The coronavirus crisis arguably has thrown the world into a moment of profound uncertainty last seen in 1941 and the early years of World War II. This is the perfect time to use the proven tool of scenario planning in order to better understand the possible scenarios that lie ahead. And so we had a deep conversation with Peter Schwartz, an internationally renowned scenario planner who is the Chief Futures Officer and Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning at Salesforce. He led a team of people inside and outside Salesforce to quickly develop scenarios as the coronavirus crisis mushroomed.

Tristan Harris believes that many technology companies have gone too far. They are tapping into base desires and fears hardwired into our primitive animal brains to keep people hooked on social media. The result is what he calls “human downgrading” which is leading to a wide range of social ills, from depression to political polarization. Harris is a world expert on how technology steers us all, the former Design Ethicist at Google who left to co-found the Center for Humane Technology, and he was our featured guest at What’s Now: San Francisco in November.

Ann-Marie Slaughter heads the nearly 20 year old New America – a think tank that considers itself “a civic platform that connects a research institute, technology lab, solutions network, media hub and public forum.” Her wide-ranging and energizing conversation touched on many of the challenges and downsides of the new era of tech as as well as her optimism relating to how communities throughout the US are finding solutions.

At the inaugural TEDxOakland event in October, Reinvent Founder Peter Leyden explained how California sets the precedent for what happens in the rest of the nation—only 15 years early. From anti-immigrant backlash to corporate tax cuts, California has experienced many of the challenges and missteps that now face the United States as a whole, and…

In early December, the Berkeley Work and Intelligent Tools and Systems (WITS) working group hosted a conference to discuss working, earning, and learning in the age of intelligent tools. A number of conference participants sat down with Reinvent to talk about how they would explain the moment we’re in, what challenges we face, what solutions…

Laura Tyson, Faculty Director of the Institute for Business & Social Impact at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, took some time out of her day at a conference hosted by Berkeley and the OECD titled “Working, Earning, Learning In The Age Of Intelligent Tools” to share her thoughts on the future of work.

America today desperately needs a 21st-century model that enables companies and increasingly independent workers to thrive together in our new high-tech, global economy. A polarized, paralyzed government in Washington D.C. won’t lead the way anytime soon. Is it time for a “Treaty of San Francisco” which replicates the 1950 “Treaty of Detroit?”

In the first hour of our Treaty of San Francisco event, we focused on the historical Treaty of Detroit, and what the future of work might look like for the labor side of the equation.

When it comes to modeling the future of work, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom believes his state has a long way to go.

The third and final hour of our Treaty of San Francisco event focused on the world of tech, and tech companies can help proactively build a better future of work.

Carmen Rojas, CEO of The Workers Lab, founded the workers lab because she wanted to help ensure that upward mobility remains a possibility in the American economy. Rojas spoke about the experience of her immigrant mother, who was offered workplace training, benefits, a living wage, and a no-interest loan to buy a house through her job cleaning an office building, all of which allowed her “a footstep into the middle class.”

In the United States and around the world, public policy is increasingly outdated for today’s workplace realities. In the face of a federal government often paralyzed by partisanship and gridlock, it’s time to start focusing on policy innovation at the local level, especially in cities. Given the seemingly endless list of problems that need fixing, where should an innovative mayor start?

In this keynote presentation at the American Planning Association (APA) conference, Peter Leyden makes the case for how the chaos and disruption of the early 21st century will yield a more digital, global, sustainable world.

The Bay Area tech community, like much of the rest of the country, is still grappling with what Trump’s election will mean for the future of the United States. The future of many digital efforts—including the United States Digital Service, created by President Obama in 2014 to encourage people with tech expertise to do a tour of duty improving government—is one looming question.

One way to read the election of Donald Trump is that Americans want the current system – the way our economy, society and government work – to undergo a fundamental transformation. What is the beginning of a political grand strategy that plays off Trump and creates a more transformational way forward that actually solves the challenges of our times?

John Della Volpe, Director of Polling at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and Founder and CEO of SocialSphere, has been studying Millennials since 2000. It all started, said Della Volpe, with two Harvard students who wanted to survey Millennials and find out why they were volunteering but not voting. Della Volpe has been polling and analyzing this generation—which he defines as people born between 1980 and 2000—ever since.