Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Join New York Times technology editor and renowned Silicon Valley journalist Pui-Wing Tam to discuss one of the thorniest issues in tech: how to build the next wave of industry leadership. What qualities do leaders need to move beyond an era of cultish corporate command to create fair and functional work environments? How do you keep workers and investors happy? Tam will talk about these and other concerns with: Bridget Frey, chief technology officer at Redfin—one of the few female executives in that role; Tina Sharkey, an American entrepreneur and advisor and co-founder of Brandless; Wayne Sutton, a long-time diversity and inclusion advisor and strategist; and Josh Reeves, chief executive officer and co-founder of Gusto and a longtime champion of bettering work life. NOTES In collaboration with The New York Times

In their 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul and Anne Ehrlich warned of the dangers of overpopulation. These included mass starvation, societal upheaval and environmental ruin. This and other dire predictions about humankind earned Ehrlich a reputation as a prophet of doom, and fifty years later he doesn’t see much in the way of improvement. Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, on the other hand, prefers to look on the bright side: people are living longer, extreme poverty has been decreasing globally, worldwide literacy is on the rise. Is the glass half empty, or half full?

Life is fraught with hard choices and decisions. How does one make them? Most of us are familiar with pros versus cons lists, which can be applied to everything from personal diet to public welfare. But that method only involves taking an existing understanding of the decision at hand, so it is limited by one’s imagination. The key to making a better decision is to see it with fresh eyes, to make imaginative leaps, and to discover new paths and potential outcomes. Over the past few decades, a field of research has emerged that will help us do just that. Spanning cognitive science, management theory and literary studies, its methods and procedures can help us make big decisions—and make them better. This science has been followed, explained and brought to life by best-selling author Steven Johnson in his 11th book, Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most. Please join us for a conversation with Steven Johnson, who will open up his toolbox and show us how to make better choices. By way of private anecdotes and political research, Johnson will take us through methods for generating alternatives and seeking options, resisting the pitfalls of groupthink, planning scenarios, storytelling and creating a “premortem”: a fascinating technique that asks you to project yourself months into the future and imagine that your decision has been carried out—with unforeseen and disastrous results. The final step in reaching a difficult decision, according to Johnson, involves creating a “value model”—a more nuanced and powerful version of the pros and cons list. Johnson, a former Marin County resident, is the author of 11 books, including Wonderland, Where Good Ideas Come From and The Ghost Map. Johnson is also host of the PBS series “How We Got to Now” and the podcast “American Innovations.”

Women, especially women of color, are underrepresented in business—from entry-level to the corner office, across corporate America—even as the number of women earning college degrees exceeds the number of men. As companies, leaders and those focused on diversity press ahead to make change, it’s become key to reflect on both data and stories to help define the problem and iterate on solutions. "Women in the Workplace," an annual report conducted by LeanIn.org and McKinsey on the state of women in corporate America, draws from more than 250 companies that together employ 13 million people. The report shares insights into the challenges women face across many industries and sectors and identifies concrete actions that companies can take to make lasting and significant change. Join co-author, Alexis Krivkovich, managing partner of McKinsey & Company’s Silicon Valley office and a leader in the Financial Services Practice, along with other corporate and cultural leaders, as they discuss the results of the report and how companies can evolve to reflect the times. This program is generously supported by Cisco Meraki

David Kaplan takes us inside the secret world of the Supreme Court and shows us how nine justices have subverted the role of the other branches of government—and how we’ve come to accept this at our peril. The court is so crucial that some voters in 2016 selected a presidential candidate based on who that candidate would likely appoint. Donald Trump picked Neil Gorsuch and now Brett Kavanaugh, both potential swing votes on social policies such as abortion, same-sex marriage, gun control, campaign finance and voting rights. Kaplan asks: Is that really how democracy is supposed to work? Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and their law clerks, Kaplan will provide fresh details about life behind the scenes—Clarence Thomas’s simmering rage, Antonin Scalia’s death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s celebrity. Kaplan presents a sweeping narrative of the justices’ aggrandizement of power over the decades, and he demonstrates that the arrogance of the court isn’t partisan: Conservative and liberal justices alike are guilty of overreach. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

The eighth annual Lundberg Institute Lecture focuses on Gary Taubes' groundbreaking exposé, which makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives and making us very sick. Diabetes is more prevalent today than ever among Americans; obesity is at epidemic proportions. Nearly 10 percent of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The excessive consumption of sugar is at the root of these and other critical health problems. Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, and more recently its overuse in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. He presents the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss, and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society. MLF ORGANIZER NAME George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities

Production of oil and gas in the U.S. has surged to levels unthinkable a decade ago due to the revolution in hydraulic fracturing, which has helped the country surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's largest oil producer. In her latest book, Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World, Bethany McLean explores the past, present and future of fracking in America. Yet new development of fossil fuels is simply not consistent with the math of the Paris climate accord, leading us all to ask: What's next for fossil fuels?

With the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court is at a turning point. From privacy and free speech to affirmative action and immigration, how will the court and the Constitution change as a result? Join noted constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen for an examination of the most hotly contested constitutional questions of our time and what they bode for the future of the country. In addition to heading the National Constitution Center and teaching at George Washington University, Rosen is also a contributing editor of The Atlantic and former legal affairs editor of The New Republic. The Los Angeles Times has called him “the nation’s most widely read and influential legal commentator.”

Join us for a special noontime edition of Week to Week: Post-election day wrap-up. What happened? What will happen? We'll dig into the latest. We will discuss the biggest, most controversial and sometimes the surprising political issues with expert commentary by panelists who are smart, are civil and have a good sense of humor. Our panelists will provide informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news, and we'll have audience discussion of the week’s events and our live news quiz!

The concept of microsurgery is fairly new in the history of surgery. Microsurgery is a technique that allows the surgeon to repair one millimeter blood vessels and nerves using an operating room microscope and suture finer than the human hair. In the mid-1960s, Gregory Buncke’s father, Harry Buncke, M.D., recognized that, with the right tools, technique and equipment, he could replant amputated fingers, make a thumb from the big toe or reconstruct post traumatic or large defects. However, those tools and techniques did not exist at that time. Starting nearly from scratch, Buncke began designing and creating microsurgical instruments and microsurgical suture. Most of his early work was done at his home in San Francisco. He created a research surgical suite in his garage, performing rabbit ear replantation and toe to thumb transplants in the Rhesus monkey. Buncke was eventually given the title, “father of microsurgery,” for his commitment to educating thousands of surgeons. Greg Buncke has continued in his father's footsteps, advancing microsurgery both in training and innovation. His group has pushed the envelope in reconstruction of the mutilated hand, for example, restoring all fingers and thumbs with toe transplantation. Breast reconstruction after mastectomy can now preformed using only abdominal or thigh tissue, without the need for an implant. Facial reconstruction can happen as a one-stage operation immediately after cancer resection. Transgender males can undergo phalloplasty microsurgically and can obtain an erection, urinate and have sexual sensation. Limbs that were once amputated after trauma can be salvaged and restored to nearly normal function. Peripheral nerve injuries with large gaps can be microsurgically reconstructed with allografts, avoiding the need for sacrificing nerves from other parts of the body. The future of reconstructive microsurgery is wide open. New reconstructive indications are being created on a daily basis. Join us, and come learn more about these exciting advances. MLF Organizer Name Patty James Notes MLF: Health & Medicine