IDEAS: The Magazine of The Aspen Institute Winter 2018

EVERYTHING
IN MODERATION
ASPEN SEMINARS’
EXPERT CORPS
THE
AMERICAN
WEST
ASPEN ON
THE PRAIRIE
ACROSS
THE AISLE
THE
CONGRESSIONAL
PROGRAM
TACKLES
PARTISANSHIP
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Aspen Valley Hospital partners with
#1 ranked Hospital for Special Surgery
The Board of Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH)
has solidified an agreement to bring the
world-class capabilities of New York-based
Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) to Aspen.
This exciting partnership combines the
excellence of Aspen’s renowned orthopedic
group, OrthoAspen, with the #1 orthopedic
hospital in the country, as ranked by U.S.
News & World Report for the past nine
consecutive years.
Photo L to R: Louis Shapiro, President and CEO of Hospital for
Special Surgery and Dave Ressler, CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital,
HSS is widely regarded as the leader in shake hands on the new clinical partnership during a reception
orthopedics and this relationship will give at the St. Regis Hotel on August 17, 2018.
our local OrthoAspen doctors access to
tremendous resources, research, clinical “This partnership is a great example of
protocols and training. Specifically, the our different approach to transforming
partnership will drive elevated outcomes healthcare,” said Louis A. Shapiro, president
for orthopedic patients at AVH through and CEO of HSS. “Innovative collaboration
clinical knowledge transfer, medical staff amongst two organizations committed to
development, professional education, excellence in a focused specialty offers an
research and academic programming, and alternative source of value to the trend of
quality enhancements. mass consolidation and commoditization in
healthcare.”
“This transformative partnership is very
exciting for both AVH and HSS because it As two nonprofit hospitals each with
clearly demonstrates our shared commitment extensive histories serving their respective
to delivering the best possible orthopedic communities, both HSS and AVH share
outcomes,” said Dave Ressler, CEO of Aspen common values and a commitment to
Valley Hospital. providing the best possible care for our
patients and communities.
For HSS, their seasoned surgeons, residents
and fellows now have a terrific opportunity For more information or to schedule an
to learn about orthopedic trauma, an area appointment with OrthoAspen, please call
where AVH holds great clinical expertise. 970.544.1289.
970.544.1302 | avhf@aspenhospital.org | supportaspenvalleyhospital.org

From underwriting the 2017 Leonardo da Vinci Celebration to this summer’s exploration of
the American West, Lugano Diamonds is honored to support The Aspen Institute. Our creative
collaboration will continue with sponsorship of the prestigious 2019 Bauhaus Program.
NE WPORT BE ACH | ASPEN | PALM BE ACH | 866. 584.2666 | LUGANODIAMONDS.COM

CONTENTS
DEPARTMENTS

8 | W H AT I S T H E I N S T I T U T E ?
1 3 | A R O U N D T H E I N S T I T U T E
The Institute hits the streets of Detroit for CityLab, we
kick-start a project to cure the flu, psychiatrists debate the
25th Amendment, we dive into an ocean initiative, the
Brian Skerry
McNulty Prize laureates are revealed, and much more.
14
3 0 | A S P E N L I B R I S
Four authors step onto the Institute stage to discuss their
latest books. Stuart Eizenstat remembers working with
Jimmy Carter, Doris Kearns Goodwin rediscovers the
presidency, Arne Duncan looks at the future of education,
and David Sanger warns of rising cyber insecurity.
3 2 | A S H E A R D AT
US Representatives Mike Rogers and Jim Cooper
explain why a space corps is vital for national defense;
James Kilsby, Morgan Sword, Keith Whyte, and Laila
Riccardo Savi
Mintas discuss the legalization of sports betting.
32
40 | I M PA C T
Aspen Words provides a space for writers to find their
voices; a former Henry Crown fellow launches the
Finance Leaders Fellowship.
6 4 | FA C E S

Behind the scenes at Institute events.
6 8 | FA C T S
Get to know the Institute’s programs.
7 2 | PA R T I N G S H O T
Dan Bayer
The Aspen Institute has a close encounter in Detroit.
40
ON THE COVER
THE
AMERICAN WEST
ASPEN ON THE PRAIRIE
ACROSS THE AISLE EVERYTHING IN

MODERATION
FINANCE STARS A re-created 19th century
Kris Tripplaar
THE CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM CORPORATE LEADERS
Western town near Aspen

TACKLES PARTISANSHIP ASPEN SEMINARS’ MAKE A SOCIAL IMPACT
EXPERT CORP
72
4 IDEAS WINTER 2018/19

The Datejust 41
The new generation of the essential classic, with a new movement
and design that keep it at the forefront of watchmaking.
It doesn’t just tell time. It tells history.
Brian Skerry
Riccardo Savi
Dan Bayer
oyster perpetual DATEJUST 41

Kris Tripplaar
rolex oyster perpetual and datejust are ® trademarks.

CONTENTS
FEATURES
42 | EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
The Institute’s seminars are unique: they rely on great texts and
superlative moderators who infuse the room with intellectual
rigor and trust. Nicole Corea discovers that just as the
Aspen seminar can be life-changing for participants, it can be
transcendant for the moderator.
48 | THE AMERICAN WEST

Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Sitting Bull, and Geronimo all made
an appearance in the imaginations of Society of Fellows guests
at a symposium on 19th-century America. Catherine Lutz
tagged along as historians examined a re-created Western town
as well as the nation’s storied past.
Dan Bayer
N
42
52 | LEFT, RIGHT, & CENTER
For many Americans, Washington, DC, would not be the first
place they would look for collaboration and goodwill. But
Carrie Rowell finds the Institute’s Congressional Program is
changing that perception, one member of Congress at a time.
Dan Bayer, Shutter Stock

THE JOURNAL OF IDEAS
48 52
58 | STRONG MEDICINE
Six former FDA commissioners met in Aspen, agreed the
agency should become independent, and decided to do
something about it. Ruth Katz explains how the Institute
helped them create a plan to untether the FDA.
60 | STAKE YOUR CLAIM

Americans’ earnings are stagnating as the cost of living rises.
Could giving employees a stake in their company be the
answer? Maureen Conway makes the case for capital share 58
strategies, arguing they are good for earnings, productivity,
women, minorities, the economy, and even democracy.
Illustrations by Kissane Viola Design
62 | VOICE OF EUROPE
Nationalist ferver is spreading across the Western world,
threatening democratic values. Mircea Geoana explains why
the Institute’s European branches must activate their leadership
STRONG MEDICINE
Six former FDA heads met at Spotlight Health and agreed the FDA should
be an independent agency. The Health, Medicine and Society Program
networks and map out a more inclusive continent. jumped on the idea. Now, the program and commissioners have a plan
to liberate the FDA. By
60 62

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Pr oje
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Dan Bayer
NBC’s Mary Carillo and Skateboarding Pioneer Tony Hawk The Stanley Cup! Olympic Champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Building Sport for All,

Play for Life Communities
3 3.9M people reached on Twitter,
Dan Bayer, Shutter Stock
850,000+ on Facebook livestreams

3 400+ attendees (4th straight sellout)
3 60+ speakers
3 43 commitments to action
3 2 full days of programming NBA Legend Kobe Bryant and Owen Norwood
International Trailblazers Where in the World Have You Played? Exercise Break!
Illustrations by Kissane Viola Design
Thank you to our partners
Summit Sponsors Post-Summit Workshop Sponsors
THEHORNER
F O U N D A T I O N
WHAT IS THE ASPEN INSTITUTE?
Tricia Johnson
The Aspen Institute's mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a
nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is headquartered in Washington,
DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern
Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.

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Executive Vice President, Finance and Administrative Services;
Chief Financial Officer; Corporate Treasurer
DAVID LANGSTAFF
It should go without saying but somehow it doesn’t: the Interim Executive Vice President, Leadership and Seminars
range of people the Institute draws in, and who are drawn to the ERIC L. MOTLEY, PhD
Institute, is year to year a source of constant surprise. Week to Executive Vice President, Institutional Advancement; Corporate Secretary
week, I should say. At the annual New York City Awards Dinner JAMES M. SPIEGELMAN
(see “Faces,” page 64), a very large and grand event, I listened Vice President and Chief of Staff
to Darren Walker, the visionary head of the Ford Foundation EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND PUBLISHER CORBY KUMMER
who is laser-focused on dismantling inequality of many EXECUTIVE EDITOR SACHA ZIMMERMAN
MANAGING EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER NICOLE COREA
kinds, talk with his longtime friend Sarah SENIOR EDITORS PHERABE KOLB, JAMES M. SPIEGELMAN
Jessica Parker about their shared values, DESIGN DIRECTOR KATIE KISSANE-VIOLA
including creating and nuturing CREATIVE DIRECTOR PAUL VIOLA
deeply connected communities. DESIGNER MICHAEL STOUT
EDITOR EMERITUS JAMIE MILLER
Just a few nights later, I had ADVERTISING CYNTHIA CAMERON, 970.948.8177, adsales@aspeninstitute.org
dinner with two friends who CONTACT EDITORIAL ideas.magazine@aspeninstitute.org
had invited Clare Byarugaba, a GENERAL The Aspen Institute,
2300 N Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037
Ugandan human-rights activist
202.736.5800, www.aspeninstitute.org
who had bowled them over at
“Undaunted,” an annual event BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRMAN
in Aspen where the Institute’s New James S. Crown
Voices fellows tell their stories. Hers: BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Madeleine K. Albright, Jean-Luc Allavena, Paul F. Anderson, Donna Barksdale, Mercedes T. Bass,
the moment when she realized that as part
Miguel Bezos, Richard S. Braddock, Beth A. Brooke-Marciniak, William D. Budinger, William Bynum,
of the LGBT community, she was not safe in her Stephen L. Carter, Troy Carter, Cesar R. Conde, Phyllis Coulter, Katie Couric, Andrea Cunningham,
own church. The dinner was a very small, and inspiring, event. Kenneth L. Davis, John Doerr, Thelma Duggin, Arne Duncan, Michael D. Eisner, L. Brooks Entwistle,
Byarugaba was meeting with high-profile politicians to Alan Fletcher, Ann B. Friedman, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Mircea D. Geoana,
Antonio Gracias, Patrick W. Gross, Arjun Gupta, Jane Harman, Kaya Henderson, Hayne Hipp, Ivan Hodac,
ask them to speak out against calls to kill LGBT people, like Mark S. Hoplamazian, Gerald D. Hosier, Robert J. Hurst, Natalie Jaresko, Salman Khan, Teisuke Kitayama,
the calls she heard from the pulpit of her church. And doing Michael Klein, Satinder K. Lambah, Laura Lauder, Yo-Yo Ma, James M. Manyika, William E. Mayer,* Bonnie
all the meetings alone. Wasn’t that, well, daunting? Oh no, P. McCloskey, David McCormick, Anne Welsh McNulty, Diane Morris, Karlheinz Muhr, Clare Muñana,
she said sunnily. Every day I don’t walk out the door and feel Jerry Murdock, Marc B. Nathanson, William A. Nitze, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Jacqueline Novogratz,
Olara A. Otunnu, Elaine Pagels, Carrie Walton Penner, Daniel R. Porterfield, Margot L. Pritzker, Lynda R.
physically threatened is like being Resnick, Condoleezza Rice, James Rogers, Ricardo B. Salinas, Lewis A. Sanders, Anna Deavere Smith,
on holiday. Michelle Smith, Javier Solana, Robert K. Steel,* Shashi Tharoor,** Laurie M. Tisch, Giulio Tremonti,
At the dinner, Parker said she Eckart von Klaeden, Roderick K. von Lipsey, Vin Weber
always turned down awards, but *Chairman Emeritus **On Leave of Absence
so admired the Institute’s work she LIFETIME TRUSTEES CO-CHAIRMEN
just had to be there. It’s people Berl Bernhard, Ann Korologos*
like Byarugaba, whose LIFETIME TRUSTEES
calls to action are heard Keith Berwick, James C. Calaway,* Lester Crown, Tarun Das, William H. Donaldson, Sylvia A. Earle,
Richard N. Gardner, David Gergen, Alma L. Gildenhorn, Jacqueline Grapin, Gerald Greenwald,
globally thanks to New Irvine O. Hockaday Jr., Nina Rodale Houghton, Anne Frasher Hudson, Jérôme Huret, William N. Joy,
Voices, who keep Henry A. Kissinger, Leonard A. Lauder,* Frederic V. Malek, Olivier Mellerio, Sandra Day O’Connor,
drawing us in—and Hisashi Owada, Thomas R. Pickering, Charles Powell, Jay Sandrich, Lloyd G. Schermer, Carlo Scognamiglio,
Roman Cho
Albert H. Small, Andrew L. Stern, Paul A. Volcker, Leslie H. Wexner, Frederick B. Whittemore, Alice Young
drawing us together.
—Corby Kummer *Chairman Emeritus
The Aspen Institute sets high standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable manner.
This issue was printed by American Web on recycled fibers containing 10 percent postconsumer waste, with inks containing a blend of soy base. Our printer is a certified member of the Forestry Stewardship Council
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© 2018 Allstate Insurance Co.
AROUND THE INSTITUTE
ACTIVATING TALENT The Institute’s College Excellence Program co-manages the American Talent
Initiative, an alliance of four-year colleges and universities with graduation rates above 70 percent that has committed to enrolling
and graduating an additional 50,000 low- and moderate-income students by 2025. ATI’s newest research report, The Talent Blind
Spot, demonstrates that there is an abundance of exceptionally talented students who miss the opportunity to attend the schools
where they’re most likely to succeed—in part because schools with high graduation rates enroll far fewer community college transfer
students than other four-year schools. The report offers a path forward for ATI schools to reach these missed-opportunity community
college transfers who have historically been overlooked. americantalentinitiative.org
Each year, MORE THAN 50,000 high-achieving Among community

(3.0–4.0 GPA), low- and moderate-income community college college students,
students DON'T TRANSFER to any 4-year school.
80%
intend to attain a
Approximately 15,000 of these students have a bachelor’s degree.
3.7 GPA OR HIGHER, ONLY

suggesting they would likely succeed at even the
most competitive schools. 14%
50%
succeed and attain a
of ATI schools’ websites don't make bachelor’s degree within
any reference to transferring in from 6 years of starting
community colleges. community college.
ONLY 18% of new

If every ATI school enrolled
students are transfers across ATI schools,

COMPARED WITH 32% at all other
40 MORE
low- and moderate-income
private and public 4-year schools combined. community college transfer students
as juniors each year, ATI would be
* All data come from The Talent Blind Spot: The Case for Increasing halfway to reaching its
50,000-BY-2025 GOAL.
Community College Transfer to High-Graduation-Rate Institutions report.
Available at: aspeninstitute.org/publications/the-talent-blind-spot.
IDEAS WINTER 2018/19 13

SEA CHANGE
The ocean affects everyone no matter where we live: it produces copepod doesn’t care whether it’s in water regulated by the United
half the oxygen we breathe. Unfortunately, the ocean also serves as States, Canada, Palau, or no one at all.” The latest High Seas event
a wastebasket for enormous amounts of plastic trash, and it absorbs took place in October in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, at the fifth annual
about half of the planet’s carbon emissions. That’s why, last May, the Our Ocean Conference. There, the initiative joined forces with
Institute launched the Aspen High Seas Initiative, a program focused the Institute’s Energy and Environment Program to host a scoping
on protecting the planet’s last unregulated frontier. Individual meeting with global ocean leaders to discuss how to work together to
countries control waters extending out 200 nautical miles from design, establish, and manage marine protected areas. Sylvia Earle,
Courtesy NOLABA
land; that leaves nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans (roughly 40 an Institute lifetime trustee and National Geographic explorer-in-
percent of the Earth’s surface) beyond any one nation’s jurisdiction residence, will provide expertise as co-chair of the initiative. “Taking
in an area known as the “High Seas.” “The ocean and its inhabitants action to protect our ocean,” Earle says, “is still the best hope for
don’t recognize arbitrary political boundaries,” Michael Conathan, maintaining the integrity of our human existence.”
the initiative’s new executive director, says. “A whale, tuna, or aspeninstitute.org/aspen-high-seas-initiative
Laurence Genon
Brian Skerry
A deep-water submersible

Courtesy NOLABA
Socrates Salon participants

in New Orleans
BIG TALK IN THE BIG EASY

In October, the Socrates Program and the New Orleans Business a discussion about workforce potential, featuring Ashleigh Gardere,
Alliance partnered for a special Socrates Salon, “Change and the executive vice president and COO of the Business Alliance;
Opportunity: The Future of Work and Learning.” New Orleans is Aaron Frumin, the founder and executive director of unCommon
becoming a high-tech leader; several top technology companies Construction; and Ashley Bell, the regional administrator for the US
have made the city their new base of operations. “As a hub of Small Business Administration. The next day, participants examined
entrepreneurial innovation and rich history, New Orleans is a prime New Orleans’s role in a shifting education and work landscape. “Aspen’s
location to consider the opportunities and challenges presented by an selection of our city underscores that New Orleans is the intellectual
increasingly digital world,” said Connie Yowell, the CEO of Collective center of the Gulf South,” Quentin Messer Jr., the president
Shift and LRNG, companies that focus on merging education with and CEO of the alliance, said. “There is a lot of brainpower here.”
the digital world, who led the two-day program. The salon opened with aspeninstitute.org/socrates-program
KEEP THE FAITH

For societies to thrive, they must share a set of common values
that undergird social and governmental interactions. Values often
come from religion, yet there are deep misunderstandings among
people of different faiths—and of no faith—which can threaten
social cohesion. The Institute’s Inclusive America Project, part of
the Justice and Society Program, examines the role of religious
Laurence Genon
pluralism in a strong democracy, looking specifically at what skills

Americans need to be religiously literate as well as how to engage,
Jim Wellman, Saleema Snow, Iva E. Carruthers, Abigail Pogrebin, Robert Jones
respect, and protect one another as fellow citizens. In October,
the project held an all-day symposium in Washington, DC, that cross political lines and connect communities. The United
“Conscience, Community & Citizenship: Religious Pluralism in States, participants agreed, needs religious literacy—particularly
an Age of Religious Nationalism,” at which participants discussed young people—so that Americans can get to know their fellow
how to celebrate America’s religious diversity with a new national citizens better and connect with people of every denomination.
Brian Skerry
civil-religious narrative and how to access common religious tenets aspeninstitute.org/inclusive-america-project

WHAT TO READ THIS WINTER

Aspen Words will welcome authors at the height of their careers to discuss their work
at the 22nd annual Winter Words series in Aspen. Even if you can’t make it to Aspen,
here are seven titles to add to your reading list. aspenwords.org
Dark Money: The

You Think It, I’ll Say It
Hidden History of
by Curtis Sittenfeld
the Billionaires
Best-selling novelist Sittenfeld, a smart,
Behind the Rise of
funny observer of human relationships,
the Radical Right
takes on the short story in her new
by Jane Mayer
collection.
The investigative journalist
traces the influx of special-
interest money in politics
and the rise of an American
oligarchy, while shining
a light on democracy’s Everything Happens for A Reason:
The Push: A Climber’s
darkest corners. And Other Lies I’ve Loved
Search for the Path
by Kate Bowler
by Tommy Caldwell
This memoir—about a divinity professor’s
From the top of the
search for answers as she battles a fatal
sport-climbing circuit, to
cancer—is heartbreaking yet also manages
becoming a hostage in
to be funny, provocative, and inspiring.
Kyrgyzstan, to the first
free-climb of the Dawn
Wall on Yosemite’s El The News from The
Capitan, this memoir End of The World
tackles startling and By Emily Jeanne Miller
ambitious athletic feats. Set on Cape Cod during
the off-season, this
engrossing novel examines
a family on the brink of
catastrophe.
The Underground Railroad Why Religion?

by Colson Whitehead A Personal Story
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and by Elaine Pagels
National Book Award, this novel Why is religion still around
follows a slave who escapes a in the 21st century? The
Georgia cotton plantation by Princeton scholar and
following a literal underground Institute trustee looks to
rail system. her own life for answers.
Kris Tripplaar

The Detroit Youth Choir performs a Motown medley.
MAKING THE MOST OF MOTOR CITY

The Institute along with The Atlantic and Bloomberg Philanthropies also attended a special reception at the Museum of Contemporary
hosted the sixth annual CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Art Detroit, where performance artists wove their way through the
Challenges, a forum to highlight innovative urban strategies and crowds. Finally, the CityLab group toured two of Detroit’s most
leadership. Previously held in New York, Los Angeles, London, sought-after project sites, the Tiny Homes Neighborhood and the
Miami, and Paris, the event brought to Detroit a group of 34 mayors Empowerment Plan, both of which target Detroit’s homeless and
and more than 600 participants from over 150 cities around the vulnerable populations and offer them access to home ownership
world for the two-day summit. and employment services.
CityLab used Detroit’s ongoing comeback story to guide the Detroit artist jessica Care moore described the role of art and
program. “We’ve gone from 1.8 million to 700,000 people,” artists in city-building: “As we develop new cities and revitalize cities,
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said. “This trend you’re seeing around if you do it without the artists who represent the heartbeat, the soul
the world of young people moving to urban areas is hitting us in a of the city, then you’re doing a disservice to the city.” Care moore
different way” (see “The Once and Future City,” page 72). performed a couple of powerful poems celebrating Detroiters. “We
CityLab 2018 looked at policy-driven solutions for creating know the value of who we are, so it’s just about the city stepping up
inclusive economies, building citizen engagement in the digital and celebrating that so the world would know.”
age, promoting the arts for vibrant communities, ensuring urban citylab2018.theatlantic.com
accessibility, combating the opioid crisis, serving border communities,
and curbing gun violence. Attendees also explored every corner
of the city: the Eastern Market District, where they heard from
local food entrepreneurs about Detroit’s thriving culinary start-up
scene; the Real-Time Crime Center, where local businesses partner
with the police to promote safety; the Fitzgerald Neighborhood,
which is turning vacant areas into community assets; Michigan
Central Station, where developers are making new plans for the
once-abandoned train station; and the Livernois corridor, where
Kris Tripplaar
small businesses are creating economic revitalization. Participants Care moore

DUTY TO WARN?
Drafted in the aftermath of President John
F. Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment
to the US Constitution augmented the
presidential succession provisions of Article II.
It provides for a temporary transfer of power if
the president undergoes a medical procedure
or becomes incapacitated. Its Section 4 also
provides for situations when the president cannot
or will not recognize his or her own inability. That last
section has largely been overlooked—until recently, when
it captured the public imagination despite not being well
understood. The Institute’s Justice and Society Program
hosted a discussion with two psychiatrists to get a better
idea of this never-used provision with Dr. Bandy Lee, the
co-founder of Yale’s Violence and Health Study Group and the
organizer of a conference on President Donald Trump’s mental
health that resulted in the book The Dangerous Case of Donald
Trump, and Dr. Sally Satel, a resident scholar at the American
Enterprise Institute and a lecturer at the Yale University School
of Medicine. aspeninstitute.org/justice-and-society
Bandy Lee: We have responsibilities to our patients and a

separate responsibility to society. The 25th Amendment
is a political process, but it does not mean the decision to incompetence, or unfitness would be almost inconceivable to
employ it has to be made in an uninformed way. Experts like make without medical consultation, a political decision is better
me make ourselves available for consultation, education, and made with appropriate expert input. I’m here to educate on that
recommendations. In fact, it’s in our ethical guidelines that we importance and what mental-health professionals can offer,
contribute to public service by consulting with the three branches because politicians may not be aware of exactly what could be
of the federal government. Just as a legal decision on disability, consulted on and what we could be available for.
“When doctors issue a warning or take steps to protect

public health, we're actually responding to our professional
responsibility to society—and here that can mean calling on
Congress or the Cabinet, who have the power to act.”

“The duty is to inform the third party and/or officials. To say that
it extends to people or figures who are not your patient? I have
a much more narrow reading of what professionals should be
doing, which is: wait to be asked.”
Mental-health issues are very familiar to us, but interventions observing the public figure, diagnosis is irrelevant. What’s the
at a national scale are not. Politicians, who have the power to prognosis? We want to know the diagnosis from the standpoint of
intervene at a national scale, by contrast do not know much the individual patient because we have to treat that person. But
about mental health. When doctors issue a warning or take from the standpoint of whether that patient can discharge their
steps to protect public health, we’re actually responding to our responsibilities, that is based on the symptoms, manifestations,
professional responsibility to society—and here that can mean or behaviors we see in front of us—which in the case of character
calling on Congress or the Cabinet, who have the power to act. pathology and the media these days is on display for the world to
So I do believe that doctors have a role—and it is not a role that see. No one needs a psychiatrist to come along and say the same
we can abandon—to address our concerns when they get to the things that frankly the public has observed.
point of affecting public well-being and public health and to meet
All transcripts have been lightly edited for
a constitutionally designated responsibility. A public figure is not length and clarity.
our patient, and we don’t approach the situation as we would a
patient but rather as our responsibility to society.
Sally Satel: It’s one thing to be consulted, but it’s another to be

proactive making a diagnosis or an assessment of fitness, which
is what you’ve done [with your book]. That’s how you interpret
the mandate of the profession. “Duty to warn” is when a doctor
has a relationship with a patient and he or she has good reason to
think that patient will harm a third party—the duty is to inform
that third party and/or officials. To say that it extends to
people or figures who are not your patient? I have a
much more narrow reading of what professionals
should be doing, which is: wait to be asked.
The president is already getting consultations.
In the typical role of consultant, we ask three
questions about a patient: What is the diagnosis?
What is the treatment? And what is the prognosis?
To me, it’s that third part, the prognosis, that is
most important in the public realm. Whatever it is,
is it impairing this person’s capacity to do their job and
discharge those duties? That is one of the most relevant
things a medical adviser can tell the people in politics, who are
the ultimate decision makers here. If you’re a patient, you should
want to know what the diagnosis is. But from the standpoint of

10 YEARS OF FIRST MOVERS

The planet’s biggest challenges will not be solved without Over the next 10 years, the Business and Society Program will
business at the table. That means tapping into business’s bring lessons from the fellowship to a broader audience. Given
experts and social innovators. In fact, Institute founder Walter Millennials’ search for purposeful work and changing consumer
Paepcke, a dynamic industrialist, recognized the potential of and investor expectations, it’s high time to prove that a new model
engaging business leaders in the quest for a more harmonious for business is possible. Luckily, First Movers fellows are paving the
society. This is the philosophy driving the Institute’s Business way. aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers
and Society Program—and, more recently, its First Movers
Fellowship. Founded in 2009, the First Movers Fellowship
identifies and empowers “corporate social intrapreneurs”—
leaders inside large companies who are finding new ways to
generate business value alongside meaningful social impact.
To create a more equitable and sustainable world, the program
believes, we need to leverage business’s resources. This effort
begins with leaders at large companies. So the Business and
Society Program identifies these “first movers” and provides them
Courtesy Business and Society Program

with the skills, support, and networks they need to align business
success with long-term social and environmental well-being. Since
its launch, more than 100 leading companies have participated in
the program, including Google, Facebook, Toyota, Nike, Johnson
& Johnson, and PepsiCo. The 2018 class of First Mover Fellows
ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF HONORED

At the sixth annual Madeleine K. Albright Global Development
Dan Bayer
Sirleaf
Lecture on November 7, 2018, the Aspen Global Innovators
Group honored Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel
Laureate and the former president of the Republic of Liberia (see
“Faces,” page 66). Each year, the lecture recognizes an individual
whose bold vision has led to ideas that tackle the challenges of
global development. The first democratically elected president
in Africa, Sirleaf has been recognized globally for securing peace
in Liberia and promoting women’s rights and safety. More than
200 Institute board members, trustees, partners, and Madeleine
Albright herself gathered at the Metropolitan Club in New York
City as Sirleaf shared her vision for incremental reforms that
will lead to transformative change in Africa. She celebrated the
tremendous progress in Liberia and across Africa in economic
prosperity, education reform, social services, and women’s
political participation. Nevertheless, Sirleaf urged the audience
not to sit still. “We are in a race against time in keeping up with the
population growth and the rising expectations of Africa’s youth,”
she declared. “We must meet their impatience with action.”
Clint Spalding
aspenglobalinnovators.org
Murphy
A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR VACCINES
Over the last few years, vaccines have made headlines. Polio is on Sabin Vaccine Institute, launched the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science
the cusp of global eradication, advances in technology offer the and Policy Group. Modeled on the Aspen Health Strategy Group,
promise of new vaccines, and social media have contributed to the initiative is co-chaired by Harvey Fineberg, the president of
the spread of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. And despite the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and former Princeton
vaccine safety and efficacy, some parents have refused to vaccinate University president Shirley Tilghman, a professor of molecular
their children. But vaccinations have been and continue to be one biology and public affairs. The group—a who’s who from the world of
of the greatest public-health achievements in history—and there vaccines as well as a range of other big thinkers, like mathematicians,
are huge opportunities to do even better. That’s why the Institute’s ecologists, and venture capitalists—focuses on one priority a
Health, Medicine and Society Program, in partnership with the year. For its first, in commemoration of the 1918 flu pandemic,
the group took a fresh look at vaccine research
and development, setting its sights on a universal
influenza vaccine. At its inaugural meeting, the
group agreed that the effort should be a concerted,
coordinated, and integrated “end-to-end” effort with
Courtesy Business and Society Program
a singular mission of developing a universal influenza

vaccine that can take the looming threat of seasonal
and pandemic influenza off the table. “I’ve wanted
to do this since I first arrived at Aspen,” Ruth Katz,
the director of the Health, Medicine and Society
Program, says. “Vaccines prevent disease and save
lives. We need a resource to tackle the challenges
we face so we can ensure vaccines will continue to do
such monumental societal good.” Now there will be.
Dan Bayer
Margaret Hamburg, Laura Riley, Dan Soltzberg aspeninstitute.org/health-medicine-and-society
TECH IN THE CITY

“How are cities changing, who benefits, and how can we make sure that the most people benefit?” Washington, DC, Deputy Mayor for
Planning and Economic Development Brian Kenner asked at an event hosted by the Institute’s Center for Urban Innovation that explored
how digitalization and automation encourages new approaches to city governance. The center’s director, Jennifer Bradley, invited Kenner
along with Scott Kratz, the director of the 11th Street Bridge Park, and Stephen Goldsmith, a Harvard professor and the former mayor
of Indianapolis, to discuss the opportunities and challenges that tech-enabled city governments face. This new form of urban governance
upends traditional bureaucracies and puts citizens at the center of operations, focusing on outcomes and changing the way public employees
work. Goldsmith stressed the predictive abilities city governments now have at their disposal and how modeling can advance data-driven
policymaking. Kratz emphasized the need for city leaders to listen to communities and build trust. New digital tech can help governments
reach and empower underserved communities, but leaders will need to be deliberate in how they use these tools. Otherwise, innovation just
Clint Spalding
might widen equity gaps instead of bridging them. aspeninstitute.org/center-urban-innovation

MEET THE 2018 MCNULTY PRIZE

WINNER & LAUREATES
Every year, the John P. McNulty Prize celebrates leaders tackling critical challenges across the globe. Named for John P. McNulty,
the $100,000 award is given to fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network whose ventures have made a profound impact
on the world. Anne Welsh McNulty, an Institute trustee and the prize’s founder, says, “The remarkable accomplishments of these
individuals and their organizations are a call to action to private-sector leaders to step up and to bring their leadership abilities,
entrepreneurial spirit, and resources to tackle the world’s toughest challenges.” This year’s honorees—announced at the Institute’s
35th Annual Awards Dinner (see “Faces,” page 64)—are addressing citizenship, conflict trauma, the vision gap, and fake news.
mcnultyfound.org/the-prize
THE 2018 MCNULTY PRIZE WINNER

MEHRDAD BAGHAI | HIGH RESOLVES | HENRY CROWN FELLOWSHIP
“I remember my family being assaulted,” Mehrdad Baghai says of hate. He realized that the current education system was falling badly
his childhood in Iran. He grew up hearing words like “unclean” hurled short when it came to instilling people with the skills necessary for
at him and his family; it was part of the persecution he endured as a complex, inclusive, and globalized society. Baghai and his wife,
a member of the Baha’i faith. Instead of becoming cynical because Roya, decided to change that. They founded High Resolves, a social
of these childhood experiences, Baghai was determined to unravel enterprise dedicated to citizenship education, as part of Baghai’s
a puzzle: how could otherwise smart and well-meaning people be Henry Crown Fellowship in 2005. Since then, High Resolves’
infected by such hate? learning simulations and curricula have taken off in Australia and are
This personal history drove Baghai’s graduate studies with Nobel expanding globally.
Laureate Tom Shelling on cooperation; informed the ideas in his In an era of rising nationalism and hate crimes, it can be
international best-selling book, As One; and continues to fuel his difficult to share Baghai’s optimism. But, Baghai says, the United
deep fascination with collective action. Even as the global head of States has faced down even more virulent threats in the past and
growth for McKinsey, where he gained critical skills in scaling, Baghai survived. He even thinks that maybe, one day, hatred can be
never lost sight of the possibility of “immunizing” people against vanquished like polio.
ABOUT HIGH RESOLVES

• High Resolves was founded in 2005 to teach citizenship,
leadership, and critical-thinking skills through immersive,
experiential educational modules.
• High Resolves has reached over 200,000 students and 350
schools in Australia and is on track to engage 50 percent of the
Australian student population by 2022.
Courtesy Aspen Global Leadership Network
• High Resolves operates on a fully self-funding basis in Australia.

• High Resolves has recently launched in the United States,
Canada, China, and Brazil.
• High Resolves has pioneered the idea of a “Citizenship Quotient,”
or CQ, which measures a person’s skill set for participating in a
pluralistic democracy.
Baghai

THE 2018 MCNULTY PRIZE LAUREATES
Hope Azeda
Ubumuntu Arts Festival
Africa Leadership Initiative-East Africa
Hope Azeda has led Rwanda’s efforts to use the arts for
reconciliation. With the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, Azeda has
brought artists from dozens of countries together to present original
performances on the trauma of conflict and the human experience,
turning the Kigali Genocide Memorial into the center of a global
movement for transformative theater and healing.
ubumuntuartsfestival.com
Azeda
Dave Gilboa
Pupils Project
Henry Crown Fellowship
Through his company, Warby Parker, Dave Gilboa has created a
public-private partnership with New York City and Baltimore public
schools to provide free in-school eye exams and glasses to students
who cannot afford them, bridging the vision gap and giving kids an
indispensable tool for effective, lifelong learning. What’s more, Gilboa is
working with Johns Hopkins University to conduct a longitudinal study
to better understand the correlation between the intervention of vision
treatment and reading scores, and the benefits of ensuring access to
glasses for children in urban settings.
warbyparker.com/pupils-project
Gilboa
Govindraj Ethiraj
IndiaSpend, BOOM, and FactChecker
Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship
Journalist and executive Govindraj Ethiraj is transforming India’s media
landscape by using a trio of ventures to improve public discourse and
transparency. IndiaSpend publishes critical, data-based, public-interest
Courtesy Aspen Global Leadership Network
journalism; FactChecker keeps news organizations and politicians honest;

and BOOM debunks viral hoaxes and misinformation that can have
deadly effects. In the world’s largest democracy, transparency and
government accountability are critical to preserving the rights and
welfare of the community.
indiaspend.com | factchecker.in | boomlive.in
Ethiraj

ACROSS THE POND

The Aspen Initiative for Europe, with leadership from Aspen Institute España and Institut Aspen France, hosted the second edition of its
Seminar for Young European Leaders this September in Ronda, Spain. The seminar, “Next-Gen Europe: Leading for Values,” was attended by
participants from 16 countries and moderated by Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer in behavioral and policy sciences at MIT, and Miguel Herrero,
a professor of classics at Complutense University of Madrid. Discussions focused on European values, the continent’s East/West divide, the
migration and humanitarian crisis, and the legitimacy of the European Union itself. The series will continue next year and will continue to build
out a network of young European leaders committed to Europe’s future (see “Voice of Europe,” page 62). aspenforeurope.org
Juan Jesús Pan

Seminar for young European Leaders
LATINOS MEAN BUSINESS

After working on Latino economic advancement by producing events, reports, and other programming for more
than a year, the Institute’s Latinos and Society Program knows that Latinos are essential to the US economy.
Despite this progress, major disparities in the economic mobility between Latinos and non-Latinos persist.
aspeninstitute.org/latinos-and-society-program
Sales that Latino firms Latino GDP in the United Latinos start businesses at One out of every two new
generate, versus what they States is $2.13 trillion—if that three times the rate of the workers entering the labor
would generate if on par with were a nation’s economy, it rest of the US population. force by 2025 will be Latino.
the average non-Latino-owned would be the seventh-largest
business, create a $1.38 trillion in the world.
opportunity gap for the US
economy.

PLAY FAVORITES Bryant
At the Institute’s 2018 Project Play Summit, the NBA’s Kobe

Bryant urged adults to “get out of the way” and allow children to
enjoy less-structured sports. “Sometimes the most important thing
you can do is just to observe,” Bryant told more than 400 people
at the Newseum in Washington, DC. “You just watch, and then
you can guide.” The summit sold out for the fourth straight year,
reached more than 850,000 people on Facebook’s livestream,
and trended on Twitter. Other speakers included sports icons like
Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Tony Hawk, NBC Sports broadcaster
Mary Carillo, and, as always, lots of kids. (Watch all of their
discussions at as.pn/PPLive.) The Sports & Society’s Project Play
Summit was also the site of more than a dozen announcements
about youth sports in America. Nike and the US Olympic
Committee partnered to develop a free, 30-minute training course
Laurence Genon
on coaching children 12 and under called HowToCoachKids.org that

was inspired by the Institute’s Project Play 2020 effort to increase
the quality and quantity of America’s volunteer youth coaches.
HealthySportIndex.com launched in partnership with the Hospital in Hawaii and Seattle were announced. The Institute, along with
Courtesy Aspen Initiative for Europe
for Special Surgery; it’s the first one-stop resource to assess the ESPN and Under Armour, will publish a “Teamwork Toolkit” in early
benefits and risks of playing in the 10 most-popular boys and girls 2019 to help community leaders build up youth sports in their own
high-school sports. The State of Play: 2018 (as.pn/play2018) areas. Finally, 20 organizations were named Project Play champions
and State of Play: Mobile County (as.pn/SOPMobile) reports (as.pn/PPChampions) in recognition of their commitment to sports
were released at the summit, and new State of Play partnerships and exemplary programming. ProjectPlay.us
CONVERSATIONS BY THE BAY

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Institute’s Morris
Series on Leadership and Innovation. Made possible by trustee
Diane L. Morris, the series brings the Institute to San Francisco
and introduces the Bay Area to the Institute’s programs. The
series hosts four events annually that highlight innovation and
technology. As a result, thousands of West Coast residents have
had firsthand access to leading experts in tech, the environment,
and politics—like Khan Academy founder Sal Khan, Ideo founder
David Kelly, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, journalist Thomas
Friedman, and explorer Sylvia Earle. “It has been wonderful
to stimulate important conversations that need to take place,”
Morris says. “Innovative ideas drive civil societies around the
world toward new challenges, and technology is redefining
Drew Altizer Photography
leadership.” Next up, the series will host a collaboration with the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to discover what China
can teach America through technological and cultural exchanges.
Jennifer Pahlka, Hoffman, Morris
aspeninstitute.org/morrisseries

THE HEART OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH

Osikhena Across the world, 3.7 billion people lack access to affordable health care, and those who
live in vulnerable and remote areas continue to bear the burden of preventable disease
and death. The United Nations recently renewed its commitment to achieving universal
health coverage, but any plan to secure health access for all people will need to prioritize
hard-to-reach populations. Strong community-health programs are poised to serve those
populations. In September, the Institute’s Aspen Management Partnership for Health
partnered with several organizations—including Amref Health Africa, Financing Alliance
for Health, the International Rescue Committee, Last Mile Health, Living Goods, and
the Rockefeller Foundation—to launch Communities at the Heart of Universal Health
Coverage. The campaign is a yearlong global effort to generate the political will to ensure
that universal strategies incorporate financially sustainable, government-owned, high-
Courtesy International Rescue Committee

quality community-health programs. AMP Health’s Uzoamaka Osikhena spoke at the
campaign’s launch and highlighted the important work of the many national ministries
of health across the globe that AMP Health supports. For example, community-health
teams in Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Zambia are building indicators into their national
health strategies to get care to the hardest-to-reach individuals. The campaign will
culminate at the United Nations in a meeting on universal health coverage in 2019.
Bill Manning
www.amphealth.org
Aspen | Avon | Crested Butte | Basalt | Glenwood Springs | Rifle
Big-City Legal Services, Small-Town Practice Attorneys in Litigation & Transactional Law
Garfield & Hecht, P.C. is a proud sponsor of the Sandra Day O’Connor Conversation Series
www.garfieldhecht.com | 970.925.1936 ph | atty@garfieldhecht.com

KEEPING SCORE:
THE INSTITUTE’S NEW TOOL TO MEASURE GOOD JOBS
For the first time, the Institute is entering into
an agreement to license intellectual property
for an innovative new tool: software that
measures job quality and employee diversity.
A longtime Institute principle holds that
doing good by rewarding workers is an integral
part of a company doing well financially. But
without some kind of measure, how does a
Courtesy International Rescue Committee
business know what’s good? That’s where the

Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative at the
Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program
comes in. By using data on employee retention,
wage growth, benefits, and diversity, the
software creates a scorecard for businesses that
Bill Manning
shows how their worker outcomes compare with

Workers at TriVersity Construction
others in their industry. Businesses can use the
scorecard to improve their practices. Investors,
lenders, and contractors can use it as part of
their decision-making process. Institute trustee Patrick Gross, the Larry Schlang, the CEO of Working Metrics, “the software uses data
chairman of the Lovell Group, a business, technology, and investment that companies already collect to provide valuable new metrics.” The
firm, advised developers, and the tool was created in partnership with Institute will continue to partner with Working Metrics to add new
Working Metrics, a for-profit organization. “This partnership helps features to the tool. Meanwhile, TriVersity Construction, a company
extend the impact of the Institute by influencing business decisions,” that provides good jobs in construction management, trade labor, and
Gross says. “Working with a for-profit company is an exciting new support services, has already earned the first Working Metrics five-star
approach, and the Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative is creating rating—the best score.
a path that other programs may one day follow.” What’s more, says aspeninstitute.org/good-companies-good-jobs
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN AMERICAN?

The Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program recently States. The Citizenship and American Identity Program is calling for
published Immigration & Civics: What Every American Should a direct counter to that narrative—a 21st-century sense of identity
Know, which explores immigrant perspectives on US civic culture. that embodies the diversity of the nation’s past and present. Over
Immigrants and their US-born children represent more than a the course of a year, the program traveled around the country
quarter of the overall population of the United States, making it asking immigrant leaders and advisers, “What do all Americans need
impossible to embrace American ideals—“we the people”—without to understand about immigrant experiences in this country?” and
also embracing immigrants. Yet debates about cultural literacy “What do new Americans need to know in order to navigate and
and US identity often omit immigrant voices. Now, with major acclimate to life here?” In the current moment, it is vital to define
demographic shifts, growing hostility toward immigrants, and rising common knowledge. So the program is also crowdsourcing a new
nativism, it is essential to demonstrate shared values. Even now, a question: “What are 10 terms or references every American should
dangerous narrative persists—one claiming that those who are not know?” Submissions will automatically aggregate to a national list.
literate in mainstream American culture do not belong in the United whateveryamericanshouldknow.org
HIGH-TECH AND HIGHLY INCLUSIVE

In an era of credit breaches and blockchain mania, technology is program examined income volatility, consumer debt, and financial-
often seen as a double-edged sword in the financial-services world. technology product development in a series of panel discussions
To lay out a comprehensive vision for how consumer research, before an audience of regulators, bankers, and technologists. “It’s all
innovation, and smart regulations can transform financial services— about access,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said during his keynote
and better assist the 70 percent of Americans facing everyday address to the forum. “It’s about making sure everyone can participate
monetary challenges—the Institute’s Financial Security Program in the thriving economy.” Federal Reserve Board of Governors
joined Federal Reserve Bank of Boston CFO and 2018 Finance member Lael Brainard agreed: “New technologies will be combined
Leaders fellow Aparna Ramesh for an event to explore financial in ways that move the needle on financial inclusion”—and toward a
inclusion. Working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the future where regulatory innovation is not an oxymoron. aspenfsp.org
Brainard
Dean Koepfler
Alexander Cronin
APPEALING TO BETTER JUDGMENT
Fourteen judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and its trial courts recently headed to the Institute’s
Wye River campus for the third Justice and Society Program custom seminar for the federal courts. The seminar has been
offered to judges in three of America’s 13 appellate courts. “Our goal,” Meryl Chertoff, the program’s executive director,
says, “is to touch judges in every circuit around the nation with our text-based course.” This special seminar asks, “How
does the law know?”; offers a session on finding facts in an era of online research; examines the so-called “CSI problem”
among juries; and looks at the challenges of crowd-sourced justice, as in podcasts like Serial that revisit the facts of a trial.
With guidance from Georgetown Law’s Dean Bill Treanor and Harvard Law’s Vicki Jackson, the judges dug into classic
readings, like Crito, and newer works by Richard Posner and Michelle Alexander. The seminar is different from those offered
at conferences and Bar Association meetings, which emphasize career development and case law. Instead, at the Institute,
busy judges reread classic texts and connect with the moral and ethical underpinnings of the law—and with one another.
aspeninstitute.org/justice-and-society

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
In 1983, when the US Department of Education published its landmark education report A Nation at Risk, it sounded an alarm about the
failing state of US education and prompted decades of debate, deep passions, and even deeper divisions. It’s time for a fresh start. Next
month, the Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development will release its own report, highlighting
how communities across the country are finding success by
focusing on the whole learner. Treating students holistically
is the key to ensuring that young people thrive in school, in
their careers, and in life. Now, a nation at risk can be a nation
of hope. The commission’s report explains how supporting the
whole learner means rethinking learning altogether. Developing
social and emotional skills—such as the ability to solve problems,
resolve conflicts, set goals, work on a team, and stick with
hard tasks—must be joined with academic content not just
occasionally but throughout the day. That’s a big change from
decades of educational practices that assume focusing on social
and emotional skills will only take time away from academics.
Dean Koepfler
The commission report offers recommendations that can help

local communities address the comprehensive development of
Meria Carstarphen, a commission member and the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, children. Read the full report here: aspensead.org.
with the Lincoln High School Drumline in Tacoma, Washington
WORDS IN THE WILD

Brodeur, Rock, Reisman explored the challenges and rewards of translating literature into
cinema. Brodeur acquired Rock’s novel for Houghton Mifflin while
Alexander Cronin
working as an editor in New York City, where she first became

captivated with the book, which was inspired by a true story. She
later gave the book to Reisman, who knew it had to be a film. “It’s
fascinating how a series of nonfiction events have inspired highly
creative endeavors in multiple forms,” Brodeur said.
The book and film follow the lives of a man and his daughter
who are forced into traditional housing after years of living in the
wildlands near Portland, Oregon. After trying to adapt to their
new surroundings and clashing with one another, they embark on
a journey back into the wild. Rock said he wrote the novel after
Craig Turpin
reading newspaper articles about a father and daughter who spent

four years living off the grid in a nature preserve near downtown
In September, Aspen Words teamed up with Aspen Film to Portland before being discovered by the police. The articles made no
present a screening of the new movie Leave No Trace, followed by mention of what ultimately became of the pair, and Rock couldn’t
a “From Book to Big Screen” discussion featuring producer Linda get them out of his mind. He used the newspaper stories as a jumping
Reisman and novelist Peter Rock, author of My Abandonment, the off point for his own writing and then let his imagination take over.
award-winning novel from which the film is adapted. Moderated Curiosity, he told the audience, is a great source of inspiration.
by Aspen Words Executive Director Adrienne Brodeur, the panel aspenwords.org
ASPEN LIBRIS
BACK TO THE FUTURE

Each year, the Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series highlights new books of
particular resonance at a given moment in time. The Washington Ideas Roundtable
Series also brings in authors who are transforming how we think about vital topics.
This year, both of these Institute programs looked at lessons from the past, with books
that explore prior presidencies. And they looked at the hurdles ahead, with books
that examine the next generation of students and their devices. Below are just a few
highlights. aspeninstitute.org/series/gildenhorn-book-series |
aspeninstitute.org/series/washington-ideas-roundtable-series
Left: Dan Bayer Right: Riccardo Savi

This page: Riccardo Savi
Eizenstat Goodwin
STUART EIZENSTAT DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN

Former chief domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter Pulitzer Prize–winning author and historian
President Carter: The White House Years Leadership in Turbulent Times
“Carter had a very odd view of politics and it caught up with him. “Curiosity is huge for leadership. Abraham Lincoln only had 12
His view was: I’m a ferocious campaigner, a hundred days in Iowa months of full schooling, but he scoured the countryside for
alone before the caucuses. He did what he had to do to win the books. When he got a copy of Aesop’s Fables or the King James
election. But then, he viewed politics as something you parked Bible, he was so excited. Books gave him a sense of another life
at the Oval Office door, and you do the right thing. That was a beyond his own. They gave him a vision that there was another
strength and a weakness. It was a strength because he could do the way to be. Though he never would go to Europe, he went with
Vietnam stuff, he could do the Panama Canal Treaty, he could do Shakespeare’s kings to merry England; he went with Lord
the Middle East, he could do energy—all of which was unpopular. Byron’s poetry to Spain and Portugal. Literature allowed him
The weakness was, the president is not only commander-in-chief; to transcend his surroundings. And the rhythms he put into his
he is politician-in-chief. He has to nurture a coalition and keep it great speeches came from poetry and drama.”
together so it stands behind him in good times and in bad, and that
was Carter’s weakness.”

Left: Dan Bayer Right: Riccardo Savi
This page: Riccardo Savi
Duncan Sanger
ARNE DUNCAN DAVID SANGER

Former US secretary of education National security correspondent for The New York Times
How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age
One of the Nation’s Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education
“Our vulnerabilities are growing faster than our defenses can keep
“In the United States, about 70 percent of wealthier students up. First, 85 percent of our networks are in the private sector, so
complete college, when only about 9 percent of poorer students it’s not like the government can just mandate significant change.
do. This is a staggering difference that perpetuates our national Second, your house is getting fuller and fuller of internet-
crises of wealth disparity and the lack of economic mobility. Today connected devices. Ten years ago, you probably had one or
in America, talent is more evenly distributed than opportunity. For two things connected to the internet—a laptop and a desktop
a country that’s supposed to be the world’s leading democracy, computer. Today, you have your Alexa, your alarm system, one or
that’s not just wrong; it’s immoral. Other countries are doing so more smart TVs, a FitBit, your iPhone, the four previous iPhones
much more to increase college graduation rates across all levels of you have stuck in your desk drawer, your internet-connected
society. We must set similar, ambitious goals. Our economy and refrigerator. You have all of those things connected, and every
our society cannot remain competitive with so much squandered one of them is creating a bigger and bigger attack surface. So the
talent and so many undereducated Americans.” problem is growing exponentially.”

AS HEARD AT: SPACE CORPS
Riccardo Savi
Rogers, Cooper
THE CASE FOR SPACE

In October, Garrett Graff, the executive director of the Institute’s Cyber &
Technology Program, spoke with US Representatives Mike Rogers and
Jim Cooper, the chair and ranking member of the House Armed Services
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, at a Washington Ideas Roundtable Series
event. The Republican and Democrat are the two leading congressional
proponents of a space corps to address rising geopolitical threats in outer space.
GARRETT GRAFF: What made you so concerned about this area? and Congress and the Air Force have done almost nothing
about it.
JIM COOPER: The first duty of Congress is to protect the
nation, and we’re all more dependent on space than any of MIKE ROGERS: I want everybody to understand, we’re not
us recognize. With GPS, we have a global asset. Other nations talking about Star Wars stuff. These are national security
have not only posed a threat to our assets but are also trying satellites. A lot of folks are making fun of this because President
to develop their own rival to GPS. That way, if our assets were Trump got behind it, but this is national security—satellites that
taken out, they could still communicate. It’s a vulnerability we depend on, that we’re trying to protect. We aren’t talking
that could render us deaf, dumb, and blind within seconds. about George Jetson getting on a rocket that comes out of his
Our primary responsibility in Congress is to prevent war, suitcase.
which means you have to acknowledge your national interests
and vulnerabilities, and do something about it. There have JC: The president’s unexpected intervention in this issue
been 20 years of government reports about this vulnerability, needlessly politicized it, because it shouldn’t be political. Then

the Republican National Committee went one step further to is beyond repair, and they’re in denial. The only way to get
commercialize it, to have a contest for the design of the “Space better capabilities and develop a cadre of space professionals
Force” patch. Well, Mike and I are not talking about uniform is to make a new organization with a culture that’s wrapped
design; we’re talking about safer satellites. around a mission of space dominance—a culture that recruits,
To that end, we need more promotion opportunities for space educates, and promotes toward that goal.
professionals, because the Air Force’s traditional preference for
piloted aircraft has made them reluctant to support drones, GG: Talk about how you see the private sector shaping and
much less sufficient space capacity. We’re trying to get away changing the space environment over the next five to 10 years.
from a culture that has promoted fighter jocks and leather
jackets as opposed to space professionals, who are really on top JC: What we’re talking about is military only. A lot of folks will
of our satellite situation. China’s anti-satellite missile launch confuse this with NASA. It’s totally different. I love NASA. There
was in 2007. We gave the Air Force a decade to respond. What’s are amazing opportunities there for astronauts, space stations,
the response? Almost nothing. Other threats have materialized, moon stuff, Mars—that’s great. It is an amazingly stimulative thing,
some of them classified, what’s been the response? Very little. and it’s fantastic that they have been able to create capabilities
So this is an attempt to work cooperatively with the Air Force that some of our Air Force friends haven’t done with government
so that they can do their job better. budgets for decades. It’s amazingly inspirational, and nations like
ours need to dream big dreams. There’s a universe out there for
GG: Say a little bit more about the threat environment and what us to learn from and explore. It’s the most exciting time since the
has changed in outer space over the last 10 years. ’60s, when the president promised the impossible, that man would
set foot on the moon within 10 years—and by God, we did it. It’s
MR: The public ought to know how dependent we are on incredible that even with lots of unproven technologies, that was
Riccardo Savi
satellites. In the last decade, we’ve been made aware of an the decade when we could get things done. Now we can’t even
alarming vulnerability with them. But our country has become field a single satellite with existing technology inside of a decade.
heavily dependent on these satellites to fight and win wars, to We’ve bureaucratized ourselves into inferiority.
the point that our adversaries have recognized that and stepped
up their game. Because Russia and China cannot compete MR: We cannot let this continue or let China and Russia go
with us head-on in a tactical war, they have to be smart. They unchecked. We watch for intercontinental ballistic-missile launches
with satellites. We use the cyber system to watch for
the heat signature that comes from a launch.
For example, North Korea was testing
aggressively for years. And we were watching.
It’s incredible that even with lots of Now, according to published reports, North Korea
has the capability to get an ICBM through reentry
unproven technologies, the 1960s were and hit California or Alaska. Let’s assume that
when we could get things done. Now we North Korea wants to launch against California
and that it will take 24 minutes for that missile to
can’t even field a single satellite with hit. A US satellite would detect the heat signature
existing technology inside of a decade. from the launch and immediately notify all of
our radar systems to look at that location and get
We’ve bureaucratized ourselves the trajectory so that we could respond. There
into inferiority. are three parts to a launch: the boost phase, the
midcourse phase in space, and the terminal phase
back in Earth’s atmosphere. By the time a missile
gets to the terminal phase, it’s going super-fast—
and hard to hit. You need the trajectory so you
recognize that space is where they can compete with us. That’s can get to it with anti-ballistic missiles while it’s still in midcourse.
exactly what they’re doing. Both countries have deployed a We also know that China has the ability to “dazzle” our satellites,
much larger percentage of their defense budgets to space than which basically means blind them. Let’s say that China wants
we have. China set up their separate space force two years ago. to help North Korea attack us. If they were to dazzle our cyber
Russia had already done so before that. And both have become satellite that’s watching North Korea, just for 10 minutes, by the
more agile and effective at getting capabilities into space— time we saw the missile, it would be too late. That is not acceptable.
whereas we have just gotten slower and slower. Literally, it can We cannot let that continue.
take anywhere from six to 10 years for the US government to get The threat is not going away, and what we’ve been doing for
a new satellite up. Meanwhile, the private sector can get one up the last 20 years is not getting it done.
in 18 to 24 months. So we’ve got to be smarter. And what the
Air Force is doing with this problem—well, the bureaucracy All transcripts have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

AS HEARD AT: SPORTS BETTING
Laurence Genon
Sword, Whyte, Mintas, Kilsby
HEDGE YOUR BETS

This year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of expanded sports betting. Now,
it’s projected that sports betting will be legalized in most states by 2023. As part
of its Future of Sports series, the Institute’s Sports & Society Program decided
to take a closer look. Gambling Compliance’s James Kilsby moderated a
discussion with three industry experts: Major League Baseball’s Morgan Sword,
the National Council on Problem Gambling’s Keith Whyte,
and Sportsradar’s Dr. Laila Mintas.
JAMES KILSBY: The major pro-sports leagues have traditionally both sides of the sports-betting question. But what we realized
been opposed to lawful wagering. But there has been a significant is that it no longer matters what our position is, because betting
shift in how Major League Baseball considers sports betting. How is here. Rather than hand-wringing about whether we are for it
have you evolved on this position? or against it, we decided that we would do everything we could
to study the countries around the world that offer sports betting
MORGAN SWORD: At Major League Baseball, we are and find the absolute best way to do it.
custodians of this sport that means so much to our country and
citizens. That obligation informs a lot of the decisions about JK: Much has been written about the MLB’s and the NBA’s desire
the way the league operates. There are legitimate arguments on for a so-called “integrity fee” or a “royalty fee” from sports betting,

where, for every dollar bet on a game, a small percentage would MS: Almost all of the betting activity on baseball right now
go to the sports league. That’s not exactly a popular proposal happens illegally, either offshore or with your corner guy at
within the gaming industry. the bodega. As a result, MLB has no visibility into the betting
activity going on in baseball. If we start getting a lot of good
MS: Each state is going to make a decision about whether to create this data coming back to us about the bets that are occurring,
new industry and whether to award a casino a monopoly on sports hopefully we’re going to be able to set up a system to track
betting and all of the millions of dollars of revenue associated with betting patterns, identify suspicious bets, and try to act on things
it. And that industry will be 100 percent reliant on the sports leagues before they happen. Every country around the world says you
to create the events on which the bets are taken. So it’s reasonable have to do that if you’re serious about protecting the integrity of
that the league, which is spending all this money to create the events your sport and the culture around it.
on which the bets are made, receive some small compensation from
the casino that’s offering the bet. It doesn’t cost the state a dime. It JK: The National Council on Problem Gambling adopted best
comes from the casino. Most importantly, it’s good policy. It creates practices for sports-betting legislation.
a partnership with the league, the operator, and the government to
create a vibrant, healthy, safe sports-betting environment. KEITH WHYTE: We advanced five principles for sports-betting
legislation. First, money. We are looking for a cut of the net
JK: What benefit does regulation bring, particularly when it comes revenue to go to prevention and treatment-education programs
to monitoring the integrity of sporting events? for problem gambling. Second is regulatory authority: many
states, for example, legalized fantasy sports with little or no
LAILA MINTAS: In past decades, people inside the United States regulatory agency. Third is putting responsible principles into
have placed bets offshore. Billions have been spent by Americans the legislation itself. Fourth is that there be a minimum age for
outside of the United States. Not only does that mean no tax revenue sports betting and daily fantasy. And fifth, a baseline study of
Laurence Genon
for the states or other stakeholders; there’s no consumer protection gambling participation and problems put in place prior to the
or transparency. So, from an integrity standpoint, offshore betting is expansion of sports betting, so there can be a good public-policy
very hard to monitor. Sportsradar, our company, provides integrity discussion about this. If those five principles seem very common
services to the industry, and what’s really needed is to convert the sense, they are. Yet not a single state that has legalized sports
whole illegal market and illegal betting. Overseas, the regulator betting has put every one of those five principles in place so far.
sees an account-level monitoring of every bet that comes through We’ve had very good discussions with the leagues, with the
casinos, with government. We’re not there yet, but
the potential is there. America is going to break the
mold; we’re not going to do it like it’s been done
in the United Kingdom. During the World Cup,
70 percent of the ads in the United Kingdom were
Almost all of the betting activity on baseball for betting shops. There are ads on the youth club
websites, even though the kids on the youth clubs
right now happens illegally, either offshore are by definition not of legal age. The United States
or with your corner guy at the bodega. As a is going to have sports bidding on steroids, but that
also offers an opportunity to get out ahead of it
result, Major League Baseball has no visibility and try and think about better ways to do harm
into the betting going on in baseball. minimization.
MS: There was a small group of states that rushed

to have sports betting available as soon as humanly
possible—with no input from problem-gambling
groups and sports leagues. Some of the larger states
the system: who placed the bet, what kind of bet is it, what’s the who have been more thoughtful about this are going slower and
stake, what’s the outcome? This information is very important for are taking meetings with us and listening to valid concerns. That’s
regulators and stakeholders to have in real time, so they can protect reason for optimism.
us from potential match fixing. Meanwhile, the bookmakers need In the most macro sense possible, the casino has an interest in
that information, too, so they can suspend the betting markets games being on the level, too. However, they have a much larger
and not accept any illegal bets. And law enforcement needs that and often conflicting incentive to make money. Unless regulators
information to stop game manipulation and match fixing—which step in and keep the interest of the public in mind.
are very difficult to prove. Match fixing is so interesting to criminals
because it’s high-profit and very low-risk. All transcripts have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

IMPACT: ASPEN WORDS
THE WRITE WAY

Four authors find their paths with Aspen Words.
The Aspen Words Writers in Residence program, FRANCISCO CANTÚ

held in partnership with the Catto Shaw Every writer has their own practice, their own hard-fought ways
of carving out time and space to write. I am one of the
Foundation, provides writers the opportunity
many writers who struggles to write at home: there have always
to spend a month focused on their craft at a been too many distractions, beckoning errands, and other
beautiful property in the Aspen area. Hosted goings-on to distract from the endless attempts to define some
sort of domestic writing ritual. I was able to write my first book
by Isa Catto Shaw, an artist, and her husband, only by taking long escapes from the city and all the obligations
Daniel Shaw, a journalist, the program runs from that come with it. I sought solitude in a number of remote
spring through fall, with one author per month. places at nature’s edge—my uncle’s often-vacant home in the
Chihuahuan grasslands of New Mexico, a friend’s drafty cabin
While in residency, the authors engage with the in Northern Arizona, and a tiny trailer hidden away in a remote
community at free events at which they discuss corner of Piñon-juniper plateau country. It took many years,
their work and the writing life, and some residents and many self-imposed retreats to these places for me to finally
finish my book, The Line Becomes a River.
visit a local school to speak with students. Beyond Something writers rarely talk about is the massive
that, they’re free to use their time as they please. void that often follows a book’s publication. After all the
Courtesy Aspen Words
Here, four recent residents share the impact the touring, interviews, and book signings are finally done, first-time
authors are faced with the need to reorient their time and think
program had on their writing.

ERICA BAUERMEISTER
Perhaps there is no greater gift you can give a writer than time and
space—and an eight-foot-long table, just waiting for you to spread
out all your notes and make a book. Add to that a host family
(complete with dogs) that is warm and welcoming, and the staff at
Aspen Words, which makes sure you don’t crawl into your mind and
stay there. A community of artists and writers and readers. Leaves
that turn a valley into gold. Snow that falls in the night and holds
you close. Days of sunshine. A month—a whole glorious month—to
write and write and write.
I arrived at the beginning of October 2017 with 250 index cards
full of ideas, wanting to write a book that was part memoir, part
architectural theory, the story of a renovation, and an exploration
of how our houses change us. I spread the cards out on that table
the first night and set to work. Each day, I would work until mid-
afternoon and then walk the trails, letting my thoughts unfurl in all
that space. I visited with extraordinary high-school students. I met
with readers. I nestled in the deep chairs at the Hotel Jerome and
wrote some more. Lunch with [local architect] Harry Teague set my
mind spinning about all things architecture, and a visit to [Aspen
Words’ supporter] Barbara Reese’s straw bale house, set in a grove
of aspens, took theory and made it real.
I am, in general, a slow writer. If I can do 2,000 words in a week,
I am ecstatic. During that month in Aspen, I planned a book, wrote
a proposal, sold it, and completed 50,000 words in the final two
weeks. It felt as if I had summited Everest, with wings.
To say this experience was life-changing sounds momentous
but in fact is an understatement. I had just come off a difficult three
years. Coming to Aspen, having that month, was a blast of hope. A
residency, in the end, is about more than time and space, important
as they are. It is about support and connection. It is about community.
Cantú
The Scent Keeper will be released in May 2019.
about new projects, undertake new reading and research, and

somehow find a way of structuring new obligations into a life
that is suddenly much busier than it was before. Underlying all
of this is a fresh existential question: what does it mean to move
through the world as a published author?
A monthlong residency in Aspen could mean many things for
many different writers. There are opportunities for both solace
and community, for outdoor adventures or quiet reading in pond-
side hammocks with commanding views of the Rockies. The joy of
the Aspen Words residency is that writers are given ample time and
encouragement to engage with their work in an environment that
embraces both the joys and complexities of early authorhood. For
emerging writers like me, the Aspen Words residency provides not
only the time and space to write while hovering at nature’s edge but
also the support of a thriving literary community eager to usher us
out of the void and into the world.
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border was

a New York Times best seller and shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie
Bauermeister
Medal of Excellence.

IMPACT: ASPEN WORDS
GEETA KOTHARI
A month to write! Alone! In the mountains! My residency in purpose in Aspen was to write—everything else was secondary.
August 2018 sounded so fabulous, and it was—the space, the Working at home after I returned to Pittsburgh, at the same
solitude, and the silence. Time passed differently in Aspen. I desk where I read manuscripts, respond to student stories, and
wrote, I read, and I stared out the window a lot. Some days, I prep for class, I missed the intense focus I’d experienced in
lost all track of time and place until a sharp bark at the door Aspen. Everything and nothing mattered. I wasn’t just having
(thank you, Luna) reminded me to hand over a treat. bad writing days. I was having no writing days.
I realized pretty early on that what I took away from the Once you become aware of your own resistance, it’s hard to
residency would be just as important as the time I spent there. ignore it. Two weeks of struggling to work at home went by. I had
When I took a break from writing, I read. I did yoga. I went for to find a way to bring Aspen to Pittsburgh. A chance to join a
a walk. A friend compared the residency to a meditation retreat. coworking space with several other writers came up and I took it.
I struggled with waves of resistance, boredom, and frustration; This is the opposite of solitude, but this is a space that demands
there were days where I felt like giving up. I became aware of nothing of me. I show up with my computer and notebook, say
my rhythm as a writer, the good and the bad days, and in my hi to whoever’s there, and get to work. The view out the windows
last week, a solution to an intractable problem revealed itself is of an old police station, a potholed parking lot, a McDonald’s.
and I saw the road ahead very clearly. My only reason for being there is to write. And that’s what I do.
When you leave home to write, the stakes are high. I worried
so much that I wouldn’t use my time well that I barely left the Kothari is the author of the story collection I Brake for Moose and
apartment. I stayed off the internet as much as possible. My only Other Stories.
Kothari

Obioma
“Sometimes in the evening, as the cosmic space of the novel unfolded

before my eyes and gods and creatures moved about on the pages of my
book. ... It felt as though Aspen was at the border between the Earth and
some sublunary world.”
CHIGOZIE OBIOMA
Writing is living in perpetual naivete. With each project, you by looking out my window. I tapped into the powerful view of
become surprised by the new vistas that open up to you and by the mountain ranges as I drew portraits of the Igbo cosmos.
fresh possibilities of experience that speak to you with unfamiliar But what I benefited from the most was the serenity. Almost
eloquence. This was my experience when, at the end of 2016, I never can I recall a place being more quiet. Sometimes in the
finished the first full draft of my novel An Orchestra of Minorities. I evenings, as the cosmic space of the novel unfolded before my
knew I needed a change of environment, to see something new eyes and gods and creatures moved about on the pages of my
to enhance my revisions. The Aspen residency was a real choice. book, I felt that I could hear the voices of the dead. It felt as
In Aspen, one is forced to be re-educated about the world. though Aspen was at the border between the Earth and some
You become reacquainted with the varieties of nature and sublunary world. One night, I awoke to the sound of something
with the lushness of life. Things you’ve read about come to seeming to walk on the roof, and I realized that the window was
life. Although not given to much adventure, or too lazy to go open and the sound might actually be of some animal walking
anywhere adventurous, I have often hoped to encounter more in the adjoining bush. I believe that it was these experiences,
wildlife in America by happenstance. In Aspen, I encountered these ululations, this feeling of serenity that fed my revisions
my first snake and saw bears. These encounters helped me of Orchestra and continued to inspire me even long after my
in no small measure as I wrote, daily, for hours at a stretch, residency had ended.
two drafts of my new novel. Because the novel is set at various
times, including 300 years back into postcolonial West Africa, An Orchestra of Minorities will be released in January 2019. For
the natural landscape in my imagination was enhanced just more about the Writers in Residence program, visit aspenwords.org.

IMPACT: FINANCE LEADERS
Finance Leaders fellows come
together to enable collective
action in the finance industry.
Dan Bayer
SMART MONEY
Ranji Nagaswami knew the finance industry could be a compelling force for good with
more effective and enlightened leaders as part of the equation. So she looked to her
own experiences at the Institute—and created the Finance Leaders Fellowship.
By Jennifer Simpson
The 2007–2008 financial crisis led to devastating global improve its connection with society and design its products and
economic fallout, human dislocation, and an erosion of business models to explicitly account for human foibles. The
trust in the finance industry—for a reason. Many of the Aspen Global Leadership Network’s theory of change would
unsustainable business practices of the US banking and be put to work: select influential industry leaders to build a
credit sectors led to the crisis. Yet over time, the finance community of trusted peers, engage them in thought-provoking
industry has also provided many people a shot at prosperity, dialogue, and—most important—inspire them to act.
progress, and stability. With innovations like pensions, mutual In October 2018, the inaugural class of 22 Finance Leaders
funds, savings accounts, mortgage credit, and insurance, the fellows completed the two-year active phase of the fellowship.
finance industry—when its tools are used responsibly—can Fellows hail from around the world and across the finance-
be a force for good. industry ecosystem, including financial services, pensions
This was the paradox that Henry Crown fellow Ranji and endowments, and regulatory posts. In addition to active
Nagaswami was contemplating. Deeply believing in the dialogue at four weeklong seminars, each fellow designed a
Aspen fellowship experience and the notion that leaders venture project focused on her or his industry and put into
Courtesy Finance Leaders Fellowship
shape industries and companies, Nagaswami launched practice leadership lessons learned. Here are four of the 63
the Finance Leaders Fellowship program at the Institute, Finance Leaders fellows on how the fellowship inspired them
with lead founding support from Christopher Varelas of to act.
Riverwood Capital and the CFA Institute, a nonprofit global
association of chartered financial analysts. Her premise: with Jennifer Simpson is the managing director of the Aspen Finance Leaders
enlightened leaders, the financial-services industry could Fellowship.

SARAH FRIAR
CEO of NextDoor, a neighborhood social-networking service based in San Francisco;
former CFO of Square
I have made choices that I probably would not have made, such as accepting the offer to
be a director on the board of Walmart recently. When I was asked, I had just returned
from the Aspen seminar, where I talked with my fellows about whether we were doing
enough to make a change on a global scale or in a broader way. We are leaders who can
do that. Reading Aristotle and other classics, then discussing it with folks working at a
similar scale and level as mine helped us build a deep sense of trust. My fellows helped
me make this decision, even though I didn’t feel I had time to take anything else on.
Walmart is a company that employs 1.8 million people in the United States, so on that
scale, I can help make a big difference.
Friar welcomes youth to Ladies Who Launch, a gathering for
Main Street female entrepreneurs.
TOKUNBOH ISHMAEL
Founder of Alitheia Capital, a private-equity firm based in Nigeria, and a CFA Institute charter holder
The fellowship inspired me to think big about what I could do to help my region of the
world through finance. For a long time, I have seen the need for Nigerians to be able to
save money for their futures, but there is no great way to do it. I’ve been inspired by the
Dan Bayer
other fellows and our readings and discussions, and I also relied a bit on the architecture
that the fellowship has provided for venture development. I also collaborated with the
CFA Society of Atlanta to learn more about what they do in the area of financial literacy
and have launched my first step in the process of producing a card game designed to
educate folks on why it is important to save for the future or for a rainy day. The next step
will be to develop a technology solution to enable savings in a low-cost way.
Ishmael participates in a team-building activity with her
fellowship class.
TIM FAZIO
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Atlas Holdings, a private-equity firm based in Connecticut
I’ve learned so much through debating our readings and talking with other fellows
from around the world about things like the business climate in Asia that have a real
impact on my current business. But on top of that, issues like the challenge of opioid
use for employers, how automation is going to affect the workforce, and diversity and
inclusion. For my venture, I’ve established a company called Industrial.Exchange to
bring together operators and investors in middle-market manufacturing companies
to explore some of these issues. I’ve been able to collaborate with other fellows and
Institute programs to have a robust and effective agenda for our first gathering,
happening in May 2019. Fazio rehearses for his class’s interpretation of Antigone at the
Aspen Executive Seminar.
APARNA RAMESH
Senior Vice President and CFO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
How do we make even the smallest amounts of money work for people who feel they
have too little to save or invest? I can remember vividly a small-group venture discussion
during our second seminar when one colleague shared how he was working on impact
investments focused on the environment. Another talked about his venture that enables
Courtesy Finance Leaders Fellowship
access to reasonably priced loans for foreign domestic workers in Southeast Asia and
provides free debt counseling and low-interest loans. Hearing their passion sparked me
to organize a conference on financial inclusion and fintech to expand thought leadership
within the Boston Federal Reserve and financial and technology community. It was really
powerful to be part of inspiring action. Doing the right thing is also right for business.
Ramesh leads a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston with the Institute’s Financial Security Program.

Aspen seminars have a
reputation as profound
and transformative
experiences thanks to
a talented moderator
corps who are trained
to create trust,
challenge your mind,
and nurture your soul.
By Nicole Corea
Photographs by Dan Bayer
Moderator interviews by
Philip Javellana and Dancey Glover
Above: The Aspen Global Leadership Network moderator corps at the

2018 Resnick Aspen Action Forum; Right: A 2018 Resnick Aspen
Action Forum seminar

C
an you think of a time when you in the fundamental question of what it means to live a moral
willfully turned away from the life. Walter Paepcke believed seminars would lead participants
suffering of another human being?” to become more helpful citizens to their society. In his words,
The seminar room falls into silence. seminars were designed “to make broader human beings out
Eyes are cast downward as participants gather of the leaders of American life.”
their thoughts. The reading is Ursula Le Guin’s The founders recognized that moral reasoning was best
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the story learned through observation and discussion. The moderation
of a utopian city whose prosperity depends on style known as the Aspen Method of text-based dialogue was
the perpetual misery of a single child. Someone derived from the pedagogy developed in the 1920s at Columbia
clears their throat. Another pages through the College. Mortimer Adler later brought this to the University of
seminar booklet. There are no easy questions Chicago for his Great Books program. The Aspen Method is
in an Aspen seminar, but there is a place for a variation on a Socratic style of learning that keeps the close
discomfort. The moderator lets the quiet linger reading of texts and reflective dialogue but leaves out the
until a voice is heard. need for disciplinary specialization. Traditional university and
For years, the Aspen Institute revolved around business-school seminars aim for answers. The Aspen seminar
the Aspen Executive Seminar. The Institute’s inspires enlightened leadership with participants examining the
founders—Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, Robert moral significance of the texts on a journey of both individual
Hutchins, and Mortimer Adler—wanted leaders and shared discovery. Texts form the foundation of the seminar.
from different sectors and backgrounds to engage Selected works include Plato’s The Republic, Martin Luther King
SKIP BATTLE
“When you’re inside the seminar room, you want to first create a feeling
of safety so people can raise any reasonable point without a fear of being
categorized as inappropriate. With that sense of safety, you have to cre-
ate an environment where people are willing to be challenged, so their
ideas and thoughts are burnished by other peoples’ responses. Almost
everything we read in the typical Aspen seminar is about the conflict of
ideas. Most of the issues we deliberate have justifiable positions against
each other. One hopes that as a result of these discussions peoples’
points of view get amended, enhanced, deepened. What you’re trying to
do is have an open, caring, and rigorous review of issues, where people
don’t necessarily feel threatened but there is the kind of liberating dis-
cussion we don’t find much in the public arena anymore.”

HEATHER SONN
“I am always concerned that everyone feels heard, has a
voice, and is represented around the table. I was once in
a seminar room where one person did not feel heard or
respected by the group. The challenge was to allow the
participant to do what was needed to feel restored without
derailing the process and over-amplifying that person’s
experience at the risk of losing everyone else. You have
an orchestra of trombones, flutes, tambourines, violins,
and other instruments. The magic is in all of them coming
together in a measured and equal way. It was a lesson in
staying calm, acknowledging the upset for what it truly
was, and bringing everyone into the experience again.”
Aspen seminars break most societal norms. Professional

status and background are left behind. Religion, politics, and
sex are on the table. Questions are asked not for provocation
but to allow deeper exploration of our place in the world.
Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” and Chimamanda they co-moderate seminars offered by the Institute before
Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story.” being chosen to enter the corps.
“The texts are read not as mere historical artifacts nor as Aspen seminars break most societal norms. Professional
conclusive blueprints to be followed but as living partners status and background are left behind. Religion, politics, and
in a conversation about what it means to be human,” Todd sex are on the table. Questions on these topics are asked not for
Breyfogle, the Institute’s director of seminars, says. the sake of being provocative but to allow for deeper exploration
Integral to this conversation is the moderator. Moderators of our place in the world.
help seminar participants grapple with unfamiliar ideas and “It is the moderator’s responsibility to create a safe space where
exercise their moral and intellectual muscles. They are neither participants feel comfortable voicing not only their opinions, but
teachers nor experts, but rather act like orchestra conductors who more important their doubts and their uncertainties,” David
help participants interpret the texts and gently coax responses. Langstaff, a moderator and the interim executive vice president
Moderators start as students. They learn by being for leadership and seminars, says. This is what makes an Aspen
participants in a seminar and observing how the Aspen seminar unlike other professional environments or situations.
Method is practiced. Later they participate in one of a series The seminar room sees joy, laughter, tears, regret. Participants
of moderator workshops (generously supported by trustee share deeply personal experiences, including failures. They
Paul Anderson and his wife, Mary) in which the theory and walk in as individuals and leave as a collective. Each cohort is
practice of moderating are examined. Here prospective endowed with a unique personality. Almost everyone says that
moderators have an opportunity to practice and be observed. the Aspen seminar experience is transformative. Many call it
Many moderators then undergo apprenticeships in which life-changing. Moderators facilitate that process.

DAN PORTERFIELD
“Todd Breyfogle and Ayanna Thompson led our seminar group through a close reading of many key texts
while prompting us, in Todd’s words, to try to have three conversations over the duration of the seminar—
with the texts, with each other, and with ourselves. They facilitated our discussions in a spirit of friendship
and collegial excellence, and drew each voice into the mix. I loved the way Todd and Ayanna encouraged
conversation and contemplation through hikes and meals and our production of Antigone.
A moderator must work thoughtfully and carefully to empower each seminar participant to create
meaning for herself or himself. I admired the seminar experience in the moment—and believe that some of
the larger takeaways will be played out over time in the work I do and the choices I make. A great seminar,
and great moderators, catalyze longer-term discernment and meaning-making. They have influence and
impacts well beyond the six or seven days people are physically together. It’s inspiring to remember that
this tradition of developing one’s gifts and talents goes back seven decades.”

Today’s moderators come from all over the world. In
addition to the original Aspen Executive Seminar, they
preside over sessions for the Institute’s youth programs,
international partners, and the Aspen Global Leadership
Network. Together they are expanding the conversation
on what it means to create a Good Society, not just in the
United States but around the globe.
“To examine myself regularly in a seminar conversation
has made my soul more expansive,” Breyfogle says. “And
what could possibly be better than engaging in the world
of ideas and moral reasoning with other good souls?”
Nicole Corea is the managing editor of Ideas. Philip Javellana

is the communications manager for the Aspen Global Leadership
Network. Dancey Glover is the program manager for the Aspen
Global Leadership Network.
Skip Battle moderates an Aspen Global
Leadership Network seminar.
KEITH BERWICK
“The key is trust. Trust in people who you might not trust in the every-
day world. A moderator has to get people to be accessible, take off the
masks we all wear in the roles we play in the world, and be thoroughly
accessible to everybody else in the room. It’s not a science; it’s magic.
The magic really has to do with the unspoken actions between and
among people. The role of the moderator is to be sensitive to each per-
son in the room and establish a field of trust. That becomes a reciprocal
process: as trust is offered, trust is given in return.”
JAMES ABRAHAM
“I started moderating as a challenge. I stayed with it, because as much
as I was giving, I was getting 10 times back. I experienced all these texts,
ideas, and thoughts at a different level of depth. The questions I was
asking each person at the table, I was asking myself. I’ve noticed that
at some of the most critical points in my life over the last decade, a
seminar has been vital in guiding me to make choices.”
ADRIA GOODSON
“Being a moderator means you must be willing to have your
heart broken over and over again in sessions with people who
share what is true for them, their life experiences, all of their
heartbreaks, all of their joys. Your task is to be fully willing to
come alongside them and listen with all of yourself.”
Left page, clockwise:
panning in the California
Gold Rush; Kit Carson;
Wells Fargo Wagon;
Ute Chief Ouray and
his wife, Chipeta;
Buffalo Bill Cody.
Illustration by Katie
Kissane-Viola

A ONE-OF-A-KIND PROGRAM EXPLORES THE
HISTORY, PEOPLE, VALUES, AND LEGACY OF THE
19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN WEST
BY CATHERINE LUTZ PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAN BAYER

McGrath
Blackhawk
In some ways, today’s stark divides mirror the Wild West: westward expansion,
long considered the project that made the United States a great power, involved
conflicting stories, antiheroes, and many lives lost.
H
is voice rising and falling with dramatic effect, The myths of the 19th-century American West—cowboys
historian Roger McGrath told the story of the versus Indians, black-hatted outlaws versus white-hatted
1848 discovery of gold in California in sharp lawmen—became stubbornly entrenched in popular culture
detail. From the chill of that January morning with the pulp novels of the day, called “blood and thunders,”
in the Sierra Nevada foothills at Sutter’s Mill, and spread worldwide (especially in Europe) through the works
when a mill employee noticed a glint that turned out to be of best-selling German author Karl May and, later, Hollywood.
gold nuggets, to the ensuing rush that made some men rich But the reality is more complicated.
and flooded California with American settlers, McGrath’s “A big part of the story of the American West is that it’s
listeners relived history. where reality and myth collided—sometimes gently, sometimes
That discovery at Sutter’s Mill ushered in “50 years of grand head on,” Michael Wallis, the author of 19 books and hundreds
adventure in the wildest, woolliest phase of the American of articles on the American West, told the group. “There were
frontier,” McGrath said. The American West was the theme some white hats and some black hats—but there were many,
of the Society of Fellows’ second annual summer symposium, many gray hats, and some of those were dark gray.”
a three-day program held at the Institute’s Aspen campus. Native Americans, in particular, have seen their stories
Panel discussions and presentations by two dozen academics, simplified and flattened. The program explored the cultures
historians, writers, and other experts let participants explore and values of the numerous tribes that had inhabited the
the West’s history as well as its villains and heroes, myths and region some 10,000 years before the arrival of Europeans—
realities, values and vices, and legacy and lessons. busting the myth of an empty landscape—as well as their
“The imagined West is such a dominant component of struggle to survive during the American westward expansion.
the American national character,” Ned Blackhawk, a Western The attention to that culture brought forth a much more
Shoshone and a Yale history professor, said at the opening nuanced history than most have learned.
discussion. “Some scholars say it is the most imagined region Author Hampton Sides uncovered plenty of nuances
of the American landscape. And that’s affected us. Frames while researching his epic history of the American West,
help us imagine a landscape.” Blood and Thunder, told largely through the life stories of

Historian Steven Woodworth
Limerick
“A big part of the story of the American West is that it’s where reality
and myth collided—sometimes gently, sometimes head on.”
American frontiersman Kit Carson and Navajo chief and found their way into politics and policies that continue even
Narbona. The Navajos, for example, were a semi-nomadic now. In some ways, today’s stark divides mirror the Wild West:
agricultural tribe that adopted the use of sheep and horses expansion into the American West, long considered the project
from Spanish settlers and were best known for their intricate that made the United States a great power, has since proved to
rugs and textiles. During a public lecture as part of the include conflicting stories, antiheroes, and many lives lost.
Society of Fellows program, Sides called the Navajo “the The challenge now becomes, according to the director
most American of American Indians because of their unique of the Center for the Southwest, Virginia Scharff, “How do
talent for ushering new ideas and new concepts wherever we tell stories about our common past when we come to our
they roamed across the Southwest.” past from so many different places?”
Kit Carson, a central character of early blood and Perhaps one answer is gatherings like the American West
thunders, epitomized the clash of myth and reality, conflicting program, which allowed attendees to explore the stories and
values, and how manifest destiny was shaping the American values that shaped US history in “a shared experience that’s
West. According to Sides, Carson was happiest during his fun and engaging,” Peter Waanders, the director of the Society
years as a mountain man, married to an Arapaho woman of Fellows, says. “Getting people together to talk about ethical
and living among the tribe. Later, as a guide for and member decision-making in the 19th century gives them a chance to
of the US Army, he played a key role in opening the West to step outside of today’s debates along political divides and to
American settlement and “participated in the destruction of see both sides of an issue and perhaps find common ground.”
the world he loved,” Sides said, fighting and killing Indians. Or even more simply, as American West historian and
To some, Carson became a “wonderful folk hero,” while to professor Patty Limerick put it, “Rather than say, ‘Let’s
others, he was “a genocidal maniac.” The truth, Sides noted, do some fact checking,’ can we invite people into the
was somewhere in the middle. conversation and say the story is more interesting if you put
Why the 19th-century West matters today was the theme of the complexity into it?”
the final day of the conference. American ideals of self-reliance,
individuality, and direct democracy strengthened in that era Catherine Lutz is a writer living in Aspen.

Shutterstock

The Congressional Program helps elected
officials to form relationships across the
aisle and find common ground. In other
words, it shows them how they can work
together. | By Carrie Rowell

Clockwise from left: Greg Gershuny, the interim director of the Institute’s Energy and Environment Program; Representative Donald Norcross, Representative Nita Lowey, and Meghan
O’Sullivan, the director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School; Representative Buddy Carter
“Partisan darts, the inability to agree on any basic facts, and director of the Congressional Program, describes the design
the nastiness level surpasses anything I have ever witnessed on he has fine-tuned over his 31-year tenure at the program.
Capitol Hill,” Dan Glickman, the executive director of the Members of Congress tell the program’s directors exactly
Aspen Institute’s Congressional Program, says. As a former how its conferences shape their relationships with other
Cabinet secretary and US representative, Glickman is well participating members, and how its relationship-building
educated in how government works. “The perception of most and thorough analysis of policy options help their decision
Americans is that our government is not working.” making. “These conferences provide a deep dive into issues
Political discourse is a cornerstone of democracy, and at I have no other way to become so immersed in,” is how one
its most effective form is both information-based and civil— Republican congressional participant describes the impact.
and that is the heart of the Congressional Program, which “The opportunity to interact with other members and the
builds deeper relationships between members of Congress. superb subject-matter experts is invaluable.” This member of
For 35 years the program has brought together experts Congress compiles a thorough summary of each conference
with Democratic and Republican members of the House with key points by each expert and takeaways that become
and Senate and their spouses to discuss specific issues. The required reading for his staff.
program often designs visits for the congressional participants “The first day of the conference, I said to myself, ‘Why
to see firsthand the impact of US-taxpayer dollars. am I here?’ ” a first-time congressional participant says. “The
“It’s incredibly refreshing to see members of Congress second day, as more ideas developed, I realized, ‘I can’t miss
discuss and challenge the ideas and potential solutions put forth this!’ ”
by experts at our conferences,” Glickman says. “Especially in The intent of the conferences is not to advocate for a
the current political environment, it’s remarkable to watch particular outcome. Rather they provide the resources and
discussions unfold at our roundtables. And it is a reminder the venues necessary for members of Congress to really engage
Photos: Jon Benjamin Photography
that our federal legislators are real and hard-working people with one another on policy discussions in the national interest.
looking for the best solutions—though they may disagree on As a result of conversations during previous Congressional
the best approaches.” Program conferences, members of Congress have introduced
A small roundtable, a balance of Rs and Ds, the inclusion legislation, invited conference scholars to meet with their
of spouses, assigned seating at dinners, all meetings off the constituents, built coalitions with other congressional
record—these are the “secret sauce,” as Bill Nell, the deputy participants, and reexamined long-held political beliefs.

The agenda, which provides a close examination of a at the time the special UN envoy to the Great Lakes Region
policy topic, has to be balanced, thought provoking, and offer of Africa, had never heard of the program. But she’d heard
members access to top experts. Agendas are developed over of Peggy Clark. As the executive director of the Institute’s
discussions and meetings with scholars, and often by tapping Global Innovators Group, Clark had partnered with
into the resources at 2300 N Street, the Institute’s Washington Robinson on human-rights efforts and made the link for the
headquarters. Congressional Program.
While planning an August conference on energy, for Of course, the collaborations are not just about experts and
example, collaboration between Institute programs was agenda brainstorming. If an Institute program needs a great
key. Nell worked closely with Greg Gershuny, the interim ground coordinator in Turkey or China, or a list of vetted
director of the Institute’s Energy and Environment Program, hotels in Brazil, or the names of security-service options in
sharing ideas about agenda items and potential experts. Both Ethiopia, the Congressional Program opens its address book.
programs benefited: “Some of the scholars were new to me, As the 116th Congress begins with more than 100 new
and I’m likely to invite many to participate in future sessions in members, Glickman says: “We feel our work is more vital
our programs—very useful,” Gershuny says. “Working with than ever. It may be true that our government often does not
the Congressional Program was the deepest collaboration operate efficiently—it was never supposed to. We have three
I’ve had at the Aspen Institute.” distinct and coequal branches of the system, and Congress is
Other connections in the building have been invaluable the first branch, the Article I branch.” If members of Congress
to the Congressional Program. Nell says that for the past are well informed and act respectfully toward each other, he
eight years, he and Jonathon Price, of the Aspen Strategy says, the system of checks and balances is more likely than
Group, have swapped names and contacts, since both not to accomplish the public’s business effectively. And that is
programs work in the international arena. When the what the Congressional Program is built to do.
Congressional Program wanted to invite Mary Robinson to
be a conference panelist, the staff had no direct or indirect Carrie Rowell is the conference director of the Congressional Program
connection: Robinson, the former president of Ireland and at the Aspen Institute.
Clockwise from left: Colette Honorable, the former commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Representative Jerry McNerney; Kelly Sims Gallagher, the former
senior China advisor in the Special Envoy for Climate Change office at the US State Department, and Representative Bradley Byrne; Glickman

June 20-23, 2019 Join the world’s most
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STRONG MEDICINE
58
STRONG MEDICINE
be an independent agency. The Health, Medicine and Society Program
Six former FDA commissioners
jumped on the idea. Now, the program and commissioners have a plan
to liberate the FDA. By
met in Aspen, agreed the agency
60 STAKE YOUR CLAIM
Americans’ earnings are
stagnating as the cost of living
62 VOICE OF EUROPE
Nationalist ferver is spreading
across the Western world,
should become independent, and rises. Could giving employees a threatening democratic values.
decided to do something about stake in their company be the Mircea Geoana explains why
it. Ruth Katz explains how the answer? Maureen Conway the Institute’s European branches
Institute helped them create a makes the case for capital share must activate their leadership
plan to untether the FDA. strategies, arguing they are networks and map out a more
good for earnings, productivity, inclusive continent.
women, minorities, the economy,
and even democracy.
IDEAS SPECIAL ISSUE 2018 57

STRONG MEDICINE
be an independent agency. But how would that work? The Health,
Medicine and Society Program helped the commissioners to develop a
plan to liberate the FDA. By Ruth Katz

W
hen six former commissioners of Or protect and promote it? Will a potential ally be annoyed
the Food and Drug Administration if the HHS review process is labeled exceptionally unwieldy?
declared from the stage of Spotlight What should be said about the risks of political interference,
Health 2016 that the FDA should especially on a powder-keg issue like abortion?
become an independent federal The program team supported the commissioners—
agency, the Institute’s Health, Medicine now seven, after the most recent left his post and joined his
and Society Program staff knew immediately that news was colleagues—as they navigated their differing perspectives. In
being made. And sure enough, the announcement was widely the end, they all agreed to co-author a short commentary for
publicized, with stories appearing in Fortune, Politico, STAT, publication in Health Affairs, the nation’s most prestigious health-
industry trade magazines, and elsewhere. policy journal. That article outlines the principles behind
What none of the media quite realized was that this their call for independence, offers a pathway to get there, and
consensus had emerged only during the commissioners’ informal links to a more detailed report on the Health, Medicine and
conversations a few minutes earlier. Although they represented Society website that provides further context and supports the
both sides of the political aisle, each of the commissioners had arguments with data and charts.
privately reached the same conclusion, based on their own The commissioners’ foundational belief is that re-
experiences at the FDA. But it was far from a fully fleshed-out idea. engineering the FDA will ensure that essential health and
No one really knew what an independent agency might be like. safety regulations are firmly rooted in the latest science and will
What would it take to pull the FDA out of the US Department keep the agency at the epicenter of developing new products
of Health and Human Services? Who would approve its budget, and technologies that benefit the American public. The core
and what kind of leadership would it have? How would it be
held accountable? Did other models of independence within the
federal government offer any guidelines? Senior FDA staffers thought it should
Representatives of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation
were in the crowded auditorium of the Doerr-Hosier Center take less than two years to finalize
as the commissioners spoke, and they quickly expressed interest a new rule, when it actually takes
in getting some answers. Soon after, they funded the Health,
Medicine and Society Program to help the commissioners put more than seven. Avoidable delays
meat on the bones of their idea. in publishing regulations were
Over the next year, the Health, Medicine and Society team
interviewed each of the commissioners to learn more about costing the public billions of dollars.
their thinking, and we also sought ideas from other experts
representing the views of industry, consumers, regulators, and insight is that meeting the FDA’s responsibility for more than
others. We combed the research literature and documented the $2.4 trillion in products—19,000 prescription drugs, 85,000
many challenges the FDA faces in a world of rapidly evolving tobacco products, 75 percent of the nation’s food supply, as well
science. as cosmetics, veterinary products, blood-related products, and
Our investigation highlighted huge increases in workload— much more—requires a streamlined decision-making process.
in 2016, the agency issued nearly 450 rules and guidance The recommendations emphasize that a restructured FDA
documents, compared with a little more than 100 a decade would still be subject to oversight but free from administrative
earlier, and the volume of imports subject to regulation bottlenecks, putting it in the strongest possible position to meet
increased by 250 percent. We learned that senior FDA staffers the challenges of the 21st century.
thought it should take less than two years to finalize a new After two years of effort, it is fair to ask one candid question:
rule, when it actually takes more than seven. We also built a will all that hard work really lead to FDA independence? In the
model showing that avoidable delays in publishing regulations immediate future, the answer is most likely no, given the lengthy
were costing the public billions of dollars, and we constructed negotiations and federal legislation required to move the FDA
a flow chart illustrating the convoluted steps needed to move a out of HHS. But the commissioners also proposed interim steps
proposed rule into its final form. that would enable the FDA to operate more efficiently under
Two in-person meetings allowed the commissioners to review its current structure. As significant, all seven are on record as
the evidence, engage in vigorous discussions, and decide how favoring independence, allowing bipartisan debate to keep
best to go public with the case for independence. Although they moving forward. It is a landmark recommendation, and it all
agreed on the overall goal from the start, reaching consensus started one summer on the Spotlight Health stage.
on the language and framing of their recommendations was
a delicate process. Word choices can be very significant in a
political context, even if the distinctions sometimes elude the Ruth Katz is the executive director of the Institute’s Health, Medicine
layperson. Does the FDA promote and protect public health? and Society Program.

STAKE YOUR CLAIM
By allowing people to own a piece of the company that employs
them, capital share strategies are changing how Americans work and
businesses earn—and everyone’s a winner. By Maureen Conway
L
ately the idea of the United States as the land of employee-owned companies have shown greater resiliency
opportunity—the place where hard work leads during economic downturns. For communities, particularly
if not to riches then at least to a decent life and smaller communities, employee ownership has provided a
the hope for a better future for one’s children— critical strategy for retaining firms and jobs, keeping income
has been challenged. In the new reality, hard and wealth in the community.
work yields diminishing returns, access to quality Today, roughly one in five workers at private companies
education is uneven and often unaffordable, and the obstacles owns some stock in their employer, and about one-third of
to building assets and economic security loom larger for workers participate in a profit-sharing plan. Unfortunately, as
Millennials than they did for their parents. Blasi and his Rutgers colleague Douglas Kruse point out, the
Earnings from wage and salary employment remain the distribution of worker ownership opportunities reflects the
backbone of US household budgets, constituting nearly 80 same inequality trends as wealth inequality overall. For the top
percent of the income US households rely on. And savings 20 percent of worker-owners, the ownership stake is much more
from earnings have played a key role in achieving the dream meaningful than for the typical worker-owner: the average
of owning—whether it’s a house, a business, or other assets. value of employee-share wealth among male worker owners is
Yet for the past several decades, and despite robust economic $57,942, but the median is only $13,159. And there are sharp
growth, earnings for most working people have stagnated, even differences across race and gender lines. The average value for
as the costs of life’s basics—housing, health care, childcare, white worker-owners is $52,306 compared with $35,062 for
education, and more—have climbed. As household budgets African Americans, $29,847 for Hispanic workers, and $39,747
have been squeezed, so too have opportunities for owning, for women.
leaving more Americans feeling left out of and left behind by Broadening and deepening employee capital share
a booming US economy. This is a situation that bodes ill for strategies, and ensuring that such efforts are inclusive, would
the future of democracy. give more Americans a meaningful stake in the success of the
An old idea, however, offers new hope: employee capital US economy. Policymakers can play a key role in encouraging
shares. Colloquially referred to as “worker ownership,” employee employee capital share strategies. In fact, Congress took
capital share strategies can take many forms. Employees may action, when in a bipartisan fashion it developed and passed
hold shares as participants in an Employee Stock Ownership the Mainstreet Employee Ownership Act, legislation that
Plan. Or be members of a worker cooperative. Or have a was included in the defense reauthorization bill and signed
meaningful stake in a public company or start-up through a into law by the president last September. The legislation
variety of forms of equity participation. Or have a stake in directs the Small Business Administration to support
company success through profit-sharing strategies. employee capital share strategies through its outreach and
In the United States the idea is very old, as Joseph Blasi, of technical assistance, and to provide access to financing for
Rutgers University, describes in his book The Citizen’s Share. Blasi employee-ownership conversions and employee-owned
tracks the use of employee capital shares back to the founding companies. Federal as well as state governments could build
of the country and the cod-fishing industry in New England. on this important step with tax incentives, procurement
The success of the new democracy rested on broad-based preferences, and other encouragements for employee capital
property ownership, which would give more citizens a stake share strategies.
in the success of the country. If implemented in an inclusive Of course, policymakers cannot advance employee-share
manner, the appeal of employee capital shares remains strong. ownership strategies on their own. Business leaders, business
A system in which workers share in their company’s success educators, lenders and investors, and workers themselves all
strikes most people as fair—likely to encourage responsibility have critical roles to play. But legislators have some key tools
and hard work and in line with an ethos of entrepreneurship to encourage the approach and a bully pulpit to spread the
and opportunity for those willing to work for it. ideas. Take as a given the positive effects that employee-share
Research has found that certain capital share strategies are ownership has been shown to have on business operations
associated with better outcomes not only for workers but for and job retention in communities, the quality of jobs within
businesses and communities, too. For workers, capital share a company, and the ability of working people to build wealth.
ownership strategies have been positively associated with Then imagine what widespread, inclusive employee-share
better wages and benefits, greater employee autonomy and ownership could mean for the country. That way lies the
participation at work, higher rates of employee retention, American Dream.
and other indicators of quality jobs. Business performance
among firms with capital share strategies has also compared Maureen Conway is the Institute’s vice president for policy programs and
favorably to peer businesses in terms of profitability, and the executive director of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program.

VOICE OF EUROPE
Nationalist fervor and an economic decline have wreaked havoc across the
West. The Aspen Institute’s European partners are prepared to change that.
By Mircea Geoana

T
he European project is suffering. Once a beacon for “colonialists.” The systems of checks and balances and the rule
a more just and competitive society, the European of law are under attack, and corruption and intolerance are
Union is still struggling to recover from the severe becoming nearly too much to contain.
2008 financial crisis. And despite the international Is there a way to cope with this wave of fear and hatred
goodwill that initially brought together old foes and engulfing the European Union? I believe there is. First, we have
diverse economies, cultures, and societies, Europe to recognize that the financial world’s response to the public’s
is being revisited by its old demons: nationalism, populism, and economic alienation has failed. As a young leader in Italy’s new-
scapegoating. right Five Stars Movement recently told an Institute gathering in
On the political front, Brexit is still a saga of unknown outcomes. Rome: “Who is to blame? The ones who created the conditions
Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, the European Union’s core for the crisis to happen and led people to despair and suffering?
leaders, are experiencing crippling poll numbers (Merkel stepped Or the ones who are smart enough to be disappointed by old
down as her party’s leader in November), and nationalists are policies?” The state of Europe indicates a massive failure of old
gaining top seats in elections across the continent. The traditional economic establishments. Without recognizing this, and dealing
political center of conservatives and social democrats is shrinking, with it, the European Union will continue to lose ground.
leaving ample room for EU skeptics and illiberal voices to flourish. Second, there is an urgent need to adapt to new political
In the current political climate, there is a real political risk that the realities and to rebalance the asymmetry of power between the
2019 elections for the European Parliament could bring a blocking newer members of the European Union (including the non-
minority of nationalists who oppose any form of immigration or eurozone member states) and the older, larger members. The good
integration—if not an outright majority. news is that Europe retains most of its competitive advantages: a
The fringes of European politics are becoming a new center massive internal market, a strong industrial and technical base,
of gravity. In countries like Hungary, Poland, Austria, Italy, and a good education system, and a vibrant cultural and artistic life.
the Netherlands, an alliance of far-right populists is coalescing,
transcending borders for a shared vision of hate. On the global
stage, the European Union has failed to articulate a common A nationalistic nostalgia is fueling
voice or to put the weight of its massive economy on a par with
its strategic weight. Weakened from within, it is having serious anti-EU and anti-Western feelings,
difficulty finding a response to the massive migration crisis, to which are being cyncially exploited
the fracture in transatlantic relations created by the Trump
administration, to the malign influence of Russia, and to the by amoral political leaders. Worse,
financial threats posed by China. Russian propaganda is amplifying
The consequences of a prolonged period of European
identity crisis would be huge, not only for Europe but for the this mood.
world. The further deterioration of transatlantic ties could also
be bad for the United States—there is simply no substitute for
a cohesive NATO and European Union. Which raises the There is no reason for Europe not to retain its world economic,
question: who is going to control the new world order if the West strategic, and political status. Democracies around the world
doesn’t? Will it be liberal democracies based on the rule of law should find in Europe a natural partner and ally.
and free markets, or authoritarian rulers with state-run markets How can the Institute and its European partners help nurture
and toxic nationalism? This kind of struggle started to seem the Good Society? Aspen’s reservoir of talent in its vast network
impossible three decades ago, when the Berlin Wall came down of alumni and leadership fellows is a start. Under the aegis
and democratic principles triumphed. The current repetition of the Aspen Initiative for Europe, many of the best minds in
of history could be a lesson of the mismanagement of that very economics, politics, and strategy recently came together at a
victory. Or maybe it is a testament to the restlessness of open major conference for the Europe NEXT Project to propose a
societies caught in the whiplash of globalization and technology. blueprint for a more inclusive and just Europe. The Institute’s
Without a well-considered and effective solution, the public’s European arms will put the full power of their global network to
discontent and the political establishment’s disconnection from the task.
liberal values will only grow. Newer democracies in Central Europe is still one of the only places in the world where
and Eastern Europe are particularly vulnerable. Despite their a common project, the European Union, has transcended
huge growth since joining NATO and the European Union, the traditional boundaries of realpolitik and narrow national
communist legacy still lurks under the surface. A nationalistic interests. In times of turbulence, in Europe and the world, the
nostalgia is fueling anti-EU and anti-Western feelings, which global arms of the Institute have the moral and civic duty to put
are being cynically exploited by amoral political leaders. Worse, the Aspen Idea to work.
Russian propaganda is amplifying this mood, stoking resentments
about the loss of economic and political sovereignty to European Mircea Geoana is the president of Aspen Institute Romania.

FACES: Annual Awards Dinner Laura Lauder, Leonard and Judy Lauder, Michael Eisner
Anne Welsh McNulty, Robert Couturier, Mercedes Bass, Max Hollein
Ann Friedman, Carolyn Brody
Bill Browder
Bob Steel, Jim Crown
Lynda Resnick, Darren Walker
Apu Gupta, Yana Peel, Lani Hay, Jean Brownhill Sarah Jessica Parker, Laurie Tisch
Jane Harman, Bill Mayer

Clint Spaulding
Clint Spaulding
Santos
, William Heldfond, Santiago Roel
Becky Heldfond, Diana Heldfond Francis Hoffman, Andy Cun
ningham
FACES: John P. McNulty Prize Johnny McNulty
lty
Roya and Mehrdad Baghai, Anne Welsh McNu Bill Bynum, Olara Otunnu
Laurie Tisch, Laurie
Chock
Brynne McNulty Rojas Mehrdad Baghai, Dan Porterfield

Clint Spaulding
Clint Spaulding
Elliot Gerson, Denise Kingsmill, Brett Jenks

sh McNulty
da, Dave Gilboa, Anne Wel
Mehrdad Baghai, Hope Aze
FACES: Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Lecture
Madeleine Albright, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Dan Porterfield Alice Young, Alice Henkin,
Elliot Gerson
Jaclyn Williams
Peggy Clark
Stephanie Haven
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Robert Belfer
Dan Bayer, Courtney Collins, Riccardo Savi, Nick Tininenko

Clint Spaulding
Madeleine Albright

FACES: Society of Fellows Receptions
Sue Mi Terry, Gordon Chang
Buzz Zaino, Ken Auletta
Robert Blattberg, Peter Waanders
Larry Thomas
dith, Mia Birdsong

John Simpkins, Farah Pan
Lauren Elston
Jon Kelly, Eric Motley
Michael Steele
Dan Bayer, Courtney Collins, Riccardo Savi, Nick Tininenko
Shai Reshef, Liz Pisacreta

Clint Spaulding
Roy Bostock
FACTS
Dan Bayer
Dan Bayer
SEMINARS LEADERSHIP
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP SEMINARS THE ASPEN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK
Executive leadership seminars explore the tensions among The Institute cultivates entrepreneurial leaders and encourages them
values that form our conception of a Good Society and effective to tackle the great challenges of our time through social ventures.
leadership. Using moderated, text-based dialogue, groups of 18–20 Each Aspen Global Leadership Network program encourages a
hold interactive roundtable discussions to identify and explore new generation to move from success to significance by addressing
their professional values and leadership styles. Themed and custom the foremost challenges of their organizations, communities, and
seminars are also available. countries. Today, there are 14 different fellowships with over 2,700
aspeninstitute.org/seminars fellows in more than 60 countries.
aspeninstitute.org/agln
THE SOCRATES PROGRAM
The Socrates Program provides a forum for emerging leaders
from a wide range of professions to explore contemporary issues
through expert-moderated roundtable dialogue. ADVANCEMENT
aspeninstitute.org/socrates
THE SOCIETY OF FELLOWS
The Society of Fellows is a community of Institute friends whose
tax-deductible support advances the mission of the Aspen Institute.
Fellows enjoy unparalleled access to Institute programs, including
exclusive receptions, luncheons, and multiday symposia. Fellows
are the first to know of Institute offerings, and they receive special
invitations to events across the country.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE SEMINARS,
PLEASE CONTACT KALISSA HENDRICKSON AT aspeninstitute.org/society-fellows
KALISSA.HENDRICKSON@ASPENINST.ORG.

FACTS
Dan Bayer
Dan Bayer
POLICY PUBLIC
POLICY PROGRAMS EVENTS
Policy programs and initiatives serve as nonpartisan forums for The Institute hosts hundreds of public conferences and events to
analysis, consensus-building, and problem-solving on a wide variety provide a commons for people to share ideas. Flagship annual events
of issues. They span nine overarching themes: Business and Society, like the Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen Ideas: Health, Aspen Words,
Communications and Culture, Education, Energy and Environment, the Arts Program, and the Aspen Security Forum occur side by side
Health and Sport, Justice and Civil Identity, Opportunity and with ongoing year-round programs in New York, Washington, San
Development, Philanthropy and Social Enterprise, Security and Francisco, and Aspen.
Global Affairs. aspenideas.org
aspeninstitute.org/policy-work aspenideas.org/health
aspenwords.org
aspeninstitute.org/arts
POLICY FELLOWSHIPS
aspensecurityforum.org
Born from the Institute’s policy programs, Policy Leadership Programs
aspeninstitute.org/community
empower exceptional individuals to lead in their chosen fields. The
aspeninstitute.org/events
New Voices Fellowship cultivates compelling development experts.
The Ascend Fellowship targets diverse pioneers who are breaking the
cycle of intergenerational poverty. The First Movers Fellowship helps
corporate “intrapreneurs” give financial value to their companies and INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
positive outcomes to the world. The Colorado Children & Families The Aspen Institute has international partners in Prague, Czech
Health & Human Services Fellowship invests in leaders who are Republic; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy; Bucharest,
making the state the best place to have a thriving family. Romania; Madrid, Spain; New Delhi, India; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City,
aspennewvoices.org Mexico; and Kyiv, Ukraine. These centers host seminars, workshops,
aspeninstitute.org/ascend conferences, and policy programs for high-level leaders to encourage
discussion and debate on foreign policy, defense, and trade issues.
aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers
aspeninstitute.org/colorado-fellows aspeninstitute.org/international

FACTS
CONNECT OFFICE HEADQUARTERS

2300 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
DONATIONS, SPECIAL EVENTS,
202.736.5800
AND BENEFITS
Director of Development Events ASPEN CAMPUS
and Donor Relations 1000 North Third Street
Desirée Beebe // 202.736.1076 Aspen, CO 81611
desiree.beebe@aspeninstitute.org 970.925.7010
HERITAGE SOCIETY WYE RIVER CAMPUS

To learn more about planned giving 2010 Carmichael Road
opportunities, please call P.O. Box 222
Stephenie Maurer // 202.736.3852 Queenstown, MD 21658
aspeninstitute.org/heritagesociety 410.827.7168
NEW YORK OFFICES

MEDIA INQUIRIES 477 Madison Avenue, Suite 730
Senior Media Relations Associate New York, NY 10022
Jon Purves // 202.736.2111 212.895.8000
jon.purves@aspeninstitute.org
E-NEWSLETTER
Sign up for the Aspen Institute’s
biweekly e-newsletter.
aspeninstitute.org/newsletter
Floral Arts
for Weddings, Events & Everyday
970.920.6838 ~ www.sashae.com
300 Puppy Smith St. ~ Aspen, CO
Sashae_AspenIdea_sum14.indd 1 4/27/14 7:28 PM

CALENDAR
DECEMBER 18 FEBRUARY 15–18 MARCH 9–11 MARCH 15–17
THE BLOCKCHAIN AND 1. THE IMMIGRATION AND BRAVE NEW WORLD: 1. CAN THE MARKET FIX THE
ARCHITECTURE OF TRUST NATIONALISM SPIRAL Humanity, Technology, and the MARKET?
George Mason University’s Future of Work Markets produce unthinkable
Kevin Werbach, of the Univer-
Justin Gest will moderate. MIT's Leigh Hafrey examines levels of wealth and inequality.
sity of Pennsylvania's Wharton
the changing face of today’s Georgetown's Sonal Shah asks,
School, will speak with the Can the market solve poverty?
2. LEARNING FROM workplace. Industrial disloca-
Institute's Charlie Firestone FREDERICK DOUGLASS tion, technological progress,
about trust and the blockchain. Harvard University's John and social norms all factor into 2. ORDER AMID CHAOS:
Werbach says the blockchain Stauffer will moderate. the success of some sectors and Future Tech & Society
can act as a legal technology the disintegration of others, ac- MIT's William Powers will ex-
3. THE EVOLUTION OF companied by a widening gap in plore how AI is changing society,
that can both shape behavior
WARFARE: Council on income and opportunity. from raising families to running
and create vast business and
Foreign Relations' Gayle businesses to governing.
social value. Tzemach Lemmon will moderate. Socrates Spain Seminar
Ronda, Spain Socrates Colombia Seminar
Bay Area Discussion Reception Socrates Winter Seminars Cartagena, Colombia
San Francisco, CA Aspen, CO
6:30–8:30 pm
Will Burggraf 970.379.5918

Will.Burggraf@sir.com AspenSnowmassSIR.com
Durant Office: 730 Durant Avenue
Artfully uniting extraordinary homes with extraordinary lives.
6 bedroom, 7 bath, nearly 7,000 sq ft Lower Red Mountain Estate encompasses what every luxury buyer wants. Sophistication, size, privacy, land
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This custom built Earl Anderson designed home is a rare find in the West End. 3 bedrooms, 3 bath in the main house with a 1 bedroom,
1 bath mother-in-law apartment. Great for extra guests or rental income. Close to the heart of all Aspen has to offer. $4,795,000

PARTING SHOT
Kris Tripplaar
THE ONCE AND FUTURE CITY
When CityLab participants hit the streets of Detroit this fall, they toured with Bedrock Detroit, a local commercial
real-estate firm that has already made a big footprint there, with nearly 100 completed projects so far. The tour gave
CityLab-goers a peek into Detroit’s reimagined spaces, including architectural treasures like a bank vault, the old train
station, and a regal theater—as well as a look into the future. At Bedrock's headquarters, CityLab participants poked around
as a space suit stood vigil in a corner. It was a telling symbol of all that can be achieved when inspired people put their minds
to a great task. Like the space program, redesigning a city means first imagining the future—and then heading straight for it.
IDEAS: The Magazine of the Aspen Institute is published three times each year by the A
spen Institute and distributed to Institute constituents, friends, and supporters.
To receive a copy, call (202) 736-3541. Postmaster: Please send address changes to The Aspen Institute C ommunications Department, Ste. 700, 2300 N St NW, Washington, DC 20037
or ideas.magazine@aspeninstitute.org.
The opinions and statements expressed by the authors and contributors to this publication do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions of the Aspen Institute, which is a nonpartisan forum. All rights reserved.
No material in this publication may be published or copied without the express written consent of the Aspen Institute. ©The Aspen Institute All rights reserved.

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EVERYTHING

Great wines are like great minds: Creative.

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To learn how Allstate is driving prosperity

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Each year, MORE THAN 50,000 high-achieving Among community

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ONLY 18% of new

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Socrates Salon participants

BIG TALK IN THE BIG EASY

KEEP THE FAITH

pluralism in a strong democracy, looking specifically at what skills

civil-religious narrative and how to access common religious tenets aspeninstitute.org/inclusive-america-project

IDEAS WINTER 2018/19 15

WHAT TO READ THIS WINTER

Dark Money: The

The Underground Railroad Why Religion?

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MAKING THE MOST OF MOTOR CITY

small businesses are creating economic revitalization. Participants Care moore

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Bandy Lee: We have responsibilities to our patients and a

“When doctors issue a warning or take steps to protect

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Sally Satel: It’s one thing to be consulted, but it’s another to be

IDEAS WINTER 2018/19 19

10 YEARS OF FIRST MOVERS

Courtesy Business and Society Program

ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF HONORED

a singular mission of developing a universal influenza

Margaret Hamburg, Laura Riley, Dan Soltzberg aspeninstitute.org/health-medicine-and-society

TECH IN THE CITY

might widen equity gaps instead of bridging them. aspeninstitute.org/center-urban-innovation

IDEAS WINTER 2018/19 21

MEET THE 2018 MCNULTY PRIZE

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ABOUT HIGH RESOLVES