How do we achieve social buy-in for the huge, disruptive and sustained transformation entailed in making our societies sustainable? Why is it such a problem that social media has become the 'public square' where we have big conversations about the future - and how have campaigning and activism become embroiled? Hugh Knowles is Co-Executive Director…

How does a single chemical in our brains drive love, sex, consumerism and creativity? Why are some people more 'dopmaninergic' than others, why is that such a big deal for politics, and what does it mean for change-makers? Daniel Lieberman is a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at George Washington University, co-author of t…

How can we build inclusive belonging in conditions of acute polarisation - for example when members of a historically privileged group feel that more power and status for a historically marginalised group means less power and status for them? What do the recent US mid-terms mean for American democratic health, and what lessons do they offer for oth…

How can we raise children in a world that appears to have gone so wrong? How are our children’s minds affected by that world, and how can we as parents and caregivers help them through it in ways that give them agency and the power to make the world better without placing the weight of the world on their shoulders? Louis Weinstock is the author of …

A special edition of our podcast to talk about Building a larger us, our new guide to how to change the world in ways that bring people together rather than dividing them - not as a them-and-us, but as a larger us. Alex Evans (founder of Larger Us and our usual host) switches sides to be guest this time, and we're delighted that Elizabeth Oldfield …

What does it take to have conversations across deep divides? What's required of us - and what's required of the person we're talking to? What can happen when we have these kinds of curious conversations, and how can change-makers use them? Mónica Guzmán is the author of the new book I Never Thought Of It That Way - How to have fearlessly curious co…

What are we doing to ourselves when we tell ourselves we're Consumers 3,000 times a day? What would it look like to put the same creativity and energy into involving people as Citizens? What would you do in this time, if you truly believed in yourself and those around you? Jon Alexander spent the first decade of his career in the advertising indust…

How did progressive campaigners in the US manage to win bipartisan legislation ending the 'lock-em-up and throw away the key' era in criminal justice - and persuade 87 out of 100 Senators to vote for it, and Donald Trump to sign it? Answer: by building a hugely diverse coalition that brought together everyone from the American Civil Liberties Union…

We live in the age of the tyranny of the now, driven by 24/7 news, the latest tweet, and the buy-now button. With such frenetic short-termism at the root of contemporary crises – from the threats of climate change to the lack of planning for a global pandemic – the call for long-term thinking grows every day. But what is it, has it ever worked, and…

Jon Yates is the author of "Fractured: Why our societies are coming apart and how to put them back together again". He's uniquely well placed to explore these issues, having both served as a government adviser and co-founded a series of charities that are designed to bring people together. For years, our societies have been becoming more disconnect…

Dave Fleischer runs the team at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Leadership Lab that created deep canvassing - a groundbreaking approach to political campaigning that uses doorstep conversations to change people's minds about potentially polarising issues and which helped to win the US equal marriage campaign. Deep canvassing avoids pelting voters wit…

Karen Stenner has spent years researching why some people seem to have a psychological predisposition towards authoritarianism in the right conditions. With her co-author Jonathan Haidt, Karen has explored how about a third of people across dozens of liberal democracies share this trait to some degree - a key factor in understanding why, for instan…

Hadiya Masieh has over two decades' experience in countering violent extremism and understanding how to challenge hate - and a unique perspective given her own experience as a former member of an extremist political organisation. Today, Hadiya runs Groundswell Project, a pioneering initiative that works in communities to map both extremist and pro-…