What It Takes®

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Katie Ledecky: The Call Of The Water Jul 20, 2026

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She sent shockwaves through the world of competitive swimming, when she won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, beating out the favorites by a wide margin. She was 15 years old. Katie Ledecky is now training for her fifth Olympics, and is indisputably the greatest female swimmer of all time. She talks here about her unusual views on competition and about why she loves long distance races the best. She shares the unique things that inspire her. And she explains a word used only used by competitive swimmers: croggling. By the end of the episode, you'll have an understanding of why Katie Ledecky calls the water her home.

Cindy Sherman: Illusions of Identity Apr 13, 2026

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Cindy Sherman, one of the world's most renowned contemporary art photographers, started posing for her own photos in the 1970's, long before the advent of selfies. But she says her images are not self-portraits. Instead, she uses sets, costumes and makeup to create an elaborate array of characters. In this introspective interview about her journey as an individual and an artist, Cindy Sherman reveals how and why she hides herself from view.

Tara VanDerveer: A Vision for Victory Nov 27, 2025

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She is one of the greatest basketball coaches in history, and an inspiration to generations of young women. Tara VanDerveer was head coach of the Stanford Women's Basketball team for 38 seasons. She led her team to three NCAA Championships. She also led the national women's basketball team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Here she talks eloquently about her lifelong love for the game and about her frustrations early in life, before Title IX, when there were no women's teams available to her. She also talks in detail about her unique and winning approach to coaching, and describes the ways she finds basketball metaphors in everything she does!

Billie Jean King: Racquet Revolutionary Oct 27, 2025

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She is a sports icon and a trailblazer for women. She won 39 Grand Slam tennis titles during her career, and she fought for equal pay and equal opportunity for women in the game. She founded the Women’s Tennis Association and was the first woman named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated Magazine. She captivated the world when she won "The Battle of the Sexes".against Bobby Riggs. Now 81 years old, Billie Jean King has a lot of thoughts about her storied career, and many tales to tell!

Jane Goodall In Memoriam: A Dedicated Pursuit Oct 02, 2025

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As a girl in England, Jane Goodall dreamed of traveling to Africa to study animals in the wild. In 1960, that dream brought her to Tanzania, to observe the wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Park. As she describes in this episode, other scientists did not believe that a young woman could survive alone in the bush, but Jane Goodall did more than survive. Her work revolutionized the field of primatology. She was the first to document chimpanzees making and using tools, an activity that had been thought exclusively humans. Over the years she also witnessed cooperative hunting and altruism, but also brutality and even warfare among chimps. Her work, the longest continuous field study of any living creature, has given us deep insights into the evolution of our own species. Since the 1980's, she has devoted herself single-mindedly to educating the public worldwide about the connections between animal welfare, the environment, and human progress.

(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: Shivering with Curiosity Jun 29, 2025

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Ozempic is one of the most important new medications in a generation. The driving force behind it is the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which has been invested in GLP-1 research since the early 1990s. The leading scientist in this domain, a self-described "nerd," who grew up on a farm in Denmark and has no interest in the limelight. Lotte Knudsen started her career working on laundry detergent enzymes, but eventually joined a team at the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk that was tasked with looking for new treatments for diabetes. She was convinced that a recently discovered human hormone called GLP-1 could be made into a powerful medication, not only for Type 2 diabetes, but also for weight loss. It took 20 years of hard work and persistence for her and her team to figure it out, but their creation now shows promise as a worthy foe of heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson's, alcoholism & Alzheimer's as well. In this episode Lotte Knudsen tells her story, and we hear from two of the other scientists who made critical contributions to this revolution in medicine: Mads Thomsen and Daniel Drucker.

Gustavo Dudamel: The Power of Music Feb 22, 2025

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When he was just 26 years old, Gustavo Dudamel arrived from Venezuela to become conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He immediately became one of the world's most beloved figures in classical music. He's collaborated with pop stars (including Billie Eilish, Nas and Christina Aguilera). He's played the Super Bowl half-time show. He even the model for the main character in the hit tv series "Mozart in the Jungle". Sixteen years later, after making an enormous mark on the LA Phil and the city of LA, Gustavo Dudamel is preparing to move east, as music director and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. He talks here about coming up as a musician and a budding conductor in "El Sistema", Venezuela's classical music training ground for children of all backgrounds. He describes conducting his toy figurines while listening to the world's greatest orchestras, before he even understood what conductors actually do. And he shares his love of music - all music - and his work to erase boundaries between audiences.

BestOf(2024)_Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice Sep 28, 2024

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Johnny Cash had a voice that could make a mountain quake. And his impact on the world of music is so legendary that this week a new 11 feet tall bronze statue of the singer, guitarist and humanitarian was unveiled at the United States Capitol Visitor's Center. It was donated by the state of Arkansas and it is the first-ever statue of a musician in the collection. To celebrate, we invite you to take a new listen to the very first episode of What It Takes. You'll hear the deeply introspective Cash near the end of his career (1993). He reflects on how he overcame considerable personal obstacles and turned his failures into the stepping stones to success. He also talks about the first music he remembers, the voice teacher who advised him to stop taking lessons, and the source of his creativity.

In Memoriam_James Earl Jones: The Voice of Triumph Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

In honor of James Earl Jones, who has died at the age of 93, we bring you this encore episode. James Earl Jones had a voice like no other. It reverberated so deeply that you could feel it in your chest. No one was better suited to give voice to Darth Vader. For 60 years, Jones captivated audiences with that voice and with his commanding presence -- on stage and on screen. In this episode, which originally posted in 2017, he talked about how he overcame a stutter that silenced him for years. He explained how the radicalism of the 1960's changed the world of acting, and opened the door to his success. And he described how growing up on a humble farm taught him to treasure contentment over happiness.

The theme music for What It Takes is written and performed by KaraSquare.com.

(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017

In Memoriam_Edna O'Brien: Love, Loss and Literature Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

In honor of Edna O'Brien, who died this week at 93, we invite you to listen to this re-broadcast of our episode. Edna O'Brien's first novel, "The Country Girls," was banned in Ireland, and burned in her own home parish. The year was 1960, and young Irish women of that era were NOT supposed to reflect on their lot in life, or harbor sexual desires. But Edna O'Brien had one goal as a young writer - to tell the truth. Decades later, her compatriots finally came to view her the way the rest of the world did: as a trailblazer, and as one of Ireland's greatest writers. Forty plus books and plays later, truth-telling was still Edna O'Brien's goal when we talked to her, at the age of 91, about her life and her love of words.

(c ) American Academy of Achievement 2024

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