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World's Toughest Job: The Complete Podcast
The impossible inbox of the next SG
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World’s Toughest Job is an eight-part series, co-produced by Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.
Join host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown to explore the challenges facing the 10th UN Secretary-General — from economic turbulence and superpower rivalries to AI, inequality, and climate change.
Scroll down to explore all eight episodes, in audio and video, plus our editorial deep dives.
1. What Kind of Leader Does the UN Need Right Now?
Leadership and Moral Authority
Can the next Secretary-General find the moral authority and political courage to lead an institution facing global gridlock?
Scene Setter: Insights into the selection of a new UN leader from Nudhara Yusuf and Richard Gowan.
Guests: Susana Malcorra, Thant Myint-U, and Mark Malloch-Brown.
🥡 Takeaways: Why the next UN leader should ask for forgiveness, rather than waiting for permission. Read here…
🗣️ Interview: Mark Malloch-Brown on the Secretary-General’s transition playbook. Read here…
2. The Scourge of War
Peace and Security
Can the next Secretary-General rebuild the UN's postwar role as the guarantor of international peace and security?
The History: U Thant, John F. Kennedy, and the backchannel diplomacy of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), narrated by Thant Myint-U.
The Roundtable: Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, Lynn Kuok, Ankit Panda.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: How U Thant’s backdoor diplomacy in the Cuban Missile Crisis generated enough value to fund the UN for decades. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How to navigate a world where a $2,000 drone can take out a multimillion-dollar missile, and tech billionaires act as sovereign powers. Read here…
3. Young People and Young Countries
Development and Shared Prosperity
How can the next Secretary-General deliver for young people and young countries?
History: Dag Hammarskjöld and the “Year of Africa” (1960), narrated by Kal Raustiala.
Roundtable: Joe Studwell, Saru Duckworth, Martin Kimani.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: Lessons in independence from Dag Hammarskjöld and Ralph Bunche. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How to help young people and young countries navigate a world of unchecked geoeconomic competition. Read here…
4. Who Rules the Code?
AI and Frontier Technologies
Can the next Secretary-General invent a form of diplomacy that brings tech CEOs directly to the table?
History: Trygve Lie, the Baruch Plan, and the failure to govern atomic energy, narrated by Kai Bird.
Roundtable: Nur Laiq, Philip Thigo, Maxime Stauffer.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: How to survive an arms race, from the atom to the algorithm. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How the UN can mobilize the world to ensure that global governance isn’t captured by Silicon Valley lobbying or superpower rivalry. Read here…
5. Shelter from the Storm
The Global Economy
How can the next Secretary-General help forge a new economic consensus?
History: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Agenda for Development, and the pushback against the IMF’s Washington Consensus, narrated by David Steven.
Roundtable: Carlos Lopes, Homi Kharas, Attiya Waris.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: Boutros Boutros-Ghali versus the Washington Consensus. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How developing nations can build their own financial power. Read here…
6. Physical and Virtual Choke Points
Critical Global Infrastructure
As the world grows increasingly connected, how can the next Secretary-General protect the infrastructure we all depend on?
History: Kofi Annan, the digital divide, and the story of the SEACOM cable, narrated by Mark Malloch-Brown.
Roundtable: Parag Khanna, Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Elisabeth Braw
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: How global networks create new vulnerabilities. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How to defend the networks on which global commerce and communication rely. Read here…
7. The UN as a Platform in Emergencies
Complex Crises
How can the next Secretary-General prepare the UN for the next complex global shock?
History: Ban Ki-moon, David Nabarro, and the High-level Task Force on the global food security crisis, narrated by Ambassador Josette Sheeran.
Roundtable: Sigrid Kaag, Aarathi Krishnan, Martin Griffiths.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: The octopus theory of how multilateral institutions evolve. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How the UN can manage emergencies when 21st-century crises don’t respect sectoral boundaries. Read here…
8. Freeloading on the Future
Climate, Nature, and Global Public Goods
Can the next Secretary-General turn the UN from a place where the future gets talked about into a place where it gets protected?
History: Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Mostafa Tolba, and the Montreal Protocol, narrated by Megumi Seki.
Roundtable: Arunabha Ghosh, Ana Toni, Jacob Ellis.
Dive deeper…
📖 Long Read: From a hole in the ozone layer to the end of the space age. Read here…
🥡 Takeaways: How the next UN Secretary-General can rebuild the multilateral operating system needed to protect global public goods. Read here…