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One in eight people worldwide lives with a mental health disorder — close to 1.2 billion people, according to the 2026 Lancet Global Burden of Disease Study. Cases have nearly doubled since 1990, and young people are hit hardest: some 293 million children and young adults under 25 live with a mental health condition. What is driving this surge? Is modern life really more stressful than the past? How does the picture differ between the Global North and the Global South? What role did COVID play, and is social media to blame? Vikram Patel — professor and chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Sangath in India — unpacks the causes of the crisis and offers ideas for solutions. Then tell us what you think should be done.

For hundreds of millions of people in India, government welfare programs are not a convenience but a lifeline. Yet the distance between policy and everyday life can be vast, and the digital divide, widening as AI reshapes everything, makes it harder still. Aniket Doegar started with a simple insight: programs only work if people know they exist, understand whether they qualify, and can navigate the process of applying. He began by building technology to solve that problem, then realized technology alone wasn't enough. In this conversation with the Tällberg Foundation, Doegar explains how he built Haqdarshak, a social enterprise employing more than 50,000 local agents who provide the critical last mile between citizens and their government.

Making new music financially sustainable takes more than a successful performance. Violinist and composer Ye Jin Min joins Alan Stoga to discuss Unboxed Musicians and her plans for Mini Music Box, a children’s music project combining artistic ambition with new revenue opportunities. From immersive concerts to commissions, recordings, and ongoing royalties, she explores how musicians might build paying audiences while preserving creative freedom.

In late June, the Tällberg Foundation joined with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) in Athens to celebrate the winners of the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, part of SNF’s 30th anniversary celebrations. This special edition of New Thinking for a New World picks up where that celebration left off. Tällberg Foundation board members Helena Nilsson Friberg and Tom Cummings sat down with the three 2025 laureates — Rhett Ayers Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay; Bryan Doerries, artistic director of Theater of War Productions; and David Gruber, oceanographer and founder of Project CETI — and talked candidly about the choices that have shaped their leadership journeys as well as the challenges of the future.

In late June, the Tällberg Foundation joined the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) in Athens to celebrate the winners of the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, part of SNF's week-long 30th anniversary celebration. In this episode of New Thinking for a New World, Vishakha Desai, vice chair of the Tällberg Foundation Board of Directors, introduces the three 2025 laureates: Rhett Ayers Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay; Bryan Doerries, artistic director of Theater of War Productions; and David Gruber, oceanographer and founder and president of Project CETI. Their work spans environmental journalism, theater and public dialogue, and interspecies communication. What they share is a determination to challenge conventional thinking, a deep ethical commitment, and a belief that the world can be made better when people of good will work together. They reflect on how they built their leadership, what they've accomplished, and what they hope to do next.

A companion episode to our conversation with Ye Jin Min. Sit back and listen to three pieces she imagined, composed, and played: Vinyl Road, Honey, and Four Moons with Koriobots.

Making a living as a musician has always been hard. For classical and experimental artists, it can feel nearly impossible. Ye Jin Min knows this firsthand. A violinist, composer, singer, and conductor equally at home in Carnegie Hall and the avant-garde, she has spent her career navigating the brutal economics of professional music-making. Her answer is Unboxed Musicians — a bold new venture designed to build sustainable, creative ecosystems where musicians and composers can actually thrive. In this conversation with the Tällberg Foundation, Ye Jin reflects on the joy and discipline of making music, the structural barriers that hold artists back, and why reimagining the business of music may be just as important as the music itself.

Democracy may be struggling across much of the world, but Bangladesh offers a rare counterexample. In the summer of 2024, a student-led movement forced out the long-ruling government of Sheikh Hasina. Less than 20 months later, the country conducted elections widely described as mostly free, fair, and peaceful—leading to a democratically elected government replacing the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. In this episode, Aysha Siddiqua Tithi and Umama Fatema—leaders of Students Against Discrimination and central figures in the revolution—share what it took to organize, mobilize, and persist. They reflect on the risks they faced, the hopes that sustained them, and what democracy’s revival in Bangladesh might signal for a world increasingly skeptical of democratic governance.

What does great leadership look like today? In this special episode, we bring together the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize laureates: Rhett Ayers Butler, founder of Mongabay; Bryan Doerries, founder of Theater of War Productions; and David Gruber, founder of Project CETI. Moderated by Helena Nilsson, Prize jury member and Deputy CEO of the MiL Institute, the conversation spans journalism, art, and science—revealing how curiosity, creativity, and moral courage can reshape how we confront global challenges. Together, these leaders demonstrate that meaningful leadership transcends politics and borders, grounded instead in universal values and persistent commitment to making the world better.

Much of the world’s attention remains fixed on Iran, Israel, and the Palestinian question. But another rivalry is quietly reshaping Middle Eastern politics: Saudi Arabia versus the United Arab Emirates. Once close partners, the two Gulf powers now find themselves moving from cooperation toward competition—and perhaps even confrontation. In this episode, Professor Rob Geist Pinfold explores what is driving the shift, what is at stake for regional leadership, and how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed are maneuvering for influence. While definitive answers may be premature, informed analysis reveals why this evolving relationship matters far beyond the Gulf.

As the world braces for another difficult year, a single global event promises to capture the attention of billions: the FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In this episode, New Thinking for a New World takes a detour from geopolitics and climate to explore how an event of this scale actually comes together. Gabriela Cuevas—an experienced Mexican political leader—has the daunting task of coordinating Mexico’s role in a 104-match tournament watched around the globe. She joins the podcast to discuss the logistical, political, and cultural challenges of hosting the world’s most popular sporting event—and the opportunities it creates for countries and communities alike.

For decades, warnings about the destruction of the Amazon and Congo rainforests have grown louder, even as meaningful action has lagged behind. International summits and political declarations continue, but the forests edge closer to dangerous tipping points. In this episode, we ask whether a different approach is needed. Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Dr. Fernando Trujillo, and Sam Muller bring perspectives shaped by hands-on experience in conservation, science, justice, and governance. Together, they argue that protecting the world’s great rainforests is not only an environmental challenge, but also one of equity, economic development, and power—and that lasting solutions are more likely to emerge from the ground up than from global pledges alone.

The world is entering a new era of conflict: more violent, more fragmented, and with more civilians caught in the crossfire than at any time since World War II. But the consequences of war may extend far beyond the battlefield. Rana Dajani, Jordanian molecular biologist and long-time member of the Tällberg network, is part of a research team uncovering how traumatic violence might alter gene expression and affect not only survivors but also their children and grandchildren. In this episode, she explains the emerging science behind intergenerational trauma and explores what these findings could mean for societies living through—and after—conflict.

Sperm whales are among the most extraordinary creatures on the planet—massive, deep-diving, highly social, and constantly communicating. David Gruber, marine biologist and founder of Project CETI, leads a global team of scientists using cutting-edge technology to decode the vocalizations of these remarkable animals. A 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner, Gruber explains how understanding whale communication isn’t about speaking to them, but about learning how they see and interact with the world we share. In this episode, he discusses the science, wonder, and purpose behind CETI—and what unlocking whale language could mean for humanity.

For thousands of years, Greek tragedies have helped people make sense of fear, grief, conflict, and the complexities of being human. Bryan Doerries—co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions and a newly selected Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize winner—has spent nearly two decades bringing these timeless texts to contemporary audiences. In this episode, he reflects on how classical stories open space for empathy, dialogue, and healing in the 21st century. By stripping away the myth that our struggles are unique to our time, Doerries helps reveal what connects us across cultures and generations.