Glenn Carroll, Laurence W. Lane Professor of Organizations and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, describes how selling “authenticity” became a phenomenon in business and politics. From the microbrewery surge in the 1990s to the insurgent candidates in the current presidential election, Carroll contrasts romanticized attributes and perceived authenticity with objective characteristics and historical context.
Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science and author of Playing by the Rules:How Our Obsession with Safety Is Putting Us All at Risk, advocates transparent scientific debate and dispelling of misinformation as antidotes to scaremongering. Brown argues that only experience allows us to uncover life’s greatest challenges, and warns that excess risk-aversion will not only halt innovation, but could reverse modern progress.
Sharon Richardson, founder and CEO of Just Soul Catering, president of Reentry Rocks, and a graduate of Defy Ventures’ Entrepreneurs-in-Training program, tells how, after nearly a decade as a correctional officer at Rikers Island, some tragic decisions landed her in prison for 20 years. Richardson shares her story of successful reentry into society to advocate for victims of domestic violence and criminal justice reform.
Chief Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, who served with the Redlands Police Department for 33 years, discusses evidence-based policing and community relations. To encourage public trust and alleviate injustice, Bueermann proposes police work closely with their communities in order to collaborate on implementing crime prevention strategies.
Victor Bernson, Vice President and General Counsel of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the largest center-right grassroots advocacy organization, discusses how AFP and groups throughout California became a political target of Attorney General Kamala Harris. Bernson shares how AFP was vindicated in their First Amendment suit, in which AG Harris’ blanket collection and potential public distribution of confidential private donor names was ruled unconstitutional.
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., former Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, describes how the FDA’s narrowly prescriptive generic drug approval process creates expensive barriers to market entry that led to the EpiPen drug pricing debacle.
Naomi Schaefer Riley, New York Post columnist and author of The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians, details how federal policies have consigned Native Americans to poverty and contributed to their high rates of suicide, domestic abuse, gang violence, unemployment, and drug and alcohol epidemics. Riley argues for repealing both stifling tribal regulations and the loophole economy regulatory exemptions, instead allowing for true property rights and access to capital.
Sarah Skwire, Senior Fellow at Liberty Fund, Literary Editor of FEE.org, and poet, charts how markets have elevated and liberated women over the last century, while politics continues to disparage women—from proscriptive minimum wage laws and a tax code bias against working women to today’s rallying cries in support of Hillary Clinton based solely on gender solidarity.
Jeff Sandefer, co-founder and middle school teacher at the Acton Academy, shares his novel approach to education—emboldening children to be heroes on a hero’s journey. Sandefer recounts stories from the Acton Children’s Business Fair, and explains how children as young as five adeptly embrace entrepreneurship.
Richard Williams, Director of the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center and former director for social science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discusses the FDA’s regulatory principles and why those who follow the precautionary principle should avoid even a single cup of coffee. Williams extrapolates these lessons to Britain’s overregulated economy and the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
