
No Normal is the New Normal
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
10/13/22
•38m
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We live in a world of converging crises. War in Europe, food and energy insecurity, historic flooding in Pakistan and historical drought in the US, COVID shutdowns in China, American and European sanctions that disrupt supply chains...the list goes on. The good old days probably were not as good as we now like to remember, but they certainly were more predictable.
We can forget about that new normal thing we hoped would emerge as the pandemic receded: No normal is the new normal.
But life goes on. We need to make decisions about a future that is blurry at best. Imagine that you're a CEO of a big company. How do you cope with a world that seems to be spinning off its axis? How do you find workers when you need them, decide where to open new plants, assure a reliable supply chain. And what do you do about climate change?
Our guests on the New Thinking for a New World podcast are in the business of thinking about converging crises and trying to help corporate executives cope with them. Tom Armstrong is president of Madison River Group, which specializes in advising on climate change and Earth systems outcomes. Diane Osgood is a sustainability strategist with deep practical experience in the real world. How do they help corporate leaders not only peer around the corner, but formulate strategies that make sense in our changing world?
Previous Episode

Who is Vladimir Putin?
October 6, 2022
•38m
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine ebbs and flows, the whole world is watching—and wondering. What does Putin want? How far will he go in his efforts to subjugate Ukraine? Does he have limits? Has he, as Angela Merkel said a few years ago, lost touch with reality? If so, then what?
By the time historians can answer those questions, it will be too late, certainly for thousands of Ukrainians and Russians, and conceivably for the rest of us. Meanwhile, one of the best places to find answers might be in a recently published biography, simply entitled PUTIN by Philip Short.
Short is a British journalist with a long career as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, Beijing and Washington for the BBC, The Economist and The Times of London. He is also an accomplished author, having written biographies of Mao, Pol Pot and Francois Mitterand.
Short recently joined the New Thinking for a New World podcast to discuss how Putin looks at the world, what turned him away from a partnership with the West, and the risk that his war could go nuclear.
What do you think?
Next Episode

Worth Repeating: Can We Unearth Solutions to the Climate Challenge?
October 20, 2022
•36m
Rapidly accelerating climate change is uniquely modern — but climate change is not. The planet has warmed and cooled in the past, even during mankind’s time. What can we learn from those events that might help us cope with the extremes that are our present and future? Can indigenous people who understand nature differently than most of us teach us how to cope with today’s terrifying challenges?
Our guest on this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast, Tero Mustonen, is a climate scholar who combines indigenous knowledge with academic research. He is also a leader of the SnowChange Cooperative that works with indigenous people and climate issues throughout the Arctic, and currently the head of his town of Selkie in North Karelia, Finland.
Listen to his insights on how to promote positive change on a damaged planet.
This episode was originally published on September 23, 2021.
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