Blue Sky

In this wide-ranging conversation, renowned author and professor Steven Pinker describes that while he resists being called an "optimist," as the label doesn't necessarily suit his temperament, his deep dives into historical data have convinced him that the world is indeed getting better and has been on a steady trajectory since the days of the Enlightenment, the subject of one of his many acclaimed books. Dr. Pinker also describes why he believes so many intellectuals resist acknowledging that the world is making progress; and adds, ironically, that self-described "progressives" often have the toughest time with this. He also shares his concerns about the policing of speech on college campuses – including Harvard – and the deleterious effects this has on students' wellbeing.

In this very special episode of Blue Sky, Steve D. tells the remarkable story of his struggle against his son's severe addiction to alcohol. (Steve is not using his full name here to protect his son's anonymity.) While living what he would describe as a near perfect life – great marriage with his high school sweetheart, dream job, five great children – Steve discovers that his youngest child is struggling with an addiction that has driven him to the point of attempting to take his own life. Almost overnight, Steve's world is turned upside down as he and his wife try to face their new reality and save their son. With striking honesty, Steve describes his family's heartbreaking and terrifying challenges, and why he left his Wall Street job to study addiction and make helping others in this predicament his life's work. Looking back now, the optimist in Steve describes his son's struggles as "a gift," and you'll understand why when you hear his story. A content note: this episode includes discussion of severe addiction and suicide.

Vanessa Cooksey has held a variety of roles at a wide range of organizations — from Cartoon Network to Wells Fargo — and she explains how these all have prepared her to take the helm of the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) of St. Louis. Vanessa describes in touching detail how a piece of art once literally helped save her life, and how she channels her appreciation for creativity into the work she does today to support the vibrant arts community in St. Louis. She began her work in the depths of the pandemic but has turned that challenge into an opportunity to re-think and re-building this dynamic grants-making organization.

Dan Reicher's interest in and advocacy for environmental protection and clean energy began when he was a child and has continued throughout his life. In addition to teaching at Stanford University, has served three U.S. presidents, testified before the U.S. Congress more than 50 times, led the launch of Google's pathbreaking climate and clean energy work, oversaw a $1.2 billion annual clean energy R&D budget as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy, and co-founded the nation's first investment firm focused exclusively on renewable energy project finance. In this Blue Sky episode, Dan provides his take on potential climate change solutions; from hydro, solar, wind, and nuclear power, to conservation and reforestation. He explains that while he's realistic about the massive amount of work and resources that will be required to solve the climate crisis, he's optimistic about our ability to get it done.

During her upbringing in Mumbai, India, Jeroo Billimoria's parents taught her to take an active interest in the welfare of everyone in her community. She was encouraged at the end of every day to ask herself, "How many people have I made smile and how many people have I helped?" This attitude, combined with a humble leadership style and creative, entrepreneurial spirit has led Jeroo to create a series of successful ventures, primarily targeting the welfare of children.

Like most neuroscientists, until a little more than thirty years ago, Dr. Richard "Richie'' researched and studied things that go wrong with the brain. But then, in 1992 he visited the Dalai Lama, who challenged him instead to work on understanding what happens to our brains when we practice kindness and compassion. This conversation changed the trajectory of Richie's life and career and he will share much of what he's worked on and learned in the thirty-plus years since. Among the topics covered in this conversation are the toxicity of distraction, neuroplasticity and our ability to reshape our brains, the value of gratitude and appreciation, and how simply being more aware of our surroundings can change our mindsets for the better.

One of the biggest complaints people have about their job is the lack of feedback they receive, both positive and negative. Amy Sandler and the team Radical Candor believe in the power of "caring personally and challenging directly," in valuing colleagues in a meaningful way and not being afraid to challenge them openly and honestly. The Radical Candor company was founded following the success of Kim Scott's eponymous bestseller and today holds seminars and workshops to train people in the lessons and behaviors she espouses. In this Blue Sky podcast, Amy explains how she came to this work and provides lessons and examples of how to put the principles of Radical Candor into practice. Amy helps us understand how "ruinous empathy," and "obnoxious aggression," get in the way of constructive guidance at work. And as an added, if unrelated bonus, she also describes how, and why she has made it a practice to walk across hot coals seven times now.

Charles Kenny brings to this episode a great depth of knowledge of progress being made around the world and supports his optimistic views with compelling statistics and anecdotes. As he covers subjects ranging from disease eradication to life expectancy and the cost of basic necessities, Charles explains with infectious enthusiasm why we should take time to appreciate the remarkable progress we continue to make around the world. Charles does not suggest we rest on our laurels but instead emphasizes that, "Because we can make the world better, there's a moral imperative to make the world better."

Virginia Gleason has spent her career working on improving law enforcement and public safety. She comes to this work not out of a desire to put bad people behind bars or even simply to keep our streets safe, but rather as she says, "to impact the quality of people's lives and reduce suffering." Virginia offers an optimistic take on the future of policing and public safety with an emphasis on improving the data collection and transparent dissemination of information related to police encounters with the community. She also encourages the "democratization" of public safety, encouraging officers to get to know their constituents better – by engaging when times are good, not just when called to a scene – and for those of us who don't work in law enforcement, to make efforts to understand their departments and the challenges they face. Quoting her husband, a retired police officer, Virginia explains her belief that, "Everyone wants to be loved, everyone wants to be forgiven and everyone wants to be heard. If you don't know what else to do, fall back on those three things."

After studying and working on public health issues, both in Lebanon and the United States, Teresa Chahine wanted to move from identifying and understanding societal problems to trying to fix them. While at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health she was exposed to the teaching of social entrepreneurship "across the river" at the university's business school. Inspired by the promise of this relatively new discipline, she created her own course on the subject at the Chan School and now has written a definitive textbook on the subject. She is now inspiring students at the Yale School of Management with the promise of how effective social entrepreneurship can help improve our world.

Growing up in New York with a particular interest in "the dark side" of human nature, Oren Segal has channeled that curiosity into a career spent providing resources, expertise and training which enables law enforcement, public officials and internet and technology companies to identify and counter emerging threats. Oren approaches this challenging work with intense dedication and an inspiring sense of hope and optimism. Learn More About Oren Segal and ADL: https://www.adl.org/ https://www.adl.org/about/regional-offices

Dominique Wright describes a childhood of "humble beginnings," complete with a series of forced moves and an eviction. But she says that the positive mindset instilled by her mom helped her persevere through these tough early years to graduate from the US Naval Academy and serve as an officer, earn a law degree, and work at the NFL Players Association and the league's business and legal affairs department. Today, Dominique is the founder and CEO of a technology marketing startup, serving college athletes pursuing name, image, and likeness opportunities. She describes her current work as the toughest she's ever done, but says that her optimistic outlook and grit will get her through.

The legendary Kevin Kelly shares his optimistic views on technology and our collective future. As someone who was building online communities as early as the 1980's and helped create Wired magazine in 1993, Kevin has seen it all, and his fascinating insights and predictions on subjects including social media and artificial intelligence are based on years of hands-on experience. He and Bill also discuss some of their favorite excerpts from Kevin's great new book, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier, which will be available on May 3. As Seth Godin says, "One hundred years from now, when so much of the nonsense of our age is forgotten, people will still remember Kevin Kelly and his wisdom."

Following his early years as a musician and chasing dreams of becoming "the next John Mayer," Tim Schurrer went on to a successful career building teams and powerful brands. We know that one of the most common barriers to an optimistic outlook is dissatisfaction at work and in this episode, Tim describes his realization that great things happen when we shift our focus from climbing the ladder to helping others be successful.

John Valverde describes the impactful work of the organization he leads, YouthBuild USA, and also shares his own inspiring story of persevering through 16 years in prison to found two non-profits and now lead a third; YouthBuild USA. John explains how he brings his own lived experience to his leadership role of an organization that helps young people at their own crossroads change the trajectory of their life. Learn More About John and YouthBuild USA: https://youthbuild.org/

Rob Watson talks about how he emerged from a challenged school system in New York, graduated from Harvard College, served in the Peace Corps, and later earned two master's degrees. He explains what drives him to work so hard — and with so much hope — to achieve equity in opportunities for public school by teaching master's candidates at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and by supporting innovative collaborative action programs around the country, including in his hometown of Poughkeepsie. Learn More About Rob: https://edredesign.org/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/robwatsonjr/ https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ https://www.pkchildrenscabinet.com/

David Novak has had a remarkably successful career and one that was defined by his boundless enthusiasm and contagious sense of optimism. He describes in this episode that he's never come across a leader who wasn't an optimist and reflects on why he thinks this is the case. He also discusses the inspiring work he's been doing since leaving his job at the top of Yum! Brands, where he was widely considered to be one of the top CEO's in the world. Learn More About David: https://howleaderslead.com/ https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands https://davidnovakleadership.com/

Jeff Korzenik, the chief economist at a major US bank, explains how predicting a labor shortage in the US led him to discover the growing movement around "second chance" hiring of people with criminal records. His passion for this work led him to write "Untapped Talent," a book that explains to companies the benefits of this type of hiring and offers a blueprint of how best to do it. Jeff describes how second chance hiring can transform lives and communities. Check out Jeff's book, "Untapped Talent" here.

In this episode, Bert describes how he and his brother grew from a challenging upbringing to create Life is Good, the original positive outlook brand. He explains why he believes that optimism is a superpower and suggests that in all of history, there's never been a successful pessimist. Browse Life is Good here! : https://www.lifeisgood.com/

Dr. Benton discusses how she came to choose to work with young people and their families and why she's never been more optimistic about the future of child and adolescent mental healthcare in this country. She shares her thoughts about the pros and cons of social media, the impact of the pandemic on young people and the value of outdoor activities for a children's psyches. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is described here.

Tané Hunter and Dr. Angus (Gus) Hervey are the co-founders of Future Crunch, an Australia-based organization that provides intelligent, optimistic thinking about the future. In their conversation with Bill, Tané and Gus cover such topics as the future of green energy, the pros and cons of AI and ChatGPT, and what they see as some of the most inspiring but under-reported stories from around the world. Find Future Crunch's newsletter at this link, and browse their full site! https://futurecrun.ch/subscribe

Marcy shares her view that we need to stay hopeful and optimistic about our ability to impact the rate and effects of climate change. She explains why climate doom is the new climate denial and describes how she thinks we should educate young people about the climate and their future. Links: Sign up for The Climate Optimist at https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/climateoptimist/ And find the "Rewiring America" calculator here: https://www.rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator

David Gardner discusses a wide range of topics, from the relationship between optimism and entrepreneurship to developing an investment strategy with an eye towards your own positive vision for the future, to David's outsized love for, of all things, board games! Links: Check out The Motley Fool at www.fool.com Steven Pinker's TED Talk referenced in the interview is linked here.

Hosted by Bill Burke, founder of The Optimism Institute, this weekly podcast will feature inspiring leaders, authors, researchers, and big thinkers who are taking on some of our world's toughest challenges with an infectious sense of optimism. Blue Sky takes its name from the meditation reminder that there's always blue sky above, sometimes you just have to get your head above the clouds to see it.