This First Friday Lecture is supported by gifts made in memory of Basic Program Instructor Claudia Traudt. Plato’s dialogue Phaedo tells the story of Socrates’ last day, with Socrates holding a conversation with his friends in his jail cell as he is preparing to have his death sentence carried out. Throughout the dialogue, Plato depicts Socrates attempts…...
How can we lean in and embrace the opportunities presented by midlife? Watch our conversation with Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and founder and CEO of the Modern Elder Academy. Our conversation with Chip will explore his latest book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age.
Your Next Chapter Matters is a virtual conversation series with distinguished individuals who have activated encore chapters of leadership for society. In this conversation, we speak with LSI Advisor Michelle Seitz, former Chair and CEO of Russell Investments, about her next chapter of leadership as the founder of MeydenVest Partners, where she partners “with world…...
What are the challenges of retiring from a longstanding and accomplished career? And how do you overcome them? Watch our conversation with bestselling author and visionary leader Rick Smith. Rick recently co-authored “The Challenges of Retiring from a High-Powered Job” (Harvard Business Review) based on interviews with dozens of executives. We speak with Rick about…...
As the academic study of love continues to grow, whether in the largely European field of “love studies” or in the more disciplinary discourses of the American academy one sentiment seems to remain: love has largely been ignored in intellectual discourse due to its complexity and nuance. These academics’ concerns echo Phaedrus in Plato’s Symposium:…...
The nineteenth century saw the advent of the scientist as both a word and a concept. The “natural philosopher,” whose purview had for centuries been a theoretical understanding of the world, was replaced by a different kind of expert: the scientist (a word coined in 1834), whose expertise was practical and pertinent to a world…...
In today’s polarized, contradictory and fragmented information environment, it can be hard to know what to believe. Public figures promote radically different narratives about events, each amplified by media that the public regards as less and less trustworthy. The truth is out there, but in today’s chaotic media ecosystem, where do you find it? Watch…...
This First Friday Lecture explored the figure of Nature in Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose and Alain of Lille’s earlier work The Plaint of Nature, as well as the nature of allegory and the relationship between medieval, ancient, and modern views of nature.
The press is the only industry singled out in the Constitution (in the First Amendment) for protection from government interference. The reason is simple: the framers understood the essential role that trustworthy, independent media play in a healthy democracy. Today that role is being challenged by hostile politicians, a mistrustful public and digital competition—and democracy…...
This First Friday lecture explored the Herman Melville’s 1851 classic Moby Dick, a work regarded for its density and difficulty, as well as the context surrounding it. One salient feature of Melville’s 1851 masterpiece is its sheer magnitude. It isn’t that it’s the longest of 19th-century novels. Shorter than War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov,…...
In recent decades, numerous studies have illuminated a concerning trend: a decline in the role of facts and analysis in public life. The RAND Corporation has been closely examining this trend through an ongoing research series called Truth Decay. Watch our conversation with Michael Rich, President Emeritus of RAND and coauthor of Truth Decay, to…...
Watch our conversation with New York Times columnist and Leadership & Society Initiative (LSI) Senior Advisor David Brooks about longevity, the changing structure of adulthood, and how to design a purposeful “second mountain.” Alongside David, we also speak with two current LSI Fellows about their journeys to design and activate next chapters of purpose.