{"podcast":{"title":"Geopolitical Cousins","slug":"geopolitical-cousins-7251738","podcast_index_feed_id":7251738,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/geopolitical-cousins/","website_url":"https://geopolitical-cousins.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/1345c6ae-b41d-42e6-9fd1-5084f8548ff0/3Egz_32uppCB8TuhRh-V_E0d.png","author":"Jacob Shapiro & Marko Papic","episode_count":79,"summary":"Geopolitical Cousins throws together analysts Jacob Shapiro and Marko Papic for some of the most in-depth, off-the-wall geopolitical analysis in the world.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-18T22:19:48.288419+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738"},"episode":{"title":"Lessons Learned","slug":"lessons-learned","published_at":"2026-07-31T11:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/lessons-learned","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738","url":"https://geopolitical-cousins.captivate.fm/episode/taos-2","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d738c6b4-cb9e-497e-995f-c106c42d9b1d.mp3","summary":"Round two. Same four analysts, a lot more whiskey, and a lot less structure. Peter Zeihan, Marko Papic, and Matt Gertken sit back down with Jacob - a man who cut his teeth pestering all three of them for their pieces as a Stratfor intern - for an unfiltered conversation about how they actually became geopolitical strategists. They trade formative-moment stories from Stratfor's early-2000s \"golden age\" (including the Egypt/Mubarak call that made Jacob's career), debate whether corporate America can ever hire real geopolitical talent, and each name the one book that shaped how they see the world - from World War Z to Aristotle to The Ingenuity Gap. Along the way: George Friedman lore, the DC Comics-vs-Marvel theory of geopolitical shops, and a genuinely moving closing tribute to the mentor who built this whole coaching tree. Part reunion, part masterclass in how to think about the world - and part roast session. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Welcome Back Round Two (00:52) - Whiskey And Loose Format (01:34) - Formative Stratfor Moments (02:24) - Arab Spring Cred Test (04:17) - Stratfor Coaching Tree (07:50) - Pipeline After Cold War (14:17) - Academia Versus Geopolitics (17:14) - Analyst Craft And Courage (20:22) - Chief Geopolitical Officer Debate (22:55) - Training Gap And Time Horizons (25:29) - Universities And MBA Reform (27:39) - Ideology And Groupthink (30:02) - Theory Versus Practice (30:57) - Frameworks Beat Facts (31:44) - Operationalizing Geopolitics (34:24) - Training Pipelines and MBAs (37:39) - Sector Specialists and Scale (40:01) - Everyone a Geostrategist (41:01) - Deglobalization in Fashion (42:51) - Formative Books Roundtable (51:07) - Great Men and Psychology (54:21) - Empathetic Analysis Explained (56:25) - Displacement and Perspective (58:23) - Formative E…","meta_description":"Round two. Same four analysts, a lot more whiskey, and a lot less structure. Peter Zeihan, Marko Papic, and Matt Gertken sit back down with Jacob - a man…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5253,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/episodes/lessons-learned/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-cousins-7251738/lessons-learned.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}