The world's largest energy projects take decades to build and cost tens of billions of dollars. When they stall or fail, the consequences extend far beyond budgets. Communities waiting for reliable energy wait even longer. Some never get it at all.

Aleida Rios has seen energy poverty firsthand. She experienced it growing up in Mexico, then again in the jungles of Indonesia, and communities across the United States. That perspective shaped a 35-year career at BP, where she became Senior Vice President and Global Head of Engineering, and later an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. For Aleida, building energy infrastructure is one of the fastest ways to improve human prosperity.

In this episode of Earn The Right Podcast, Aleida joins Apoorv Agarwal to examine why energy megaprojects run over budget and behind schedule, what AI can realistically do to fix them, and why faster, more bankable projects are critical to expanding access to energy.

They discuss why the sheer volume of megaproject data exceeds human capacity, how AI can identify design flaws before construction begins, standardise engineering across projects, preserve institutional knowledge, and improve project execution. Aleida also explains why the energy transition is ultimately an engineering and talent challenge, and why, when it comes to delivering the infrastructure the world needs, speed matters most.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why 90 percent of energy megaprojects go over budget and what drives it

- How AI can find design defects earlier and reduce the total cost and cycle time of megaprojects

- Why standardisation is the most underrated lever in energy project delivery

ABOUT ALEIDA

Aleida Rios is a former energy executive and chemical engineer whose 35-year career at BP culminated in senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President of Engineering and Global Head of Engineering. She led BP's global engineering centre and the professional development of more than 2,500 engineers worldwide. She previously served as Vice President of Operations for BP's Gulf of Mexico platforms and its US Lower 48 onshore business, overseeing budgets approaching one billion dollars. Born in Mexico and raised in the United States from age eight, she was the first in her family to attend college, earning a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University. She is an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Energy Institute, and a Chartered Engineer. She has been recognised in Fortune and ALPFA's 50 Most Powerful Latinas and the Financial Times EMpower ethnic minority executives list.

ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT PODCAST

How do the world's most impactful leaders think, decide and build? Through unfiltered conversations, the Earn The Right Podcast takes listeners inside the rooms where the hardest choices are made: from building billion-dollar companies to navigating doubt, reinvention and change. The show is hosted by Apoorv Agarwal, an AI scientist, entrepreneur (Text IQ, acquired 2021) and Columbia PhD, who has advised Fortune 500 leaders. For founders and decision-makers developing the future, this is your front-row seat to how the best earn the right to lead.

Subscribe to Earn The Right Podcast for conversations with the world's most influential leaders.

Recessions are not caused by booms. They are triggered by shocks. That is the conclusion Tyler Goodspeed reached after studying data across four centuries. Most of what we believe about economic downturns does not survive the evidence.

Tyler is Chief Economist at ExxonMobil, former acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and holds dual PhDs from Harvard and Cambridge. His new book, ‘Recession: The Real Reasons Economies Shrink and What to Do About It’, draws on figures stretching back to the 18th century. It upends everything we think we know about booms, busts, and what comes next.

This episode of Earn The Right Podcast is for investors, founders, and executives trying to read the economic moment.

Tyler joins Apoorv Agarwal to break down the causes of a recession, challenge the most widely held economic beliefs, and examine what historical technology cycles tell us about the AI investment wave. He also explains the plucking model and what it means for anyone trying to make smarter decisions about their money, their business, or their career during a downturn.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why the boom-and-bust story is more myth than reality, and what actually causes economies to contract
• What 18th-century Atlantic piracy reveals about modern supply chain shocks and the Strait of Hormuz
• What the bottlenecks in AI infrastructure mean for the pace of technological change

ABOUT TYLER

Tyler Goodspeed is Chief Economist of ExxonMobil. He previously served as acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he also chaired the OECD’s Economic Policy Committee. He holds a PhD in history from Harvard and a PhD in economics from Cambridge, and taught at Oxford and King’s College London. He is also a Griffin Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His latest book, ‘Recession: The Real Reasons Economies Shrink and What to Do About It’, is his first written for a general audience. It challenges conventional wisdom on recessions with data stretching back to the 1700s and practical lessons for investors, executives, and policymakers alike.

ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT PODCAST

How do the world's most impactful leaders think, decide and build? Through unfiltered conversations, Earn The Right Podcast takes listeners inside the rooms where the hardest choices are made: from building billion-dollar companies to navigating doubt, reinvention and change. The show is hosted by Apoorv Agarwal, an AI scientist, entrepreneur (Text IQ, acquired 2021) and Columbia PhD, who has advised Fortune 500 leaders. For founders and decision-makers developing the future, this is your front-row seat to how the best earn the right to lead.

Subscribe to Earn The Right Podcast for conversations with the world's most influential leaders.

JoAnn Stonier has been ahead of every major wave in data, AI governance, and AI safety. Formerly Mastercard's first Chief Data Officer and American Express's first Chief Privacy Officer, she now advises governments and corporations on responsible AI, enterprise AI adoption, and how to scale AI without losing control.

As President of Cantellus Group, she works with Fortune 500 boards on AI strategy and responsible innovation. She sits on the United Nations Expert Group on Governance and Artificial Intelligence and co-chairs the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Data Policy.

In this episode of Earn The Right Podcast, she joins Apoorv Agarwal to discuss how to drive enterprise AI adoption inside large organisations, what rogue AI agents and autonomous AI agents reveal about building technology, and why the leaders winning the AI race manage AI risk from day one.

JoAnn explains why embedding AI governance into product design allows companies to move faster, not slower. She breaks down the OpenClaw incident as a real-world example of what happens when agents pursue goals without guardrails. She also shares the exact profile of the Chief AI Officer every enterprise needs right now, why the CAIO role is the most misunderstood, and why most companies are hiring the wrong person for it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- What happens when autonomous AI agents operate without values, and how to stop it before it hits your organisation

- The first question every CEO and board should ask before deploying an enterprise AI strategy

- Why waiting on AI adoption is not the safe strategy you think it is, and what responsible AI leadership looks like instead

ABOUT JOANN

JoAnn Stonier is President of Cantellus Group, a boutique advisory firm helping boards and executives navigate the strategy, oversight, and governance of AI and frontier technologies. She spent 17 years at Mastercard, serving as Chief Privacy Officer, Chief Information Governance Officer, and the company's first Chief Data Officer, responsible for enterprise-wide data strategy across 210 countries and billions of transactions. She later served as a Mastercard Fellow for Data and AI. Before Mastercard, she was the first Chief Privacy Officer at American Express, appointed by CEO Ken Chenault. She sits on the United Nations Expert Group on Governance and Artificial Intelligence and co-chairs the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Data Policy. She teaches at Carnegie Mellon University and Pratt Institute, and advises boards including Omnicom Group and Lytical Ventures. She holds degrees in accounting and finance, computer science, law, and interior design.

ABOUT EARN THE RIGHT

How do the world's most impactful leaders think, decide and build? Through unfiltered conversations, the Earn The Right podcast takes listeners inside the rooms where the hardest choices are made: from building billion-dollar companies to navigating doubt, reinvention and change. The show is hosted by Apoorv Agarwal, an AI scientist, entrepreneur (Text IQ, acquired 2021) and Columbia PhD, who has advised Fortune 500 leaders. For founders and decision-makers developing the future, this is your front-row seat to how the best earn the right to lead.

Subscribe to Earn The Right for conversations with the world's most influential leaders.