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And i urge you to by a your own copy here now tonight through our local independent partners at Elliott Bay Books using the, again, very conveniently positioned button at the bottom of your screen. Then, steve davis well, city david is aware of many hats consecutively, simultaneous limp presently senior strategic advicer and interim director China Country Office for the bill and mel linda Gates Foundation, and a tissued fellow with the World Economic forum. Cochair hoff the World Health Organizations Advisory Group and still many of you may know hill as the form are president and ceo of task, Global Health innovation and delivery nonprofit headquartered in seattle. From the realm of other former hats he is director of social innovation and ceo of corps. He write about intersection of technology and social this talk us how citizens traipses mute it outrage into positive change. Heaven knows i could use some of that inspiration right now. Chelsea clinton doesnt me inspire duke. The vice chair of the chron Ton Foundation where she works ongside Foundation Letter children and partners to improve Public Health a inspire Civic Engagement and Service Across the out and around t world. Sheeached at columbia unersitys school of Public Health, the author of several packed for young readers, including she persisted. 14 american women who changed the world, and star now, you can make a difference, dont let them disappear and its your world, get informed, get spired and get going, and the cothor of the book of gutsy women and grandmas garden with her mom, hillary clinton, bothf which are in my daughterswn book collections and of gerning Global Health, wholines world and why. Steve davis book channelin ouanged sparked activism is the subject of the talk, join me in welcoming Chelsea Clinton steve davis. Thank you for that incredibly generousen inthrow ducks, we want to think town hall and Elliott Bay Book company for helping bring us all together in this virtual space. Always such a pleasure to be with steve, even just on a submit split screen, steve is one i have long admired, proud to call a friend and have known for quite a few years. We first met when we were both working for Global Health and both still are. When steve what as pass and ien was engaged with the christian to ton Health Access initiative, we found we have quite a bit in common. Stanford, real appreciation for the arts and the belief that the arts are critical for young people, and a profound interest in innovation and a deepm abiding kind of moral call toward optimism. So i just am so pleased to be in conversation with steve tonight to talk about his wonderful new book, undercurrents and hope youll use the question function. I will quite gleefully exploit my platform as the moderator to ask steve a series of questions of the next 30 to 40 minutes and then very much hope you will direct the time before the hour is up. Sos, please ask questions. Ill check the question feature regularly so that we can be mindful of your questions as theyre coming in. Steve, just thanks for inviting me to be here with you. Great to see you. Thank you, chelsea. Its really great to see you virtually and happy your kidded are in bed and we can have this conversation now, and thanks again to town hall and to elliott bay and so many others who supported us tonight and also on this long journey. Here to about your book which i have had the pleasure of reading and i know hasnt people who are joining us have not yet. Could you just start with telling us why you decided to write this book, why now, and a little bit about what its about. Sure. Yeah. So, increasingly in my work and travels over the last few years, i kept hearing from a wide range of people, students, activists, interested citizens, just kind of how paralyzed and confused they have been about the world around us, often really filled with outrage bulls not knowing what to do with it. This is from the impression that things were constantly just getting worse all the time. And yet the realities are, and the data and evidence often shows that actually quite a few things are getting bester in the world or theres some interesting and positive trends that should be providing some hope and optimism as well, and they hopefully will help us improve the world around us if thought it would be worth to take time to reflect on those trends trends and write about system call the trends undercurrents, and it is really the book is really about how to think about those trends in a way that might help today or tomorrows activists get more engaged in what i call practical activism, not necessarily spending your whole life or time out in at the street protesting or devoting your whole life to a nonprofit but actually doing the kind of little and quiet things that practical activists do in world to make it a better plate for all of us. I want to talk but practical activism in a moment but first i want to just kind of delve into undercurrents little more. Love the name and think it is such a kind of powerful framing. Could you just talk about more but what you mean by undercurrents and maybe give an example . Sure. Undercurrents for me, it came from sort of a water metaphor obviously, tied back to my background, i can share some n the book. On a Ranch Community in montana, but what im talking pout is the not necessarily the big headline issues that are capturing all of our attention, whether its election or Climate Change or educational disparities and that. Its the stuff working below the sure fat that are phenomenally powerful to change the world. The book is structured around five particular ones that i focus on and i dedicate a chapter each, and theyre things like the fact that actually the demographics demographics of the world are changing, that more and more people are living better, longer and have more resources than ever before and that trend is powerfulfully continuing. Its in general happening and how powerful that is in terms of helping support activism or the focus on Digital Transformation, a complicated story which has its challenges but is also an amazingly powerful trend that the world is adopting to that will empower activism and social change a lot. And you also kind of in the book talk about the currents in your own life, and maybe you could just share the big currents in your life have been and how those have kind of ebbed and flowed in importance for you just to kind of continue with the water metaphor, and kind of how you think that could be maybe just a useful experience, especially for young people who might be listening to us, how the currents in your life have shifted and influenced you and what that has meant over time. Thats kind of where i got the think can about this idea of currents, is actually reflecting on my own experiences and that students as was mentioned i am a professor at stanford, and when i teach, im often asked for career advice and i shake my head im not sure you really cant want to get career advice from my. My career is like a pinball machine. What waves of things have happened in my lifetime which have been powerfully effected by and ive jumped in and enjoyed those waves. So the first one, which is i talk in the book about but is as a gay man, and since and came out in the late 70s and to ride the wave of gay activism and the incredible transform mag of what has happened to gay and lesbian rights and families, ate of over the last 40 years and if a been very active in that movement. Thats been a kind of this wave that shows up at different times in different ways, and similarly, the three others i often talk pout, the other being i was an early china guy. I went to china right out of college, and i continued to work in china, in fact my current role has a very heavy china focus and the again who knew that the last four years would see such an amazing journey to see china go from when i was first this very, very poor we closed society to a global super power, the third area is was fortunate to have bee asked to jump in the middle of the what we at the time were calling the information super highway but bill gateses asked me to come onboard and help them build a company that in the internet space before the were even calling this internet, and so ive been very involved in technology if since and thats been transformative. Then ive been always quite lucky in i rolled up my leaves in the early 2000s and started getting quite involved in Global Health and development, and i think thats been an amazing journey as the world has been investing more heavily also you know with all the work you do that theres so many things going on to really push towards a better world that gives Us Sustainable Development goals and others. Feel leak those tower way have been very powerful any life so little a little about of my thinking were there are other ways out there that might offer opportunities for young people, my students, or readers, to think about maybe they could catch one of those waves and those are the five i feature in the book. You mentioned practical activism, and one of the things that we talk about in our family, with my kids already, is that we are of course citizens when we go to vote on election day, put were actually citizens 365 days a year, every year. And i think thats an especially Important Message for all of us but particularly for kids and young people, and i know that you feel the same way, steve could you maybe talk about what practical activism means for you and maybe shire some of the examples you give in the book . Sure. And honestly before i jump into that answer, i was so delighted when you, chelsea, agreed to do this because i look at you as the work you have done and the writing you have done and your own books are actually a lot about the same theme, that kids and young girls in the theres ways to engage in the world, get up and do it. So my thinking was activism sometimes has a scary tone to it. I certainly spend a lot of my life in the corporate sector where corporate activism where people are concerned with that or think about it in very out there ways, and what i was trying to get at is actually theres a quieter, and often less visible form of activism that all of us have the opportunity to engage in, and some of it is i guess at bit that same thinking that activism is more than just voting once every four years or more than frankly liking something on facebook which i fells that is okay, but it doesnt actually do much. But actually you can use your own voice and your open skills and your own community to do other to help with in the neighborhood, help in your community, engage in an issue that you think is important with the skills you have, even if youre an accountant or a volunteer, that you dont have to feed a fulltime over the top less celebrateed philanthropist. I have written on this about the idea of giving back, which has public a popular topic, and we all have to fifth back, and give back and i thought thought giving back is a weird fee, that you have the right to take, and until you become able or wealthy ask then you give back and those tollly the wrong message. Were kind of most most social movements have started with folks sitting around their kitchen table, people that dont have wealth or a lot of means put decided something is important to them. So i feel like that is an Important Message more and more as we look at im delighted we have big philanthropyis. Im working for one right now. Think we ought to rye mine ourselves theres more we can all do. So he talk about these practical activists in the book, from incredible woman i got to know in france who is a corporate one of the Largest Insurance Companies in the world and she kind of got sher concerned but biodiversity, so she decided she would take that on within in the corporate context, and help their company back leader in promoting issued around biodiversity but that was all within the context of her own work. Didnt havent to repivot her life, and all the way to a friend who decided to use childrens theater and bring more theater to juvenile Justice Centers to ensure that we can marry the wart rivet a enormas mass incarceration problem. I think steve was so compelling is helping people overcome what ive often thought of as just a real failure of imagination, not intent but imagination to really be able to kind of imagine in an architect hough they might translate what theyre passionate about, into a way that is kind of sensible for. The and also sustainable for them, and so part of what i so appreciate about your back is the examples exactly as you just highlighted where people are kind of taking what i that are already know how to do, whether thats the environment where theyre working or kind of what kind of their profession is and then kind of transleiting that the a powerful sense into the world they want to live whether world, whether more sustain able or the world of every young person in the juvenile Justice System, although should i say i dont actually believe three should be anyone in the juvenile Justice System because i dont think we should be incarcerating children in our country. Im curious, the book is out and you have been talking with now students at stanford, what their reader reactions, and how have your students reacted to the book if you have had the chance to hear from them, just love anything you want to share on that topic. Well, its only been out for a little bit of time so i havent gotten a huge amount of feedback but some folks who happen seen early copies and some of these topics ive been talking pout for a while. So, as it relates to my students, i think they the themes i did actually teach them in my class this year, were kind of they were surprised. Even very social hi motivated socially moat motivated for social change, students as stanford, see it in a narrow term, that either you have to work for a nonprofit or you and sort of that bias against the Public Service is a way to do that, government is sort of seen in a startup innovation culture and not necessarily the most effective way to get things done. So one of the themes in my book and also one of the themes in my class is these kind of multipublicprivate social sector partnerships are really vital for big social change and therefore we need to bring more of all these sort of to the table again and again. I honestly, chelsea, learn a lot about that when i used to attend the Clinton Global Initiative and so often really emphatic that you need this social trifecta partnership, and i think that is the theme that my students most resonated, this ahha, the role of government is so critical to scale up social change or the private sector is very important part of equation and thats been a positive theme of the become, and then i have my mom loves so it thats good, too. Thats definitely matters. Shes nervous, im sure the is watching very nervous but what is your moms name. Martha. Hi, martha in p. M. Have to give a shoutout to your mother, steve. Sometime you. One of my heroes. Me, too. Im unapologetically biased towards my parents. What is michigan i something i have found surprising to students when i talk but what has been really powerfully effective in saving lives have been publicprivate multisectorral partnerships whether its the global fund or what were seeing now with co facts to ensure equitable Vaccine Distribution which the out us not part of but thankfully most of the world is. Do you think that this is a moment, though, where we will start to be able to kind of think about problems and solutions differently even beyond Global Health because the covid19 pandemic has been so horrific and catastrophic . As a Health Crisis in our country and further exacerbating underlying inequalities and inequities. A great question, chelsea, bus theres a lot of promise honestly that out of this absolute tragedy on global proportions and its more than one tragedy. Its the Health Crisis and the economic cries and he humanitarian crises that are following that maybe we can under what went wrong and figure out how to correct that systematically going forward. And im involved in the conversations and quite hope there will be increased in opportunities for different kinds of to collaboration, people who collaboration, people talk us about everything from stake hole at the capital stakeholder capital him to really thinking about the Global Health arctic tour and what works and what has not worked as youre so familiar with. Im hoping we can find some of those silver linings. I actually worry, though, that the effort to turn back on economies, which is a really important thing to do as well and i dont see them as all as in conflict. Theyre not. You have to the economy and health go together. Theyre not competing ideas. But well see also some efforts to skip over best practices who its labor regulations or environmental laws or things like that and already seeing some evidence of that, not only this country put around the world. So i think well have to sort of hold people accountable for trying to make these lessons stick. And im quite excited. I have to say, i think co fact one of the people at the founding conversation about the group that is putting together the vaccine effort globally and i was at that initial meetings setting those up, and i am quite excited to see how many countries have come onboard, how fast were move ago then vaccine. 2021 will be a test to our ingenuity and innovation and systems to see if we can continue to get this pandemic under control, but also if we have a vaccine or vaccines to make them available and thats no easy task. As you pointed out and i hope theres going to be more growing awareness of what the scientists are doing is extraordinary. Never marshaled this much kind of energy and effort, ininvestment challenge ever and science race head put we have to build everything out that needs to happen, and the vaccine translates into effective largescale vaccination. That and also we have to remember that im spending a lot of my day jobs on this issue of both the digital support for response to covid around the world as well as now with the more about ensuring helping support the foundation and distribution for vaccines which is Super Critical, but i think we have started getting a little bit the vaccine is the magic bullet and many countries coping very will with covid and are kind of bark to work and they dont back to work and dont have a vaccine either. So are multiple tools to get to this, not just the vaccine. They also have adequate testing and Contact Tracing and quarantine. The national on the national plan, yeah. Dont ball bask at wearing a mask and other one issue, the digital side and then china. On the digital side we are living in a world that is awash in misinformation around the Covid Vaccine before we even have a vaccine and around health broadly. We see this in the painful data points of the nature study looking at how much more rapidly misinformation spread about the measles vaccine and factbased information spreaded mutt the measles veep or the mmr, we see it in the studies around what travels on in the developing world about the vaccinations and maternal and child health probably. Know this is an area of great kind of not only interest but kind of real experience for you, whether if you your the Gates Foundation hat on or the w. H. O. Or the trinity challenge, can you tell us where we are in this fight against disinformation online and that would do looking toward 2021. Sure. If i had the best answer i probably would be wouldnt be sitting here writing a book but because its a really complicated one, but so first of all, ive written a couple articles and editorials how the covid has become a digital moment and transformative digital moment for society and not to mitigate all this again the challenges that it has confronted but look at what were doing right here and fasttracked online education, digital meetings, the telehealth, telemedicine, particularly in the health space, and that has been amazingly exciting, also revealed a lot of incoherence and the model and then the real work to make that more coherent and figure out how to manage and regulate and put in policy parameters. About its an interesting and exciting timety. Misinformation pieces the most troubling because so much is left about the tool, and more about the what its unleashed in terms of behavior. So you have to look at it from both sides. I do see that commitment increasingly by social social ma platforms and trying to control it in different ways, sadly a lot of this has been too late and honestly the cat is out of the bag. But i do think that its now become such a serious issue and the threat of more and more regulation will force that behavior to change. I tell you in the poock i talk about book i talk but in the chapter on Digital Transformation i talk but a friend of mind who is incredible journalist in the philippine who really has done a lot to expose the negative and powerful ways that misinformation and social media has affected democracy in her country some she would argue in ours and others. She is now been arrested by the the administration but she makes the point we shes actually one of the bigs fans of social media still despite the fact she has seen the destructive nature but in a way i sometime equate it, its like a blockbuster drug. Like the biggest blockbuster we have seen the history of medicine, the ability to use improve health with digital and data platforms but we have too come if with ways to mitigate the adverse effects like in drugs. Netnet well see much more improvement the world because of Digital Technology and social media than well see the negative, but there are key area we have to regulate more or have to i think theres some education that would help as well but getting smarter, and also some parental and citizen accountability of this stuff. I agree. Since you also mentioned china now a number of times and im of curious how feasible practical activism is in china or countries that have not a free flow of information and dont have kind of democratic enfranchisement. I fess what im asking universal kind of is your book or not and also what would you say to someone who is in china today who wants to get more engaged . So, i throughout the book i races the with of brim building and behind the scenes role of activism and the way that sometimes you need to find a middle ground in order to build those connections and partnership inside order to get stuff done. I start we sores in the aids and protests protests and awful stuff happening and fining my comfortable place was more behind the scenes working on how too we find some by compromises their get legislation through or policy or put forward and i talk pout that how the global implication as well, so in the work ive done in Global Health and Development People ask how to work in a country like the drc or theres very complicated if not generally corrupt government, many other places in the world that have authoritarian leadership, dictatorships or otherwise and i fells my line my i think those places are the most important places to do practical activism because people have to find a way, maybe within the guidelines of the government if thats necessary, but to keep nudging change and if have had the privilege of working with activists in the drc and china and wouldnt call themselves activists. People doing daytoday things to say i need to write a paper to understand how this should work. I need to nudge my local official to think differently about that problem. I need to build an app that enables people to talk to each other more pout this i have watched that in some of the most repressed regimes in the world, and i the thing always would say to my teams is, look, the kids that opportunity gate right to a fair and Equitable Life is the same kid in a democratic regime as in an awe authoritarian and the needs dont go away with need to think how to use our practical activist voice, our tool kit around ann imagement goo engagement to support lead understand communes who actually have nudged their communities along in a amazingly powerful ways. So sounds like while the means and mechanism may differ, you believe that it is possible for any citizen anywhere to engage in practical activism . I do. Im a globalist at heart. I believe that we share lot of amazing features as humans, and the opportunity to keep pushing us to a safer and better and havent healthier world aim completely optimistic thats a growing opportunity, and i see the generations of that are much younger than me who are doing some amazing work, whether im in kenya or thailand or in china, theyre its quite powerful and im just hope they just keep pushing hard. So i want to move to now the questions that our audience submitted and please keep submitting questions. The one that was most recently submitted is a good kind of segway from what steve and i have been talk us about recently. Which is from angela and she asked, you mentioned Digital Transformation as an undercurrent. How do we moved towards digital humanity verse toxicity. The access to internet has given citizens of the world a voice and has accelerate misinformation, and racism. How do we think this online pro social change for our community and children . Well, first, angela, thank you for the question because i think those operative words is proactive digital engagement. Its really the idea here. We have kind of went from sort of a funny history in the last 15 years where we were all so excited and those of us that war part of it, particularly the Digital Transformation and revolution was the most Amazing Things and has been incredible and powerful but then it suddenly the dark side showed up and then we kind of immediately put changed the anywhere tonight an usually and scary place and ropes for thinking that reasons for think that for sure, and i try to make this case in the book that its their stay and netnet its going to be a more powerful positive trend than negative trend if we can keep our do things right. And so i think part of it is almost getting out of the, is it good or bad discussion, and moving to the next fates of next phase which is which pieces are moving and arent and what is the value where its working well and im doing a lot of work with the w. H. O. How to use and deploy mr. Digital and data and the power of the positive pieces of that will help us spur more ideas. The other is im a big believer i used to teach this athlete a different school. I taught law school for a while but very clear set of examples where technology often solves a lot of problems it creates and we have seen that pattern in history over and over and were seeing that begin to happen in the digital arena, where we have now created interesting filters to ensure that what we are worried but copyright violate arent happening because we have filtered those out with very Cool Technology and now were beginning to see abilities to shape and filter online, so im hoping that we see more of that happen. But i do think that i also think that there will be economic forces that force some of this to happen, where people are going to vote or choose to step back from the platforms because so theyre so toxic, i have seen friends step off social media apologies of the toxicity and that economic power may help that as well. Aisle not naive. I think this will be a hard one but i do think that theres an opportunity for us between policy and regulation, education, using our pocketbooks and honestly continuing to promote the best uses of technology that will well see a better future. I think actually the question that bass submitted right before was submitted right before is a good followup is how would you tie Mental Health with the activity of being an engaged citizen and this has kind of shades for kind of what that would mean if youre an engaged Digital Citizen online with the toxicity, that you have discussed just now as well also kind of thinking about offline activism, whether its the challenge of confronting so many crises at once in our country and trying to be an engaged activist with the 401yearold well past you reckoning ive racial it structural or covid19 crisis, the economic crisis were living through. Whatted a tries give someone to think how to pea good engaged citizen, online or off or both, and take care of your Mental Health and maybe you can talk about how you do that. Well, im sure my family would give you a different version of how well i might too that, but i its a Super Critical piece of the puzzle which is that first of all the level of stress and anxiety that the current environment today even if you can find that optimism, which i have, that i describe in my book, doesnt mean you dont see that the challenges every day, and so to answer the last part of the question you asked, i do find that its a balancing act. How do you stay engaged, try to take turn off the minnesota off the machines eave so spawn go focus on other things but those are too simple. We get to real Mental Health, those are Mental Health issues and also think we have a much big are challenge and have actually an epidemic and an with lack of attention to it in Mental Health. You can see living in downtown downtown seattle, its a crisis that we are coping with as that we arent coping with as well as we need. To so there some ideas. One is i think it starts with the individual activist, and its but the greatline, its not its the revolution were going through if you cant dance afterwards. There is that which is finding joy in a daytoday context, and its easier some people are handed such a lousy deck that is hard, but i think there is sort of that obligation and that can be through the spiritual or a physical or theres all sorts of ways that people find to do that. Thats super important. I think we also have to take on a bigger set of challenges which is that our fellow citizens and our communities need more support in this area. The globe has not paid very much attention to Mental Health as a Serious Health issue for years and i write in the book one chapter about the exciting and actually powerful role of looking for activism through the lens of equity, and i speak about gender equity but really is the idea was generated from a lot of different angles, like how too we actually start bringing the whole community along and i do think theres a bit of an exciting trend were putting issues on the table and a lot of new commitment. You have been a leader in this, chelsea, around equity and inclusion and i think Mental Health has to be a piece of that, and so im hoping that well be able to taped to that both as individual activists and also as whole communities. And to support each other fundamentally. Another good question to move into now comes from stacy which is steve regarding your discussion about Community Centered reform, how do you see that playing out in hyperlocal issues such as homelessness . Who is the customer in such challenges and i would also add how how too you think pout balancing the global and the local . Women well, thank you stacy. The idea of was derived in the book from this idea that one of the other sort of macro trends or undercurrents is the idea that our communities around the world are becoming more and more empowered to set their own agendas, and that is actually both a global perspective and a domestic perspective, and so in the Global Health and Development Area that a very powerful undercurrent that countries and communities need to be more in charge of their debt any and isnt pout going in and helping the victims as we used to call them but now empowering and being supportive of communities to make their own choices and i see that is a super powerful trend in Global Health and development. And i know chelsea has been involved with this as well and we can tall but tee colonization of Global Health and development which is counter. Even domestically, look at climate, we have decided local communities to take in a very powerful local stance on commitments to the paris accord or other commitments, and even gets narrower and narrower as we look at the context of problems in cities or rural communities. I write about the opioid addiction and how rural montana has really been hit by it, and yet some of the best treatments are increasing my very locally derived because they understand the nature of the community, the issues going on in that community, and so i find that those kinded of more hyperlocal opportunities are powerful and an exciting trend moving forward, that we need to rethink of activism so much less about imposing things from outside and more enabling communities to figure it out. Thes and our roll has to change in the way we engage the with a we listen and the way we support each other, and so im excited about communities are the customer for a practical activist thats the way i think pout it. I totally agree. I think a good next question from your previous answer is from jean who asked what is the role if any of simply donating money as a tool of practical activism and thats an important question, whether were thinking but the local issues or for the global ones. Yeah. Look, i can say this as a guy that spent most of the last many years of his life holding out tin cups, we cant we have to be realizes. Theres a bet realist. Theres a bit of me and known in my circled not as the kind of the guy behind the scene who finally has to be brought in to get things done, and that practical practitioner rolfe i never ignore the role of money which is necessary in always to make change happen. So, i think its very powerful tool, and one that practical activists and others need to figure out how to provide resources. Sometimes its not money, its Financial Issues but time, resources, other ways to contribute, and theres nothing wrong with just writing a big check or a small check, and i would never dismiss that. We have to be careful that we dont going back to i earlier conversation but giving back we dont get caught up in this cycle that its all about big tickets philanthropy and thats the action is. I think i talk about this with bill and melinda gates. To make a difference in the world. And Financial Resources are necessary for activists. For people on the front line, and they know super well. People dont realize most of africa and Health Workers are generally volunteers. There is a new kind of effort to say coming actually moved to a workforce to ensure were going to provide universal healthcare. People have to get paid. Those kind of things are going to be increasingly important. A lot of volunteers are women. So yes. I could not agree more. I think going to go to more questions from the question box. One i think is you can interpret however you wish. Its from roger. Roger asked what lessons can we learn from 2020 . Back i would say there are two that come to mind top of mind. Its a super tough question. There are so many things that happen this year its hard to imagine in some context. One is leadership. Throughout the world i am lucky to see this crisis in this year through multiple angles. Even though im sitting in the United States and here because we cant get out the walls effectively built around it. Id do get to perfect globally every day. And leadership has really mattered. Thats not Just National leadership but local leadership, Public Health leadership. People can trust the communities can trust them to do the right thing. It is such a powerful lesson no now. We have seen the difference at the National Level locally this pandemic in the knighted states look at a county or state level it is a staggering political effort. I think that matters. I also think the other one is a counter to that. Everybody can do something. To your point earlier, chelsea there is also been this amazing, amazing response by communities and by people coming forward volunteers for kids able to go to school. He put their science to work to help people come up with ways to the Mental Health. I have seen so much goodness in so much innovation coming out of this pretty think that is an important lesson. I hope we can hold that lesson tight because i think its easier than at some point going to be done with the pandemic. And we are all back to normal. I dont think that will happen. Im positive and optimistic the world will keep moving forward in a positive way. Things are going to look different. I think thats true also around the election. Its a big chunk of the population is still going to be unhappy. Going to have a lot of divisiveness. Were going to have to keep using every tool in our toolkit to keep addressing social changes. And supporting each other. Suspect i could not agree more. And steve since you mentioned the election i feel like i have to answer the first question that was submitted, submitted to me as someone who grew up in a political family what experience do you think candidate for the presidency should have . I think a steve said certainly Leadership Matters. I think thats really important that we not only think that Leadership Matters at the National Level. It really matters who is elected at every level. Whether were thinking about who is sitting on our local school board and kind of the local City Council Seat represents our neighborhood, who is representing our family in the state legislature . And who is or state attorneys general our governor . Is representing us in congress and the senate of course and he was sitting in the white house. We have certainly seen who runs for office matters. Im so thankful we have had now in 20182020 and unprecedented number of women running an office for every level. We are people running for office at every level. It still overwhelmingly it is white men, nothing against them in my them greatly. We need people running for office click our country and also have the diversity of experience that exists in our country. I think to run for office two things should be true. One, you certainly should believe in Public Service on both the public and the service part of that. Those two must go together. I think we are under an administration where theres no interest in the public good or the service. You have to believe in Public Service. You have to kind of believe you are running to serve the publics interest. I think the second thing that has to be true as you have to have a clear vision of what you would do in that office. If you really care about criminal Justice Reform thinking about running for district attorney, or state legislature. If you really care about recycling programs run for the local sanitation board for the county commission or the city council. If you really care about Foreign Policy run for congress, run for the senate. Have a clear view of why are running what you want to do when youre in office. You also have to have, then the third point the belief that you have the right mix of skills and experience to actually then be able to do the job that you hope to do. When i think have to have mixer that the tenacity and persistence to just never, never give up and never forget why you went for office in the first place. And since you asked about kind of running for president , i think he should have had a Public Office before you run for president. Weve had a number of president s who had vary widely different experiences. Somehow i think have been very good jobs on kind of helping expanded the definition of we and we the people. We said that motivated her Public Service but not in elected office. Weve had terrific president s have been governors and mayors and senators in congress. I do think its important they held Public Office before. Want to give the last word to steep before we hand it back to townhall. I think steve the last point i went and on as a personal question was me as a parent or anyone who has had really young people in their lives. Whether you are parent, grandparent, older sibling, aunt, uncle and mentor teacher , what advice would you give on raising citizens and political activist . I think youve done such an amazing job already kind of working. I think your books are totally amazing by the way purred go by her books to if you havent. As a way to communicate to kids of the power of engagement. I think its more about trying to develop service as a habit early on. Not to be too rigorous about it or maybe some people like you have to do. The allowance of a little bit you little bit for the 30 things like that. But also even with their time. Can look as simple as pulling the neighbors weeds. But we starting to set those habits early. You can do that as a young soul. Because i think kids get into habits that you dont think about how im going to schedule my day or my time for my resources. If you dont start the habit early part or to do later in your life honestly. I think that would be one. Theres all of these little ways that weve always been taught are parents of thomas to see the helping each other and i know that sounds a little kumbaya. But i think it leads to bigger social change. But in the end, surpassing the times in the front. The book is about. Theres pretty and amazingly powerful current out there thats great examples of activists have done some cool things, finding their of all ages, all types of backgrounds and experiences. They plugged in and are changing the world a little bit at a time. To me, that is like the most important way to deal which is the title of the book which is to take that outrage and figure out how to channel it in a way that is meaningful. And hopefully will change the world a little bit. Thanks chelsey so much. Its always such a pleasure to spend any time with you. Im such a big fan im really grateful to you into your family family. Thank you so much. I just loved every second of our conversation prethank you to townhall for having us this evening. On behalf of townhall he wanted think chelsea and steve for being with us this evening. I dont think everybody else for tuning in. We really appreciate you spending your evening with us. If you enjoyed this event and can find many more like it on our website townhall seattle. Or seattle. Org. We hope youll consider making a donation as your support will allow us to continue to provide events just like this one part if youre interested in purchasing a copy of steves books, channeling outrage to spark practical activism please use the link on the slide stream page to purchase through our friends at elliotts company. Thank you again for being here have a great evening everybody. Book tv on cspan2 has top books and authors every weekend. Coming up this weekend, tonight at 9 00 p. M. Easte, former president barack obama reflects on his life and political career and his newly released memoir a promised land. Sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on after words openmarket Institute Sally Hubbard and hers book monopoly sucks seven ways big corporations ruin your life and how to take back control. E is interviewed by Bloomberg News reporter david mcglothlin. In it ten former appellate judge and law professor Douglas Ginsburg in his book races of all republic examines the constitution to the eyes of judges, legal scholars and historians. Watch book tv on cspan2 this weekend and be sure to watch indepth live sunday december 6 at noon eastern with their guest author and chair of africanamerican studies at Princeton University eddie brought junior. On her weekly Author Interview program, after words, Data Scientist interviewedeborah stone about her book counting which he argued numbe are not always objtive, heres a portion of the interview. Anything we can do to help people, help our leade make better decisions is a good thin tng. And i think the good thing about numbers is that we measure things if itomes up with a system whether its an algorithm or bunch of indicators is that exercise of trying to measure things forces us to think about wha we value, what we care about what is important. I think the point ient to leave people with is, weve got a system. Maybe its better maybe its got problems but its better then all winging it or whatever but with done before anything that can take the burden offs good. Wehouldnt stop ever. We should always try to improve those systems. D those measurements. I think if we think of numbers as a lguage for talking about values and what is important and who is being rt and who is being helped, then using them wisely. If we think of them as this is the score, that is the end i am right, you are wro
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