innovation is the way

Leela Sinha: 00:00:01

Hi, everyone, thanks for tuning in. I'm

Leela Sinha: 00:00:05

thinking tonight about what it means for a leader to hold hope,

Leela Sinha: 00:00:13

to hold possibility, and simultaneously be realistic. I,

Leela Sinha: 00:00:20

I really hesitate with the word 'realism' because I feel like so

Leela Sinha: 00:00:23

often the idea of being realistic is used to shut down

Leela Sinha: 00:00:28

dreams or possibilities outside the scope of what has already

Leela Sinha: 00:00:31

been imagined. And I find that especially in moments like these

Leela Sinha: 00:00:37

in history- and I find that I'm living through a remarkable

Leela Sinha: 00:00:41

number of them for my relatively middle age- but in moments like

Leela Sinha: 00:00:49

this, it is absolutely critical that we not shut down dreaming,

Leela Sinha: 00:00:53

that we not shut down possibilities of things that we

Leela Sinha: 00:00:56

had heretofore believed impossible. When equal marriage

Leela Sinha: 00:00:59

went through, I was extremely aware of how recently equal

Leela Sinha: 00:01:04

marriage had seemed impossible. Now, of course, equal marriage

Leela Sinha: 00:01:09

is under threat. And it seems that we have a division, right?

Leela Sinha: 00:01:15

We have people who are like, "ach, it was too good to last."

Leela Sinha: 00:01:17

And we have people who are like, "no, no, that belongs to us.

Leela Sinha: 00:01:22

We're keeping that." And what we need right now is people who can

think. All of us: 00:01:29

intensives, founders, innovators, creatives,

think. All of us: 00:01:35

disruptors, who can think outside of the way that things

think. All of us: 00:01:39

have always been done not that voting isn't important. It is.

think. All of us: 00:01:43

Not that raising issues with our representatives isn't important.

think. All of us: 00:01:48

It is. But clearly, some folks are playing by a different set

think. All of us: 00:01:52

of rules. And we have to be thinking about how to create

think. All of us: 00:01:59

ways of playing in a different landscape that still have

think. All of us: 00:02:05

integrity for us. The integrity is really important. We can't

think. All of us: 00:02:09

lose the integrity. It's tempting, but we can't do it

think. All of us: 00:02:14

because then we lose our only rallying cry. Other groups have

think. All of us: 00:02:23

other things that they gather around, that they elevate,that

think. All of us: 00:02:26

they valorize. Things like followership, like obedience. We

think. All of us: 00:02:30

don't, as liberals, think that way. We don't, as progressives,

think. All of us: 00:02:33

think that way. The entire Left is kind of opposed to that kind

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of thinking, which is part of what makes us who we are. But in

think. All of us: 00:02:41

order for us to work together- even though we're very different

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in a lot of different ways- in order for us to work together,

we really have to think about:

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how do we innovate? And how do

we really have to think about:

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we find innovative ways of approaching new challenges?

we really have to think about:

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Well, guess what? We're really good at that. Not everyone on

we really have to think about:

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the left, but founders, intensives, we tend to be very,

we really have to think about:

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very good at finding loopholes and looking for things that

we really have to think about:

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nobody else has thought of yet. That nobody else is aware of,

we really have to think about:

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because nobody else has turned the problem upside down quite

we really have to think about:

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like that- you know, I keep thinking of, is it Linus Pauling

we really have to think about:

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or- I don't remember. There's a mathematician who's given a

we really have to think about:

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sealed black box in which there is a prism of some shape. And

we really have to think about:

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he's asked to figure out, without getting into the box,

we really have to think about:

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what shape the prism is, and he begins tipping it back and

we really have to think about:

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forth, and looking at the angle at which it pitches forward onto

we really have to think about:

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the next face of itself. And eventually he discovers that it

we really have to think about:

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is in fact, I don't remember what it was, but it it's a

we really have to think about:

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complex shape. It's not like a, you know, a square, you know,

we really have to think about:

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rectangular prism. It's something else. And you watch

we really have to think about:

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him do it. And he talks through it as he does it. And he's very

we really have to think about:

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good. He's very good at just kind of thinking it through,

we really have to think about:

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playing with it. And he's a mathematician. So that's what

we really have to think about:

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he's doing but what we do- or maybe he's a physicist- anyway.

we really have to think about:

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But what we do, is we find solutions like that. We figure

we really have to think about:

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out how to work with what we have to get somewhere that

we really have to think about:

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people say we can't get. People say it can't be done. We say,

we really have to think about:

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"oh, that sounds interesting. What can't be done again? Tell

we really have to think about:

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me more." And because that's who we are, and that's the way we

we really have to think about:

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are, we are epically suited for this moment in history. And part

we really have to think about:

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of our role as leaders, as founders, as

we really have to think about:

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people who are being paid attention to, people who are

we really have to think about:

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being as, as a lot of my neurodivergent friends, say

we really have to think about:

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people who are being perceived, and often professionally, so-

we really have to think about:

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right, we go out in public and talk about what we do or what we

we really have to think about:

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believe, or we go to VCs or we go, we go to whomever we're

we really have to think about:

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trying to hire, we go to our potential customers, and we, we

we really have to think about:

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spin the story of a dream, we spin the story of possibility,

we really have to think about:

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and we invite them in to help us create that and to help us

we really have to think about:

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perpetuate it. Because we believe it's going to be somehow

we really have to think about:

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better. Better for the world, meeting a need, better for us,

we really have to think about:

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better for them. Usually, it's the intersection, right? It's

we really have to think about:

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the center of that Venn diagram. And so our, our job in this

we really have to think about:

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case, is to move into a space. And this, this is both about

we really have to think about:

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politics and about our companies, right? Because our

we really have to think about:

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job is to move into the spaces where we are leaders. And to

we really have to think about:

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invite that kind of epic, out of the box, wild thinking that

we really have to think about:

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produces ideas and ways of doing things that people haven't been

we really have to think about:

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using, that people haven't been doing. That's what we're good

we really have to think about:

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at. We should also, of course, and always, coordinate with the

we really have to think about:

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people who have been doing this a long time, the organizers who

we really have to think about:

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have been in the field for twenty years for forty years for

we really have to think about:

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sixty years. Like I'm not saying we should ignore what's already

we really have to think about:

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being done. And I'm saying we need some innovation right now.

we really have to think about:

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We need some kind of innovation. And this is, this is the time

we really have to think about:

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for us to use our innovative skills in service of something

we really have to think about:

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larger. And that is how we hold hope without getting trapped by

we really have to think about:

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this concept of realistic. Because realistic means that

we really have to think about:

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somebody else thinks that it could be real. And somebody else

we really have to think about:

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thinks it is obvious that it could be real, and not just some

we really have to think about:

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high flying intensive, imagination-full person. But

we really have to think about:

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like a rank and file every day, random person on the street

we really have to think about:

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person thinks it's obvious that it's possible. That's kind of

we really have to think about:

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what realistic means. But we're founders and we deal in the

we really have to think about:

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impossible. We deal in the unrealistic. We deal in the

we really have to think about:

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"this has got to happen, but we don't know how, but it's gonna

we really have to think about:

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happen." That's our space. That's our territory. That's

we really have to think about:

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what we are better at than anybody else. And that's why

we really have to think about:

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we're here. Of course, of course, go find out what other

we really have to think about:

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people think. That includes the people that work with you. That

we really have to think about:

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includes the people that you serve. None of us have like the

we really have to think about:

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single only perspective. And also this is our moment to bring

we really have to think about:

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our own special blend of imagination and possibility and

we really have to think about:

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stubbornness and wild-eyed dreaming. Not just for ourselves

we really have to think about:

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but for our people. For all those people who are paying

we really have to think about:

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attention to us. We know we're good at crisis. We know we're

we really have to think about:

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good at creative. Let's go do it.