Talk Cocktail

To be President is to be both anointed, yet at the same time scarred for life. To date, only fourty-four men have had that experience and can fully understand what that means. Never have more than six of them met, at any one time. It is arguably the most exclusive club in the world.

Two of the finest reporters and writers for Time Magazine, Time's Deputy Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs and Executive Editor & Washington Bureau Chief Michael Duffy, take us inside The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity 

My conversation with Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy:

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There is a fundamental law of physics that says that for every action, there is a corresponding and equal reaction. One year ago, the demise of Bin Laden created much speculation as to what Al Qa'ida's reaction might be and what it meant for the future of Al Qa'ida. Today, there are still many unanswered questions. Where are we in the war on terror? What is the state of Al Qa'ida and what impact did the Arab Spring have on its future?

For better or worse we've had to learn a great deal about the organization and about counter-terrorism in the days and years since 9/11. But what does the future look like? Perhaps we can best understand that by examining the past, particularly Al Qa'ida since 9/11. This is where Rand analyst and former senior advisor at the U.S. Special Operations Command, Seth G. Jones takes us in Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida since 9/11.

My conversation with Seth Jones:

We used to worry that schools were inadequate for the late 20th Century: that a system built around an agrarian calendar and 19th century ideas, was insufficient. Today, the disruptive impact of technology, information and globalization have once again transformed our society. And, as we move into the second decade of the 21st Century, we are still bogged down with some of the same 19th century ideas. Quite simply, do we have the momentum and energy to reach escape velocity from these old paradigms.

Now, Tony Wagner, founder of Harvard's Change Leadership Group and the author of The Global Achievement Gap, gives us education 3.0 in Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World.

My conversation with Tony Wagner:

The China we are all to familiar with today is a modern nation, moving rapidly from a rural to an industrial economy. A center of commerce and modernity. But just before WWII China, particularly Peking, as it was known then, was a colonial outpost, a mix of privilege, scandal, superstition and opulence. The British were omnipresent, the Japanese were encircling the city. It was truly the last days of Peking.

Amidst this the murder of a British schoolgirl would capture the city's imagination and fear. A murder that would reveal a side of Peking that few wanted to acknowledge.

China expert and British expat Paul French has picked up the threads of this story and woven them into a remarkable picture of time that is truly a prelude to modern China. He takes us on a remarkable journey in Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China.

My conversation with Paul French:

Research tells us that we probably will have many careers in our elongated lifetime; that we may even have many spouses. This is a far cry from the the post war boomer ideal of one career and in some cases one job and one spouse. Given all of this life change, does what happens in our 20s really matter.

In an era in which graduate school is almost de rigueur for a good job, when young men are more and more in a state of prolonged adolescence, in some cases moving home to mom, is 20 simply the new 20? Dr. Meg Jay has stirred up some controversy with her new look at twenty somethings, The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now

My conversation with Meg Jay:

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The culture of business today, particularly in the world of tech, is not modeled after Sterling Cooper. While in the days of Mad Men twenty-percent of the time might have been spent boozing and flirting, later to be supplanted by golf, today that same time is often spent by individuals working on their own pet projects. These are not your fathers companies and the results are impressive. Long time technology journalist and blogger Ryan Tate takes us inside companies that practice The 20% Doctrine:

My conversation with Ryan Tate:

We live a world in which we want everything to be easy. We want instant gratification, sound bite politics, fast food and instant cures for all problems. We also want our philanthropy to be easy and painless. If we can go shopping or just wear a bracelet and do good, what could be better? The problem is, like most things instant, it’s not that simple or that good. Or maybe it is, if we only think of ourselves as consumers rather than engaged and caring human beings.

This is the jumping off point for Mara Einstein in Compassion, Inc.: How Corporate America Blurs the Line between What We Buy, Who We Are, and Those We Help

My conversation with Mara Einstein:

The level of economic inequality in America today exceeds every other Western nation. This is ironic when one realizes that it was the rise of the middle class that built post war America. So what has happened in three generations, in just sixty years, that has so stratified the nation, that makes Wall Street look like Versailles in the age of Louis the 14th, and in 2008 almost drove the economy off the cliff?

Esteemed Canadian journalist Linda McQuaig takes us to the Billionaires' Ball: Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality

My conversation with Linda McQuaig:

We sit at the apogee of four hundred years of human progress; never have we been closer to democratizing that progress to every corner of the globe. Yet here we sit today, in a nation fearful, paralyzed and seeing our futures almost choked off by that fear. We are in a time where, as Yates observed, “ the best lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity.” While we rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic, the rest of world looks out to opportunity and progress. And it is entrepreneurs that sit at the forefront of that progress.

George Mason University professor Philip Auerswald argues that how we respond to these challenges will determine The Coming Prosperity:

My conversation with Philip Auerswald:

Equal pay for equal work. Sounds like such a simple idea. Yet it had to take an act of congress and the support of the President to make it a reality. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill signed by President Obama. It was passed with bipartisan support, but now it's become a campaign issue, with one Republican Senate candidate calling it a "nuisance," and Mitt Romney, not surprisingly, on the fence about it.

Lilly Ledbetter never dreamed she'd be the center of national controversy. She was just trying to do her job and support her family. Now she gives us a first hand account of what she went through in Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond

My conversation with Lilly Ledbetter: