Highlights of 2025 (#281)
12/23/202533 min
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 patterns, and reframed the biggest questions of our time.
- Susan Magsamen (Johns Hopkins): How your everyday environment is quietly reshaping your brain
- Jake Sullivan (U.S. National Security Advisor): What surprised him most about Xi and Putin
- Admiral James Stavridis (Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander): Navigating the China challenge
- Jon Gray (President, Blackstone): The real key to career success (it’s not what you think)
- Bonnie Hammer (Former Vice Chair, NBCUniversal): Redefining what “having it all” really means
- Christine Rosen (American Enterprise Institute): The hidden costs of a screen-mediated life
- Zanny Minton-Beddoes (Editor-in-Chief, The Economist): American polarization through foreign eyes
- David Brooks (New York Times columnist): The mistake people make when they turn to politics
- Craig Mundie (Former Microsoft Chief Strategist): AI’s biggest unsolved problem
- Dr. David Agus (Founding CEO Ellison Medical Institute): How AI is changing drug discovery
- Laura Carstensen (Stanford Center on Longevity): What she wishes people understood about aging
- Thomas Chatterton Williams (Author): Moving beyond racial identity
These are the conversations that expanded minds in 2025.
(To listen to any of the full episodes, click the links above.)
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLynn Thoman· Host0:00
(bell rings) It's been an extraordinary year, one filled with thoughtful conversations, bold ideas, and guests who challenge us to see the world a little differently. (instrumental music) Hi, everyone. I'm Lynne Thomand and this is Three Takeaways. On Three Takeaways, I talk with some of the world's best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, newsmakers, and scientists. Each episode ends with three key takeaways to help us understand the world and maybe even ourselves a little better. As we look back on the year, I wanted to share some of the moments that stayed with me, the perspectives that expanded my thinking, surprised me or reminded me of what truly matters. Today you'll hear highlights from some of the remarkable leaders, thinkers, creators, and visionaries who helped shaped this incredible year of conversations. (bell rings) When we talk about the biggest strategic challenges facing the United States in this century, China comes up again and again. Its influence touches everything from economics to technology to global security. I asked Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and a long-time military and national security