Jeff Schechtman's "Talk Cocktail"

"To discover to the world something which deeply concerns it, and of which it was previously ignorant; to prove to it that it had been mistaken on some vital point of temporal or spiritual interest, is as important a service as a human being can render to his fellow creatures..." John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Rules for Assassins

Throughout history, from Cesar thru Lincoln, from Archduke Ferdinand and Gandhi through the Kennedys and Malcolm X, a bullet has changed th...

Monday, November 10, 2014

Ratchets, Hatchets & Pivots

We are in the midst of a great migration to cities. The number of farms and people engaged in agriculture continues to decline. Yet human ...

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Why Motivating People Doesn't Work

Todays workplace bears very little resemblance to that of our parents. It’s multi generational nature, its focus on employee empowerment an...

Friday, November 7, 2014

Love, Sex and Popular Culture in 21st Century America

Back in the early 1960’s the world took note of the decadence of life in the Italian capital of Rome, in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. Inspired...

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The making of Super Althletes

Almost no aspect of life has not been touched by the forward march of science and technology. The world of sports is no exception. When w...

Monday, November 3, 2014

Just how absurd is life on the West Bank?

The Middle East is always ripe with stories. Unfortunately, few get to the heart of the absurdity of the human condition there. In much th...

Sunday, November 2, 2014

By the Book

How many of you have been asked recently to name your favorite or most influential books? It’s a process that has been all the rage on soci...

The Lessons of 1970's S. Africa

The world of historical fiction always plays an interesting role. On the one hand, it's an entertaining way for us to understand, ofte...

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Literature vs. The Future

Although it doesn’t seem like it in today's world of images and 140 characters, words, stories and literature once moved people and nati...

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Superstorm Sandy +2 years - What have we learned?

As we watch, day after day, the government response to a potential Ebola crisis, we are reminded of so many mistakes that various government...

Monday, October 27, 2014

The Birth of the Pill

There are many legacies of the 1960’s. The Civil Rights movement, the antiwar movement, and the efforts of women to have reproductive choic...

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Justice

When we think about the Supreme Court, and its hushed, hallowed halls, and John Adams dictum that we are a nation of laws and not of men, wo...

Friday, October 24, 2014

How the World Works

Today, as we look around the world, it sometimes seems to be spinning out of control. It feels like a time, to quote Yates, when the falcon ...

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Robots are coming

For a while now technology has seemed to focus on only one aspect or another of information. Everything from Google to Facebook, to Instag...

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Understanding the Internet of Things

Although the origins of the quote are a bit murky, the idea that the only way to predict the future is to invent it, certainly seems true in...

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Capitalism vs. The Climate

It was actually Winston Churchill, not Rahm Emanuel, who said that we should never let a serious crisis go to waste. A crisis often create...

Ben Bradlee R.I.P.

The business of daily journalism is under siege. The practice of putting out a morning paper each and every day, of searching for scoops , ...

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About

Jeff Schechtman: Napa, California, United States; I grew up during the Kennedy Presidency. It was a time when the best and the brightest sat center stage in the nation's psyche. I've always remembered the story, that at an arts gala at the White House, Kennedy looked around the room and proclaimed it "the greatest gathering of talent since Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Without the benefit of such trappings, I've had the opportunity, for the past nineteen years, to have a seat at an international banquet of ideas and history. My radio program provided me a unique opportunity to "travel" around the world and speak to thousands of the most imaginative thinkers and leaders in the arenas of politics, religion, journalism, business, popular culture, academics, science, economics, history, and medicine. During these years, I have taken many people with me on this journey. It has been a momentous time. The trauma of politics, the onslaught of technology, the insights of science, and the changes in the human condition make this a period almost unequaled in history. I'm excited that technology has now made it possible for me to take more of you along with me on this journey.

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