PODCAST · business
3 Takeaways™
by Lynn Thoman
3 Takeaways™ features insights from the world’s best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, scientists and other newsmakers. Each episode ends with 3 key takeaways to help you understand the world in new ways that can benefit your life and career. Hosted by Lynn Thoman. A global top 1% podcast.
Episodes
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Joy is a Risk Worth Taking (#324)
What if joy isn’t a reward for when life goes well, but the thing that helps us survive when it doesn’t? Psychologist and Stanford lecturer Kelly McGonigal reveals that joy is not the same as happiness, and that many of us quietly push it away without realizing it. In this episode, you’ll learn:...
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Greenland, Russia, and The Cold War for the Arctic (#323)
As Arctic ice melts, the struggle for the frozen north is beginning to resemble a new Cold War. Russian submarine activity is rising. China is mapping the seabed and expanding its icebreaker fleet. And Greenland sits at the center of a growing contest over shipping routes, critical minerals,...
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How a 500 Year Old Map Still Distorts Our World (#322)
The world map we grew up with makes Greenland and Africa look the same size. The problem? Africa is actually an astonishing 14 times larger. The even larger problem? There's no such thing as an accurate map. They all distort how we see the world. Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones are comedians,...
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America, War, and the Myths We Still Believe (#321)
What if one of the things Americans believe most deeply about America simply isn’t true? Americans have a powerful story about who they are and why America acts when it does. Historian Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says America's own history tells a very different...
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Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines (#320)
What if AI becomes easier to talk to than another person? And what happens to us when it does? MIT professor Sherry Turkle has spent decades studying what technology does to the way we think, work, and love. Now she says there are two parts of our lives we should never let AI into. She discusses:...
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Mark Cuban: What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About AI (#319)
Mark Cuban told people that television would eventually be delivered over the internet. Everybody thought he was an idiot. Now, Cuban is making another prediction that runs counter to what we all believe, but this time it's about A.I. Few people have made as many big bets across as many…
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Can Anyone Stop a President From Starting a War? (#318)
What if the president can act before Congress has time to stop him? As former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, former General Counsel of the Department of Defense, and a member of the National Security Council, Jeh Johnson has advised presidents on war, terrorism, cyber threats, and some of…
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Angela Duckworth: Grit Isn't Enough (#317)
What if trying harder is sometimes exactly the wrong thing to do? Angela Duckworth, University of Pennsylvania psychologist, MacArthur Fellow, and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Grit, has spent years studying achievement. In her new book, Situated, she explores why perseverance alone...
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Why Doing the “Right Thing” Can Make Everything Worse (#316)
What can we do when doing the morally “right” thing produces worse outcomes? And what if some of society’s strongest moral instincts are preventing us from solving problems we all agree are terrible? Alvin Roth is a Stanford professor and Nobel Prize-winning economist whose work has helped…
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The Hidden Weakness in America's AI Lead (#315)
Could America build the world’s best AI and still lose the AI race? What if the biggest threat to America’s lead isn’t China’s technology, but our own fear of using it? Katrina Mulligan is Head of National Security Partnerships at OpenAI and previously served in senior roles at the Department of...
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Your Brain Is Hiding the Truth From You (#314)
What if your brain isn’t showing you the world as it truly is? Journalist, professor, and author of "A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness" Michael Pollan explores one of the deepest questions of all: why do we experience anything in the first place? He discusses: What consciousness...
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Putin’s Real Enemy Isn’t Ukraine (#313)
Why would the world’s largest country risk everything to destroy a smaller neighbor? What is it about Ukraine that poses a greater threat to Vladimir Putin than any army? Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and The Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum has spent decades studying Russia, Ukraine, and...
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The Wild True Stories Behind History's Greatest Art Thefts (#312)
How does someone steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and simply walk away? And how did an even more brazen crew rob the same museum in broad daylight last year with just a cherry picker and some power tools? The real stories are stranger than Hollywood and best-selling author Noah Charney knows...
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Alphabet (Google) Chairman John Hennessy on The Future of AI, Human Intelligence, and Leadership (#311)
Artificial intelligence could change almost everything. John Hennessy thinks we're still asking the wrong questions. As Chairman of Alphabet and one of the pioneers of modern computing, Hennessy has helped shape some of the biggest technology revolutions of the past half century. He explains what...
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How Charisma Really Works (#310)
Why do some people instantly draw us in? Olivia Fox Cabane reveals that charisma is not a gift. It is a skill - and most of us misunderstand what creates it. In this episode, you’ll learn: The three qualities that make someone charismatic Why introverts can be highly magnetic How people judge you...
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Beyond Silicon Valley: Where the Next Breakthroughs Will Come From (#309)
Everyone knows where the last generation of great technology companies came from. The more interesting question is where the next generation will. Mehran Gul spent years studying the world's most successful innovation hubs to understand why some places repeatedly create breakthrough companies…
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The Psychology of Influence with Robert Cialdini (#308)
Dr. Robert Cialdini, author of Influence - 5 million copies sold, and one of the most important books Warren Buffett says he's ever read - has spent decades studying why people say yes. He reveals the psychological forces shaping our decisions, why tiny changes can dramatically influence…
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Mark Cuban: The Hidden Companies Controlling Healthcare, the Future of AI, and Why Not Me? (Part 2) (#307)
Most people think healthcare is broken by accident. Mark Cuban says it isn't. In part two of our conversation, he explains the hidden companies who really control healthcare, where AI is headed, and the biggest opportunities most people are missing. He also shares the advice he gives young…
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Mark Cuban: The NBA Thought It Was in the Basketball Business. It Was Wrong. (Part 1 of 2) (#306)
The NBA thought it was selling basketball. Mark Cuban thought it was selling something else. That insight shaped how he has built companies, evaluated opportunities, and challenged entire industries. The lesson starts with basketball. It ends somewhere much bigger. He also shares the skill he...
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Once Upon a Stranger: Can Small Talk Lead to a Bigger Life? (#305)
What if those brief conversations - with a barista, a neighbor, or someone sitting next to us - matter far more than we realize? Gillian Sandstrom, a University of Sussex psychologist and author of Once Upon a Stranger, explores why we're so reluctant to talk to people we don't know, what happens...
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Former Secretary of Energy - Why Clean Energy Alone Won’t Keep the Lights On (#304)
The wind stops blowing. The sun goes down. What happens next? Former U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz explains why the transition to clean energy may be far more complicated than most people realize. In one of the most clear-eyed conversations about our energy future, Moniz pulls back the...
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The Religious Cult Behind North Korea’s Power (#303)
We think of North Korea as a communist dictatorship. But Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal’s China Bureau Chief and former Korea Bureau Chief, says that misses the real story. He argues North Korea functions more like a religion - complete with rituals, worship, and a ruling family treated...
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Why America May Not Be Ready for the Wars of the Future (#302)
When people think about war, they picture missiles and mushroom clouds. But what if the greatest threats today are the ones most people never see coming? Christine Wormuth, former U.S. Secretary of the Army and current leader of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, explains why some of today’s biggest...
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The Global Power Shift No One Is Talking About – And Who’s Driving It (#301)
Most people see the world as the U.S. vs. China.But the real power shift is happening elsewhere. Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security and a former senior advisor at the National Security Council and the U.S. State Department, shows which countries are quietly shaping…
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AI, Inflation, and the Dollar: The Hidden Forces Shaping the Economy Right Now (#300)
Inflation, interest rates, AI, tariffs, the dollar… Most people treat them as separate stories but actually, they’re not. Former Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jason Furman explains how these forces are all connected - and why most people are missing the bigger picture. What’s really driving...
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Did Apple Accidentally Help Build China’s Manufacturing Empire? (#299)
“We trained a whole country.” It sounds like an exaggeration. It’s not - according to Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China. So what actually happened in China?
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Cleveland Clinic CEO: The Future of Medicine Is Already Here (#298)
Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, CEO of Cleveland Clinic and a leading heart surgeon, explains how medicine is already changing in ways most people don’t see. He has spent his career performing complex heart surgeries and now leads one of the world’s top hospitals. A conversation about what’s changing in care...
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The Hidden Iran Risk No One Is Talking About (#297)
Iran briefly showed it could choke off a waterway carrying nearly a fifth of the world’s oil. That’s the visible threat. The real risk may be something else entirely. Former Deputy National Security Advisor and U.S. Special Representative to Iran Elliott Abrams breaks down where Iran's strategy...
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Scientists May Soon Design Entirely New Life Forms (#296)
We’re entering a world where life itself could become programmable. What if creating new forms of life becomes as simple as writing code? Geneticist Adrian Woolfson explains how close we are — and why the consequences could be extraordinary. -------------------------- Exciting news! We’ve been...
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After the War: 3 Surprising Truths About the Middle East - with Ambassador Dan Kurtzer (#295)
Is the war with Iran actually a turning point for the Middle East? Dan Kurtzer - former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt, advisor to presidents, peace negotiator and Princeton professor - has seen these moments up close, when expectations surge - and the outcome looks nothing like the promise....
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Former Tesla president on The 5 Step Algorithm Behind Tesla, SpaceX, and Radical Innovation (#294)
Love him or hate him, Elon Musk has upended entire industries - from cars to rockets - by doing things differently. Jon McNeill, former president of Tesla, reveals the thinking behind Tesla and SpaceX that drives radical innovation - and shows how anyone can apply it. He also offers a rare…
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The Quiet War: How Countries Fight Without Firing a Shot (#293)
A few paragraphs from Washington once stopped oil tankers in their tracks halfway around the world - no navy, no missiles. Eddie Fishman, who helped design and implement U.S. sanctions and economic warfare policies, explains how these quiet battles shape global power. If countries can inflict…
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The Hidden Plastic Inside Us (And Why It’s Rising Fast) (#292)
Scientists are finding tiny fragments of plastic inside the human body - including the brain. Dr. Matthew Campen of the University of New Mexico explains how they get there - and why the biggest source may surprise you.
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Government by Deal: What Happens When Everything Becomes Negotiable? (#291)
The government feels louder and faster than ever: executive actions, constant disruption, everything happening at once. But Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute argues that all this motion may be masking something deeper. He explains why durable change comes from laws passed by…
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Why Quantum Computing Changes What’s Possible with Princeton Dean of Engineering Andrew Houck (#290)
The rules of quantum physics aren’t just strange - they’re usable. Particles can exist in multiple states at once. Observation can reshape reality. Now, scientists are turning those quirks into machines that could solve problems today’s computers simply can’t touch. Princeton Engineering Dean...
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Six Ways the Constitution Keeps Leaders in Check with Cass Sunstein (#289)
The Constitution isn’t just a statement of ideals. It’s a framework for power - built to divide authority so that no single institution can fully control the law. But that design has a consequence: it slows decisions and complicates action. Is that inefficiency a weakness - or the very mechanism...
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The Winner’s Curse: Why “Winning” Often Means You Just Lost with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler (#288)
We all love the thrill of winning - the house, the promotion, the deal. But as Nobel laureate Richard Thaler explains, some of our biggest “wins” are actually the moments we set ourselves up to lose. Thaler breaks down why we overbid, overpay, and talk ourselves into choices we regret. And he...
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The American Dream is Now a Coin Flip: Here's Why and What We Can Do (#287)
The American Dream promises that hard work leads to a better life. But for many children today, that promise depends less on effort and more on where they grow up. Raj Chetty, a Harvard professor and the founder of Opportunity Insights, has spent years following millions of lives to understand…
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Why Innocent People Plead Guilty (#286)
Federal Judge Jed Rakoff has spent decades inside the justice system - as a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and now a judge. In this conversation, he challenges how we think justice works and explains why outcomes often have little to do with guilt or innocence.
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The Surprising Science of Why We Laugh (#285)
We think laughter is a response to something funny. A joke. A punchline. A light moment. But listen closely to real conversations, and laughter shows up in places that are far more important than we realize - and often when nothing is funny at all. Neuroscientist Sophie Scott CBE reveals what...
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A Smarter, More Hopeful Future of Work - If We Get Artificial Intelligence Right (#284)
Elon Musk and Geoffrey Hinton warn of an AI-driven job apocalypse. MIT’s David Autor, one of the world’s leading thinkers on how technology reshapes work, says the real danger lies somewhere else. The biggest risk of AI isn’t mass unemployment - it’s whether human skills and expertise will still...
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Presidential Power: How It Grows and What Comes Next (#283)
Jack Goldsmith, who once ran the Justice Department office that advises presidents on what they can and can’t legally do, takes on some of the hardest questions about the limits of the president’s power — from changing the government to the use of military force abroad, including the invasion of...
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Why Most New Year’s Resolutions Fail by March - and the Science of What Actually Works (#282)
Most people quit their New Year's resolutions by March. The reason why might surprise you. University of Chicago professor Ayelet Fishbach has spent decades studying why we fail at goals. Her finding: willpower is overrated. What matters is something entirely different. In this episode, Fishbach...
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Highlights of 2025 (#281)
Some insights change how you see the world. From the White House to the frontiers of AI drug discovery, we’ve gathered the most powerful moments from a year of extraordinary conversations. This 2025 highlights episode brings you the thinkers and leaders who challenged assumptions, revealed hidden...
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Dr. David Agus on The Hopeful Science of a Longer, Healthier Life (#280)
Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Southern California and Founding CEO of the Ellison Medical Institute, treats presidents, CEOs and cultural icons and has spent decades studying one question: What determines how long and well we live? His answer is…
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What US Ambassador to China Nick Burns Saw That Terrified Him (#279)
Nicholas Burns spent 2021 to 2025 in Beijing as US Ambassador to China, witnessing up close the forces shaping the world's most dangerous rivalry. Sitting across from Xi Jinping and living in China, he saw firsthand how dangerously close the world is to a crisis. Some of it genuinely terrified…
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Three Science-Backed Changes That Will Help You Sleep Better - Starting Tonight (#278)
Sleep shapes your mood, memory, immune system, and long-term health, yet most of us aren’t getting enough. Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham sleep scientist Dr. Elizabeth Klerman shares the three easiest science-backed changes proven to improve your sleep tonight, plus the myths…
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What Happened When My Daughter Was Born Looking White - And I Wasn’t (#277)
In a Paris hospital delivery room, Thomas Chatterton Williams, writer for The Atlantic and author of Self-Portrait in Black and White, held his newborn daughter for the first time. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. And in that instant, everything he thought he knew about race shattered. Thomas lives the...
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The Thermostat in Your Brain: Pushing Past Your Limits with Nick Thompson (#276)
What if fatigue, fear, and even failure aren’t real limits, but signals from the brain trying to protect us? Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former Editor-in-Chief of Wired reveals the surprising psychology behind fatigue, focus, and fear and how our biggest limits often come from within....
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The Surprising Science of Why Life Gets Better with Age with Stanford’s Laura Carstensen (#275)
We’re told youth is life’s peak — but what if that story is wrong? Stanford psychologist Laura Carstensen reveals how time itself reshapes what we value and how we find meaning. Her research offers profound lessons for living well at every age — and for finding more meaning in the moments we…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
3 Takeaways™ features insights from the world’s best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, scientists and other newsmakers. Each episode ends with 3 key takeaways to help you understand the world in new ways that can benefit your life and career. Hosted by Lynn Thoman. A global top 1% podcast.
HOSTED BY
Lynn Thoman
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does 3 Takeaways™ have?
3 Takeaways™ currently has 324 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is 3 Takeaways™ about?
3 Takeaways™ features insights from the world’s best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, scientists and other newsmakers. Each episode ends with 3 key takeaways to help you understand the world in new ways that can benefit your life and career. Hosted by Lynn Thoman. A global top 1%...
How often does 3 Takeaways™ release new episodes?
3 Takeaways™ publishes regularly with 324 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to 3 Takeaways™?
You can listen to 3 Takeaways™ on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts 3 Takeaways™?
3 Takeaways™ is created and hosted by Lynn Thoman.
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