Feb. 23: David Brooks to talk leadership, centering relationships and building trust
David Brooks, bestselling author, social commentator and executive director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project, will share how all citizens can be leaders in repairing our country’s social fabric in a talk Feb. 23.
Brooks is the fifth speaker in ñ’s Leo Hill Leadership Speaker Series, a signature program of the Center for Leadership overseen by Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.
Brooks, in his talk “Leadership: Centering Relationships and Building Trust,” will focus mostly on his work with Weave, an initiative within the Aspen Institute, that emphasizes a fundamental shift in the U.S. from hyperindividualism and personal success to relationalism that places relationships at the center of our lives.
The talk will be livestreamed and is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
“The topic of David Brooks’ talk couldn’t be more timely for us as a nation,”DiStefanosaid. “Leadership is a fundamental priority for our campus. I am eager to join a conversation with David, our campus communityԻanyone else motivated to be part of this movement.”
Brooks is aNew York Timescolumnist, commentator onPBS NewsHour,ʸ’sAll Things Consideredand NBC’sMeet the Press, and author ofThe Second MountainԻThe Road to Character.
He is the author ofBobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got ThereԻThe Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement.In April 2015, he came out with his fourth book,The Road to Character, which was a No. 1New York Timesbestseller.
Brooks also teaches at Yale University, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.Hehas written often about leadership and what it will take to heal the nation in a time of intense divisions.
Weave: The Social Fabric Project is aimed at bridging the differences that divide Americans and seeking out a compelling common ground. The project will include a series of workshops in diverse communities across the nation in order to identify unifying themes and promising partners.
The initiative’s longer-term goal is to draw attention to organizations that are effectively healing social divisions, to see how their efforts can be applied to the national level, and to create a network and set of permanent structures to allow for planning, dialogue and action.
“The Weaver movement is repairing our country’s social fabric, which is badly frayed by distrust, division and exclusion,” Brooks says on the Weave website.
Weave is “a way of life and a state of mind, not a set of actions,” according to the Weave project. “It’s about the spirit of caring you bring to each interaction with someone else. It’s a willingness to be open and loving, whether you get anything in return.”
The speaker series is brought to campus by the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership.