About this episode

Yascha Mounk and Jared Diamond explore the influence of individual leaders on historical events and the role of institutional environments.

Yascha Mounk and Jared Diamond discuss the age-old question of structure versus agency—and when individual leaders truly change the course of events. Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Third Chimpanzee, and Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference? In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jared Diamond discuss how to measure the true impact of individual leaders, why the institutional environment determines how much difference a leader can make, and whether societies are better served by systems that constrain leaders or empower them.  If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠this link on your phone⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple⁠ | ⁠Google⁠ X: ⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠ & ⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠ YouTube: ⁠Yascha Mounk⁠, ⁠Persuasion⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Yascha Mounk

Guest: Jared Diamond

Topics covered

• leadership
• history
• structure vs agency
• impact of leaders
• institutional environment

Keywords

• leadership
• history
• Jared Diamond
• Yascha Mounk
• agency
• structure
• impact

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of California, Los Angeles

Books & works: Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Third Chimpanzee, Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Make a Difference?

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