WOWcast: Tomáš Madleňák

WOWcast: Weight-lifting: A special WOW live event

Weight of the World began with the idea of creating community. Not just through podcasts, but also with public events that invite people to spend time together hashing out potential solutions to fractious times – or simply reaching beyond their usual bubbles to make new connections. In a special bonus episode, WOW partners with the Vaclav Havel Library and New York University Prague to bring you a lively public discussion on what it takes, from both society and us as individuals, to build healthy civic engagement. At a moment when many citizens feel less power to affect meaningful change through elections, charity, and activism, this wide-ranging conversation considers what would it take to rebuild societies that uphold humanitarian values and encourage personal agency in the name of collective good.

WOWcast: Best of Season One

We've had the pleasure of speaking to an amazing array of Europeans (and one American) who've shared their unique personal perspectives on the Trump administration's assault on U.S. democratic norms and institutions. One by one, they've all offered fantastic advice on how we can all push back together against rising authoritarianism. That's why we thought we'd use this week's podcast to revisit some of the best and most essential counsel from our Weight of the World guests. Some inspiring food for thought as we get ready for a new year of challenges and opportunities in 2026.

WOWcast: Philip Reeker

Philip Reeker

WOWcast: Tomáš Sedláček

Tomáš Sedláček is a man on a mission. An economist, philosopher, presidential advisor, and author, he’s now also the director of the Václav Havel Presidential Library in Prague, and he’s blazing a trail to spread the philosophy of the Czech playwright/president to a world hungry for a deeper, more meaningful  narrative. Havel’s writings are more relevant than ever today, says Tomáš, and the framework for so many of the answers to our most pressing questions are there for the picking. In his trademark style, Tomáš takes us on a tour of philosophy, pop culture, religion, and more, that leads us back to Havel and why a kind of “Havelian democracy” may be the best antidote to the creeping authoritarianism that is eating away at our western societies on so many fronts.

WOWcast: Tomáš Madleňák

Everyone’s life has an inflection point. For Tomáš Madleňák, it came on February 21, 2018, when Slovak investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová were shot dead in their home in a mafia-style hit. Angered by the culture of impunity that led to the murders, Tomáš left a promising career in foreign policy to follow in Kuciak’s footsteps.  Untangling ties between criminality and politics have convinced him of the threat that corruption poses to Slovakia’s still-young democracy. And while he once looked west for democratic role models, he now sees the trend working in reverse: the United States looking east for lessons in autocracy.