The Impossible Network

076: CIA Rebel On Power, Curiosity, Empathy and Trump - Carmen Medina -Part 2

Feb 5, 2020

42:35

Guest Overview

Former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence, Carmen Medina is a veteran of the Intelligence Community, she is also the author of Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within.

Puerto Rican born, to a fun-loving father and an achievement-driven mother, Carmen excelled through an itinerant childhood to lead school debating teams. Her forensic debating skills and serendipity led her to a University scholarship and ultimately set her on her path to a 32-year career in the CIA.

In Part two we discuss her perspective on power, the current state of the world and her hope for the future. We also cover the role of curiosity and creativity in her work at the CIA, applying empathy to be heard by policy and decision-makers in today’s polarized political environment. And finally, we end with her life insights as she answers our quick-fire questions.

I hope you enjoy this refreshing and fun episode and learn from the kindness, reflective wisdom, and optimism of Carmen Medina.

Thanks to Munish Walther Puri for the connection.

What we Discuss

The role of curiosity and creativity in her role as an analyst

Her curiosity in soft power over hard power

Her prediction that peace would happen without violence

The brittleness of power

The evolution of the CIA’s intelligence on how societies work

Embracing cognitive bias

Dealing With Trump

Her optimism and how reading a book called Complexity changed her perspective

Her perspective on the world