Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Much of what we call luck is the result of deliberate actions and consistent efforts. As Stanford Professor Tina Seelig shared in her popular TED Talk, luck is like the wind—constantly blowing, often unpredictable, and always in motion. To catch the winds of luck, she says you need to construct your sail by doing the internal work that sets the stage for success; recruit your crew by bringing othe...

On social media, in recovery meetings, through name-change petitions, deconversion blogs, and political conversion manifestos, we’ve been surrounded by stories of radical personal change. But what does it really mean to shed an old skin? Whose change narratives do we celebrate—and whose do we suspect are performance, reinvention as strategy, or even grift? Emerson College Professor Benoit Denizet-...

Protest is the ultimate in equal-opportunity political action. As Annie Leonard, former executive director of Greenpeace USA says, "Making change is like laying a stone path across the garden. Peaceful protest may be every 4th or 8th or 200th stone; it helps us get where we want to go but also we need a lot of other stones too.”  Leonard explores the history of protests in her new book “Protest: R...

There is an ancient saying in China, or perhaps a curse: “May you live in interesting times.”  We appear to be living right in the middle of very interesting times. From wars in Eastern Europe, to regime toppling in Latin America to the conflagration in the Middle East, the world appears to be on fire.  What does China make of these events? How is it affected, given that some of the actors involve...

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian's new book, Food Is Medicine, is an urgent indictment of the food we eat, how it is making us sick, and the choices that led us here, and a call for a revolutionary new food system that can mend our health, economy and planet, from a world-renowned expert in nutrition, medicine and public policy. The food we eat is making us sick, says Dr. Mozaffarian. In the United States...

Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of America’s best known and most popular historians, having told the stories of great American leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt, and others. Now, she delves into her own life and the time she spent with her late husband, Richard Goodwin, to draw out fresh perspectives on many of the central figures of the 1960s....

On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took more than 200 hostages, prompting an Israeli response that has in turn taken tens of thousands of lives and devastated the Gaza Strip. Why did this happen, and can anything be done to grant peace and justice to Israelis and Palestinians alike? In their new book Tomorrow Is Yesterday, veteran negotiators Robert Malley and H...

Italy’s vineyards stretch from Alpine peaks to volcanic islands, from rolling Tuscan hills to sun-drenched coastlines. Each glass of Italian wine carries not only the flavor of its land but also the imprint of centuries of tradition, community and culture. Join us for an exploration of that flavor and soul. Andrea Lonardi, one of Italy’s most respected winemakers and agronomists, and a rare Master...

In Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, The Christophers, the children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they’ll have an inheritance when he dies.  Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a star of London’s 1960s and ‘70s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two...

Bestselling author Cleo Wade returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs with a hug of a book—her latest, In a World of Sunrises, a collection of poetry, prose and inspirational quotes providing uplift and comfort for 365 days. Wade’s entries are a reminder that change is always possible, not only within each of us but also in the world around us. Her message is about feeling good, and feeling like...

Sometimes mothers are biological; other times, they’re chosen. But often, they're the fiercest people you can have on your side. In this special Mother’s Day episode, we’ll hear stories about the vital role mothers and caregivers play in confronting the climate crisis. From a midwife providing essential healthcare in one of the most climate-stressed regions on the planet to an organizer who leads...

Join us at Commonwealth Club World Affairs for an intimate and candid conversation with patients from Osra Medical who are living proof that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to PrEP.  Our panelists—currently on Descovy, Apretude and Yeztugo—will pull back the curtain on their personal journeys: the questions they asked, the factors they weighed, and what ultimately led them to choose the opti...

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says he was surprised that the Trump administration apparently had no plan to deal with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz before launching strikes on Iran in late February. “I think that basically is a failure of planning for what would be an obvious consequence of a war in the Middle East,” Panetta told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.  With hundreds dead, millions m...

Steve Phillips, bestselling author of Brown Is the New White, returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to present his provocative new argument for “draining the swamp of white male privilege.”  He comes here at a time when equal rights are under intense attack on many fronts. Phillips, host of the “Democracy in Color with Steve Phillips” podcast, is on a mission to exhort people to go on the off...

The first place many people looked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was Taiwan, long in the sights of the communist government of mainland China, which has vowed to absorb the island nation. If bigger countries were once again subsuming smaller neighbors, what could keep an ever-stronger China from going to war with Taiwan? And will it be the tripwire to sparking a third world war, this time...

What is Trumpism and how long will it last? A new book by political scientist and author Dr. Larry N. Gerston defines Trumpism as an ideology that preceded Trump’s election and will outlast his political career. He says we need to explore solutions to problems that have long plagued contemporary American democracy.  Gerston says deep-rooted pain points in U.S. governance gave rise to and were exac...

In 2021, legendary investor John Doerr⁠ outlined his plan to solve climate change⁠ in his bestseller “Speed & Scale.” The plan outlines 10 objectives, each with their own set of key results, to cut emissions to net zero. And in true John Doerr style, the results are to be measurable and trackable.  ​Now, five years later, Doerr and co-author Ryan Panchadsaram unveil their 2026 update, revealing wh...

When Grete and Julius fled Nazi Germany, they never imagined they’d be forced into hiding in a Dutch attic. While in hiding, their daughter Marion was born—a moment of light amid the darkest of times. Years later, Marion Seidemann Fredman shares her family’s courageous story of love, loss, and resilience in this visually rich, nonfiction picture book. A Time to Hide is suitable for readers as youn...

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has a lot in common with his Democratic opponents in the race for California governor. Like them, he is making affordability and cutting red tape centerpieces of his campaign. But he has been more outspoken in his criticism of Governor Gavin Newsom, and he’s often described as the moderate Democrat in the race. Still, Mahan has pushed back on the moderate label. “I think...

“I don’t know who discovered water, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.”  Like a fish in water, we rarely notice the cultural forces that surround us every day—especially when it comes to our mental health. Join UCSF psychiatrist Dr. Descartes Li as he dives into the invisible cultural currents that shape the human mind. From the American emphasis on “talking it out” and finding your “true self,...

This year, one of the most powerful politicians in the country decided not to seek re-election. For nearly 38 years, Nancy Pelosi has represented the people of San Francisco in the US House of Representatives. As one of the most powerful House Speakers in U.S. history, Pelosi played a central role in advancing landmark environmental and climate laws, and bringing energy and climate policy to the f...

Join us for a special Songkran program celebrating the Southeast Asian New Year. We’ll bring together Lao American community members who will offer perspectives on the human consequences of the current U.S. immigration policy.  Raised in the United States, many Lao American refugees are vulnerable to current immigration policy changes, with some facing deportation back to a country unfamiliar to t...

Jennifer Doleac studies the economics of crime and discrimination. And when she considers criminal justice reform, she’s not only hopeful but actually optimistic that things can improve for the entire system as a whole. In her new book The Science of Second Chances, Doleac lays out her view of how to reduce both crime and incarceration. She draws on cutting-edge economic research and experiments t...

It is a question just about everyone confronts in their life, and it centers on how we find our way in the world. How do we deal with challenges that can radically change a life? And what comes next? Author Jim Collins returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to share his lessons on constructing—and reconstructing—a life through those “cliff moment” challenges and transitions that come up repeat...

Change can come from out of nowhere. A relationship ends, a doctor gives an unwelcome diagnosis, a business closes, a loved one passes away. At times like those, it can feel as if we’re in free-fall into the unknown.  Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist, has spent decades studying the human mind. When she experienced an unwanted change in her own life that left her reeling, she sought out people w...