Meet The Leader

Women comprise just a fraction of the aerospace sector - a field research says is poised for trillion-dollar growth in the years to come. Mishaal Ashemimry is the head of the Centre for Space Futures where she works to improve space policies and unlock the next phase of the space economy. She shares her experience as a woman not just in a male-dominated sector but in a region that for much of her life didn't have a formal space agency. She explains what slows the growth of women in aerospace and what's changing for the better in this sector. She also shares the mindsets and strategies she used to get her ideas heard and to create opportunity for herself, tactics that helped her become the first female aerospace engineer in the Gulf Cooperation Council and to found her own rocket startup. 
About this episode: 
Mishaal Ashemimry:
https://www.mishaalashemimry.com/home
https://www.youtube.com/@MishaalAshemimry/videos

Related World Economic Forum Initiatives:
Centre for Space Futures
https://www.spacefutures-sa.com/home

Report - Space: $1.8 Trillion Opportunity for Global Economic Growth
https://www.weforum.org/publications/space-the-1-8-trillion-opportunity-for-global-economic-growth/
Transcript: 
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/mishaal-ashemimry-role-model-space-gender-gap

Related Episodes: 
He's building 'gas stations' in space. How it can drive the space economy - Orbit Fab
Transcript:
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/daniel-faber-orbit-fab-space-economy
Episode: https://tinyurl.com/2s3tscms

Meet the startup building the first commercial space station - Axiom 
Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/tejpaul-bhatia-space-economy-axiom/
Episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FjNtzxmBucpgnZ4xhagxe
An energy company is building the world's largest airplane. Here's why - Axiom 
Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/mark-lundstrom-radia-climate-change/
Episode: https://tinyurl.com/3n3edcyc

How can leaders navigate a world roiled by a host of uncertainties, from the impact of AI to jobs and economies, to an ever-warming world and increasing geopolitical conflicts? They can start by asking the right questions. In this special episode, with interviews recorded in Davos, leaders share what's top of mind for 2026. They give their thoughts on how leaders can navigate the unknown, their strategies to focus on what matters most and the key questions they're looking to answer at the start the year.  

Featured in this episode:
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, the question to help navigate uncertainty
Anne Walsh, Chief Investment Officer, Guggenheim Investment Management; Managing Partner, Guggenheim Partners on separating the signal from the noise
Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie, on tapping experts and building for resilience
Nicholas Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic, on if we'll see the democratization of AI
Jeremy Allaire, Founder and CEO, Circle, on how autonomous work will take shape
Nikki Clifton, UPS Foundation, focusing on the right challenge
Jonathan Haidt, author The Anxious Generation, on investing on habits for flourishing
Suleika Jaouad, author and artist, on valuing meaning over momentum
Adam Grant, Wharton Organizational Psychologist, on following the right leaders
Jon Batiste, Grammy-winning musician, on making the future we imagine a reality
About this epsiode: 
Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/questions-davos-leaders-are-asking-2026
Related story: Davos 2026: 10 questions on leaders' minds
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/02/davos-2026-10-questions-on-leaders-minds/

Related sessions:
Davos 2026: Special address by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-ursula-von-der-leyen/
Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/

Related epsiodes: 
Meet The Leader: IMF's Kristalina Georgieva on what's next for AI, skills and the global economy
https://tinyurl.com/4ptf5ewp

Radio Davos: What just happened at Davos 2026
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3vB8W0ljH3VQeHAaf2sCuV

Upskilling for an AI era will be critical. While it requires a strong grasp of individuals' skills and potential, data shows leaders wildly overestimate their own capabilities and can misjudge what their teams can offer. CEO Kian Katanforoosh of skills measurement platform Workera shares what's needed to bridge these gaps and what could be ahead to keep pace with changing needs. He offers a sneak peek at what the future could look like, tackling questions on how AI can reshape mentorship and why it might one day be unethical for a human (rather than a machine) to judge another human's capabilities. He also digs into: how prompting AI can help any leader refine their asks when managing humans; How his own assessments have helped him hone key leadership skills, and what war games have taught him about strategic thinking.

About this episode: 
https://www.workera.ai/

Transcript: 
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/kian-katanforoosh-upskill-ai-age-workera

Related episode: 
Do you need an AI mentor? This tech entrepreneur thinks so
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/ai-skills-workera-kian-katanforoosh/

JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, the CEO of one of the largest banks in the world, has a frank and lively one-on-one conversation in Davos with Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes on a host of topics, including: what's needed to unlock growth; how rapid technological shifts could spur economic growth; how AI is integrated AI into the typical JPMorgan workday and how policy moves can impact economies and affordability. He also shares what's driven his successes, what his failures have in common and why not every question will have a simple answer.
About this episode: 
Watch this conversation here: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/sessions/conversation-with-jamie-dimon-chairman-and-ceo-of-jpmorgan-chase/

About the Annual Meeting
https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/

Radio Davos Daily
Meet The Leader's sister podcast Radio Davos will be publishing live from the Annual Meeting in Davos. To listen to these episodes, follow Radio Davos here: https://open.spotify.com/show/36D1oLAmsRimw70XV19Cdf

How will AI's hotly anticipated growth take shape? And what makes this moment different than past technology cycles? Could it really spark labor shortages, not labor surpluses? These questions and others are answered In a special one-on-one session at the 2026 Annual Meeting in Davos where NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang digs into these themes with Larry Fink, the World Economic Forum's own Interim Co-Chair and BlackRock's President and CEO.
Recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos Switzerland 2026. 
Read a transcript of this episode here:
https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/sessions/conversation-with-jensen-huang-president-and-ceo-of-nvidia/
About the Annual Meeting
https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/

Radio Davos Daily
Meet The Leader's sister podcast Radio Davos will be publishing live from the Annual Meeting in Davos. To listen to these episodes, follow Radio Davos here: https://open.spotify.com/show/36D1oLAmsRimw70XV19Cdf