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PODCAST

At the Coalface

At the Coalface is a series of conversations hosted by Philippe Rose.Philippe"s guests share stories about their life beyond the headlines of international affairs. They look for lessons learned about making an impact in the world as practitioners in diplomacy, international organisations, NGOs, journalism and the private sector.Many of Philippe"s guests are connected by their common experience of taking time away from work to attend graduate school at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of

education social sciences

All Episodes

52:58

Lasha Kasradze - From Georgia to Florida: Navigating...

At the Coalface ·

2025/03/12

In this episode, Lasha Kasradze shares his journey from growing up in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic to witnessing the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union and eventually moving to the United States as a teenager. The conversation explores how his experience of straddling cultures and striving to integrate shaped his worldview, fuelled his drive to survive and thrive in the U.S., and led him to entrepreneurial ventures across different fields. Over time, Lasha found his ni...

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54:51

Sang Yeob Kim - Balancing interests and personalities...

At the Coalface ·

2025/02/26

In this episode, I speak with Sang Yeob Kim. Sang shares his experience growing up across cultures, being exposed to Latin America as a child. This planted the seed for him to return as an adult to work as a diplomat, initially working for Chile. In our conversation, Sang shares his secrets about navigating high stakes diplomacy at the UN and, at the other end of the spectrum, about delivering results in the field for the UNDP. This episode is full of pearls of wisdom and lessons learned in t...

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74:40

David Kovar - Managing the existential threat of UAV...

At the Coalface ·

2025/02/12

In this episode, I speak with David Kovar. David shares his thought leadership in the field of cybersecurity and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles forensics. David’s work addresses cyber crime and informs domestic and international policies on these important yet often poorly understood topics. David shares his philosophy about bringing the temperature down, finding a common language and translating complexity into frameworks that enable constructive action and effective collaboration. We also e...

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51:04

Kelly Sims Gallagher - The art of climate diplomacy...

At the Coalface ·

2025/01/29

In this episode, I speak with Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher, Dean of the Fletcher School. In our conversation, we explore how Kelly’s early life and exposure to air pollution shaped her desire to dedicate her life to environmental issues. Kelly shares the insights of her research on China in the late 1990s and her realisation that China would become a world leader in climate issues, both as emitter and as clean technology superpower. We talk about how the Global South can compete in the clea...

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59:19

Olena Tregub - The power of civil society to reform...

At the Coalface ·

2025/01/15

In this episode, I speak with Olena Tregub. Olena shares her fascinating trajectory, growing up in Soviet times and witnessing her country’s independence. The relative immaturity of the political landscape at the time prompted her to get involved politically at a young age. Olena shares the unique role that civil society plays in Ukraine and its power to affect deep change. Her organization, NAKO, is focusing on improving transparency and governance in military procurement, with great success...

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95:16

William Moomaw - Our climate emergency: why net zero...

At the Coalface ·

2025/01/01

In this episode, I speak with Professor William Moomaw. Prof. Moomaw is a world renowned expert in sustainable development. He has been a long-time contributor and lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including in 2007 when the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Prof. Moomaw has changed the worldview of many of his students as part of his teaching at the Fletcher School. He’s inspired a number of us to make profound changes to our relationship with nature and to...

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99:35

Jeff Dodson - Leadership lessons from a life in...

At the Coalface ·

2024/12/18

In this episode, I speak with Jeff Dodson. Jeff shares his life and leadership lessons from his multiple careers, first as an investment banker working on Wall Street, then in the beverage industry, then pivoting to the executive search business, and most recently as a high school teacher. In our conversation, we reflect on what characterises the best leaders, what they think about in the shower, why leaders struggle to let go, how to manage a pivot, and what it’s like being a teacher.Recorde...

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53:52

Jivan Ljupčo Gjorginski - Calming things down: the...

At the Coalface ·

2024/12/04

In this episode, I speak with Jivan Gjorginski. Together we dive into the complexities of diplomatic efforts to regulate biological and toxins weapons that Jivan has been spearheading. We also touch on his earlier work on lethal autonomous weapons. Jivan reflects on his personal journey, straddling Macedonia and Canada, and how his drive for calming things down guided his decisions and career.Recorded on 2 October 2024.Connect with Jivan on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/gjorgjinski. Jivan's pod...

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59:36

Ifeoma Okali - A lifelong pursuit of equality and...

At the Coalface ·

2024/11/20

In this episode, I speak with Ifeoma Okali. Ifeoma shares her journey growing up in Nigeria, finding her way into the legal profession, animated by a strong sense of the importance of equality and protecting civil rights in a society that was still very male dominated. We talk about her experience of 12 years working for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the role of international law in bringing closure for victims of horrific conflicts. We conclude our convers...

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62:44

Adam Barbina - Where love is absent, power fills the...

At the Coalface ·

2024/11/06

In this episode, I speak with Adam Barbina. Adam shares his memories of growing up in rural Ohio in a hard working, religious and conservative family. After studying at a liberal grad school and living in New York City, Adam still remains connected to his roots and understands conservative viewpoints, wishing more people could see both sides. We talk about his career break into geostrategy consultancy and how the private sector grapples with geopolitical issues. Adam reflects on his difficult...

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46:45

Zack Peterson - Tackling childhood stunting door to...

At the Coalface ·

2024/10/23

In this episode, I speak with Zack Peterson. Zack founded 1000 Days Fund, an NGO addressing childhood stunting in Indonesia at a grassroots level with specially trained community health workers. Zack was working at the World Bank when he was confronted with the pernicious creep of stunting that was about to affect his daughter - and he decided to jump out and start his NGO. 1000 Days Fund has had incredible results, even with the painstaking work of tackling malnutrition household by househol...

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59:42

Carolina Neal - From Costa Rica to Missouri: a story...

At the Coalface ·

2024/10/09

In this episode, I speak with Carolina Neal. Carolina is originally from Costa Rica, a country with a deep connection to the wisdom of nature. Her grandmother, the powerful head of her family, had picked Carolina out among her many siblings for her smarts and sent her for higher education. Carolina’s life was destined for high political office, but love got in the way and she ended up in Joplin, Missouri. Carolina shares her fascinating reinvention, the way she connected the many dots in her ...

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57:26

Nino Kalandadze - The new Iron Curtain and the...

At the Coalface ·

2024/09/25

Nino Kalandadze was one of our first guests on this podcast. Then, she spoke about her experience forged as a young politician while her country, Georgia, was fighting a war with Russia. In this conversation, Nino sheds light on the direction Georgian politics have taken, as a capture of state institutions is under way by interests aligned with Russia. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and the question of whether a peaceful transfer of power can occur will mark a turning point in the count...

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44:18

Dana Dumitrascu - How to (re)discover our vocation...

At the Coalface ·

2024/09/11

In this episode, I speak with Dana Dumitrascu. Dana just published a book, How To Discover Your Vocation. In our conversation, we explore Dana’s backstory and how she grew into becoming a vocational coach. Her book helps people, young and experienced in life, shed the conditioning we’ve all inherited about work and jobs, and look at vocation in a new way. Dana’s framework is practical and involves building on our natural inclinations to regain agency over what we choose to do. Her toolkit hel...

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78:45

Bernard Zongo - Shaping Burkina Faso with music and...

At the Coalface ·

2024/08/28

In this episode, I speak with Bernard Zongo. Bernard’s story inspires me in so many ways. He grew up in a poor environment where the odds were stacked against him doing much with his life. His relentless determination to pursue education, with a sprinkle of help along the way, led him to blaze a path in local development, urbanism, humanitarian interventions in conflict zones and more recently, in stakeholder management for the mining sector. And this is far from the whole story: Bernard is a...

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57:23

Michael Brasseur - Robotics and AI for a digital...

At the Coalface ·

2024/08/14

In this episode, I speak with Michael Brasseur. Michael is a man of the seas, who’s made a living sailing the oceans for the US Navy and grappled with some of the most fascinating naval and security challenges of our time. Michael shares his leadership lessons from decades of building winning teams, summed up as having a vision, clear values and a strong culture. He talks about his journey of injecting imagination and creativity in NATO to incorporate robotics and AI as a resource multiplier ...

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61:20

Diana Chigas - Understanding corruption dynamics to...

At the Coalface ·

2024/07/31

In this episode, I speak with Professor Diana Chigas. Diana is one of the foremost experts in international negotiation and conflict resolution. She has worked in El Salvador, South Africa, Ecuador and Peru and in the Georgia/South Ossetia peace process, facilitated inter-ethnic dialogue in Cyprus and in Central and East Africa. She co-directs the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Project that aims to improve the effectiveness of anti-corruption programming in fragile and conflict-affected c...

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55:03

Steve Viola - The hardest part was surrendering:...

At the Coalface ·

2024/07/17

In this episode, I catch up with Steve Viola. We last spoke on this podcast about 2 1/2 years ago when he shared his fascinating career in the Navy and as special warfare operator. Since that last conversation, I had been following Steve’s work advocating for opening up new treatment protocols for veterans suffering from trauma. We speak about the healing power of plants with psychotropic properties, Steve’s own journey with these modalities, and his work today helping veterans with the hard ...

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53:44

Zsuzsanna Szelényi - On safeguarding democracy from...

At the Coalface ·

2024/07/03

In this episode, I speak with Zsuzsanna Szelényi. Zsuzsanna shares with me her incredible journey at the heart of Hungary’s political transformation since the fall of the Soviet Union. She talks about the early days of Hungarian democracy and the levers used by Victor Orban to shape the country’s institutions towards a more authoritarian, illiberal form of governance. This was the subject of her acclaimed book, Tainted Democracy, published in 2022. Zsuzsanna talks about her personal trajector...

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68:17

Rahul Sharma - On the role of trust in foreign...

At the Coalface ·

2024/06/19

In this episode, I speak with Rahul Sharma. Rahul has had a fascinating international career in journalism, media, corporate and political affairs. He’s worked at the Economic Times, Khaleej Times and Reuters among others, covering business and political stories, while also living in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sri Lanka. He has a unique perspective about China, watching the country rise while his native India was undergoing its own transformation. We talk about his early career, his pivot...

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111 results

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