Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Does solving climate change mean re-thinking old top-down approaches and embracing big change at high speed? A half-century after the first Earth Day, some environmental advocates argue it’s time to challenge some of our basic assumptions about climate action. In the new book A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, editor and Yale law professor Dan Esty showcases innovative ideas designed to push the boundaries of possible climate solutions from leaders in industry, government, business, and land management.

At a time of anxiety about the effectiveness of our national government, Rahm Emanuel believes local government offers a clear vision, for both progressives and centrists, of how to get things done in America today. In his new book, The Nation City, Emanuel, the former two-term mayor of Chicago and President Obama’s first White House chief of staff, offers a firsthand account of how cities, rather than the federal government, stand at the center of innovation and effective governance. Drawing on his own experiences in Chicago, and on his relationships with other mayors around America, Emanuel shows how cities are improving education, infrastructure, job conditions and environmental policy at a local level. Emanuel argues that cities are the most ancient political institutions, dating back thousands of years, and have reemerged as the nation-states of our time. Emanuel argues that mayors are accountable to their voters to a greater degree than any other elected officials and that progressives and centrists alike can best accomplish their goals by focusing their energies on local politics. Join us as Rahm Emanuel maps out a new, energizing and hopeful way forward. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

We spend one third of our lives at work, whether it’s at a job we love or one we can’t wait to leave. As the job market shifts with the increase of automation and artificial intelligence, a flexible mindset is more important than ever. Stanford professor Bill Burnett (co-author of the No. 1 New York Times best seller Designing Your Life) believes we can transform our work experience by building and utilizing a designer mindset. He argues that much of our unhappiness and difficulty is caused by “dysfunctional beliefs” that limit our potential. In the forthcoming Designing Your Work Life, Burnett offer strategies on everything work related—from how to quit to how to get the job we want—and everything in between. Join INFORUM as Bill Burnett teaches us how design thinking can transform our experience of work and our outlook on life, without necessarily changing the job we have. NOTES Burnett photo by Michael Lionstar Note: This program contains explicit language

Spacious and affordable homes used to be the hallmark of American prosperity. Today, however, punishing rents and the increasingly prohibitive cost of ownership have turned housing into the foremost symbol of inequality and an economy gone wrong. In the San Francisco Bay Area, fleets of private buses ferry software engineers past the tarp-and-plywood shanties where the homeless make their homes; according to New York Times journalist Conor Dougherty, this is ground zero for this crisis. The adage that California is a glimpse of the nation's future has become a cautionary tale. With propulsive storytelling and ground-level reporting, Dougherty chronicles America's housing crisis from its West Coast epicenter, peeling back the decades of history and economic forces that brought us here and taking readers inside the activist uprisings that have risen in tandem with housing costs.

Recent feminist movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have called out sexism. They have empowered women to become more aware and also raise more questions: How do we find common ground in the new world we are building? How do we keep the momentum going with individual power, structural power and the power of movements? How do we handle a real situation at work, which could affect our livelihoods? Join psychotherapist and professor Joanne Bagshaw, author of The Feminist Handbook, and Professor Kellie McElhaney, founder and executive director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership, in a lively, engaging dialogue meant to educate, prompt inner reflection and inspire. Walk away with a plan to help change society for yourself, your community and future generations. MLF Organizer: Elizabeth Carney MLF: Business & Leadership

In his sophomore year of college, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. The site caught on like wildfire, and soon students nationwide were on it. Today, the social network that Zuckerberg created in 2004 has grown far beyond its original iteration, larger and more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Facebook has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the most gargantuan companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users across the globe. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users' personal data and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation regarding the direction of the county's politics, economy and how individuals communicate with each other. There is no one better to describe how Facebook has evolved and where it might be headed than renowned tech writer Steven Levy. In his new book, Facebook: The Inside Story, Levy provides the definitive history of one of America's most powerful and controversial companies. Based on years of exclusive reporting and interviews with Facebook's key executives and employees, including Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Levy's sweeping narrative, already named as one of the most anticipated books of the year, digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences. With the company in the news daily and just days before Californians get an early opportunity to have their say in the 2020 election, an election in which Facebook undoubtedly will play a critical role, Levy's appearance is not be missed.

Joseph S. Nye Jr. provides a concise, penetrating analysis of the role of ethics in U.S. foreign policy after World War II. Nye works through each presidency from FDR to Trump and scores their foreign policy on three ethical dimensions: their intentions, the means they used and the consequences of their decisions. He also evaluates their leadership qualities, elaborating on which approaches worked and which did not. Nye shows that each president was not fully constrained by the structure of the system and actually had choices. He further notes the important ethical consequences of nonactions, such as Truman's willingness to accept stalemate in Korea rather than use nuclear weapons. Most importantly, he points out that presidents need to factor in both the political context and the availability of resources when deciding how to implement an ethical policy and will need to do so even more in a future international system that presents not only great power competition from China and Russia but a host of transnational threats: the illegal drug trade, infectious diseases, terrorism, cybercrime and climate change. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities

Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter is renowned for strategy, innovation and leadership for change. Her insights guide leaders worldwide through teaching, writing and direct consultation to major corporations, governments and startup ventures. She is either the author or co-author of 20 books. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies the leadership paradigm of the future: the ability to “think outside the building” to overcome establishment paralysis and produce significant innovation for a better world. Kanter is convinced that positive change is possible, and she’ll discuss how that philosophy can have real impact on some of today’s biggest problems—from climate change to gun safety to inequality to racial issues. Come hear Kanter's advice on finding an innovative approach to improving both your life and the world.

On June 21, 1964, more than 20 Klansmen murdered three civil rights workers. The killings, in what would become known as the Mississippi Burning case, were among the most brazen acts of violence during the civil rights movement. And even though the killers’ identities, including the sheriff’s deputy, were an open secret, no one was charged with murder in the months and years that followed. It took 41 years before the mastermind was brought to trial and finally convicted for the three innocent lives he took. If there is one man who helped pave the way for justice, it is investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell. In his new book, Race Against Time, Mitchell takes readers on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the civil rights movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham and the Mississippi Burning case (the murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner). Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan. Mitchell's new book is important reading for all Americans who seek to right the wrongs of the past. Please join us for this important event. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Is there an answer to the widespread—and increasingly public—rise of racial extremism? Come learn about the white nationalist movement from someone who was a leader in it until he renounced racism and devoted his life to helping others leave it behind. Christian Picciolini went from leading neo-Nazi bands with names such as Final Solution and White American Youth to running a record store that only sold "white power" music. But he left that and led organizations to counter extremism domestically and abroad, and has become an award-winning television producer, speaker, author and peace advocate. Come learn the truth about "white power" movements and the inspiring story about how to leave them behind.

As a young officer in World War I, George Marshall's sterling reputation started forming when he planned and executed a nighttime movement of more than a half million troops from one battlefield to another, leading to the armistice. Between the world wars, he helped modernize combat training, restaffed the U.S. Army's officer corps with future leaders such as Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and George Patton, and served as army chief of staff in the run up to Work War II, when his commitment to duty came face-to-face with the realities of Washington politics. Roll sets his biography of Marshall against the backdrop of five major conflicts—the two world wars, Palestine, Korea and the Cold War—and focuses on the nuances and ambiguities of Marshall's education in the use of military, diplomatic and political power while watching America emerge as a global superpower. Roll's conclusion could hardly be clearer: Principled leadership matters. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Revelations about misconduct at the biggest startups and tech companies seem to saturate today’s news cycle—but it wasn’t always this way. In 2017, when penning her now famous 2,900-word blog post about the pervasive culture of sexual harassment at Uber, soon-to-be whistleblower Susan Fowler was stepping into uncharted territory. Her decision to share a blog post about her “very, very strange year at Uber” with the public would open the floodgates for women to share similar experiences of systematic sexual harassment in Silicon Valley and beyond. Fowler’s open letter not only led to the CEO’s ouster but it also caused a complete disruption of the status quo of workplaces, culminating in mass movements for women’s empowerment launched worldwide. In her new memoir, Whistleblower: My Journey to Silicon Valley and Fight for Justice at Uber, Fowler details how this courageous act was entirely consistent with her life so far—a life characterized by extraordinary determination, a refusal to accept things as they are, and the desire to do what is good and right. Since taking her leave from Uber, Fowler, along with other “silence breakers,” was named Time’s 2017 Person of the Year and in 2018 was brought on as an opinion editor at The New York Times. Come with your questions and join Susan Fowler as she visits INFORUM to share her riveting story about breaking the silence and speaking truth to power.

Tobacco companies, opioid suppliers, gun manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry -- all have been brought under fire, and into the courts, for knowingly causing public harm, and even death, with their products. Should corporations be held liable for harmful outcomes like mass shootings, the opioid crisis, and climate change? We all benefit from the energy fossil fuels provide, from the lights we turn on to around-the-world airline flights. How much responsibility falls on the product, and how much on the user?

After more than a decade of inquiry, the artist David Maisel was granted access to photograph the terrain and testing facilities of Dugway Proving Ground, a classified military site covering nearly 800,000 acres in a remote region of Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. This is a site where chemical and biological weaponry and defense programs were developed, tested and implemented by the U.S. government. Maisel began by photographing at ground level before moving to an overhead and aerial perspective. The result is a remarkable series of photographs that addresses questions of power, secrecy and land use, all collected in a single volume and freighted with an abiding skepticism toward technology and human endeavor. Please join The Commonwealth Club and Maisel in conversation to discuss his work, the site and the larger issues of power and surveillance that his book, Proving Ground, brings to the fore at a very acute time in American democracy. David Maisel was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2018 for the work he did on Proving Ground. His photographs are included in more than 40 public collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Maisel is represented by Haines Gallery (San Francisco) and Houk Gallery (New York). He lives in Mill Valley, California. ** This Podcast May Contain Explicit Language **

Renowned Washington Post columnist and author E.J. Dionne Jr. says the 2020 election will be a test for progressives and moderates. Will they feud or unite to defeat President Trump? Dionne postulates that if progressives and moderates are unable―and unwilling―to overcome their differences, they could not only enable Donald Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform. Dionne will discuss what he calls the politics of remedy: one that solves problems, resolve disputes and moves forward; that sits at the heart of the demands for justice by both long-marginalized and recently displaced groups; and that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change. Join the conversation with one of America’s most respected political analysts.