The idea of the podcast is this: We talk about “three things” that are interesting, important or both. The third thing will be about something from the world of sports.

Richard is a veteran diplomat (he served in the Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush and G.W. Bush administrations). He was president of the Council on Foreign Relations for two decades (he’s now president emeritus). He’s a Senior Counselor at Center|View Partners, a prominent New York City-based investment banking firm. He also distributes a weekly newsletter — Home and Away — on Friday mornings. Home and Away addresses matters domestic and foreign.

John is the founder and editor of News Items, a daily newsletter that covers global politics, financial news, advanced technologies and science. He has been in and around the news business for virtually all of his adult life, working for NBC News (as a political analyst), The Boston Globe (as a columnist), CNBC, Fox News, and Newscorp. In 2016, he launched News Items as a morning brief for executives and editors at Fox and Newscorp. In 2018, News Items became The Wall Street Journal CEO Council's morning newsletter. He restarted News Items as an independent newsletter in August of 2019.