Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Bill Gurley: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love Mar 08, 2026

Show notes

Life is a use-it-or-lose-it situation, says our speaker. Shouldn't you try to spend it doing something you love? Venture capitalist Bill Gurley has set out to teach people his ideas for how to find your dream job and avoid a career you’ll regret.

For lots of young people, career paths feel like conveyor belts—the next test, the next application, the next college—without a pause to ask what they really want to do with their lives. After Gurley went to college, he landed a job at a famous tech company. A dream job, right? But he was bored, so he took a chance and leapt into the unknown, eventually finding his place in the world of venture capital.

Such a result is rare. He says nearly six in ten people would do things differently if they could start over. So how can you avoid career regret? What can people at the top of their fields teach you about loving what they do? Gurley has assembled six principles to flourish in your chosen career, and he has explained it all in his new book Runnin’ Down a Dream.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freedom to Scroll: Social Media and Society in 2026 Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

The average American teenager spends 4.8 hours a day on social media—but what are the actual effects of all this screen time? How have online platforms shifted our ways of talking and thinking about society? About the nation? What should we do about it? Over the course of one day, students from three different Bay Area high schools are invited to question and sharpen their discourse skills while exploring these questions for themselves.

In the morning, speakers Myles Bess (Above the Noise, ONE Creator Lab) and Gabriela Nguyen (Appstinence) will engage with these topics and model respectful, productive dialogue, discussing their experiences and opinions to build an understanding of the issue, and each other. Students will engage in listening activities and evidence-based discussion groups covering news media, California privacy laws, and international attempts to address our changing world.

This program is part of Creating Citizens, the civics education initiative at Commonwealth Club World Affairs.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miranda Spivack: Backroom Deals in Our Backyards Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

While we are continually being inundated with news about what the federal government is up to, and wondering what else is going on that we don’t know about, Miranda Spivack reminds us that most Americans are more likely to encounter the effects of government malfeasance or neglect closer to home—from their governors, mayors, town councils, school boards, police and prosecutors. Deals shrouded in darkness are regularly made at the state and local levels, the result of closed-door discussions between government officials and industry leaders without any scrutiny whatsoever from the public.

As Spivack’s groundbreaking investigative reporting makes clear, residents are intentionally kept on the outside, struggling to get information about significant issues affecting their communities—from car crashes and dirty drinking water, to failing safety gear—until the backroom deals are done and it’s too late to challenge them effectively.

Based on years of original reporting, Spivack tells the story of five “accidental activists”—people from across the United States who started questioning why their local and state governments didn’t protect them from issues facing their communities and why there was a frightening lack of transparency surrounding the way these issues were resolved. The secret deals, lies, and corruption they uncovered shook their faith in government but also moved them to action. Spivack’s revealing take on a hidden dimension of American politics will outrage and educate anyone who cares about the forces shaping their own communities. And it will show how ordinary people are fighting back against their local and state governments to keep their communities safer.

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: George Hammond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: Cities Leading the Way Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

While the federal government has all but abandoned trying to address the climate crisis, cities around the world are stepping up. C40 is an international network of 97 cities representing 920 million people and 23% of the world’s economy. Almost three out of four of these cities have already peaked their emissions. Here in the U.S., Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 municipal leaders, representing 48 states and more than 70 million Americans. How are cities innovating on reducing emissions, adapting to increasing climate risks, and — perhaps most importantly — sharing their knowledge?

Episode Guests:

Eric Garcetti, C40 Ambassador for Global Climate Diplomacy; Former Mayor, Los Angeles

Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix; Former Chair, Climate Mayors

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit https://climateone.org/podcasts

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

2:46 Eric Garcetti on his time as mayor of LA

9:45 Eric Garcetti on where cities are moving the needle

17:47 Eric Garcetti on cities on the world stage

22:11 Eric Garcetti on the work of C40

26:20 Eric Garcetti on knowledge sharing

32:17 Eric Garcetti on co-leading

40:11 Kate Gallego on dealing with the heat in Phoenix

43:46 Kate Gallego on affordability

48:10 Kate Gallego on regulating data centers

52:35 Kate Gallego on working with other mayors

**********

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at ⁠⁠patreon.com/ClimateOne⁠⁠.

Ad sales by ⁠⁠Multitude⁠⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skills for a Workforce of Humans, Agents, and Robots Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

AI-powered agents and robots are already technically capable of performing an increasing share of human work. So how can workers, managers and organizations adapt to the dramatic shift?

A new McKinsey Global Institute report offers a roadmap. While AI is transforming the workplace at unprecedented speed, people will remain essential for many tasks that are still beyond AI’s capabilities—and to supervise, manage and collaborate with the technology. In fact, the demand for workers with AI fluency has grown dramatically over the past two years. Work in the future will be a partnership between people, agents and robots.

Which skills are likely to be most—and least—impacted by automation? How can public institutions help by aligning education and training with emerging skill needs—from AI fluency to skilled trades—and widening access to opportunity? And what strategies can organizations adopt to help their workforce adapt? Join us for a conversation with report authors Alexis Krivkovich and Anu Madgavkar of McKinsey Global Institute, along with Katy George, Microsoft's corporate vice president of workforce transformation, and Kevin Delaney, editor-in-chief of The San Francisco Standard. They will discuss the research findings and share practical guidance for navigating the transition to human-AI collaboration at work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Public Defender’s Search for Justice, with Emily Galvin Almanza Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

As a public defender in California and New York, Emily Galvin Almanza became frustrated by an overburdened justice system focused on locking people up while having, she says, “essentially zero impact on the crime rate.” Time and again, she saw ordinary peoples’ lives upended by the court system. So she co-founded an organization, Partners for Justice, aimed at supporting and empowering public defenders. Now operating in more than 20 states, the group places advocates in public defenders’ offices to help clients find stable housing, employment and other services . . . and stay out of jail.

In her new book, The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender's Search for Justice in America, Galvin Almanza draws on these first-hand experiences and the latest crime data to argue that institutional decisions, such as prosecutorial incentives, policing tactics, or even when a judge has lunch, can have disastrous impacts on people who find themselves in the judicial process.

She looks at how police overtime practices affect justice, how jail conditions can increase future crime, and how flawed forensic technology has resulted in the incarceration of innocent individuals. Despite these sobering facts, she also emphasizes solutions: such as how public defenders enhance community stability and health, and how small environmental investments, such as planting trees, can actually reduce crime rates.

Join Emily Galvin Almanza to hear her blueprint for transforming our criminal justice system.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank Lavin: Inside the Reagan White House Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

The Reagan presidency marked a turning point in American political history, bringing in changes in voting allegiances, long-lasting economic and foreign policy shifts, and a new direction in the country’s political culture that lasted for decades. Now former Reagan aide Frank Lavin comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to share behind-the-scenes stories of the Reagan White House.

Drawing on his new book Inside the Reagan White House: A Front-Row Seat to Presidential Leadership with Lessons for Today, Lavin includes a mix of personal stories, insights on the president, discussions of policy and historical events, and crazy, colorful anecdotes in his insider’s look at the Reagan presidency. The Reagan assassination attempt, the Gorbachev Reykjavik summit, Ollie North and the Contras, the 1988 Bush-Dukakis contest and other critical moments of the Reagan years are all covered.

Lavin also offers original insights into Reagan cabinet members and other top players, along with personal anecdotes, off-hand comments, and unique family details. Not to mention the movie stars, Soviet spies, neo-Nazis, plain old Nazis, intimate affairs, fights on planes, and con men who were chased by Interpol.

But Lavin says that at the heart of his story are the thousands of dedicated Americans who helped Ronald Reagan as he worked to push back against the Soviet Union, promote democracy, improve trade, lower taxes, and reduce the size and scope of government—back when those were the main focuses of conservative Republicans.

Join us to discuss whether the Reagan years provide us with any lessons for our current political situation.

Organizer: George Hammond

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Arctic: An Emerging Ocean Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Don’t miss out on an evening celebration of a philanthropic milestone and the exploration of an increasingly important development in the Arctic.

Today, we are witnessing the emergence of a new ocean. For almost all of human history, the Arctic Ocean has been a frozen sea dominated by sea ice whose properties include the ability to reflect sunlight. It has played an essential role in regulating the climate well beyond the Arctic. Simply put, it has long served as Earth’s air conditioner. The changes in the Arctic Ocean are affecting many sectors, including global climate, of course, as well as conservation and environmental preservation, fisheries and aquaculture, other sea life, navigation, trade, tourism, renewable energy, marine biotech, green tech, vegetation, digital connectivity and infrastructure, and the 4 million people in five countries who live along the Arctic Ocean coastline including Indigenous peoples and their cultures.

As the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation concludes its 25th year, we invite you to participate in a fascinating discussion on emerging conservation opportunities in the Arctic. Join leading conservationists Louie Porta and Enric Sala for an exclusive film screening and in-depth discussion about this rapidly changing ocean.

Enric Sala is a National Geographic Explorer and director of Pristine Seas, a project that combines exploration, research, filmmaking, economics and policy—working with local communities, Indigenous peoples and governments to protect vital places in the ocean. Louie Porta is the program director of the Arctic Ocean Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming.

This program is presented by Commonwealth Club World Affairs, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and National Geographic Pristine Seas.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Age of Tech x Biopharma Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

AI and emerging technologies are reshaping biopharma and redefining how science is built, scaled and valued. As the landscape shifts, the industry must confront critical questions about leadership, capital strategy and what innovation really looks like in the years ahead.

Join us to hear inside perspectives from senior leaders across biopharma and technology on:

What’s driving momentum at the intersection of tech and science
Where unsolved challenges are creating the next wave of opportunity

This event is designed for technology and life sciences leaders, investors and stakeholders who want to learn from peers, identify emerging opportunities, and understand how data and AI will shape the next phase of biopharma.

Dress code (encouraged): Elevated business attire or cocktail wear. In celebration of Black History Month, MelanInScience and WeAre encourage attendees to wear skin tone-inspired shades to reflect the beauty and diversity of all complexions.

Hosted by MelanInScience and WeAre.

See more Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Shermer: Truth! What Is It? And How To Find It! Mar 01, 2026

Show notes

There are scientific truths, religious truths, historical truths, mythical truths, and more. In our current swamp of misinformation, disinformation, truthiness, rewritten history, conspiracy theories, “fake news,” and bald-faced lies, how do we discern actual facts and truth? What is “truth,” anyway? The Declaration of Independence claims that “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” What about those “truths”? These questions are crucial if we’re to have a functioning democracy.

Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of the new book Truth, returns to our podium to tackle these issues with us. He will clarify the different kinds of truth, take us on an entertaining ride through some classic fallacies, and then show us how to figure out, within the context of the various types of “truth,” whether a particular “fact” is, in fact, factual.

So join us for an informative discussion and maybe a few enjoyable, and illuminating, experiential exercises in which we'll practice tackling the problem of finding truth, then maybe have dinner afterward at a nearby restaurant!

A Personal Growth Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: Eric Siegel

The program contains EXPLICIT language.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected