media and employees. Executives also struggle when they become too focused on avoiding offence. Cultural sensitivity is important, but excessive caution can weaken decision intelligence. Leaders need to trust their judgement, while also seeking strong local counsel to identify blind spots. The best approach is not blind confidence or excessive deference. It is a balance between clear leadership instincts, local insight and evidence-based adaptation. Is Japan truly risk-averse? Japan is often described as risk-averse, but the more accurate issue is uncertainty avoidance. Japanese organisations may be reluctant to move quickly when the consequences, stakeholder reactions or implementation details are unclear. That is different from being unwilling to innovate. Hanley's career in digital communications shows that Japanese organisations can embrace change when the purpose is clear, the risks are understood and trusted people are involved in shaping the solution. Innovation often needs more explanation, more examples and more internal preparation than it might in a startup environment or a fast-moving Western market. This is why leaders should not interpret slow initial movement as resistance. Sometimes the organisation is asking for more clarity. What is the business case? Who will support the initiative? How will it affect customers? What are the risks? What happens if it fails? Who is accountable? The most effective leaders reduce uncertainty without eliminating ambition. They use pilots, local case studies, customer feedback, internal champions and phased implementation. They do not merely tell people to be more innovative. They create conditions in which innovation feels credible and safe. What leadership style actually works? A leadership style that works in Japan combines clarity, consistency, respect and follow-through. Hanley places particular importance on authenticity. Employees observe whether a leader behaves consistently over time, whether they treat people fairly and whether they give feedback in a way that supports improvement rather than simply criticising performance. This is especially important in a culture where employees may be cautious about exposing problems or challenging the boss. A leader who only appears interested when there is a crisis will not create trust. A leader who takes time to understand people, recognises contribution, provides regular feedback and deals with issues fairly is more likely to earn confidence. Hanley's approach also reflects servant leadership. He does not wait for employees to bring every issue to him. He asks questions, checks in regularly and works to identify problems before deadlines make them unmanageable. This is not micro-management. It is active leadership. The key is to combine high expectations with human connection. Employees need to understand what success looks like, but they also need to believe that the leader wants them to succeed. How can technology help? Technology can help leadership when it improves access to information, encourages ideas and reduces the barriers that stop people from speaking openly. Hanley's use of an anonymous digital suggestion platform is a good example. The system allowed employees to submit ideas in Japanese or English without fear that their identity would be traced. The value of the tool was not only anonymity. It was also the message behind it. Employees saw that their suggestions were being read, considered and treated constructively. Technology can create channels, but leadership determines whether those channels are trusted. In communications, technology also expands the range of ways organisations can engage customers and stakeholders. Paid, owned, earned and shared media require different approaches. Companies need to think beyond advertising and consider how websites, newsletters, events, journalists, influencers, employees and customers all contribute to reputation. Tools such as AI, analytics, digital twins and data platforms can improve decision-making, but they do not replace local judgement. Technology provides information. Leaders still need to interpret that information through the realities of customers, employees, Japanese business culture and organisational capability. Does language proficiency matter? Language proficiency matters because it signals commitment, builds trust and allows leaders to hear what is not being said. Hanley's Japanese ability helped him establish credibility early in his career. It showed colleagues that he had invested time and effort in understanding Japan rather than treating the country as a temporary overseas posting. However, language alone does not determine leadership effectiveness. A foreign executive may not become fluent in Japanese, yet still lead successfully if they listen carefully, use capable interpreters and bilingual advisers, and create an environment where people can communicate in the way that works best for them. Hanley also highlights the importance of recognising quieter employees. In international companies, employees with stronger English skills or greater confidence in global communication can appear more visible than colleagues whose performance may actually be stronger. Leaders need to avoid rewarding only those who can speak most fluently in the leader's native language. The best leaders look beyond self-promotion. They listen for substance, observe results and create fair evaluation systems. What is the ultimate leadership lesson? The ultimate leadership lesson is patience. Hanley believes leaders need time to understand the organisation, build relationships, identify trusted partners and learn how decisions are really made. Rapid turnaround stories can be appealing, but in Japan, a leader who acts too quickly may damage trust before they have understood the full context. Patience does not mean delaying decisions indefinitely. It means learning enough before acting. It means recognising that a relationship with a client, employee, partner or internal stakeholder may take years to build but can create value for decades. Leadership in Japan is therefore a long-term practice. It is about walking the talk, showing consistency, respecting people, creating psychological safety and helping teams adapt global ideas to local realities. The strongest leaders do not merely manage tasks and KPIs. They create a culture in which people feel able to contribute, raise concerns, share ideas and take responsibility for the future of the business. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

In low-income countries, large parts of the economy are characterized by informality, and low tax coverage. Governments and international development partners have long viewed the informal sector as an untapped goldmine for boosting national tax revenues. However, recent research suggests that this revenue potential may be overestimated.In this episode, we talk to Vanessa van den Boogaard from the International Center for Tax and Development (ICTD). We discuss why measures to tax the informal sector often fail, and where it actually pays to direct these efforts instead.Hosts: Jonas Veland, Kaja GuttormsgaardAudio, video, and music: Kristoffer LislegaardClick to watch video version on Youtube

Libertópolis PM, viernes 12-06-2026

En este crossover especial, dos buenos amigos como son Luis Martínez Vallés y Antonio Runa, de los canales Luces en el Horizonte y La Órbita de Endor, se unen en animada charla para hablar de sus experiencias como escritores, del mundo editorial y de la pasión por la literatura. Sin cortapisas y sin miedo a la incorrección. Dejando las cosas claras y, sobre todo, con esa complicidad que les une. Una conversación entre dos personas que ven la vida de manera muy particular. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

En este crossover especial, dos buenos amigos como son Luis Martínez Vallés y Antonio Runa, de los canales Luces en el Horizonte y La Órbita de Endor, se unen en animada charla para hablar de sus experiencias como escritores, del mundo editorial y de la pasión por la literatura. Sin cortapisas y sin miedo a la incorrección. Dejando las cosas claras y, sobre todo, con esa complicidad que les une. Una conversación entre dos personas que ven la vida de manera muy particular. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Samuel Mampapatla, General Secretary of NITASA spoke to Saskia Falken in for Clarence Ford on their call for calm amidst rising xenophobic tension. Views and News with Clarence Ford is the mid-morning show on CapeTalk. This 3-hour long programme shares and reflects a broad array of perspectives. It is inspirational, passionate and positive. Host Clarence Ford’s gentle curiosity and dapper demeanour leave listeners feeling motivated and empowered. Known for his love of jazz and golf, Clarrie covers a range of themes including relationships, heritage and philosophy. Popular segments include Barbs’ Wire at 9:30am (Mon-Thurs) and The Naked Scientist at 9:30 on Fridays. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Views & News with Clarence Ford Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 09:00 and 12:00 (SA Time) to Views and News with Clarence Ford broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/erjiQj2 or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/BdpaXRn Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will hold a public meeting in Floresville on Thursday, June 11, for a pending wastewater permit for HK Bella's Ranch. The permit — WQ0016844001 — proposes a wastewater treatment plant to discharge up to 250,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day into Kicaster Creek and on into to the San Antonio River. The meeting will consist of two parts: •Informal discussion — attendees can ask questions of the applicant and TCEQ staff; these questions will not be part of the official record •Formal comment period — attendees will state their comments relevant to... Article Link

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with software engineer and entrepreneur Arowolo Muritadhor for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from agriculture and manufacturing in Nigeria to the evolving role of crypto in the country's economy. They touch on how hyperinflation, particularly the naira's dramatic drop in 2023, pushed Nigerians toward stablecoins as a practical savings tool, and how informal kiosk networks have stepped in where traditional banking infrastructure falls short. The conversation also covers the tension between government regulation and the permissionless nature of blockchain technology, comparisons between the decline of the Roman Empire and current shifts in US economic dominance, the role of mobile payments in Africa, language learning, and whether AI agents have any real utility in crypto infrastructure yet. You can connect with Arowolo on LinkedIn and X at @armolas_06.Timestamps00:00 - Host welcomes Arowolo Muritadhor, introducing topics of software engineering and animal food production in Nigeria.05:00 - Discussion shifts to manufacturing, components assembly, and China's dominance in low-cost production globally.10:00 - Conversation explores crypto adoption in Nigeria as a network state phenomenon, separating informed users from mainstream population.15:00 - Mobile payments and kiosk ATM replacements emerge as critical financial infrastructure bridging unbanked Nigerians.20:00 - Roman Empire parallels drawn to modern crypto taxation, government control, and inevitable death-and-taxes reality.25:00 - Bitcoin and Ethereum permissionless nature debated against government wallet-level censorship vulnerabilities.30:00 - AI agents examined as crypto infrastructure tools, revealing mostly trading bots rather than foundational builders.35:00 - Nigeria's 2023 naira collapse compared to Argentina's hyperinflation, driving citizens toward stablecoin dollar savings.40:00 - US Treasury history unpacked through FDR gold confiscation and Nixon ending convertibility, paralleling empire decline.45:00 - Crypto reframed as anti-bank rather than purely anti-government, enabling freedom through immutable accountability.50:00 - Transparent blockchain ledgers discussed as potential government accountability tools across democracy, republic, and oligarchy structures.Key Insights1. Nigeria has a significant divide between its northern and southern regions in terms of economic activity. The north, centered around Abuja, is more agricultural with substantial cattle production, while Lagos in the south functions as a dense urban and commercial hub. This geographic and economic split shapes how different financial tools and technologies are adopted across the country.2. China's dominance in low-cost manufacturing has made it nearly impossible for countries like Nigeria, the United States, or Argentina to compete on price alone. The more realistic path for developing economies is to import components and focus on local assembly and creativity, which is where meaningful economic participation becomes possible.3. Crypto adoption in Nigeria accelerated dramatically around 2023 when the naira experienced a sharp devaluation against the US dollar. Before that point, saving in dollars was difficult for many Nigerians, especially those without formal bank accounts, making stablecoins like USDT an attractive and practical alternative for preserving wealth.4. Informal kiosk operators in Nigeria have organically become a substitute for ATMs, giving communities access to basic financial services where traditional banking infrastructure does not reach. This grassroots financial layer is now a key entry point for integrating crypto and stablecoin payments into everyday commerce.5. Governments are increasingly trying to regulate crypto at the wallet and centralized exchange level, using tax compliance as a primary mechanism. While Bitcoin and Ethereum remain largely permissionless, the practical chokepoints for most users remain centralized platforms where identity and transactions can be monitored.6. The historical parallel between the fall of the Roman Empire and current shifts in US economic and geopolitical power offers a useful frame for understanding why crypto matters. Just as Rome debased its currency and struggled to sustain imperial costs, the US faces mounting debt and a financialized economy that may accelerate dollar instability and push more people toward alternative stores of value.7. One genuinely constructive use case for blockchain beyond speculation is immutable accountability, particularly for public institutions and prediction markets. A transparent ledger that governments or officials voluntarily adopt could create verifiable records of decisions and promises, reducing corruption and increasing trust in ways that traditional governance structures have struggled to achieve.

In this episode of Talk Law Radio, host Todd Marquardt brings together trusted voices in finance, law, and public service to help listeners uncover hidden legal and financial blind spots—and start the new year with clarity and confidence.

In 2025, seven-month-old startup Axiom solved all 12 of the problems Putnam exam (scoring 8/12 in the time limit) a prestigious undergraduate math exam. The 12/12 score is better than the top undergraduates (110/120) and the closest AI system that reported a result (DeepSeek 103/120), although it is unclear what the people and other systems would have scored with more time. Nonetheless, the Putnam exam is legendary for its difficulty, with the median score typically being 0 or 1 points. Taken by itself, this seems like a minor feather in the cap of AI; one of a long series of accomplishments by AI systems in elite competitions with humans, starting with Deep Blue beating Kasparov.Fast forward to mid-2026, and Claude Code is eating the world. In 2024 Anthropic's bet on code and enterprise looked like a more pragmatic niche play vs. OpenAI's better models and massive consume scale. Today, Amodei's all in bet on acceleration via code (images and video be damned) seems prescient.Despite Anthropic's growing momentum, however, Axiom CEO Carina Hong sees coding ability as a necessary but not sufficient milestone on the path to AGI. Code arguably pushes the jagged frontier to the point of super intelligence in some domains outside of coding, but there are surprising gaps (link) that Carina believes will bottleneck AI progress. (Stats on math benchmarks).The informal bottleneck“Verified AI” sounds like eating broccoli (footnote: I actually love broccoli, but then again, I also believe strongly in Test Driven Development, so ¯(ツ)/¯ ) and paying taxes, but to Axiom it means something very different. “Verification to me is about scaling brilliance, compounding brilliance,” Carina told us.It actually took a while for me to understand what she means by this. It sounded like marketing-speak to me, until it clicked. Carina emphasizes an story about legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan to illustrate the point. When G.H. Hardy finally persuaded Ramanujan to formally prove theorems instead of relying on his (formidable) intuition, it reportedly improved his own capabilities. This is presumably because formally proving things forced Ramanujan to articulate the details in a way that open up new lines of thinking, etc. This is one part of “compounding.”But formally proving things also allowed others to benefit from his intuition: the proofs are way of communicating an intuition and persuading others that the intuition is correct. This is scaling (more people use the result) and compounding (people can learn from and build on his work).This is the analogy that Carina wants us to focus on.Verified GenerationThere are two ways that Verified AI shows up: in training and in inference.But a quick detour: to a first approximation, “Formal Verification” means using type checkers (like for TypeScript, C++ or Rust, but more capable) to verify mathematical proofs that are meticulously specified using a language like Lean (footnote: Formal verification also includes model checking (TLA+, SPIN), SMT-based tools (Dafny, F*, Why3), and refinement-type systems (Liquid Haskell) — many of which don't look much like “type checking a proof” from the user's perspective even when there's a similar logical core underneath. It also gets applied to software and hardware correctness, not only pure mathematics.). It takes a lot of work to translate an “informal” proof (albeit one that most people would not remotely call “informal”) in to a Lean proof (footnote: This is an understatement. Most theorems remain informal because formalization is so hard to do. There has been a great deal of effort to formalize the most important proofs, with mixed results)You can imagine how this would be (very) useful during Reinforcement Learning: instead of relying on best guesses based on statistics (GRPO, RLHF, etc.), you can just verify the proof is correct using a Lean verifier. This is obviously a much stronger reward signal, akin to compiling code and testing it (which is what is typically done with RL on coding).The catch: LLM are not (currently) very good at proving things with Lean.Enter Axiom: While they have not officially reported benchmark numbers besides the 12/12 Putnam result, Carina reports that they have achieved a very impressive 99% (187/189) ProofGen on the Verina benchmark. This benchmark is to generate code and proof of correctness for a series of problems. For context, OpenAI o3 (the last known OpenAI run) achieved 4.9% on this benchmark.Based on the sparse benchmarking, it's hard to say what the frontier labs are currently doing, but Carina suggests that they still are not training to generate Lean proofs directly, rather relying on informal proofs.Time will tell if the frontier labs' current approaches will close this gap.Scaling and compoundingCarina's Ramanujan analogy is pretty direct. Better proofs → better Lean generation → better RL. A stronger signal means higher sample efficiency and higher maximum performance. Great!Scaling is pretty clear too: once I have proved something in Lean, the quality of the output is basically (footnote: one might argue that its a bit lower because the proof is in distribution for the LLM) as high as if it came from a human, so my high quality training set has grown in a way that an informal rollout corpus cannot. I can trust my Lean proofs.Compounding is also clear: now all of future inference and training can build upon those proofs.On the other hand, a model trained only using statistical signals like GRPO during RL lacks the sample efficiency, maximum performance and compounding corpus that a system that uses formal verification benefits from.All roads lead to verificationBroccoli and taxes notwithstanding, “verification” has shown up in a lot of conversations recently. In the in physical system control:“I think [verifiability] is probably the hardest problem right now, because the as the models get better, it can be harder and harder to find the faults on the system. And so the problem of doing proper eval to find those faults, that problem also keeps getting harder as the models get better.” -In theoretical physics:“…now that we're in this regime where you can just get ChatGPT to tackle thousands of questions at the same time, it will return proofs for a significant fraction of them. Now actually the onus is back on the humans to verify all the outputs. And so, yeah, as that becomes a bottleneck, I think formalizing math and automating verification will become more valuable.” -Verification is, in fact, the key differences between AI for science and AI for computation: in science you to have to actually test (verify) your hypothesis by performing physical experiments. Lab in the loop systems like Radical AI and Lila build around exactly this premise (we have recorded episodes with both of these teams and will release them soon!)And yes, formally verifying critical systems such as flight control, nuclear power plants and pacemakers is a growing focus as the software and hardware that run them becomes more complex.Carina believes so strongly that AGI requires verified generation that she makes the unqualified claim that “We do not believe there is any other possible future.”Expensive to produce, cheap to verifyLean proofs are hard generate, but they can be easily shown to be correct or incorrect. But how do you know that the proof you created maps correctly to the problem you care about? As Carina puts it: “Anything that can be specified can be proven. Humans are bad at specifying everything we want.”Are we now in the specification business? Check out the episode to hear Carina's take, as well as:* Why hardware verification is a killer app* Details on the AXLE open API and recently released Discovery toolkit* The Erdos debacle* The OpenAI GPT-f diaspora This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.latent.space/subscribe

The US public's tastes and habits are fragmenting, leading to new consumer behaviours. The shift from a handful of TV networks to an endless supply of streamed shows and social media clips is just one of many causes. Investment manager Dave Bujnowski discusses the characteristics that determine which growth companies should thrive in the resulting ‘high entropy' environment.Dave Bujnowski is an investment manager in our US Equity Growth Team and co-manager of the Baillie Gifford U.S. Equity Growth Fund and our American Fund. In this conversation, he tells Short Briefings… host Leo Kelion about his work with anthropologist Dr Grant McCracken, studying the causes and effects of the fragmentation of American culture. They believe that US culture is a system that has entered a ‘high entropy state' – meaning that tastes and habits no longer change in an orderly manner. The result is “tremendous instability” and a sense of “continual pandemonium”. This shift, they argue, has implications for growth companies and helps explain why some are struggling to maintain mass-market appeal. But the disorder also plays to others' advantage, and they have sought to identify which will thrive and why. Portfolio companies discussed include:·      Cloudflare – the service that protects websites from attack and optimises their performance·      DraftKings – the sports gambling platform that lets Americans bet on sporting events·      Samsara – the Internet of Things specialist helping companies track and make sense of data·      SharkNinja – the home appliance company behind the CREAMi ice-cream maker·      Shopify – the ecommerce platform serving merchants ·       Resources:Dr Grant McCrackenShort Briefings on Long Term Thinking podcast archiveThe Long View collectionThinking in SystemsWhen systems fragment: entropy, cultural change and the next great US companies  Companies mentioned include:·      Alphabet (Google)·      Amazon·      Cloudflare·      DraftKings·      Meta·      Netflix·      Samsara·      SharkNinja·      Shopify·      SpaceX Timecodes:00:00  Introduction02:05  System-level thinking03:20  How change happens06:10   Entropy and fragmentation08:15   A conversation with Cloudflare's CEO10:20   Ants and anthropology13:25   Grant McCracken on North Sea culture15:15   The causes of splintering culture17:05   New consumer behaviours19:15   Challenging times for lululemon21:00   Shopify and agility23:10   Agentic commerce25:40  SharkNinja and new niches28:30  DraftKings and cultural anchors30:40  Samsara's entropy antidote32:10   Finance and space: systems to watch33:50  Book choice  Glossary of terms (in order of mention): Entropy: In this podcast, a metaphor for systems becoming more fragmented, varied and harder to predict.Cash flows: The money moving into and out of a business.Market cap: The total stock-market value of a company: share price multiplied by number of shares.S&P 500: A major US stock-market index of large companies.Second law of thermodynamics: A physics principle often simplified as the tendency of energy in a closed system to spread out over time. Mainframe: A large, central computer used by organisations to process major computing tasks. Big iron: Informal technology term for large, powerful central computers. MMA: Mixed martial arts, a full-contact combat sport. Delulu: Internet slang for optimistic or unrealistic self-belief. Short for ‘delusional'. Traffic aggregation: Bringing together large numbers of users or customers in one place, often online. Total addressable market (TAM): The total potential market size for a product or service if it reached all possible customers. Prediction markets: Markets where people trade contracts based on the likelihood of future events. Internet of Things: Everyday equipment connected to the internet so it can collect and share data.     

South Africa's informal economy is everywhere - from taxi ranks and pavement stalls to township salons and spaza shops. But is it simply a response to unemployment and inequality, or is it becoming the country's real engine of growth and innovation? Justice Malala leads an expert panel for a provocative conversation exploring who South Africa's economy is really built for - and what the rise of informal trade says about the future of work, opportunity, and survival in South Africa. Panel: Kefilwe Ndaba - National Informal Traders Alliance of South Africa (NITASA) Botsang Moiloa - Action SA Lubabalo Magwentshu - African Transformation Movement Tags: South Africa, Democracy Unplugged, Podcast Party SA, Justice Malala, politics, current affairs, informal trade, economy, news, Action SA, African Transformation Movement The Burning Platform

This week's episode is all about debate. How will Alice and Doug's relationship hold up after some devastating arguments? And how will the devastating arguments hold up when it turns out they're pretty darn silly to argue about? Also, in a real “What are we, really?” moment, Google's AI summary explains Going Terribly to Going Terribly. It's pretty wild.For real, though. Is cereal a soup? The battle lines are drawn.Other discussion topics may include:- The longest NSYNC title- Ice cream cake is better when it has cake in it- Could God have been a shopping addict?- Absurd left turns- Would you like to sit on a comfy heated toilet forever?

About 200 foreign nationals were allegedly chased away from their homes at Effingham informal settlement in Durban. The community says there are tensions in the area but they are divided on the issue of foreign nationals. For more on this we are joined on the line by Chairperson Greenwood Park CPF Subforum 2, Comprising Greenwood Park/Effingham/Avoca/Riverhorse Valley (GEAR), Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Danusha Makan-Maharaj...

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Pour les 6 ans du podcast je partage un souvenir olfactif très puissant qui m'a ramené en adolescence, ainsi que plusieurs curiosités sur l'odorat.  Rejoins-moi pour commencer à percer les mystères du français. Obtiens mes ressources gratuites, inscris-toi à mes cours et deviens étudiant Premium pour aller toujours plus loin dans ton perfectionnement. Clique ici pour me rejoindre:  https://thefrenchinstinct.systeme.io/formations  ----more---- The French Instinct c'est un podcast unique spécialement conçu pour t'aider à atteindre un niveau avancé et enfin comprendre ce que les Français veulent VRAIMENT DIRE dans les conversations du quotidien. Pour saisir toutes les subtilités des conversations de tous les jours et pouvoir réagir de façon appropriée, tu as besoin de comprendre le français familier et idiomatique, l'argot, l'humour, les sous-entendus, les références culturelles. Pour y parvenir, il te faut apprendre plus intuitivement, à travers du contenu inspirant

When we talk about who makes up the economy, we're often talking about workers a company formally employs. But a lot of people find themselves working in the informal economy — generally defined as economic activity that falls outside of official regulation. It's not taxed, not tracked, and is mostly invisible to official statistics. Today, we'll dig into its importance and risks. But first, marijuana gets a tax break.

When we talk about who makes up the economy, we're often talking about workers a company formally employs. But a lot of people find themselves working in the informal economy — generally defined as economic activity that falls outside of official regulation. It's not taxed, not tracked, and is mostly invisible to official statistics. Today, we'll dig into its importance and risks. But first, marijuana gets a tax break.

Efe Gümüs: When Daily Stand-ups Become Status Updates — The Warning Signs of a Team Falling Apart Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.   "When people start creating their own bubble inside the team, it's because they either don't feel safe, or they don't feel relevant to what the rest of the team is doing." - Efe Gümüs   Efe shares the story of an integration team — back-end and front-end developers working across legacy components, a monolithic environment, and a microservices transformation all at once. With so many different workstreams, team members ended up with their own individual projects. The daily stand-up became a status update: people shared what they were doing, but nobody was listening because nobody else's work affected them. The daily grew from 15 minutes to 30, sometimes an hour, morphing into an unplanned refinement session. Participation dropped — some stopped showing up, others attended but went silent. The team that had once been interactive and collaborative splintered into silos. Informal conversations disappeared entirely, and that was when Efe knew it was too late to make small fixes. Without trust, without a common goal, they were no longer a team — just a group of people sitting together. Then COVID hit, and remote work removed the last chance for accidental collaboration. The daily meeting, Efe realized, is your best radar for team health: pay attention to the energy, the interaction, the engagement — and you'll see the deeper dynamics before they become irreversible.   Self-reflection Question: How engaged is your team during the daily stand-up right now — and does the level of interaction tell you something about how connected they feel to each other's work? Featured Book of the Week: Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz "The book is all about building success mechanisms inside your own mind. If you can set your life goal, then it's way easier for you to set your career goal, your team goal, your sprint goal." - Efe Gümüs   Efe's most influential book isn't about Agile at all — it's Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, a psychology book about building success mechanisms in your mind. Recommended by a fellow agile coach, the book helped Efe see the parallels between personal goal-setting and the iterative progress at the heart of Scrum. When you feel lost or stagnating, the exercises in the book help you create small pieces of progress — not quick wins, but genuine forward movement that builds momentum. Efe connects this directly to Agile: every event, every sprint, every review is a small achievement toward the next one. If you can set a clear life goal, setting a sprint goal becomes natural. The clarity of purpose unlocks action — and that's as true for individuals as it is for teams.   [The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

Welcome back to another episode of School Counseling Simplified. Today's episode is a short but powerful reminder to take your counseling outside of your office. This was something I really struggled with during my first year. I loved my office. I had created a cozy, welcoming space with all the things that made it feel safe and calm for students. It was a place where students came for small groups and individual sessions, and it worked well for that purpose. But during my in between time, I found myself sitting at my desk handling emails, scheduling, and other tasks. As I began shadowing veteran counselors and gained more experience, I noticed something important. Many of them were rarely in their offices. They were out in the building, supporting students in real time, observing behaviors, and making their presence known throughout the school. Taking your counseling outside of your office allows you to connect with students in more natural and meaningful ways. It also gives you valuable insight into how students are functioning in their everyday environments. Here are a few simple ways to do this. Morning arrival Many counselors begin their day by helping with morning drop off. This is a great opportunity to see how students are arriving at school, observe interactions with caregivers, and make quick, informal check ins that set the tone for the day. Lunch or recess duty These duties can feel like they are outside of your role, but they can actually be incredibly valuable. This is a perfect time to observe students you are currently working with and see if they are applying the skills you are teaching. It is also a great opportunity to connect with students who are not on your caseload and begin building relationships. Informal connection opportunities Use unstructured time to build rapport with students. This might look like starting an impromptu lunch bunch game, walking around campus, or stepping into classrooms to observe and support. These small moments often lead to meaningful connections and help teachers feel supported as well. When you step outside of your office, you expand your reach and impact. Students begin to see you as a consistent and approachable presence throughout their day, not just someone they visit when something is wrong. Resources Mentioned: Join IMPACT Connect with Rachel: TpT Store Blog Instagram Facebook Page Facebook Group Pinterest Youtube   More About School Counseling Simplified: School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica. You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!

Friday has rolled around again which means it is time to scramble out another audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This time around there is a big focus on municipal budgeting because the purpose of Town Crier Productions is to focus on the details of revenues and expenditures with a hope toward greater community understanding. At least, that's the way this version of Sean Tubbs is programmed.In this edition:* Charlottesville City Council has adopted a budget for the next fiscal year that increased the real property tax rate by a penny, one fewer cent than had been proposed (full story below!)* Albemarle Supervisors have a few remaining decisions to make for the county's FY2027 budget (read the story)* Albemarle and Charlottesville commemorate Dark Sky Week (read the story)* A preview of the Week AheadShout-out / PSA #1: Friends of JMRL Book SaleThe Friends of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library's Spring Book Sale is running now through this Sunday from 10:00am to 7:00pm each day at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. Additionally, April 11th and 12th are ½-price days. Choose from thousands of books, DVDs, CDs, LPs, games and puzzles, with restocking occurring throughout the sale. Proceeds benefit our regional public library system. Visit jmrlfriends DOT org for more informationCharlottesville goes with penny increase on real property tax rate rather than twoNote: The podcast edition of this budget story is stitched together from several reports. This is a consolidated version used for a script and lacks hyperlinks and other resources.One of the most important duties of governing bodies in Virginia localities is to adopt a budget for each fiscal year.For Charlottesville City Council, the process began this year on March 2 when Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders introduced a budget that was built on a two-cent increase in the real property tax rate to an even $1 for every $100 of assessed property.Since then, there have been several work sessions in which Sander's recommended budget gradually became the one that Council adopted on April 9.These were mostly held on Thursdays beginning on March 5 with a work session dedicated to the Vibrant Community Fund on March 12. That's the process through which the city provides money to nonprofit organizations.Informal budget hearingOn March 19, the city held an informal public hearing during what is billed as the Community Budget Forum.The only speaker was Jim Moore who said he has eight rental properties within Charlottesville.“I tend to try to keep my rents a little below market, and I have some tenants that really can't afford much more than that,” Moore said.Moore said the property assessment for one of those rental units increased by 74 percent from 2021 to 2025. He asked for the city to lower the anticipated rate increase.The budget forum ended up being more like a work session with staff presenting information to the City Councilors on potential ways to lower the rate. But first, budget director Krisy Hammill explained why the two cent real property rate increase had been proposed.“Most of the new revenue for the tax increase was put in the budget to offset the deeper transit investments, the increased match for the schools, and also the impacts of collective bargaining,” Hammill said.That two cent tax increase generates $2,467,724 a year.To help eliminate one of those pennies, Hammill said staff were comfortable projecting slightly higher revenue forecasts and also showed some ways to reduce revenue, including less funding for Charlottesville Area Transit, tapping into a reserve fund, and eliminating funds for Council Strategic Initiatives.“One other option would be to move the schools back to the original 2 million that we had originally built the budget around, thus reducing their increase by $569,000,” Hammill said.The budget anticipates hiring ten additional drivers for Charlottesville Area Transit. Under one potential scenario to reduce funding, money would be in place to hire five in July and the other five would be hired in January as well as additional mechanics and supervisors. That might also mean scheduled service improvements might be delayed.City Manager Sam Sanders said this would defer spending and Council would have to build positions into next year's budget. That would create a structural imbalance that would have to be addressed.“Any creation of a structural imbalance is a risk,” Sanders said. “The question is how much of a risk are you willing to take. When you create the imbalance this year and solve it this way next year, you're saying that your reassessment should be higher to start with. And you can't guarantee that.”Councilor Jen Fleisher said she liked the idea of limiting the real property tax rate increase to a penny as a middle ground option.Councilor Natalie Oschrin said she did not support delaying expanded transit.“I appreciate coming up with the CAT adjustment scenario to try and make it fit,” Oschrin said. “I would prefer not to do that since it just kind of kicks the can down the road a little bit.”Oschrin said she could support using the reserve and eliminating additional funding for Council's strategic initiatives.Councilor Michael Payne said he could support a one penny tax rate increase but said the risk to split funding for CAT personnel would be too high.“I don't like in the past when we've set ourselves up with kind of fiscal cliffs,” Payne said.Mayor Juandiego Wade also said he could support a penny increase.“I appreciate the work that I've done to kind of bring back because we've been hearing from residents about the, the cost of living, the, the tax increase and this I believe is a good, won't satisfy everyone,” Wade said. “But I think it's a good, good compromise if we decide to go in this direction.”No decisions on tax rate at March 26 CIP work sessionThe March 26 work session dealt with the Capital Improvement Program.That's the portion of the budget that sets out what a locality expects to spend on infrastructure over the next five years.“The CIP plan for 27 is just over $47 million with $196 million over the five years,” Hammill said. “If we were to look in terms of dollars spent, education is the highest in this plan, followed by transportation and access, and then affordable housing coming in third.”There were no major changes in this year's CIP. The Charlottesville Planning Commission had a work session on the capital budget in late November and later had a public hearing in December.The five-year CIP currently includes $500,000 a year for a line item called Parks and Recreation Master Plan Implementation. Sanders said that number will increase in the years to come because the master plan adopted by Council in March 2025 had a $78 million price tag over ten years.“We know that those numbers need to be dramatically different if we're going to come anywhere close to that,” Sanders said. “But we now have an assistant city manager here who's going to be working with the team to try to figure out how do we allocate better over the next five year cycle.”Part of the plan calls for major changes to Market Street Park, Court Square Park, Washington Park, and Tonsler Park. Sanders said each will be expensive and staff still needs to work out the timing.Parks and Recreation Director Riaan Anthony said the department will seek grants in addition to tax dollars to pay for the various projects.“In order for us to get there, we have to right size our department and the city,” Anthony said. “We are working in partnership with Public Works, reaching out to their department to say hey, do you have any resources?”There was further discussion of the parks and recreation master plan at the April 6 City Council work session.March 26 work sessionAt the March 26 session there was a further discussion on the possibility of a one cent sales tax increase, what to do with anticipated payment-in-lieu fees for student housing projects, as well as miscellaneous discussions.Toward the end, Sanders hit reset on the discussion of the tax rate. On March 19, there had appeared to be consensus to limit the increase to a penny but Council still had to make decisions.“We're looking for you to finalize what scenario we are actually going with for offsetting, for addressing the fact that you're stepping back from two cent increase on the real estate tax to a one cent increase on the real estate tax,” Sanders said.However, that discussion did not happen at the meeting. Instead, Councilors sent suggestions to Sanders and Hammill via email on how to offset the funding if they wanted to proceed.April 2 wrap-upThe April 2 budget work session was described as a wrap-up session.“The items that are open for discussion that we're looking for answers on is closing out the review of the Vibrant Community Fund process and how Council is looking to utilize your Strategic Initiatives fund,” Sanders said.The Vibrant Community Fund process had been covered at the March 12 work session. This is how nonprofit organizations seek funding from Charlottesville. The full report can be seen here.Mayor Wade wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page regarding the penny increase on the real estate tax rate.“We had initially looked at a two cent tax increase, but we saw options where we could do one,” Wade said. “And I just want to make sure if you, if we have that information we can bring them make sure everyone's on the same page with that. And if I can get a head nod or yes from everyone as we go down the line, make sure we are all okay with that.”As the meeting began, Council had a $228,000 gap to fill if they wanted to go with a penny increase. Hammill displayed the math on a spreadsheet, a spreadsheet made available to the public after I asked for it.The real public hearings on April 6After multiple budget work sessions, Charlottesville City Council held the final set of public hearings on April 6 for the budget for Fiscal Year 2027 as well as the real property tax rate.The only speaker for the tax rate hearing was Richard Spurzem of the development company Neighborhood Properties who urged caution when increasing taxes.“Many communities have a history of reducing the tax rates when assessments go up,” Spurzem said. “For instance in Waynesboro in 2023 they reduced their tax rate from 90 cents to 77 cents.”Spurzem said Charlottesville is increasing the tax burden for business and he said that might lead to investors deciding to go somewhere else. He said the Development Code has so far led to no approvals for major buildings and the current student housing projects of the Verve and the Blume might be the last.“I don't know who's going to build hotels that are going to compete with the brand new hotels that UVA has built on Ivy Road and out at Darden,” Spurzem said.After the public hearing for the tax rate, budget director Krisy Hammill explained that the amended budget is for just over $280 million, higher than what had been recommended by City Manager Sam Sanders on March 6.In addition to including higher revenue forecasts, staff found several line items in the budget that will not be spent down in FY2026 so that money will be added to the FY2027 at around $910,000 in available revenue.“It includes a few accounts that generally we carry over from year to year, including Historic Resources, Sister City Funds, the citywide reserve, the Council Strategic Initiatives account, money or donations that have been received and unspent for the Grand Illumination, the Councilor discretionary funds, the Minority Business Fund and also the job fair,” Hammill said.Two people spoke during the public hearing on the budget including former Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker. She said people are beginning to feel the effects of an increased tax burden and said the city is not expanding the Charlottesville Homeowner Assistance Program fast enough to provide relief.“A lot of low income families are being pushed out and middle income families are struggling,” Walker said. “There are a lot of wealthy people in Charlottesville. We know that they can afford the increase, but because you all are not expanding it at the rate that you need to be, it is not as it was intended to work.”Walker also called on more accountability for Charlottesville City Schools.A second person wanted to know why health care for employees has increased 15 percent and why funding for public transportation is going up 17 percent.“And yet when I see the buses pass here, there, and everywhere, there's not many people riding the buses,” said Richard Finley, a recent Charlottesville resident. “Before you increase so dramatically, do you do an audit or an evaluation of the ridership on the buses?”Finley also asked if the city had ever tried to require the University of Virginia to make a payment in lieu of taxes to cover the cost to use municipal infrastructure.Councilor Lloyd Snook said under state law, a locality cannot compel such a payment but that an institution could make one voluntarily.April 9 adoptionCouncil held a special meeting on April 9 at 6:30 p.m. to formally adopt the tax rates and the budget for FY2027. The deadline under Charlottesville charter is April 15.While there were no surprises, the meeting gives a glimpse into some of the details of how taxation works in Virginia. Changes in Richmond can affect what happens in localities for years to come, such as when a former governor campaigned on elimination of the “car tax.”“The City gets about $3.5 million from the state every year,” said Charlottesville Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers. “That's kind of what's left over from Governor [Jim] Gilmore's attempt to eliminate personal property tax. They tried it for a while, ran out of money, and then they sort of froze the amounts to all the localities, and that's the amount we get.”The city uses that $3.5 million to offset a percentage of everyone's personal property taxes. Council has to agreed to that number and this year it has been set at 31 percent.“Essentially, if your vehicle qualifies, if it's a personal use vehicle, 31 percent of your tax bill will be paid by the state,” Divers said.Council voted unanimously to approve that number.Next was a resolution to adopt the FY2027 budget and tax levy. City Manager Sam Sanders had some remarks and said that this has been another challenging budget year as he seeks ways to fund spending desired by the City Council.“I continue to talk about Charlottesville as a place that punches above its weight class,” Sanders said. “Every budget cycle is a reminder of that, because we are dedicated to the idea that we are that community and that we want to try to do as many things as we possibly can.”Sanders said the idea of a tax rate increase is hard for many and it weighs on him to have brought one forward.“My goal is always to help you not go but so far in any pursuit that you have as you change that rate, because it does go into the pockets of individuals who have difficulties in our community,” Sanders said.The advertised budget was for a two cent increase, but Council moved that down to one penny throughout the course of their work sessions.Then there was the vote.“We have a budget,” Wade said. “Thank you so much. So, do you like take a month's vacation?”“About an hour,” Hammill said.This reporter knows the feeling.Shout-out / PSA #2: Gretchen Walsh to speak at Emily Couric Leadership Forum on April 27This year's recipient of the Emily Couric Leadership Forum's leadership award is Olympic swimming champion Gretchen Walsh. She will be the speaker at a luncheon to be held at the Omni Hotel Charlottesville on Monday, April 27th at noon. Walsh, a 2025 UVA alum, is one of the most accomplished swimmers of her generation, holding 13 world records across long-course and short-course competition. Online ticket sales for the luncheon begin on Monday, March 23rd. For more information, visit, Emily Couric Leadership Forum dot OrgA rudimentary week ahead to fill a two minute gap in audio This week's edition is a little short so that's a good a time as any to look ahead to what's coming up the week of April 13. Monday the 13th!Let's start with the University of Virginia Board of Visitors who meet the evening of April 15 for a reception and again on April 16 for business. Committees that will convene include the Finance group and the Audit, Risk, and Compliance panel.In Albemarle, the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee on Monday will hold a community meeting for a proposed rezoning that would allow for 15 townhouses on a one-acre parcel.On Tuesday, the Albemarle Planning Commission will discuss changes to the county's rule on importing fill dirt and will hold a public hearing on a special use permit for a 400-person religious assembly hall right at Interstate 64's Exit 107 in Crozet.On Wednesday, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will hear what “big moves” staff wants to make to implement a new Comprehensive Plan. Will lighting reform to protect the Dark Sky be on the list?In the evening, there will be a public hearing on increases of Development Fees as well as the tax rates for the current calendar year. A reminder that this includes a proposed 15 cent increase in the personal property tax rate. Then a public hearing on the budget, but Supervisors will wait a week before finally adopting the document.On Thursday, Albemarle County will hold a public meeting on the future of a pocket park on Hillsdale DriveIn Charlottesville, the Economic Development Authority meets on Tuesday and continue to do so off camera with no recording. Later on the Planning Commission meets and will have a public hearing on Community Development Block Grant funding. The Planning Commission will also take action on a special exception and get a report on a study of student housing fees.Next week the Housing Advisory Committee and the Board of Zoning Appeals will meet.More details in the Week Ahead newsletter that will go out on Sunday.Hello anyone who made it to this line! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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Interview with neurotrauma nurse navigator Melissa Port

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss consulting firm's training. Too often clients ask the wrong questions when it comes to assessing training at consulting firms: do smaller offices have poorer training, should I attend training as soon as I join, does BCG have better training than Bain etc. When considering training you need to both consider formal and informal training. As we show, formal training is very useful, but not at all for the hard/technical skills it purports to impart on attendees. Informal training, also known as training on an engagement, is most effective when consultants can practice under diverse conditions. In other words, the more you travel and work with foreign teams, the better will be your training. Some firms encourage more global staffing and others far less. That counts. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

In Lagos' Computer Village, Nigeria's largest electronics market, everything is imported from China. But how merchants access dollars and pay their suppliers is a challenge.Nigeria imports $20 billion from China every year, yet dollar access problems and legacy banking systems create friction for those doing global trade. So how do countries like Nigeria and China trade with each other?In this episode, we head to Lagos, Nigeria, to see it firsthand - how money moves, and how new technologies like stablecoins are facilitating global trade.In this episode of Money Trails, presented by Stellar Development Foundation.Watch the full episode on YouTube.00:00 - Inside Computer Village01:22 - Everything is imported from China02:32 - The Nigerian Economy03:56 - Importing phones with WeChat and Alipay05:18 - No one uses the banks for FX06:17 - Naira volatility, explained09:10 - Informal and parallel economies09:38 OTC Traders Fill the Gap11:21 - Are stablecoins the future of global trade?14:43 - Next stop: SyriaOur Links -

Fraud is not new. But the scale, speed, and sophistication have changed.In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun is joined by Navin Gupta, CEO of Crystal Intelligence, and Nick Smart, Chief Intelligence Officer at Crystal Intelligence, to unpack the evolving world of crypto-related fraud, institutional risk, and the uncomfortable truth about financial crime in a 24/7 digital economy.From the Lazarus Group and the Bybit hack to scam compounds operating at industrial scale, this conversation moves beyond headlines and into how crypto crime actually works, why velocity of money matters, and whether regulation is finally catching up.They explore the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets, stablecoins, tokenization, AI-driven fraud, and the systemic risks emerging as crypto integrates deeper into the global financial system.

A fire in an informal settlement is not just another small building fire. It can be the first domino in a fast-moving neighborhood event, and the little details like the wall material, roof material, door location, even a light breeze, can decide what happens next. I'm joined by Dr. Sam Stevens from Kindling to unpack a massive FSRI funded experimental program carried out in South Africa that burned twenty different informal and humanitarian shelter types to measure real heat flux, flame extension, and fire spread potential. We start repeating the uncomfortable gap: humanitarian guidance often relies on rules of thumb like a universal separation distance and vague advice to “use fire-resistant materials,” with little experimental evidence behind it. Sam explains how Kindling built a global database of shelter designs and materials, then narrowed it down to common typologies spanning sheet metal, mud, timber, bamboo mats, split bamboo, thatch, and tarpaulin tents. We dig into the field-scale test setup, why wood cribs were chosen, and how external instrumentation like thin skin calorimeters helps quantify the heat transfer that drives structure-to-structure ignition. Then we get into what the burns actually show. Non-combustible shelters often behave like classic compartment fires where openings dominate, but even modest wind can push flames meters outward. Add combustible walls or roofs and the hazard shifts dramatically: some materials produce short, intense exposure windows while others sustain burning long enough to threaten neighbors at greater distances. The fully thatched shelter stands out for extreme radiant heat and duration, and our discussion on tarpaulin tents reveals why common fire test methods can produce reassuring ratings that still miss real-world behavior. If you care about informal settlement fire safety, humanitarian shelter design, fire engineering guidance, or modeling large outdoor fires in dense communities, this conversation gives you a data-driven foundation and a clear sense of what questions still need answering. Learn more about the project and watch their educational videos here: https://kindlingsafety.org/projects/large-scale-fire-experiments-for-humanitarian-shelters/----The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

The Role of Executive Leadership in Shaping Company Culture and Preventing Burnout Source article:  https://www.breakfastleadership.com/blog/he-role-of-executive-leadership-in-shaping-company-culture-and-preventing-burnout In this Deep Dive episode, we unpack a foundational leadership truth: culture is not messaging. It is behavior at scale. And it begins with executive leadership. This conversation moves beyond surface-level engagement tactics and examines culture as strategic infrastructure. If you want to assess organizational health, do not start with the employee survey. Start with leadership behavior. What leaders tolerate, reward, ignore, and model becomes the company's operating system. Culture Is a Leadership Discipline Drawing on research from Gallup and McKinsey & Company, the discussion highlights a critical point: managers account for at least 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement, and organizations with performance-aligned cultures significantly outperform peers. Culture is not soft. It is structural. It is measurable. And it is directly tied to financial outcomes. The episode challenges the common executive mistake of delegating culture to HR. High-performing organizations treat culture as a leadership discipline, not a department function. The Mirror Effect and Emotional Contagion Leaders set the emotional climate of the enterprise. Referencing findings published by Harvard Business Review, the episode explores behavioral contagion. Executive emotional states cascade through teams. If leaders operate in chronic urgency, the organization mirrors urgency. If leaders model accountability, transparency, and regulation, those behaviors scale. A key theme emerges: executive nervous system management is not self-help language. It is performance strategy. If leadership is dysregulated, no wellness program will repair the culture. Incentives Reveal the Real Values Many organizations declare collaboration, innovation, or integrity as core values. Yet compensation and promotion systems often reward individual output at any cost. That misalignment is not a culture problem. It is a leadership integrity problem. Referencing research from Deloitte, the discussion reinforces that organizations with alignment between mission and business strategy demonstrate greater resilience during disruption. Vision, incentives, and modeled behavior must align. Without alignment, culture becomes performative. Psychological Safety as a Performance Lever The episode revisits insights from Google's Project Aristotle research, which identified psychological safety as the primary predictor of high-performing teams. Psychological safety is not politeness. It is accountability without fear. Leaders create this environment by: Admitting mistakes Inviting dissent Responding to failure with curiosity rather than blame You cannot scale performance without scaling trust. Burnout Is a Structural Signal Burnout is often misdiagnosed as an individual resilience issue. The episode reframes it as a culture metric. According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. If executives create unclear priorities, constant urgency, unrealistic workloads, and low autonomy, burnout becomes predictable. Sustainable performance requires engineered capacity: Clear priorities Defined decision rights Normalized recovery Sustainable workload design Calm is not passive. Calm is controlled intensity. Top-Down Directional Clarity Building culture from the top does not mean command-and-control leadership. It means clarity. Exceptional leaders: Articulate a compelling vision Model required behaviors Design systems that reinforce those behaviors When executives abdicate culture design, informal power structures take over. Informal culture rarely aligns with long-term strategy. Executive Culture Audit The episode closes with a practical executive checklist: Are leadership behaviors consistent with stated values? Do incentives reward long-term thinking? Is psychological safety measurable? Are burnout indicators treated as operational metrics? Does communication cascade clearly? The organizations that will outperform in the next decade will not simply adopt AI or analytics. They will build resilient human systems. Culture is engineered. Performance is designed. Leadership behavior is the starting point. If this episode resonated, explore further insights in Workplace Culture and Burnout Proof, and visit BreakfastLeadership.com for additional executive-level analysis on sustainable high performance.

Adam works with a client who was feeling fear of judgment when doing informal or less structured presentations. Adam helps them feel relaxed and confident, and that they have a backup plan in case anxiety arises. To access a subscriber-only version with no intro, outro, explanation, or ad breaks and 24 hours earlier than everyone else, tap 'Subscribe' nearby or click the following link.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/adam-cox858/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Sener y CFE preparan medidas ante posible alza del gas: SheinbaumChina llama a frenar la guerra y rechaza hegemonías  ¿Sabía qué una gota de agua puede albergar vida microscópica?  Más información en nuestro podcast

Mark Treichel sits down with Steve Farrar and Todd Miller to break down Letters of Understanding and Agreement—NCUA's formal enforcement tool that requires board-level commitment. With over 100 combined years of NCUA experience, including Steve's authorship of NCUA's enforcement manual, this episode delivers insider perspective on what LUAs mean for credit unions, how boards should approach them, and critical mistakes to avoid.Key Topics CoveredWhat triggers an LUA: Understanding when NCUA escalates from informal actions to formal enforcement, and why most credit unions receiving LUAs are classified as troubled.Published vs. unpublished: The distinction that creates reputation risk, how industry publications find published LUAs, and which state regulators require publication.Board accountability: Why voting no or abstaining doesn't protect individual directors, and what fiduciary responsibility means when your credit union signs an LUA.Negotiation before signing: How to approach discussions with your examiner or problem case officer, ensuring timeframes are realistic and commitments are achievable.Root causes vs. comprehensive lists: Why LUAs should focus on fundamental problems, and what to do when you're facing a lengthy document with dozens of items.Satisfying an LUA: The two-part test NCUA applies—completing actions AND achieving intended results—and why there's no built-in expiration date.Notable Quotes"The LUAs only addressed mainly what we would refer to as the root causes of the problem." — Steve Farrar"The language in published LUAs is very draconian and very one-sided. It's intended to be serious." — Todd Miller"If you abstain or vote no, and the board agrees to sign, you're still subject to that agreement. It was a board decision." — Mark TreichelAbout the GuestsSteve Farrar spent 30+ years at NCUA, including 15 years as a problem case officer and 15 years in the central office where he authored NCUA's enforcement manual and worked on corporate resolution and risk-based capital regulations.Todd Miller served nearly 35 years at NCUA as an examiner, problem case officer, regional capital market specialist, and Director of Special Actions supervising problem case officers and capital market specialists.ResourcesCredit Union Exam Solutions: marktreichel.comRelated Episode: Documents of Resolution and Examiner Findings

That promotion you did not get? It was probably not decided in a performance review. It was decided on a golf course, at happy hour, or in a conversation you were never invited to.Informal networks at work are where the real career decisions get made and most women are not in those rooms. Research shows that 70 to 80 percent of promotions and high-visibility opportunities are driven by professional relationships, not performance alone. Yet women's networks are 30 percent smaller than men's, and the gap widens at every level of leadership.In this episode, SisterSmart Leadership Coaches Jill and Sara Spencer break down everything you need to know about building influential professional relationships and developing career sponsorship strategies that actually work. You will learn how to network professionally without feeling self-promotional, how to build strategic relationships when you are working remotely or in a hybrid environment, and how to identify the sponsors and senior leaders who will champion your next promotion.Whether you are trying to rise from director to VP, get noticed by senior leadership, or simply figure out how to build the kind of network that opens doors, this episode gives you a clear, practical framework to make it happen on your own terms.WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:01:50 -- Why informal networks at work drive promotions more than performance and what you can do about it04:30 -- The biggest misconception women have about professional relationships building (and the mindset shift that changes everything)08:45 -- Formal vs. informal networks and which one is actually driving career advancement11:00 -- How to build the professional networking muscle with just one hour a week15:30 -- Creative, low-pressure ways to connect that do not require evening events or forced small talk19:45 -- Hybrid work networking strategies, how to stay visible and build relationships when you are not always in the office24:00 -- How to map your network and close the gaps that could be holding back your promotion28:30 -- Career sponsorship strategies, how to identify and build relationships with the senior leaders who will advocate for you33:00 -- Three action steps you can take this week to start building a network that moves your career forwardTHIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF:You are a woman in leadership who wants to move from director to VP or into senior executive rolesYou have been waiting for your hard work to speak for itself and it is not workingYou want professional networking tips that feel authentic, not sleazy or self-promotionalYou are looking for a career coach for women who understands the real barriers to promotionYou want to build executive presence and get noticed by the right senior leadersFREE RESOURCE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Stakeholder Mapping Guide: https://sistersmart.ck.page/fb7440c515 ALSO MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Free Passport to Promotion Private Podcast -- 7 Steps to Get Promoted from Director to VP: https://joinsistersinleadership.com/7-steps

Dhruva and I explore both sides of the debate, starting with the case for fully remote organizations. Remote work expands the talent pool beyond geography, allowing companies to access exceptional people wherever they live. It can reduce bias linked to physical presence and office politics, and it often enables deeper focus without constant interruption. Asynchronous communication can sharpen thinking, improve documentation, and create clearer decision trails. Flexibility can also preserve energy and prevent burnout, which is critical for sustaining long term elite performance.From there, we examine the counterargument. Elite performance cultures often rely on talent opportunity bridging, where proximity accelerates access to stretch roles, mentorship, and high visibility work. Informal trust networks can move faster than formal systems. Serendipity matters, and non work conversations frequently spark breakthrough ideas. When solving difficult problems, reduced lag time and rapid back and forth can compound into a meaningful advantage. Work has historically created strong social bonds as well, from industry towns to innovation hubs, where shared space reinforced shared ambition.We unpack whether elite cultures are built on flexibility and design or on density and shared presence, and what fully remote companies must do if they want to maintain exceptional standards rather than drift toward average.

What happens when a small, tight-knit team suddenly starts to grow fast? This week on Truth, Lies & Work, we're joined by Steve Kemish to talk about the most uncomfortable phase of company growth. The moment when your business moves from a handful of people to a real organisation. Steve calls it the puberty of a company and if you have ever scaled a team, you will know exactly what he means. Steve has grown a marketing agency from a small team into a business approaching 50 people. In this conversation, he shares what leaders rarely talk about when growth accelerates. The identity crisis, the culture wobble, the communication breakdowns and the leadership shifts that suddenly become unavoidable. This episode is packed with practical advice for founders, leaders and managers navigating rapid growth. Key Takeaways Why growth changes everythingMany founders assume growth is purely positive. In reality, scaling introduces new complexity overnight. Communication becomes harder. Informal processes stop working. Leaders who once knew everything now have to learn to let go. The “puberty phase” of organisationsSteve explains why the jump from around 13 to 20 employees is a major turning point. This is when businesses must move from instinct and intuition to structure and systems. Without that shift, chaos quickly follows. The leadership identity shiftThe skills that help you start a business are not the same skills needed to scale one. Founders must evolve from doers into leaders, from decision-makers into decision-enablers. Culture under pressureGrowth puts pressure on culture. New hires bring fresh perspectives, expectations and habits. Leaders must become intentional about culture rather than relying on “how things have always been.” Communication becomes the biggest challengeAs teams grow, assumptions and informal conversations stop working. Leaders must learn to communicate clearly, consistently and at scale. Why this episode matters If you are hiring quickly, planning to scale or feeling the growing pains of expansion, this conversation offers a roadmap for navigating one of the most challenging phases of leadership. Connect with Steve Kemish LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skemish/ Website: http://www.intermedia-global.com Connect with the show Follow Al Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-elliott/Follow Leanne Elliott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanneelliott/ Email: hello@truthliesandwork.comWebsite: https://truthliesandwork.com Mental health resources UK: https://www.mind.org.uk UK Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org US: https://988lifeline.org International: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Senior Bowl film, defensive front focus Jeff Risdon is not in Mobile, but he is deep in the Panini Senior Bowl practice film. The Detroit Lions Podcast zeroed in on five defensive players who stood out on the first day. The lens stayed on the defensive front. Think day two or day three targets, with one possible first-rounder in the mix. The Senior Bowl staff set up on-demand practice cutups for those not on site. That access matters. The tape shows pace, drills, and assignments without the noise. The Detroit Lions need disruption and discipline up front. Day 1 offered both, and the film backed it up. TJ Parker's measurements and Lions fit at 17 TJ Parker of Clemson checked in at 6-foot-3 and three-quarters, 263 pounds, with 33.25-inch arms. That falls within the Detroit Lions' edge profile, even if it is smaller than Josh Paschal and lighter than Hutch by 10 to 15 pounds. The game is power to speed. He does not flash the same speed to power you see from Hutch or Micah Parsons, but he carries force through contact. Parker plays the run on the way to the pass. On Day 1, the team drills told the story. He stacked and shed on the edge. He got into the backfield and stayed assignment-sound. No freelancing. No lost contain. That backside contain matters in the Kelvin Sheppard defense. He must improve his get-off and block deconstruction, but the traits align with what Detroit wants. If the board falls a certain way, Parker fits the conversation at number 17 overall. The measurements are close enough. The role is clear. The tape shows a defender who can set an edge, disrupt, and finish within structure. Senior Bowl meeting reality check Every single player in Mobile meets with every NFL team. It is scheduled. It runs 10 to 15 minutes per club. Do not get swept up in “met with” posts. That is the format. Informal chats still happen after practice, like when Ray Agnew once spoke with Hendon Hooker, but those are not the only touchpoints. The universal meetings keep players engaged in the process and give teams baseline exposure. Derek Moore brings a big Day 1 Michigan edge Derek Moore delivered a whopper of a first day. The clip made the rounds on social media. The key is that it was not a one-off flash. The first look showed power, urgency, and finish from a Big Ten frame. As the week continues, the team periods will confirm whether that surge holds when the offense hits back. For a Detroit Lions front seeking reliable force and clean edges, Day 1 put Moore firmly on the radar. The Detroit Lions Podcast will keep grinding the cutups as the practices roll. Day 1 gave Detroit clear defensive front options. The tape will decide who sticks. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #seniorbowl #paniniseniorbowl #tjparker #clemson #derekmoore #michigan #kelvinshepparddefense #teamdrills #backsidecontain #number17overall #joshpaschal #hutch #micahparsons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

En este episodio, a partir de una listener question de Patreon, explicamos 5 contracciones muy comunes del español cotidiano: pa (para), pos/ps (pues), to (todo), toy/tas/ta/tamos/tan (estar) y tons (entonces).- Para ver los show notes de este episodio visítanos en Patreon.- Venos en video en YouTube.- ¡Si el podcast te es útil por favor déjanos un review en Apple Podcasts!- Donate: https://www.paypal.me/nohaytos No Hay Tos is a Spanish podcast from Mexico for students who want to improve their listening comprehension, reinforce grammar, and learn about Mexican culture and Mexican Spanish. All rights reserved.

There is a place that God created where you can experience authentic love like nowhere else on earth. It's a place where loneliness is not welcome, and meaningful relationships abound. A community where people can be re-connected to their family. Sound like a place you want to go to? Join Chip and find out where this special place is.Until loneliness is understood, it overwhelmsLoneliness is MORE than being alone.Loneliness WEARS many masks.Loneliness is not a unique malady, but a UNIVERSAL REALITY.*Resource: Changes that Heal by Henry CloudYou don't have to be lonely, because:God CARES about your loneliness. -Gen 2:18Jesus UNDERSTANDS your loneliness. -Mark 15:34Jesus INVITES you into a relationship with Him. -Matt 11:28-30; Rev 3:20A relationship with Jesus means you ALWAYS belong to His family. -Rom 12:5; 1 Jn 1:1-4How can you experience authentic love and connection in God's family?By rethinking your view of the CHURCH.By revising your approach to RELATIONSHIPS.Realize your NEED.Move toward OTHERS.Be VULNERABLE.Challenge distorted THINKING.Take RISKS.Be EMPATHETIC -- listen, listen, listen!Trust GOD -- pray, pray, pray!Summary: To “lick loneliness,” you gotta BELONG!Informal steps + formal strategies = A “connected” community of love.Broadcast ResourceDownload MP3Message NotesAdditional Resource MentionsI Choose Love BookDaily Discipleship - Psalms of HopeConnect888-333-6003WebsiteChip Ingram AppInstagramFacebookTwitterPartner With UsDonate Online888-333-6003

What do you do when you're consumed with loneliness? How do you overcome those feelings of isolation? Chip begins this series with a message he calls, “How to Overcome Loneliness and Isolation.”Until loneliness is understood, it overwhelmsLoneliness is MORE than being alone.Loneliness WEARS many masks.Loneliness is not a unique malady, but a UNIVERSAL REALITY.*Resource: Changes that Heal by Henry CloudYou don't have to be lonely, because:God CARES about your loneliness. -Gen 2:18Jesus UNDERSTANDS your loneliness. -Mark 15:34Jesus INVITES you into a relationship with Him. -Matt 11:28-30; Rev 3:20A relationship with Jesus means you ALWAYS belong to His family. -Rom 12:5; 1 Jn 1:1-4How can you experience authentic love and connection in God's family?By rethinking your view of the CHURCH.By revising your approach to RELATIONSHIPS.Realize your NEED.Move toward OTHERS.Be VULNERABLE.Challenge distorted THINKING.Take RISKS.Be EMPATHETIC -- listen, listen, listen!Trust GOD -- pray, pray, pray!Summary: To “lick loneliness,” you gotta BELONG!Informal steps + formal strategies = A “connected” community of love.Broadcast ResourceDownload MP3Message NotesAdditional Resource MentionsI Choose Love BookDaily Discipleship - Psalms of HopeConnect888-333-6003WebsiteChip Ingram AppInstagramFacebookTwitterPartner With UsDonate Online888-333-6003

What do you do when you're consumed with loneliness? How do you overcome those feelings of isolation? Chip begins this series with a message he calls, “How to Overcome Loneliness and Isolation.”Until loneliness is understood, it overwhelmsLoneliness is MORE than being alone.Loneliness WEARS many masks.Loneliness is not a unique malady, but a UNIVERSAL REALITY.*Resource: Changes that Heal by Henry CloudYou don't have to be lonely, because:God CARES about your loneliness. -Gen 2:18Jesus UNDERSTANDS your loneliness. -Mark 15:34Jesus INVITES you into a relationship with Him. -Matt 11:28-30; Rev 3:20A relationship with Jesus means you ALWAYS belong to His family. -Rom 12:5; 1 Jn 1:1-4How can you experience authentic love and connection in God's family?By rethinking your view of the CHURCH.By revising your approach to RELATIONSHIPS.Realize your NEED.Move toward OTHERS.Be VULNERABLE.Challenge distorted THINKING.Take RISKS.Be EMPATHETIC -- listen, listen, listen!Trust GOD -- pray, pray, pray!Summary: To “lick loneliness,” you gotta BELONG!Informal steps + formal strategies = A “connected” community of love.Broadcast ResourceDownload MP3Message NotesAdditional Resource MentionsI Choose Love BookDaily Discipleship - Psalms of HopeConnect888-333-6003WebsiteChip Ingram AppInstagramFacebookTwitterPartner With UsDonate Online888-333-6003

Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Peter Cappelli and Ranya Nehmeh, co-authors of In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work. In a world still grappling with virtual work, Peter and Ranya challenge us to take a fresh look at the workplace. Not just where we do work, but how that space shapes learning, culture, visibility, and performance. In this conversation, you'll hear what gets lost when teams are always virtual, why hybrid work often underdelivers, and how proximity plays a surprising role in mentoring, innovation, and even career progression. Peter and Ranya explore how organizational culture shifts when people are rarely together, and what leaders can do to intentionally design experiences that rebuild connection—even across distance. You'll walk away with insights on how to lead hybrid teams more effectively, how to help team members think differently about in-person time, and why space is not just a backdrop to work—it's a contributor to how work gets done. If you're leading a team in today's hybrid landscape and wondering what really matters, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Remote work disembodies employees and limits their capacity to build relationships, learn informally, and get noticed." "The most frequent way people got promoted was by being visible to their managers." "Slack and Teams are a poor substitute for face-to-face interactions and a terrible way to learn culture or figure out who knows what." "Informal communication is essential to how work gets done, and it doesn't happen easily when everyone is remote." "Hybrid sounds great in theory, but it rarely delivers the benefits of in-person work unless it's intentionally designed." "People don't always know what they need to know, and much of what's important is learned indirectly." "We're not saying remote doesn't work. But we are saying there are trade-offs, and many companies haven't fully reckoned with them." "One big problem with hybrid is that it often ends up being asynchronous. No one's in at the same time." "The office was never perfect, but it enabled certain human processes that are hard to replicate at a distance." "If you're going to make remote or hybrid work well, it requires real investment in new systems and norms, not just wishful thinking." "We have to be honest about what we're losing, not just what we're gaining." "Serendipitous learning is one of the most underappreciated losses of remote work." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:38 Start of Interview 01:45 What Is There to Praise About Remote Work? 04:34 Why Is the Push to Return Happening Now? 09:51 What Do We Lose with Remote Work? 13:18 What Problems Persist in Hybrid Models? 17:40 What Are Companies Doing to Make Hybrid Work? 20:20 Advice for Leading Hybrid Project Teams 25:42 Advice for Individual Contributors Navigating Hybrid Work 29:59 How Culture Shapes Remote and Office Decisions 33:14 Lessons from Co-Writing the Book 35:59 End of Interview 36:32 Andy Comments After the Interview 40:15 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Peter at mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/cappelli and about Ranya at RanyaNehmeh.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 457 with Andrew Brodsky. It's an insightful take on how we can avoid the mistakes that happen when teams are not collocated, with an author who I think is a future Adam Grant. Episode 361 with Yasmina Khelifi, who joined us to talk about leading virtual teams, specifically across cultures. Yasmina is a hands-on project manager so you can hear her take from that perspective. Episode 22 with Keith Ferrazzi. It's a discussion about his book Who's Got Your Back? and it contains ideas that I still use, over a decade after talking with Keith. Pass the PMP Exam This Year If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader—that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Business Acumen Topics: Leadership, Hybrid Teams, Remote Work, Organizational Culture, Career Development, Team Collaboration, Psychological Safety, Communication, Mentorship, Project Management, Work Environment, Employee Engagement The following music was used for this episode: Music: Ignotus by Agnese Valmaggia License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, TUBMAN, AND DIVERGENT ABOLITIONIST PATHS Colleague Alan Taylor. Taylor discusses the Underground Railroad's informal network and Harriet Tubman's repeated risks to rescue enslaved people. He contrasts Frederick Douglass's integrationist, political approach with Martin Delany's black nationalist separatism. Additionally, he notes how Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin successfully generated white empathy for the enslaved. NUMBER 1