Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

CNN political contributor Van Jones has been hailed as one who tries to “fight the right way.” He draws on his years of activism and political analysis to take aim at the failures of both parties and to show the nation how to focus on practical answers to problems that affect us regardless of region or political ideology. Join us as Jones shares his blueprint for the fight we must wage as a nation. He asks us to abandon the politics of accusation and set fire to the traditional ways of political problem-solving. Jones will challenge us to change the way we think about politics so we can all get down to the vital business of solving—together—some of our nation’s toughest problems.

Supervisor Joe Simitian notes that the Bay Area and much of California is a bubble, where just 32 percent of people voted for Donald Trump. Only 21 percent of people voted for Trump in Santa Clara County, while 12 percent voted for him in Palo Alto, Simitian’s hometown. Simitian says that in the immediate aftermath of the election, some were inclined to dismiss Trump voters as racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic or xenophobic. But is it fair to claim that 46 percent of the American electorate fits this profile? Simitian didn’t believe so, but he did wonder what prompted a large portion of the electorate, some of whom had previously voted for President Obama, to vote for President Trump. To get some answers, Supervisor Simitian traveled to three counties, in three states: Robeson County, North Carolina; Cambria County, Pennsylvania; and Macomb County, Michigan. There, Simitian had more than 100 conversations in places that had historically voted for Democratic candidates for president (including President Obama), but many of these voters “flipped” in 2016, voting for President Trump. Supervisor Simitian spent a week in each place, talking with cops, teachers, librarians, labor leaders, business people, academics, bankers, journalists, retirees, elected officials and party activists from both parties. Come hear what he learned about America beyond the Bay Area. Simitian was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2012 and was reelected in 2016. His career in public service includes stints as a member of the California State Senate and the California State Assembly, mayor of Palo Alto, president of the Palo Alto School Board. He also served an earlier term on the Board of Supervisors. Simitian has served as an election observer/supervisor in El Salvador and Bosnia, and he has participated in refugee relief and resettlement efforts in Albania and Kosovo.

Rising temperatures is making hard outdoor jobs even harder. Health experts say agricultural and construction workers are especially vulnerable as it gets so hot that airplanes can’t take off and rail lines start to melt. What is being done to protect low-paid workers from heat exhaustion and dehydration? Join us for a conversation about how rising temperatures change the way our food is grown and our homes and yards maintained.

DeRay Mckesson has become one of the most recognizable faces in the fight for racial and social equality through his work as a Black Lives Matter leader. Mckesson leverages his extensive social media network to encourage others to speak out online and to turn out in the streets to protest police brutality. His work has inspired people from Ferguson to Baton Rouge and beyond to discover their power and to push back against injustices in their communities and fight for their rights. Last year, Mckesson gained national notoriety as one of more than 100 people arrested in Louisiana during a protest in response to the police shooting of Alton Sterling. Mckesson is one of the founders of Campaign Zero, a 10-point policy plan for police reform, and in 2016, he was a candidate for mayor of Baltimore. In addition to his role as an organizer, McKesson served in administrative positions in both the Minneapolis and Baltimore public school systems. He is a Teach For America alum. Recently, McKesson joined Crooked Media as the host of the podcast "Pod Save the People,” which is focused on activism, social justice, culture and politics. Recent guests include John Legend, Valerie Jarrett, Edward Snowden and Katy Perry.

The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history is underway, and the ramifications will remake the world. Pioneering clean money investor and change agent Joel Solomon shares insights from his new book, The Clean Money Revolution. In the book, he explores this massive economic shift and explains how you can ride the $40 trillion wave to create the new, ethical and sustainable businesses that power local economies, restore ecosystems, and build social and financial equity. A must read for investors, aspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs looking to align values with assets and chart a unique and profitable life course, Solomon will provide a roadmap and a set of insights into this major emerging movement. Joel Solomon is chairman of Renewal Funds, a $98 million mission venture capital firm. He has invested in over 100 early growth-stage companies in North America, delivering above-market returns while catalyzing positive social and environmental change.

There's no denying the benefits of the Internet. But electronic immersion without a force to balance it creates a hole in the boat, draining our ability to pay attention, think clearly, be productive and creative. To combat these losses, our society seems to look everywhere but the natural domain for the building of better brains. Richard Louv explains why the more high tech our lives become, the more we need nature.

In the tech world and beyond, government is often seen as slow and tech illiterate—the antithesis to innovation. However, this misperception is rapidly changing. Governments in San Francisco and cities across the nation are starting to harness the power of technology to tackle the biggest problems we face today. By partnering with technology, government becomes more accessible and efficient, and citizens can engage in change like never before. Anne-Marie Slaughter has seen firsthand how this innovation is possible. She served as the director of policy planning at the State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton and is currently the president and CEO of the nonpartisan think tank New America. She will talk about local changemakers and how civic technology can be the best way to encourage citizens to organize, participate and act in government.

Based on a decade of teaching and practice with integrative thinking, Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel offer us a practical methodology for how to tackle vexing business challenges that demand new answers and new ways of thinking; you’ll hear inspirational stories about leaders from all walks of life—from CEOs to school kids—who leveraged a new thinking tool to create great choices in the face of seemingly inevitable trade-offs. Jennifer Riel is an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, specializing in creative problem-solving. Her focus is on helping everyone, from undergraduate students to business executives, to create better choices. An award-winning teacher, Jennifer leads training on integrative thinking, strategy and innovation at organizations of all types, from small nonprofits to some of the largest companies in the world. Roger Martin is an acclaimed author, consultant and professor. He is director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto (where he also served as dean from 1998–2013). Prior to this, Martin spent 13 years as a director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm. He served as co-head of the firm for two years. Martin is an adviser to CEOs on strategy, design and integrative thinking. He has written widely on these subjects and has published a dozen books, including The Opposable Mind, The Design of Business, Fixing the Game, Playing to Win (with A.G. Lafley) and Getting Beyond Better (with Sally Osberg).

One in five adults and half of those over 65 have arthritis. In this program, you will learn why certain foods aggravate inflammatory joint conditions and how reducing inflammation is the key to reducing pain. Discover how we can use spices and herbs to reduce inflammation, how food fats can powerfully decrease or increase the risk of arthritis pain, and what supplements can be helpful. Steve Blake will also cover which vitamins and minerals help build collagen to support healthy cartilage. This program is designed to teach you how to retain healthy cartilage and regain mobility. Come and find out more about foods that support the lubrication of joints.

In the U.S., there are approximately 100,000 inmates held in supermax prisons and isolation units, confined in 8 feet by 10 feet windowless holes for 23–24 hours a day. Terry Allen Kupers, one of the world's leading experts on the effects of solitary confinement, takes us inside the minds of some of the thousands of inmates in these cells. He provides constructive rehabilitation alternatives for solitary confinement. Kupers is an award-winning psychiatrist and a professor emeritus. As one of the nation's foremost experts on the mental health effects of solitary confinement, he has testified in over two dozen action lawsuits about jail and prison conditions.

Celebrated historian Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of founding father Alexander Hamilton inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s wildly popular “Hamilton.” Now America’s preeminent biographer turns his attention to the Civil War and Reconstruction with a new biography of one of history’s most compelling presidents, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant has one of the most complicated legacies of any Civil War hero. Though a famously successful general, he was a failure of a businessman and a notoriously corrupt president. Moreover, according to Frederick Douglass, Grant was “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” But he was also a virulent anti-Semite. He vanquished the Confederacy, and yet he was continually defeated by his own alcoholism. Join us for a nuanced psychological portrait of the man Walt Whitman called “nothing heroic ... and yet the greatest hero.” Ron Chernow’s work captures the complexity of monumental chapters of history, from the nation’s founding to the upheavals of the Gilded Age, through the lens of great individuals. His landmark biographies of J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Alexander Hamilton and George Washington earned him a dizzying array of awards and nominations in American nonfiction literature. He is the recipient of a National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama in 2015.

Julie Lythcott-Haims is the New York Times best-selling author behind the "anti-helicopter" parenting manifesto How to Raise an Adult. She’s also a biracial black woman who’s experienced the highs and lows of race relations in America. In her new memoir, Real American, Lythcott-Haims focuses her discerning eye on relations both in and out of the home to help us all fearlessly grow into our best selves. Join Julie Lythcott-Haims as she returns to The Commonwealth Club and reveals how she’s navigated through the heavy, forceful blows of racism and the small, sharp cuts of “micro” aggressions. She’ll discuss the importance of a generous and wise community as a healing power to fractured race relations and what we can all do to make America a better place for everyone. Moderated by LaDoris Cordell, a longtime civil rights advocate, this is a can't-miss conversation.

Our distinguished panel will discuss the increasing threats and intimidation against much of the world’s press, especially in the Middle East, which has been called the place where the freedom of the press goes to die. In countries such as Turkey, newspapers and hundreds of media outlets have been shuttered and journalists unfairly imprisoned. The panel will also discuss politically motivated attacks on CNN and Al Jazeera and the importance of free press and media.

Startup stress burning you out? Between jobs and dreading the next one? Overwhelmed by the stresses of life? Maybe it's time for a pause or an intentional shift in behavior. It doesn't need to be time consuming; even a moment, minute or hour can work wonders. Senior account manager at Google and leadership coach Rachael O'Meara’s best-selling book, Pause: Harnessing the Life-Changing Power of Giving Yourself a Break, weaves together old philosophies and current research. O’Meara lays out a step-by-step, extraordinarily detailed, proven plan for how to take pauses and restore your sense of balance in the world, increasing your ability to take a risk and maybe even find a more fulfilling job and path in life. Her book has received rave reviews; she's been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Harvard Business Review. O’Meara says, "Taking a pause [is] the perfect excuse to step away from your everyday life and not focus on what is ruling your thoughts. ... Part of what’s gained in the pause process is courage; pausing means being okay knowing you’re uncertain of an outcome." So hop off the addictive, familiar, exhausting hamster wheel. Join us and learn how you can take a pause in your own life. O’Meara will provide many practical examples of useful tools she learned in her research. We'll practice a few, and you'll be inspired to move forwards. As Google's Chade-Meng Tan, author of Search Inside Yourself, says, "This is truly a book worth pausing for."

Fifty years ago, Sir Richard Branson started his first business, and he hasn’t stopped since. In his new autobiography, Finding My Virginity, the Virgin founder shares his personal, intimate thoughts on five decades as the world’s ultimate entrepreneur. This is the true account of how the Virgin founder reinvented himself and his brand for the 21st century while continuing to push boundaries, break rules and reach for the stars in more ways than one. This is the story of the man behind the beard, the business, the bravado and the brand. In Finding My Virginity, Branson shares the secrets that have seen his family business grow from a student magazine into a global brand. He discusses his dream of private citizens one day flying into space, an idea that developed from a childhood fantasy to the brink of reality. He also shares his focusing shift from battling bigger rivals to changing business for good. Go behind the scenes as Branson creates the world’s first commercial “spaceline,” Virgin Galactic. Learn how Branson created 12 different billion-dollar businesses and hundreds more companies across dozens of sectors, going from living on a houseboat to owning a private island. 

It’s not all business though: Join Sir Richard as he juggles working life with his dedication to his wife and family. Get the real story behind his adventures with everyone from Bill Gates and Kate Moss to Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. Get under the skin of his world record attempts on land, sea and air. See how the original business hippy adapted to becoming a doting “grand-dude” to his four grandchildren.

 This book goes far beyond numbers and achievements—it’s a journey into the heart and mind of Britain’s best-loved businessman. Join us for the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime with Sir Richard Branson.