Masih Alinejad

Hello, I hope you’ve had a great week. 

Like most Americans, I had seen the videos of Iranian protestors these past months marching for freedom from edicts enforced by morality police and subjugation.  I hoped that their bravery would lead to progress and positive change.

Instead, they have been met with brutal repression and retaliation.  And not just in Iran.  Last week the news came out that an Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn, Masih Alinejad, was targeted by 3 killers-for-hire by the Iranian government because of her vocal activism against the regime. A man with an automatic rifle was arrested outside of her home in New York last year. 

I found this shocking – the Iranian government sent assassins to kill an American on American soil for exercising her rights to free speech?

I interviewed Masih this week on the podcast and she was compelling and heartbreaking.  “I am not worried for my own life.  But what would happen to my family or neighbors if they had started shooting at my home?”  Masih is now staying at safehouses as per the guidance of the FBI.  “My native country is trying to kill me, and my adopted country is protecting me.” 

Masih came to America in 2009, but most of her family yet lives in Iran.  The government has been very harsh toward Masih’s family to try to force her to abandon her activism.  “My brother was imprisoned for two years.  My sister was forced to denounce me for 17 minutes on national television.  I have not seen my mother in years – I miss my mother.  I have felt incredibly guilty.  My family members have been told that if they even call or email me, they will be jailed for 10 years.” 

She is also inspired by the courage shown by everyday Iranians.  “They are running risks every day by telling the regime in videos and posts and taking to the streets that change is needed.  How can I be any less brave here?” 

And yet Masih feels that the Iranian people cannot go it alone.  “I want to meet with President Biden.  The US stands for freedom and democracy. The US should help guide the EU to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, as the US already has.  Iran is sending drones to kill innocent Ukrainians.  Iranians are being raped and brutalized and executed simply for saying they want a better life.” 

Masih also makes the case that this is not something isolated to Iran.  “If Iran is willing to do this in America, this is a national security issue.  What happens in Iran does not just affect Iranians.  It will affect everyone.” 

Meeting with Masih and interviewing her was a rare privilege – it’s not often that you meet someone willing to risk so much for her people.  Despite everything she has been through, she remains positive about the future of her homeland.  “I hope to go back to my native country and have you visit with me, Andrew.  It’s a beautiful country.”  I hope that she gets her wish.

For my interview with Masih click here and to check out Forward click here. 

An American in Ukraine

This past week, the Biden Administration decided to send dozens of modern Abrams tanks to assist in the defense of Ukraine. 

I applaud this decision.  Like most Americans, I was shocked and horrified when Putin invaded Ukraine last February.  I didn’t think any responsible leader could do something so destructive and callous, including toward his own people. 

In the weeks that followed, I was heartened and inspired by the resilience and determination of the Ukrainians who seemed willing to die to defend their country.  President Zelensky became a symbol of courage, with his consistent calls for international support carrying the weight of the risks he incurs every day. 

A select group of Americans have headed to Ukraine to serve.  One of them is Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, whom I met with when she was back in the States to brief members of Congress on the state of the conflict on the ground.  I knew Sarah from her time as a journalist in Las Vegas when I campaigned there in 2020. 

Sarah has made an incredible transition – from journalist to enlisted soldier in the Ukrainian army.  “After being embedded with a military unit for months as a journalist, we built up a trust.  They started asking me to do things in terms of communications and analysis that, frankly, make it feel natural for me to enlist.  I trained as a medic, though I also received a rifle and weapons training.  Unfortunately, I have seen more death and horror than I would wish upon anyone.  For example, 30 journalists have already died in the conflict.” 

Imagine risking your life for months on end for a country that is not yours.  But Sarah sees the stakes as high as can be.  “It’s genuinely about democracy and freedom and humanity.  Putin’s invasion threatens everything we hold dear.  He cannot be allowed to succeed.  He must be defeated.” 

Sarah is a transgender female.  “Here in Ukraine, people only care about your character and what actions you take.  My identity has been a non-issue here.  It’s a much bigger deal in the States.” 

She sees the conflict as entering a critical phase.  “Any resources we get now are worth much more than later, because this Spring will be crucial.  My message to the American people is that this is the absolute best ROI you can get on any investment anywhere.  If we properly support the Ukrainians who are fighting for their country we not only can win, we will win.” 

I interviewed Sarah on the podcast this week - toward the end I asked her when she imagines leaving Ukraine.  She said, “When the conflict is over.”  All the more reason to do all we can to bring Putin’s war to an end as quickly as possible with his defeat.  Stay safe Sarah. 

Big News in SC, CA and more

Hello, I hope that you’re doing great!  I just came back from South Carolina where I campaigned for Ranked Choice Voting and met with Forward state leaders and volunteers who are hard at work gathering signatures for ballot status in SC.  I also did multiple press interviews and appearances; it was an invigorating trip.  Our old friend Jermaine Johnson has co-sponsored a bipartisan bill in Columbia to adopt Ranked Choice Voting. 

Today in California, we announced that Forward is teaming up with the Common Sense Party, which has 30,000 signatures on its way to 73,000 to achieve party status there.  Common Sense is led by Tom Campbell, a former member of Congress who realized that the system needs reform.  Your friends in California can now register for the Common Sense party and help move the state in a better direction.  We love working with like-minded people.  I’ll be heading to Los Angeles with former NJ Governor Christie Todd Whitman for a kick-off event in CA. 
 
Signature gathering efforts to certify the Forward Party have launched also in Colorado, Utah and Louisiana and are set for another 16 states this year.  Everywhere, Americans are saying “we need something new” and are rolling up their sleeves to make it happen. 
 
But we need your help.  Let your friends in SC, CA or any other state know that people are working hard to provide a new option for them.  Join Forward in your state.  Don’t have any friends?  I don’t believe it.  But you can always make a donation to Forward – in many ways that’s the easiest way to help. 

I had a wonderful time in South Carolina because of the chance to meet our volunteers – truly awesome people.  One of our state leads in SC, Clint, commented “I had no idea I’d make such great new friends.”  That’s what happens when you do something important – other people come together alongside you that share your values.  You get along.  And together, sometimes, you change the world. 
 
Let’s get to work.  Tell your friends.  And maybe make some new ones.  I have. 

Huge Announcement re: CA!

Hello, I hope that you’re doing great!  Thank you for your support in California, which has been a second home to me and Evelyn and is where my parents met as students at UC Berkeley.  
 
I have some thrilling news – Forward will be teaming up with the Common Sense Party of California! 

Over the past number of months we met with Tom Campbell, John Pimentel and the other Common Sense leaders and realized that we are totally aligned and want the same things in terms of a better, more accountable political system that actually solves problems and listens to voters.  Forward takes pride in teaming up with like-minded people and not being territorial.  We would be better off working hand-in-hand rather than apart. 
 
After many discussions, we are proud to announce that we will be moving CA forward together!  
 
The Common Sense Party is currently hard at work registering roughly 73,000 California voters to join the party and get ballot recognition.  This is where we come in; if Forward Party members and supporters get behind this, we can clear this hurdle and bring a new party to California politics in 2023.  It’s my personal goal that Forward Party members become the defining essence of this effort and the new party.  30,000 Californians have already signed up so we are almost halfway there.  
 
I will be visiting Los Angeles in February as part of an official kick-off.  But now is the chance to make your voice heard!  Register for the Common Sense party today and consider making a contribution to this effort.  Most importantly, tell your friends that there’s a new party coming to California and if they’re sick of the status quo and want REAL change, this is the way to get it.  Join up today!  
 
Our elected officials are captive to party interests in California ahead of the people’s – let’s change that.  
 
Common Sense + Forward = Real Progress!  Let’s do it. 
 
Yours excitedly,

ChatGPT and Reality

I spent several years arguing that automation is going to upend and transform the American labor market – I wrote a book called ‘The War on Normal People” on this topic that became a New York Times bestseller and now has 2,000+ 5-star reviews on Amazon. 

Alternate cover design

Some people believed it.  Others didn’t.  But late last year, ChatGPT came along and opened a lot of eyes. 

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that can generate stories, paragraphs, passages or poems from a simple query or text prompt.  The work product is on par with, or in some cases superior to, what a college-educated person could produce given much more time.  It has already absorbed tens of billions of data points and is constantly integrating more to become smarter, more efficient and more effective. 

Annie Lowrey in the Atlantic wrote about ChatGPT:  ”AI can do work currently done by paralegals, copywriters, digital-content producers, executive assistants, entry-level computer programmers, and, yes some journalists.”  Paul Graham of YCombinator commented, “"The striking thing about the reaction to ChatGPT is not just the number of people who are blown away by it, but who they are. These are not people who get excited by every shiny new thing. Clearly something big is happening.” 

This week on the podcast I interview Stephen Marche, a writer for the Atlantic who has extensively researched not just ChatGPT but other language processing AI and written several pieces about it.  What are the implications of AI getting smart enough to produce natural language? 

Said Stephen: 

“One of the biggest challenges is the potential for job displacement and economic disruption. As machines become more intelligent and capable, they will be able to perform tasks that were once thought to be the exclusive domain of humans. This could lead to job loss and economic inequality, particularly in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and customer service.

Another challenge of AI is its potential to be used for malicious purposes. AI can be used to create more convincing deepfake videos and impersonate political figures online, which could have negative implications for the democratic process. Additionally, AI can be used to create autonomous weapons, which could have devastating consequences for global security.” 

Stephen doesn’t quite talk like that.  The above quote was generated by ChatGPT. 

What Stephen actually sounds like is, “Before 2017 I was a skeptic of digital humanities, but then the transformer happened and everything sped up.  The trend to me is much broader than just ChatGPT . . . people are catching up and seeing it happen.  ChatGPT is a bot that you can ask any question and it will produce a coherent response by going through billions and billions of parameters and is thus much more useful and practical for everyone.  Everyone has their holy cow moment using this stuff . . . this is going to change a lot of things.  I’ve had access to a more advanced AI [than the public] and what it can do is really freaky, including low-level chain reasoning.  If this is the Model T, someone is eventually going to make a Lamborghini and that will have a range of impacts on everything that involves language.”

Google recently sounded the alarm about what ChatGPT could mean for its search engine business.  If Google is concerned, how should the 2 million Americans who work at call centers think about their future?  About 62 million jobs are categorized by the Fed as routine cognitive or routine manual – about 44 percent of total jobs.  Oxford estimated that a similar percentage – 47% - of jobs are subject to automation. 

Source: Economic Data, The Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis

When I campaigned in 2020 did I think that the future would be here in 2023?  As William Gibson wrote, “The future is already here; it’s just unevenly distributed.”  Well it’s distributing fast.  The question is, what will we do about it?    

For my conversation with Stephen Marche, which I found fascinating, click here and for the War on Normal People click here.  To reform our political system to respond to the real challenges, check out Forward.  The machines won't save us, we're going to have to do it ourselves.  

Visiting MLK

Hello, I hope that you’re having a wonderful holiday weekend!  It was my birthday on Friday so I had a nice dinner with family and friends. 
 
This weekend we also celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday and legacy.  In 2020 I had the privilege of visiting the King Center in Atlanta with Dr. King’s son, Martin Luther King III.  Martin and I became friends during my presidential campaign; his father had been a champion of universal basic income before he was assassinated in 1968. 

Dr. King’s childhood home is located a couple blocks from the King Center in Atlanta on a pleasant residential street.  Martin brought me and Evelyn around the house – it is preserved so that one gets a sense of family life in that time.  “Dad used to say that the view from the front stoop – the poor houses on the left and the rich houses on the right – gave him a sense early on that change was needed.” 
 
Like most Americans, I grew up watching the black and white videos of Martin Luther King’s historic “I have a dream” speech, and watched it again in a US History course I took in college.  I also remember when MLK Day became a federal holiday in 1986 – I was eleven years old and it was a big deal.  To hear Martin relate his own childhood memories of his father in their family home was something I will never forget. 
 
We walked down the street to visit the King Center directly afterwards.  There’s a beautiful pool of water where Dr. King and his wife are interred.  “This Center is really Mom’s vision come to life more than anyone else,” Martin said.  Quotes from Dr. King’s speeches are included along the sides, including his call to address the 3 great Evils: Racism, Poverty and War. 
 
If you ask most people what Dr. King stood for, they would likely say “a land where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.”  But Dr. King had taken to campaigning against not just racism but poverty in his later years – he even explicitly said that poor blacks and poor whites should make common cause to improve their circumstances in his final book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”  In that book, he wrote,
 
“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.  With righteous indignation, it will look at thousands of working people displaced from their jobs with reduced incomes as a result of automation while the profits of the employers remain intact, and say: ‘This is not just.’ . . . Let us be those creative dissenters who will call our beloved nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness.”
 
Dr. King was assassinated 55 years ago, yet his words read as if they could have been written today.  Is America any closer to becoming the “beloved community” today? 
 
This year on Dr. King’s birthday, let’s think bigger about what building a beloved community would mean in our own time, and consider how to address poverty in the age of AI.  And if you ever have the chance to visit MLK’s resting place in Atlanta, take the opportunity – you’ll be glad you did. 
 
Want to help America head down a better path?  Check out Forward today.  

A Rocky Start

Hello, I hope that 2023 is going great for you thus far!  My kids have been sick so there’s been more family time than usual. 

 
The new Congress is off to a rocky start, as Kevin McCarthy went through 14 unsuccessful votes to eventually claim the Speaker’s mantle.  You can’t understate how bad this is; 20 Republicans refused to back him, resulting in a leaderless environment and hundreds of members reduced to futile voting for days on end.  It’s a vivid picture of a divided country that struggles with basic tasks like organizing itself. 

It’s also a direct outgrowth of our rigid two-party system – in other democracies different groups come together to settle on leadership decisions.  “Coalition governing is used in virtually all other leading western democracies” is how David Jolly put it.  Here, you would hope that moderate Republicans and Democrats might come together and settle on a compromise.  But no one wants to cross party lines. 

Said Mark Cuban:  “Is there a better commercial for Ranked Choice Voting than what is going on with the Speaker’s vote in the House?  The current system, from primary to general to speaker voting, empowers the extremists at the expense of constituents.  Time to change.”  He’s right on all counts. 

McCarthy managed to eke out a win by conceding the store and giving himself some future problems.  It bodes poorly for the legislative environment for the next 2 years as one can easily imagine 6 recalcitrant Republicans holding up meaningful legislation and Dems not wanting to lend any assistance.  

This week on the podcast I interview Eric Liu, the founder and CEO of Citizen University.  Eric is the author of numerous books, including most recently “Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility and Democracy.”  He spent years in Democratic politics as a speechwriter for Bill Clinton and an Obama appointee.  Citizen University is about empowering citizens to take charge of what is happening in their community through greater engagement – very aligned with Forward.  Among its programs are Civic Saturdays, which gather people together to reflect on what they can to do better their community. 

Civic Saturdays take the form of a traditional religious gathering: people stand and sing, read from different works, bring pocket Constitutions, and are led by a sermon. Citizen University has trained hundreds of people in its civic seminary to lead local gatherings.

I thought this was the coolest thing in the world; there is a lot missing in many Americans’ lives in terms of connection and community.  What an innovative way to fill the need. 

Eric’s work doesn’t stop there.  His org also runs civic “collaboratories” to spur projects around the country, youth programs and more. 

“Small acts.  Small compromises.  Small stands.  Small choices that turn large tides.  That’s what every nation’s culture is made of,” Eric writes.  “The arguments in American politics are stupid in many ways: they’re stuck in a decaying two-party institutional framework: they fail to challenge foundational assumptions about capitalism or government: they center on symbolic proxy skirmishes instead of naming the underlying change: they focus excessively on style and surface.”  Eric’s antidote is an army of engaged and empowered citizens improving their own communities and local governance.  Substance instead of spectacle.    

Talking to Eric, it was like the other end of the spectrum from what’s going on in Washington D.C.  Can the people of this country take our futures into our own hands?  He’s definitely right that that’s where leadership will come from. This week is the latest reminder that our elected leaders aren’t going to save us.  We’re going to have to do it ourselves. 

Check out Citizen University here for a host of tools; for Eric’s books click here.  If you want to join us in fixing American politics, check out the Forward Party today! 

2023

Hello, and Happy 2023! 

As someone who screws up the date for the first two weeks of any New Year, it feels funny to be talking about 2023.  Yet here we are!  

This week on the podcast I discuss the year ahead with Zach Graumann.  A few big questions we discuss:  will there be a recession?  What’s going on in DC?  How does the 2024 race shape up?  (I know, but expect a new Republican presidential candidate every month of this year through July) And what else do we see coming in the next 12 months?   

Most important for Zach, he’s getting married this year!  If you see him, tell him how lucky he is. 

On to our thoughts for 2023: 

1. I expect economic headwinds to be significant, including a recession this year.  I talk to a number of CEOs and they are pulling back.  Investors see a host of businesses that were designed for a low-interest rate/easy money environment that will have massive struggles now that money is tougher to come by.  Friends in real estate see a gap between what values supposedly are and what people will pay now that mortgage rates are 6 – 8%.  VCs still have capital to invest – some of it was allocated years ago – but they’re driving harder bargains and not chasing deals.  Inflation is still hovering around 5%, which could spur further tightening. 
   
   It all looks like a transition year.  Transitions are often painful.  What does that mean for you?  Feel free to see this as a year to get a little conservative with your decision-making and reduce risks.  Opportunities will come. 
   

2. There’s a new Speaker of the House.  And his name is . . . Kevin McCarthy we think?  It’s up in the air because the Republican majority – with only 5 votes to spare – has yet to entirely coalesce around him or anyone else.  It suggests a very muddy legislative environment where very little will get done. 
   
   Most people don’t understand just how much Congress is controlled by the party leaders at this point; one senior Congressperson said to me that the “average member who doesn’t have a gavel in his hand (running a committee) might as well be a piece of furniture.”  What happens when the party with the majority won’t play ball with itself?  Do some Republicans splinter off with moderate Democrats to form a coalition in the middle?  It may genuinely be the only way to accomplish anything, even relatively routine legislative tasks.  On that note . . .
   

3. Kyrsten Sinema just declared herself an Independent.  Joe Manchin – who is up for re-election in 2024 in a state that Trump won by 38 points – is noncommittal whether he will stay a Democrat. Lisa Murkowski just won re-election while endorsing the Democratic House candidate Mary Peltola, thanks largely to Alaska’s non-partisan primaries and ranked choice voting rules that make the parties less dominant.  Could we see a fulcrum of Independent Senators that become necessary to pass anything in a 49-48-3 Senate?  And what bills are even going to be up for Senate consideration from the Republican House? 
   

4. On the Republican side for the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump’s launch has not gone well.  I expect to see Chris Christie, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Larry Hogan, Francis Suarez, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, Tulsi Gabbard, and a few others declare for the White House by June.  The first Republican debate will likely take place in August of this year with one a month through the end of the year.  Voting starts in Iowa in February of ’24. 
   
   As you can see, you’re looking at 9 or 10 candidates off the bat – Zach puts the over/under at 15.  Trump can still win just by hanging onto his base – he only got 35% of the vote in the early states in 2016.  If the other candidates divide the vote he could still easily roll.  He also still has control of most of the state parties, whose winner-takes-all delegate rules could help Trump a lot.  The question is whether Trump genuinely has the energy to run a campaign for 14 months; he already seems tired and disinterested, and his social media shitposting is relegated to propping up Truth Social instead of driving narratives on Twitter.  His act is old and stale and he doesn’t seem to have the mojo or motivation to conjure up a new one. 
   
   On the Democratic side, I expect Joe Biden to declare in the Spring and then other Democrats to fall in line.  The DNC is shifting South Carolina to first which will inoculate Joe against any challengers.  I also expect the DNC to shortcircuit any competition who might declare (e.g., Nina Turner, Marianne Williamson), similar to what the RNC did for Trump in 2020 when they canceled early state primaries, though not quite as egregious.  Think canceling debates unless a competitor exceeds . . . 25% in polling, rising as necessary. 
   
   If Joe doesn’t run then a scrum will immediately emerge on the Democratic side.  But at this point it’s going to be up to Joe.  Yes, he’ll be 82 at the end of 2024.
   

5. Will there be a third party challenge for the presidential in 2024?  No Labels has already raised and spent millions to get ballot access.  A lot will depend on who the nominees are or look to be.  If it’s Joe vs. Trump the rematch then there almost certainly will be another candidate; 58% of Americans don’t like either of those choices.  That decision may not happen until 2024 though, as the general election debates don’t occur until September ’24 and the Republican nominee won’t become clear until early that year. 

 These are some of the things on our minds for 2023; Zach and I also do a little foreshadowing of things we are working on in our convo.  As you can tell, one of the themes for the year ahead is political dysfunction – if you’d like to help build a new alternative, check out what we are doing at Forward, which is growing every day.  There’s a lot on tap for 2023, including municipal elections, ranked choice voting campaigns starting this month in CT, getting ballot access and more. 

Fundamentally, how we do in the year ahead will be mostly up to us.  Let’s take advantage of the chance to turn the page in our own lives, where it matters most.  Hope 2023 is off to a tremendous start already for you and yours!  Resolve to make it a great one! 

Happy Holidays!

Hello, I hope that the holiday season is off to a wonderful start for you and yours!

My parents immigrated to the States, but my Mom always took holiday season to heart and tried her best to create a warm family home. We celebrated Christmas every year with a tree that my brother and I decorated, stockings, and presents, with relatives often visiting for a big home-cooked dinner. If there was snow on the ground, my brother and I would go tobogganing down the local hill.

My parents had a habit of getting my brother and I the same presents each year – it was one way they tried to avoid any hint of favoritism. As a result, my brother and I would open our presents at the same time to avoid blowing the surprise for either one of us. It also probably reduced the quality of the presents – I remember getting a lot of sweaters.

One year, I was given a GI Joe helicopter toy by my parents – the Dragonfly. I was maybe 11 years old. There was some assembly required. I took a little knife from the kitchen and was freeing the pieces from the plastic in the living room. The knife slipped and I cut my left hand hard enough for it to start bleeding immediately. I jumped up and yelled, “Get a band-aid! Get a band-aid!” I was still at a point where I thought band-aids miraculously healed everything. My Mom, without missing a beat, took me to the bathroom and ran my hand under the sink, inspecting the cut, which turned out to be no big deal. She put on some Neosporin, a piece of gauze and a band-aid on top. In less than 5 minutes I was happily back on the floor putting my toy together again.

I associate this time of year with boardgames and family time.

As Evelyn and I have had kids of our own, we have tried to create the same sense of warmth and belonging and comfort for our boys. Neither of us has a big family, so there’s a bit of pressure involved. It has made me appreciate what my Mom did every year all the more.

Who or what are you grateful for?

I hope that you have the chance to spend time with those most important to you this Holiday Season, and that you help create some memories that will last a lifetime. Happy Holidays!

The Rules of Power

Hello, I hope that you’re doing great!  Almost 1,000 people came to the Forward Webinar event last week – it was a phenomenal gathering.  I also met with supporters in Philadelphia which was a lot of fun.
 
This week on the podcast I interview Jeffrey Pfeffer, one of the most popular and influential professors at Stanford who teaches a course called “Paths to Power.”  He has written several books about how to advance professionally based on social science and evidence-based studies. 

His latest book, “7 Rules of Power: Surprising-but True – Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career” is a fascinating read.  First, Jeffrey acknowledges that some people express mixed emotions about even learning about power and its acquisition.  They find it ‘depressing’ or ‘dark.’  Jeffrey points out that research shows that health is related to a sense of control in one’s job or life, and that understanding how things work in organizations can actually make one happier and healthier.  Jeff’s book opens with this quote:  “If you want power to be used for good, more good people need to have power.”   
 
He has a tip about how to approach this discussion: become less judgmental.  “Judgment gets in the way of building helpful interpersonal relationships and sets us up for unhappiness, which is why eschewing judgment is so frequently recommended.”  Pretty good words to live by.    
 
The 7 Rules Jeff outlines in his book are: 
 
Get out of your own way. 
Break the rules. 
Appear powerful.
Build a powerful brand. 
Network relentlessly.
Use your power. 
Success excuses almost everything you may have done to acquire power. 
 
Some of these may seem intuitive.  Others far less so.  Jeff backs each up with studies and examples.  One common belief is that “If I work hard, my work will speak for itself.”  Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in many companies.  Letting people know that you did something can sometimes be as important as doing it. 
 
How can breaking the rules facilitate accruing power?  One of the biggest unspoken rules out there is to not ask people for things; advice, money, time.  Those who become comfortable asking for help can find themselves with new insight, relationships and resources.  I remember when I started Venture for America; becoming comfortable asking for things was a huge part of the growth process. 
 
Most people regard networking as painful.  But it can simply mean keeping up with people and helping out where you can.  Studies show that ‘weak ties’ – that is, people who are a little bit further out in your network that you don’t see often – are more useful than people you see all of the time, largely because they may be exposed to opportunities and information that you aren’t. 

Indeed, connecting people actually ends up developing a stronger network, not the opposite.  It's not, "I have connections, so I can ask people."  It's, "I can ask people, so I have connections."   
 
I grew up an introvert – I started putting myself out there more when I co-founded a company in my twenties because it felt necessary.  The same was true when I started Venture for America; one of my staffers told me that speaking at conferences and promoting myself was going to be good for the organization.  He wasn’t wrong.  And then of course after I became a presidential candidate I had to adopt all sorts of new behaviors at the age of 43. 
 
But I think some of the best training I got was throwing parties as a nightclub promoter in my twenties.  I did it because I was living in a small apartment with a roommate, and it was a handy way to host a large gathering.  Just putting your name on something and trying to get people to come is a valuable experience that I’ve drawn on many times.  It doesn’t need to be big or world-changing; simply getting people together can lead to great things. 
 
Perhaps one of the most compelling findings Jeffrey shares is that people with more of a collective orientation become more comfortable engaging in leadership behaviors when the gains are going to be used for the benefit of others.  Sometimes, helping people means putting yourself out there.  I think that’s a great message we can all appreciate. 
 
Happy Holidays! 
 
For Jeff’s book click here and for our podcast interview click here.  To make a year-end donation to Forward click here.  Asking is power!  :)