To understand how we get out of our collective world mess, we need to understand what technology lock-in is and how it relates to market power and establishment forces. Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

Ever feel like you're living an episode (or season) of the Twilight Zone? This is how I've felt for months - not just the last few, but before the election, too. How have we come to this? And how do we get out of this? Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

The Left is losing its touch. For an ideology that is focused on tolerance and open-mindedness, the Left's Resistance movement seems to be so focused on reacting to Trump and the GOP, that it's forgetting how to listen to others to be better influencers. The Right, for its part, is so greedy with its power, that it's already shooting itself in the …

When conservatives speak, they hear a different message than what liberals hear. When liberals speak, they hear a different message than what conservatives hear. Did Donald Trump call Mexicans murderers and rapists OR did he highlight a border security issue? Understanding this linguistics gap is crucial to 1) influencing the other side, and 2) bui…

Generally speaking, conservatives tend to prioritize the Constitution and Religion over human rights, equality, and justice. While Liberals tend to prioritize human rights, equality, and justice over the Constitution and Religion... With 51% of Trump supporters believing that the President should have the right to override the Courts, are we now se…

The amount of discord between the Left and the Right with the election of Donald Trump. Progressives can achieve far more by moving beyond panicking. Everyone can achieve far more by moving beyond bickering. It's not one ideology or another that's correct - no ideology will ever win (at least not in our lifetime). So the question becomes, how can t…

Progressives have seen nothing but negativity in the election of Donald Trump. He's not a progressive, but there are some very likely positives that will come from Trump's election for the progressive cause... if people see the potential possibilities and focus on making them real. Give me a few minutes.…

If management is a science, then leadership is most certainly the art... but like the martial arts, leadership can be learned, practiced, and improved. Yet, we don't do enough in business, government, or community organizations to develop our leaders. Instead, we rely too much on a top-down authoritative structure that is killing our society and ou…

In a previous episode, I talk about the need to talk about politics differently. What are some ways to make that real and act on that concept? Give me a few minutesBy JESSE CHEN

Have you noticed the trend in the way we talk about politics these days? Have you noticed how every conversation seems to take an our-team-vs-their team approach? We have to change this. Here's why. Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

Why did Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton? It may have less to do with either candidate than the pundits would like you to believe. In fact, it may have more to do with a growing gap between leaders and communities both in and beyond government at all levels. Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

We live in a country where 1 in 5 children go to bed hungry every night and 200,000 veterans are homeless. Our presidential debates should be smart, fun, funny, collaborative, introspective -- and they're far from that. Our population engages with their government once every 2-4 years, if they vote at all. We are not living in a democracy. Our demo…

The left-right mindset defines a lot of our conversations today. The echo chambers and bubbles of each side operate in the left-center and the right-center, but the further left/right you get in your politics, the more they become very similar. The left-right mindset entraps us, and we need to break free of it. Give me a few minutes.…

Transparency is important for building trust. Without transparency, we can't have accountability. Without accountability, trust falls, engagement decreases, injustices prevail, and the oligarchy arises. Dashcam and bodycam footage should be released. Each time it's not released, an amateur video comes up and creates a different (and not necessarily…

The Sunlight Foundation is going through an identity crisis. It's done great work for open government, but its theory of change must evolve to go beyond radical transparency and include radical engagement. We are living in a tech-driven world. If we don't have tech that helps people organize and channel their social pressure in response to what tra…

A disturbing scenario played out this past weekend with simultaneous terrorist attacks in New Jersey and in New York. Both political parties started reacting in a very political manner. Did you catch it? Their reactions aligned with how you would expect the party in-power to respond compared the party not-in-power to respond. Give me a few minutes.…

Are we entering a pseudo 'cold civil war' or is this new era of distrust between ordinary citizens just a passing phase? As the two major presidential candidates ramp up their attacks on each other, people will become increasingly turned off from politics at a time when we need people to be more engaged than ever. But leaders can help reverse this …

Editors, producers, ad creatives, and a number of other "content creators" for mass media consumption shape your world. Someone makes Bieber and Kardashian more important in your newsfeed than the millions of people being left behind by our current system. Intentionally or not, their choices determine what issues are discussed, what perspectives ar…

We've changed from a "top-down" society to a "networked society", but our organizations haven't. In too many places, we're still operating with a top-down leadership style - government, political parties, non-profits, unions, you-name-it. We need to get better at organizing ourselves without top-down organizations. It's critical for democracy. Give…

Today's technology does not help us come together to build the world we want and need. And that's okay - that's not what it was designed for. That's why we're building Powerline. For people's power - the tech we need, for the world we need. Learn more: http://bitly.com/2auRsKMBy JESSE CHEN

Whether it's in the workplace, in a non-profit, or in your town, people need space to come together, discuss their common challenges and different perspectives, and innovate. Digital and physical, it's critical for our future. Otherwise, incremental progress will not be fast enough for us to make a meaningful impact for the world we want and need.…

The US style of top-down leadership needs to shift thanks to our now-emerged networked society. So, how can leaders take the first step to be more effective in this new era? Leaders need to provide space for people to link, learn, share perspective, and act together on their common issues, challenges, and opportunities. Ignoring this mandate is a r…

There's a tremendous amount of instability in the system. Instability that will not be solved by either Clinton or Trump in the next couple of years. We have to stop the "us vs. them" approach to politics - so how do we do this? We have to purposely and patiently take the time to understand the other side and "get into the hole" with them. We have …

Why are we stuck in gridlock in Congress and in our national body politic? Simply because tend to pick sides before we seek to understand our common problems and the multitude of perspectives that are associated with those problems. We must stop this "our-team-vs-their-team" mentality that is creating division and failing us in our efforts to make …

We are facing an extraordinary amount of uncertainty and instability right now. Regardless of who we elect in November here in the US, we should expect things to get worse before they get better. We are in transition - from an old system to a new one. As leaders, we need to focus on identifying and understanding all of our interconnected underlying…

What can Brexit tell us about how we can be better leaders? The disconnect between leaders and citizens has shocked a global economy, but could we see a dramatic event like this unfold in the United States? Yes, if we don't learn our lessons from our friends across the pond.By JESSE CHEN

Our world is very complex - it's made of systems upon systems. But how can we think about multiple perspectives in parallel? How can we visualize systems? The key is to think of the relationships between different objects rather than objects themselves. We can use a spider web with imaginary weights on it to illustrate this. Give me a few minutes.…

Are we building the future we want and need for ourselves and our kids? Or are we creating more problems with every "solution" that we deliver? Let's reflect on the connection between Innovation and Inequality. Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

Every time there's a tragedy, we over-simplify the problem and, thus, we over-simplify the solution. Are you one of the people that prioritizes "your solution" above "solving the problem itself?" Are you one of the people that blocks any progress on a perceived component of the problem because of your own views of what the problem is and what the s…

Action needs to be taken for the system to change. A system in stasis will not naturally change without an outside force. How do we practice solidarity across traditional thematic issues to help change the system? Narrow-focus movements that currently exist should start supporting other causes too in order to practice solidarity and build social pr…

Do you know there's a clear difference between the words 'strategy' and 'plan'? Do you know what that difference is or how to apply it in your everyday life? The nuance between 'outcomes' and 'destinations' is everything. What does that mean for our politics? Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

Right now, there are three competing battles happening in our collective politics. You've known about one for a long time - that's the Left vs the Right. But did you know we have a growing Establishment vs Anti-Establishment battle? Or a growing Politically Correct vs Politically Incorrect battle? Can you guess how these three link back to Bernie S…

Do you know what values really are and how they impact your leadership practices? How about mindsets? Do you understand how mindsets impact the way we process information? How do these two concepts come together to shape our leadership and political practices as well as our ability to influence others? How can you change someone's mindset quickly? …

There are two types of change continuous (incremental) and discontinuous (transformation/disruptive). What is the difference between these two types of change? How can leadership be responsive to communities and manage both incremental or disruptive change initiatives? Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

Where do you find yourself on the ladder of engagement? Apathetic? Us vs Them? Issue-oriented? Systemic? Some people move up the ladder. Some people never change. Many don't understand where they truly sit. The best way to understand where you sit on the ladder is to think about what you do in between elections. Give me a few minutes.…

When is an apple not a fruit? When it's an iPhone. Sensitivity to word choice is one of the strangest phenomena in our linguistics. Why is this so important? How does Donald Trump create so many supporters and opponents with just his words? What are his supporters hearing that his opponents aren't? Give me a few minutes.…

The key to changing hearts and minds is not to be abrasive and try to debate or "one-down" the person you are trying to influence. The key to changing hearts and minds is to "join them in the hole and show them the way out". You will never be able to change someone by attacking their beliefs. You must understand their beliefs first. Give me a few m…

We all love technology, but how is it impacting our democracy and our movements? How is distracting us from the real problems that exist in the real world? Are we entrapping an entire generation from an attention standpoint? How is this all impacting our power and our leadership? This and more in the 3rd full episode of Connect the Dots.…

Too many leaders are living in a bubble. They're totally disconnected from the grassroots and totally enveloped in a mindset that only allows them to see the world a certain way. It's happening across all of our sectors, and it's leading to an extraordinary breakdown of social institutions. We can stop this, but it requires a change in our leadersh…

There's a difference between implying conspiracy and inferring conspiracy. When we infer conspiracy, we subconsciously reject the speaker's point and even potentially distrust the person based on their word choice. Most people don't have mastery over the English language let alone mastery over how to talk about complex systems. That's okay, but it …

The world is pretty complex, and so are the problems that it has. So why do so many people make snap judgments and stay there without thinking through issues further? What does this look like in practice and why is it important? Give me a few minutes.By JESSE CHEN

As automation continues to decrease the number of jobs, a simple question comes to light: How do we organize society if we don't have enough jobs? How would a concept like the Guaranteed Basic Income actually work? How would we balance valuing and rewarding "hard work" with fighting inequality and ensuring goods and services could move in a nearly …

Too many leaders take a top-down approach to engaging their people, and it's tearing society and our institutions apart. Too many leaders are caught up in the bureaucratic, operational, logistics of existing systems, organizations, programs, etc. and they are forgetting to actually lead their people, let alone engage them in open, meaningful, and i…

If we truly want to be innovative, we need to stop thinking that the people at the top of our current broken system are the only ones qualified to fix it. We need to be more open to the ideas that come from the grassroots, from outside the current system and views of the world that lead to the perpetuation of problems we have today. This is a probl…

Pursuing a dream is a psychological struggle. Dealing with the daily whiplash of the ups and downs of life can be challenging, but it's exactly this rollercoaster that makes life worth living. We just have to remember that we're on it.By JESSE CHEN

We are born into a world that is not of our own design. Yet, we learn and adopt paradigms, assumptions, values, and views from the people who came here before us. So, how do we build a better future? At some point, we have to step back and reflect on long-held assumptions. With everything in our reach today, how do we build a better tomorrow?…

Sometimes we wake up and say "How did I get here?" Where am I going? Is that where I really want to be going? Is this what I really want to be doing with my life? Getting off auto-pilot is simply a matter of asking yourself a few basic questions, which can help you take control of your life.By JESSE CHEN

Leaders need to take more purposeful and specific action to rebuild trust in America. We know trust is decreasing and we see evidence of it all around us, but we don't take action to rectify it. That needs to change.By JESSE CHEN

In business, in our personal lives, and in society as a whole, we need to think twice about the metrics we use to measure our success. Sometimes we assume or accept metrics without thinking about it, and so we end up being successful at the wrong thing.By JESSE CHEN

The smallest action can make an enormous difference on the rest of the system. Understanding how one can impact the larger the system is an issue of leverage points, strategy, influence, and systems thinking.By JESSE CHEN