Samantha Power: Negotiating With Russia, Persuading Obama, and the Fight for USAID

How do you persuade a president, negotiate with Russia, and build a coalition when change seems impossible?Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and USAID Administrator Samantha Power joins Stan Christensen for a candid conversation about diplomacy, negotiation, and leading through crisis. Power, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Problem from Hell and The Education of an Idealist, shares how she talked her way into covering the war in Bosnia, what she learned negotiating the removal of Syria's chemical weapons, and why Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was the best negotiator she ever faced.They also discuss how to raise human rights issues without sounding moralistic, what really worked in persuading President Obama, the Ebola response, the dismantling of USAID and its human cost, and the lessons from her Harvard course on making change when change is hard, including why every coalition needs both "Baptists and bootleggers."0:00 Samantha Power and The Education of an Idealist0:30 The audiobook and a letter to her son2:15 How a failed negotiation made her a war correspondent4:05 Writing her own press badge4:45 Why you have to get close to the issue6:50 Negotiation lessons: leave it all on the field9:30 Leading USAID11:15 How USAID was dismantled15:10 Why Congress didn't push back24:20 How to persuade President Obama27:40 Raising human rights in policy debates33:25 Syria, chemical weapons, and the red line41:30 Negotiating with Russia's Vitaly Churkin45:35 Lessons from the Ebola response51:15 Teaching social change at Harvard52:25 Shrink the change53:30 Find your Baptists and bootleggersSAMANTHA POWERHarvard Kennedy School faculty pagehttps://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/samantha-powerBOOKS BY SAMANTHA POWERThe Education of an Idealist: A Memoirhttps://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-education-of-an-idealist-samantha-powerA Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (2003 Pulitzer Prize)https://www.amazon.com/Problem-Hell-America-Age-Genocide/dp/0465061516Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the Worldhttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300934/chasing-the-flame-by-samantha-power/HER HARVARD COURSE WITH CASS SUNSTEINMaking Change When Change Is Hard: The Law, Politics, and Policy of Social Changehttps://www.hks.harvard.edu/courses/making-change-when-change-hard-law-politics-and-policy-social-changeBOOKS DISCUSSEDSwitch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heathhttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/77696/switch-by-chip-heath-and-dan-heath/Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwinhttps://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Team-of-Rivals/Doris-Kearns-Goodwin/9780743270755LISTEN TO ALL THINGS NEGOTIATIONApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-things-negotiation/id1769229339YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AllThingsNegotiationHost Stan Christensen has spent his career as a professional negotiator and teaches negotiation at Stanford. On All Things Negotiation, he talks with leaders, diplomats, and thinkers about how persuasion and influence work in the real world.#SamanthaPower #Negotiation #Diplomacy #USAID #AllThingsNegotiation