Talk Cocktail

Few events truly define the complexity of the American experience.  Yet the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, comes very close.
At its core, it address the founding flaw in the American republic, in taking up the issue of race itself.  It incorporates the moral underpinnings  and power of religion, faith and morality in the American character.   And further, its shows the best in the system of self government, designed by our founders, to allow conflict, and compromise and the better angels of our nature to foster action that may not be politically expedient.  
In this sense, our focus on this Act, fifty years ago, is not so much nostalgia, but perhaps longing for what we once were able to do.
This is the zeitgeist that Todd Purdum captures in his new book An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
My conversation with Todd Purdum:

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This is the season in which high school seniors start receiving college admissions, and begin the run up to High School graduation.  Given that gallons and gallons of self esteem have been poured into these kids, every one of them thinks that they are special.  David McCullough, Jr has a bit of a different idea. Those ideas were a part of a High School commencement speech that he gave back in 2012.  The YouTube of that speech has been viewed over two and a half million times. 
David McCullough, Jr.  has now turned that speech into You Are Not Special: ... And Other Encouragements
My conversation with David McCullough, Jr.

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When we hear the word, or hear about “non-profits,” we often think about organizations that seem like they are fighting the oncoming wave in order to try and do good.  Often with noble purpose, sometimes the mission seems too big, the emotional pull too intense, or success too fleeting.
Today all of that is changing.  We have a whole new group of organizations, perhaps the Gates Foundation being the penultimate example,  that look to the ideas and metrics of the for profit world.  They realize the importance of scale, marketing, transparency and ways to measure real success.  
They are, as Adam Braun calls them, FOR PURPOSE organizations. Adam is the founder of one of those organizations, Pencils of Promise.  He has now written about his experiences in The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change.
My conversation with Adam Braun:

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For those who are regular viewers of sports, Olympic level  or professional,  extreme sports or even golf, you know that what human beings are capable of is constantly increasing.
What we are learning, is that the extension of human performance is not just about higher, or stronger, or faster, it's also about the mental component. It's the mental performance we are able to achieve, that makes the physical possible.  This has been called being in the zone, or flow.  
The idea of "flow" has been around and widely studied for many years.  But today, with our new forms of peering into the brain and into the very idea of consciousness, we are finding both the internal insights and the far flung potential of human performance.
Steven Kotler takes us to the edge in The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance.
My conversation with Steven Kotler:

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In the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tom Ripley, played by Matt Damon, says that,  “I always thought it would be better, to be a fake somebody... than a real nobody.” 
This insecurity, this lack of confidence in who we are, is such a critical part of  life, that it has been immortalized repeatedly in movies and literature.
But, beyond that, it has real life consequences that go beyond art and definitions in the DMS.  For women in particular, this lack of confidence and yes, even our confidence genes, drive relationships, families and the workplace in ways that create a kind of confidence feedback loop. In this loop, lack of confined produces a fear, that in turn produces further lack of confidence. And while the issues is a particularly important one for woman, we all are part of that loop.
This is where my guest Katty Kay and Claire Shipman begin The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know.
My conversation with Claire Shipman and Katty Kay:

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Donald Sterling  and Cliven Bundy notwithstanding, the past year has seen us engaged in a celebration of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the March on Washington and Freedom Summer.  All seminal events in the amazing history of the Civil Rights movement.  
But what we sometimes forget is that the movement itself, mostly because of its scope and inclusiveness, started a bigger revolution. One that took up opposition to Vietnam, the fight for social and economic justice and the movement beyond nonviolence, for more than just public accommodation, but the struggle for real political, social and economic power.
Present at the creation of that effort was Stokely Carmichael.  He was a bridge between the nonviolence of Dr. King, the anger of Malcolm X and the urban struggle for civil rights led by the Black Panthers.
Carmichael has been somewhat forgotten in the pantheon of leaders from the period, that is until Peniel Joseph's new biography, Stokely: A Life
My conversation with Peniel Joseph:

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It’s always good when we are having legitimate debates about public policy.  And when the subject is education, it’s even better. However, amidst all the debate, we should not forget that there are people deeply engaged, every day, in the effort.  The children, the parents and the teachers have real experiences that often trump the ideas of policy makers.
That’s why it’s so important to look deeply inside the system and see what’s really going on.  This is what education consult and researcher Sam Chaltain has done in the context of his new book Our School: Searching for Community in the Era of Choice. My conversation with Sam Chaltain:

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Except perhaps for brief periods of historical time, there have always been cultural divides in America and in the world.  Sometimes it’s been about race, or about ethnicity.  Sometimes about gender or status.  Today, that divide is fueled by education, class and economic attainment.
Is it any surprise then, that we have completely shuffled the deck on success and that modern marketing and media reinforce those ideas. Those with means, with college and postgraduate education, have similar goals, similar objectives and similar lifestyles.  It matters far less what gender, or what race; what matters is education and income.  That, coupled with the long standing idea of associative mating, has grown and reinforced an economic elite, where its members have far more in common with each other, than with others of their race, or even their gender.  Sisterhood and brotherhood have given rise to what David Brooks might call bobohood.
How this has impacted women and society, is the subject of The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World by Alison Wolf.
My conversation with Alison Wolf:

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For many people, particularly in urban America, restaurants represent the place where they live life.  Spending time with friends, memorable meals, socializing and simply being a third place, not home, not office, but an urban extension of their lives.
For some, those third places become like songs or great books.  Simply mention them and they become triggers of thought that short circuit time and make yesterday's events, today’s reality.
That's what Colman Andrews has done with his memoir My Usual Table: A Life in Restaurants. It not only tells of Andrews’ life, but captures the zeitgeist of an era, specifically Los Angeles in the 70’s and 80’s.
My conversation with Colman Andrews:

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There once was a time when technology was sold just to business to help create new and “softer” consumer products.  Today, we know there is a mass market for technology itself and it’s often sold directly to consumers.
Given that new, particularly disruptive, technology usually begins with a blank page, an audience of zero for products that did not exist, how has the market for these products changed and what’s the nexus with our habits and adoption of the technology itself?
Geoffrey Moore’s book Crossing the Chasm, has long been the bible for entrepreneurs  bringing products to larger and larger markets...but what’s different today.?
Moore is just out with a new and updated volume, Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers.
My conversation with Geoffrey Moore:

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