Fresh Dialogues

About Fresh Dialogues

Alison van Diggelen in conversation with leaders in business, technology and the arts

Publisher

Alison van Diggelen

Category

business · society & culture · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Sept 2009

Latest episode

4 Mar 2022

Latest episodes

1 of 91 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   4 Mar 2022

   “I’m so proud of my people!” Ukrainian Tech Leader, a BBC dialogue

   Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interviewhttps://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukraine-FD-podcast-Sergey-final-.mp3We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window I can only imagine you share my disgust and horror at what’s going on in Ukraine. It’s heart breaking. This week on Fresh Dialogues, we get an intimate look at the war, from a Ukrainian in Silicon Valley who has team members on the front lines. Highlights of our interview were picked up by the BBC World Service. I asked Sergey Lubarsky what’s likely to happen in the next few days and week. He explained why he expects an apocalyptic escalation of violence in Ukraine and how that could be averted. “The world has never been that close to a nuclear holocaust. Never. You have a deranged person with a nuclear strike capabilities who has nothing to lose. He has zero regard for human life….Putin is irrational. He cannot back off, has no exit strategy. He’s not going to be killed by his cabinet members.”  Sergey Lubarsky, tech entrepreneur. [Photo credit: Nicole, a half Russian, half Ukrainian girl attending an anti-war protest by Kaylee C Greenlee Beal, San Antonio Express News] This week, I reached out to Lubarsky who was born in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, close to the border with Russia. Today, Lubarsky is a Silicon Valley based tech entrepreneur with a team of 15 in Ukraine. He shared: powerful stories from colleagues on the front lines of the Ukrainian resistance. an insightful perspective on the role of tech companies in the information war. why President Zelensky is “the George Washington of Ukraine.” the worst case scenario he expects, and how it might be prevented. BBC Host, Fergus Nicoll, invited me on Wednesday to share highlights of my interview on the BBC World Service program, Business Matters. We also discussed, with Peter Ryan of ABC in Australia, the propaganda war in Russia and Ukraine; the role of cryptocurrency; and how President Zelensky and his cabinet are expertly leveraging social media to rally support from tech companies and the Western world to meet their urgent needs. I also added my perspective on Donald Trump’s latest speech, when he calls the U.S a “stupid country” and praises Putin’s “smarts”. Given what’s happening today in Ukraine, in my view, it should make his Republicans supporters examine their consciences. Listen to the BBC Business Matters podcast (starting at 15:30) Here’s the Fresh Dialogues podcast https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Ukraine-FD-podcast-Sergey-final-.mp3 This week’s Fresh Dialogues podcast includes highlights of the BBC program and some powerful extracts from my interview with Sergey Lubarsky. Here is a transcript of some of our conversation (edited for length and clarity): Sergey Lubarsky: I’ve never had Ukrainian by passport. I left (31 years ago) holding a Soviet passport. Until the first invasion in 2014, I would never consider myself Ukrainian because it was a moot point, I’m bilingual. Alison van Diggelen: How do you feel about that now? Sergey Lubarsky: I’m proud to be Ukrainian. I’m so proud of my people. A week ago if you asked me, I’d have said there’s corruption there… (Today) I’m speechless, they deserve so much credit. Sergey has a team of 15 in Ukraine. He says some are on the front lines, some are hiding in subways or basements and some have fled the country. Alison van Diggelen: Are you concerned that they’re in danger? Sergey Lubarsky: Several of them joined the national territory defense. It’s basically the national guard. Alison van Diggelen: Are they sharing details? Sergey Lubarsky:  One of my developers said: This is open safari. We’re burning their tanks, the Russians are fleeing their tanks, the locals are killing them by the bunch, their dogs are eating their flesh and we’re [...]

2. 

   9 Dec 2021

   Just Start! Julian Guthrie shares her Action Mindset Tips

   Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Julian Guthrie about her action packed career as a journalist, best selling author and founder of Alphy, an exciting new app designed to empower and inspire women. Julian is the epitome of an action mindset! Here’s her take on what to do when someone blocks your career path: “’No’ is not something that you should feel is fixed. That ‘no’ in fact, simply means: find another way around. And if you fully believe in what you’re doing, find another way, keep working at it. If you’re earnest, if you’re authentic, if you are bringing a certain skill set and a vision, find another way.” Julian Guthrie, Alphy CEO and Founder We explored why we get stuck and what we can do to get unstuck, and build momentum in our lives and careers. Julian’s story and the one she shares about XPrize’s Peter Diamandis demonstrates how sometimes, having audacious goals, and making audacious promises without having all the pieces in place, can help propel you into an action mindset and phenomenal success. This week on Fresh Dialogues, I’m including highlights of our conversation. I hope it will inspire you to have an action mindset. Listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast on Listen Notes,  on iTunes or below: https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Julian-G-Action-FD-podcast-.mp3 . First of all, you might be wondering what do you mean by an action mindset? Here’s my definition: it’s the belief that you can take action to change your future; that your abilities are not fixed, but can be improved by a bias to action. If you’re familiar with the term Growth Mindset, think of an action mindset as a growth mindset on steroids. Not only do you embrace new challenges as a learning opportunity, but you harness that attitude to propel you to take more and more action. New research reveals that our mindsets are NOT binary as was previously thought. We don’t have either a growth or a fixed mindset. Instead we’re all capable of accessing a continuum of mindsets. By becoming aware of our mindset triggers, and using tools from psychology, we can nurture a proactive and potent ACTION MINDSET. I asked Julian to share the story of one excruciating time she was stuck and found it hard to move forward. After she secured a book deal for her best seller, “The Billionaire and the Mechanic” she hit a wall. She could not convince Oracle founder Larry Ellison (the billionaire in question) to be interviewed for the project. Without his cooperation, her book was dead in the water. Here’s what Julian told me (edited for length and clarity). Julian Guthrie: So I get this book deal and there’s a lot of interest in it and my editor starts asking how are the interviews going? In the meantime I’m frantically reaching out to his people at Oracle in the marketing departments. I tried Larry himself, had his email and got no response from him. It went on for a couple of months, so needless to say it was getting more and more unnerving. And finally, one of his chief marketing people told me: you know, Larry answers his emails personally at between one and two am, so you might want to try then. So I set my alarm. There’s a fine line between reaching out to someone politely, but consistently, and bugging someone so much, you’re going to get a ‘no’ or they’re going to block you. So I would set my alarm and I’d get up and I’d send some very short email, at 1am or 2am. And I did that for a period of two or three weeks, and got no response. But I kept at it and finally, I sent him another email. “This is a great story…” Brevity is key in these emails I’ve learned.  And it was probably at 2am, very late, and I got an immediate response. And it was from Larry and it was a three word response, and it was: “Happy to talk.” And that was what began a year of very in-depth interviews. So it put me on that journey. I went from: I was stuck and I was [...]

3. 

   16 Nov 2021

   Climate Action Mindset in Glasgow: A BBC Dialogue

   It was hard to focus on anything else these last two weeks as the Climate Conference took place in my home city of Glasgow. Although the deal isn’t perfect, I have three reasons for hope. This week on Fresh Dialogues, I’m sharing those reasons and a recent conversation I had with Vivienne Nunis on the BBC World Service. Her reporting from Brazil also gives me hope and underlines our need for an action mindset on climate. What’s an action mindset? On a personal level, an action mindset is the belief that your actions can change your future, that your abilities are not fixed, but can be improved by a bias to action. Your action can change your future and the future of the planet. The promises made in Glasgow must now be followed up by action. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said it best: “An idea without action is like a bow without an arrow,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo credit above: Jasmin Sessler Listen to the Fresh Dialogues podcast this week: https://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Glasgow-FD-climate-podcast-nov-21.mp3 . Here are my three reasons for hope after Glasgow’s COP26: Renewal of international collaboration: The cooperation in Glasgow was in stark contrast to the nationalistic trends we’ve witnessed around the world in recent years. The unexpected joint statement by the U.S. and China gave me hope, as well as the final agreement which requires countries to come back next year with even more ambitious plans. Private sector driving change: Mark Carney’s announcement of a $130 Trillion commitment from financial institutions is significant. Enlisting the private sector to finance the transition to net zero is crucial, but it also needs to stop funding for fossil fuels. Regulation could accelerate that change by penalizing institutions for holding dirty fuel assets on their balance sheets. The deforestation agreement: This historic pact was signed by countries that account for about 85% of the world’s forests, including Brazil.  The agreement aims to conserve and speed up restoration of forests and increase investment to promote sustainable forest management and support for indigenous communities. It adds about $19 billion in public and private funds, including large contributions from the Ford Foundation and foundations led by Jeff Bezos and Mike Bloomberg. One powerful speech in Glasgow which caught my attention was that of Txai Surui, a 24-year-old indigenous climate activist from Brazil who accused global leaders of “closing their eyes” to climate change. “The animals are disappearing, the rivers are dying… The Earth is speaking: she tells us we have no more time,” Surui says. She urged leaders to think of people like her in “the front line of the climate emergency”, and she shared a moving story about a dear friend who has been murdered for protecting the forest. Sadly, her friend is one of thousands. Making forests worth more alive than dead The three largest rainforests in the world are located in the Amazon, Congo River basin and Southeast Asia. Together they absorb about a third of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2020, the world lost a staggering 100,000 square miles of forest — a swathe of land bigger than the United Kingdom. Is there a role for the private sector to step in where governments have failed? The key to stopping deforestation is making forests worth more alive than dead. “We’re going to work to ensure markets recognize the true economic value of natural carbon sinks and motivate governments, landowners and stakeholders to prioritize conservation,” President    Biden said in Glasgow. The BBC’s Vivienne Nunis spoke to Robert Muggah of the Igarapi Institute about the fate of Brazil’s rainforest and the urgency of documenting the destruction and taking action to reverse current trends. Although land clearing, for mining and agriculture has increased under Brazil’s President Bolsonaro, [...]

Inside a recent episode

Value Curiosity over Conviction says “Superstar Thinker” Adam Grant: A BBC Dialogue

Published 28 Apr 2021 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I start bombarding people with data and with reasons, and they tend to either attack or withdraw, which doesn't go well. So shifting into scientist mode for me is about reminding myself to value humility over pride and curiosity over conviction. My goal is to not let my ideas become my identity. […]

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