Topic: Editors' Choice Programs

When do great artists produce their greatest art--and great social innovators make their most significant contributions? In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, economist and creativity researcher David Galenson debunks the myth that high achievement is the domain of youth and genius. Applying lessons from lives of artists and leaders, he considers the creatives' style differences and time horizons, emphasizing that social innovation is more about slow burn than flash in the pan.

The question of what to eat to be healthy has spawned a rash of often contradictory advice by "experts." In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Ethics and Society Program, NYU professor and author Marion Nestle offers simple advice that cuts through the confusion. She highlights the difference between "nutrients" and "food," and suggests how to bring "nutrition" back into the food realm. Her discussion forays into how agriculture and business interact to produce the foodstuffs on our shelves.

Rick Falkvinge is a Swedish politician who recently founded a new party. Its values include freedom, upholding laws, and rights to privacy. These may sound like safe and just laws - things that are constant and don't need defending; so what's jeopardizing them? According to Falkvinge, that would be copyrights and patents.

On the fifth anniversary of IT Conversations, founder Doug Kaye joins Phil to discuss the past, present, and future of both IT Conversations and the Conversations Network. He reviews the technical aspects of how shows are assembled and also assesses the challenges with trying to produce quality programming in a non-profit environment. He also discusses how the Conversations Network will continue to evolve in the future.

AIDS, malaria, and maternal mortality are some of the chronic public health issues that plague Africa. Invited to Stanford, Paul Farmer talks about how his Boston-based organization, Partners In Health, is spending donor dollars to bring the lessons garnered from its work in Haiti to scale up health care services in war-torn Rwanda. His organization seeks to fill the gap that exists between medical R&D and health care delivery so preventions and cures can be brought to more of the people who need them.

Pamela Hartigan, founding managing director of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship talks with Sheela Sethuraman about her new book "The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World". Hartigan explains why social entrepreneurs might be considered "unreasonable" and how they are different from business entrepreneurs. She also discusses the motivation for establishing a new organization, Volans Ventures.

Wendy Kopp, founder and executive director of Teach for America, tells host Sheela Sethuraman about the history, goals, and ideals of that program. In an effort to narrow the gap in educational opportunities, Teach for America currently places over 5,000 teachers in low income and poorly performing schools across the country. Its growing corps of alumni is also taking their educational experiences into careers in law, public health, policy making, and leadership.

Nike has traveled the full range of the corporate responsibility movement, from the campaigning days when it was a poster child for all things to do with poor working conditions through the era of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Nike has now moved into the next phase, where corporate responsibility becomes part of the business model. Hannah Jones, Nike's vice president for corporate responsibility looks at the future of corporate responsibility as the focus shifts upstream.

For Wal-Mart, social responsibility includes keeping products affordable to the millions of low and middle-income consumers who form the bulk of its customer base. Bringing the perspectives of someone who grew up in inner city Washington, DC, Lawrence Jackson, former Wal-Mart president and CEO for Global Procurement, asked his Stanford audience to consider whether pushing for social and environmental responsibility in business is a racially and economically segregated movement.

Buildings represent an ideal opportunity for reducing energy through clever design. Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, explores the many possibilities that building design offers us to "think outside of the box" in order to save energy. He illustrates his talk with numerous examples of effective design. He also highlights a few cases where smart energy design actually costs less to build, not more! From MAP.