Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Whether you’re an investor, an entrepreneur or a consumer, we all make decisions about how to spend our money every day. How do you decide where to spend, and how to make the biggest impact through what products, companies, efforts and issues you support? Join Nancy Pfund, founder of DBL Partners (Double Bottom Line), in conversation with David Bank of Impact Alpha, as they demystify the world of impact investing. For starters, what is impact investing? It turns out that financial success can and does go hand-in-hand with social change, and DBL Partners is part of a growing movement demonstrating this possibility every day. DBL Partners' approach to venture capital is two-pronged: They achieve high venture capital returns, and they also incorporate a second bottom line by working with companies they invest in to create economic, social and environmental impact. Two birds with one stone: profit and positive impact. Nancy and her team are innovators who are setting the standard for other investors and companies to consider success beyond the single-profit bottom line. Today, organizations such as SolarCity, Pandora and Patagonia build social impact into their business plans from the very beginning because of leadership by impact investors, and the ripple effect is real. Who says your dollars can’t count for double? Come learn how impact investing is changing the game when it comes to making money matter.

For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China maintained an attitude of false modesty about its ambitions. That role has been set aside, asserts panelist Howard French, who says China has revealed plans for pan-Asian dominance by building its navy, increasing territorial claims to areas like the South China Sea, and diplomatically bullying smaller players. Hear from French and China analyst George Koo, who says that whatever China’s plans, following a western template to become a global hegemon is not a likely outcome, nor will “false modesty” necessarily find any validity. Come for a fascinating discussion about the historical context of China’s actions and what the future holds for the U.S. relationship with China under the Trump administration.

A former organizer for the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), Tony McAleer served as a skinhead recruiter, proprietor of Canadian Liberty Net (a computer-operated voice messaging center used to disseminate messages of hatred), and manager of the racist rock band, Odin’s Law. It was love for his children that finally led Tony on a spiritual journey of personal transformation. Today he is the executive director of Life After Hate and shares his practice of compassion as an inspirational speaker.

Facts are overrated. Sure, they are the concrete foundation of narratives and they should be defended when the president of the United States and his team make false claims. But the obsession with facts can be taken too far at the expense of other deeper means of communication. George Lakoff says if progressives want to learn from the election of Donald Trump, they need to change what they study in college, how they think about facts as adults, understand framing and learn to repeat, repeat, repeat. Robert Rosenthal joins us from the Center For Investigative Reporting to help us understand the importance of facts in reporting. Join a conversation to learn how you can revise the way you think and talk in this new political world in order to be heard.

Filmmakers are delving into our complex food system with farmers, chefs, food-lovers and campaigners who are challenging the status-quo. Join the San Francisco Green Film Festival and Bay Area filmmakers for a visual feast of films and conversation about the stories that are shaping our eating and healthy sustainable food choices. And a plus! Enjoy a sneak preview of the San Francisco Green Film Festival, Spring 2017, with a celebration of the interaction of food, film and the arts!

If you are approaching the Medicare qualifying age of 65 and Medicare seems like one big alphabetical maze to you, you are not alone. For most, a true understanding of how Medicare works, what options are best for you, and when or how to sign-up is not clear at all. Learn the ABC and Ds of Medicare, plus the realities of what to expect … and what not to expect. Here’s what every Boomer needs to know before they turn 65.

Are you ready to design the life you’ve always envisioned in your head? Let Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show you the way! The Stanford professors and New York Times #1 best-selling authors of Designing Your Life have spent years teaching life design to Stanford students, and are excited to share their experience with INFORUM. Design-thinking principles aren’t just for products and space! Bill and Dave will discuss the "many versions of 'you' that exist," teach us all how to think like designers, and help us prototype our way to a more joyful life. Their approach is applicable and fun, much like great design. Be ready to reframe and revamp your creative thinking.

Blue jeans are globally beloved and quintessentially American. They symbolize everything from the Old West to the hippie counter-culture; everyone from car mechanics to high-fashion models wears jeans. And no name is more associated with blue jeans than Levi Strauss & Co., the creator of this classic American garment. Despite creating an American icon, Levi Strauss is a mystery. Little is known about the man, and the widely circulated "facts" about his life are steeped in mythology. In this first full-length biography, Lynn Downey sets the record straight about this brilliant businessman. Hear how Strauss's life was the classic American success story, filled with lessons about craft and integrity, leadership, and innovation. Dare we say, his story is riveting.

We are pleased to present Technovation, a flagship program of the non-profit Iridescent, the world’s largest global tech entrepreneurship competition for girls. The program offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to emerge as tech entrepreneurs and leaders. Every year, Technovation challenges 10- to 18-year-old girls to build a business plan and mobile app that will address a community problem. Since 2009, more than 10,000 girls have participated from more than 87 countries. The international reach of the competition has escalated in the last three years. The winner of the 2014 competition was from Moldova, and the 2015 winner was a Nigerian team. Our speaker will give an overview of the competition, its sponsors (Google, Facebook and others), outreach efforts, and partners (such as UN Women, Peace Corps and more).

Monday Night Philosophy finds the fun in Mark Twain's almighty fight for free will. Taking issue with analysts who believe that Mark Twain became a pessimist in old age due to his many personal tragedies, and finding the cracks of freedom in Mark Twain's own deterministic conclusions about the "damned human race" in "What is Man?", George will focus on the consistent, and consistently humorous, though sometimes painful and angry, philosophical fight Mark Twain waged from his youth to his dying breath against the stultifying fears and clearly false ideas about life that keep our otherwise free wills chained to "petrified opinion," preventing us from dreaming "other dreams, and better."