[FAN] Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships Scott Rick, Ph.D.
2024-01-16 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 7:00 PM, Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships, a FAN webinar featuring Scott Rick, Ph.D., in conversation with Olga Khazan.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/RickFANWebinar

BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Tightwads and Spendthrifts from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Rick and Khazan that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Have you ever asked yourself “What if I’m a tightwad and my significant other is a spendthrift?” or vice versa? Scott Rick, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, knows that many people do. He also knows that the financial aspects of an intimate relationship can become a money minefield if couples try to navigate it without first discussing all of the financial issues between them, especially if those two people have different approaches to spending.
Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships is a science-based guide to understanding and transforming how we manage money, both on our own and in relationships. Building on his original research, and surveying a vast body of interdisciplinary work, Tightwads and Spendthrifts will help you understand your own financial psychology and how it plays out in your relationships. Can tightwads and spendthrifts live together in harmony? Rick says “yes,” but not without first asking hard questions about whose opinion should count most when making a financial decision. Once the issues have been aired, he tells readers how to create a game plan for navigating financial decision making that both tightwads and spendthrifts can rely on for a happy life together.
Rick will be in conversation with Olga Khazan, a staff writer for The Atlantic who is working on a book about personality change. Her first book, Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World, came out in 2020.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Strategies to Reduce Risk and Increase Resilience in LGBTQ+ Youth Melissa Blitz, LCPC
2024-01-17 19:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 7:00 PM, Strategies to Reduce Risk and Increase Resilience in LGBTQ+ Youth, a FAN webinar featuring Melissa Blitz, LCPC and Joe Serio, LCPS, in conversation with Tiffany Myers, LCSW.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/LGBTQFANWebinar
FAN has invited Melissa Blitz, LCPC (she/her) and Joe Serio, LCPC (he/his) of Compass Health Center to create a program addressing the complex issues that LGBTQ+ youth face. Our many school and mental health partners ask us for content that would be helpful to students, parents, educators, and clinicians.
In this webinar, Blitz and Serio will delve into specific risk factors affecting this demographic and offer insights into personal, communal, and societal hurdles. They will explore pathways to active allyship, shedding light on opportunities for advocacy. Additionally, they will emphasize the importance of increasing awareness of personal and societal biases, addressing overt, subconscious, and implicit prejudices.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies to empower and build resilience in LGBTQ+ youth, spanning various crucial settings such as home, intrapersonal relationships, school, work, social environments, and broader political and societal contexts. It is crucial to provide valuable insights into both existing and potential opportunities for advocacy efforts on behalf of LGBTQ+ youth.
Blitz is the associate director of Compass’ Center of Excellence for Adult Mood & Anxiety programming, and Serio is the Chief Clinical Quality Officer there. They will be in conversation with Tiffany Myers (she/her), a licensed clinical social worker and the social work department chair at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. Myers has 30 years of experience working in mental health and has spent the last 27 years counseling and learning from her students in a high school setting.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Mirrored Door: What Blocks Women's Careers Ellen Connelly Taaffe
2024-01-23 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Mirrored Door: What Blocks Women’s Careers, a FAN webinar featuring Ellen Taaffe, in conversation with Deepa Purushothaman.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/TaaffeFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The Mirrored Door from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Taaffe that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
At some point in their careers, many women encounter the “mirrored door” ― the place where, when presented with opportunities, they reflect inward and hesitate, deem they’re not ready or worthy enough to move forward, whether that is to raise their hands or go for the next role. But there is a way to overcome the gendered expectations that girls and women internalize over our lifetimes that create a hidden barrier that keeps them from reaching their full potential.
In her new book The Mirrored Door: Break Through the Hidden Barrier that Locks Successful Women in Place, Ellen Connelly Taaffe, clinical associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, draws on research, stories from her own career, and those of her students and the mid-late career women she has coached. She explains why the five perils of success ― preparing to perfection, being eager to please, trying to fit the mold, pushing too hard, and patiently performing and expecting rewards to follow ― get women to a certain level, and then may prevent them taking the next step in their careers as expectations rise. She offers a new, empowering framework for navigating the challenges of the workplace with more awareness and expertise.
Taaffe is the director of Women’s Leadership Programming at Kellogg and serves as a director on several boards. She will be in conversation with Deepa Purushothaman, a former senior executive at Deloitte and author, speaker, and founder of multiple businesses. Her debut book, The First, The Few, The Only, was published to international acclaim in 2022. She recently founded the re.write, an unconventional think tank advancing a new story of work. She is also an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Think Faster, Talk Smarter Matt Abrahams
2024-01-24 19:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 7:00 PM, Think Faster, Talk Smarter, a FAN webinar featuring Matt Abrahams, in conversation with Kim Scott.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/AbrahamsFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Think Faster, Talk Smarter from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Abrahams and Scott that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
In Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot, Stanford lecturer, podcast host, and communication expert Matt Abrahams provides tangible, actionable skills to help even the most anxious of speakers succeed when speaking spontaneously. Abrahams provides science-based strategies for managing anxiety, responding to the mood of the room, and making content concise, relevant, compelling, and memorable. Drawing on stories from his clients and students, he offers best practices for navigating Q&A sessions, shining in job interviews, providing effective feedback, making small talk, fixing faux pas, persuading others, and handling other impromptu speaking tasks.
Abrahams has helped countless presenters improve and hone their communication, including some who have delivered IPO road shows as well as TED, World Economic Forum, and Nobel Prize presentations. Whether it’s a prospective client asking you an unexpected question during a meeting or all eyes turning to you at a dinner party, you’ll know how to navigate the situation like a pro and bring out your very best.
Abrahams will be in conversation with Kim Scott, the co-founder of Radical Candor, a company to help leaders build more radically candid organizations. She is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity and Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better. Scott was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World Todd Rogers, Ph.D.
2024-01-30 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, January 30, 2024, 7:00 PM, Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World, a FAN webinar featuring Todd Rogers, Ph.D., in conversation with Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/RogersFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Writing for Busy Readers from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Rogers that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Busy readers routinely decide how valuable a message is without actually reading it. In one recent survey, people reported skimming nearly 40 percent of their emails and 20 percent of their texts. We may have been taught the fundamentals of writing well in school—but how do we write effectively in this current hyperinteractive environment? Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World by Todd Rogers, Ph.D. and Jessica Lasky-Fink, Ph.D. is both an essential guide of practical writing advice and a fascinating adventure through the science of why these strategies work.
The book begins by unpacking the science and psychology of how (busy) people read, then details six research-backed principles for effective writing. Along the way, the authors provide intriguing insights drawn from the leading scientific research and hundreds of their own original, randomized experiments on the topic. The principles for effective writing are rooted in the universals of human nature: the mind’s limited attention and focus, the rules of thumb it uses, the behaviors of busy people, and the ways that we give and receive information through written messages.
Rogers is a Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a behavioral scientist specializing in the science of effective communication. He is the faculty director of the Behavioral Insights Group, faculty chair of the executive education program Behavioral Insights and Public Policy, senior scientist at ideas42, and academic advisor at the Behavioral Insights Team. Rogers will be in conversation with Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. (FAN ’12, ’16), co-founder of Character Lab, Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, founding faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics, and author of the international bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience Ayesha Rascoe
2024-02-01 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 1, 2024, 7:00 PM, HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience, a FAN webinar featuring Ayesha Rascoe, in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/RascoeFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of HBCU Made from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Rascoe and Moore that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience, edited and with a foreword by Ayesha Rascoe, host of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday, is a joyous and moving collection that includes a distinguished and diverse set of contributors including Oprah Winfrey, Stacey Abrams, Branford Marsalis, and Roy Wood Jr., along with other prominent and up-and-coming alumni. HBCU Made beautifully pulls back the curtain on the lived experience of prominent graduates while also shining a bright light on the significant contribution that HBCUs have made to American culture.
HBCU Made, the first book of its kind to feature famous alumni sharing direct accounts of their Black college experience, presents a collection of vulnerable and candid personal essays about the schools that nurtured, challenged, and educated them. From political figures to respected writers, from outstanding dancers to prominent performers, this array of voices describe why they chose their HBCU, their first days on campus, the excitement of homecoming, and the relief of finally feeling understood.
Rascoe, a proud alum of Howard University, will be in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore, a fellow Howard alum and an award-winning journalist covering segregation and inequality for WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate. Moore is the author of The Billboard, a play about abortion, and the acclaimed book The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation (2016). Ms. Moore’s reporting tackles race, housing, economic development, food injustice, and violence and her work has been broadcast on the BBC and Marketplace, and on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Helping Our Boys Pursue Belonging and Purpose John Duffy, Psy.D.
2024-02-06 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:00 PM, Helping Our Boys Pursue Belonging and Purpose, a FAN webinar featuring John Duffy, Psy.D. and Shaka A. Rawls, in conversation with Heidi Stevens.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/DRFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Duffy’s new book Rescuing Our Sons from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Duffy, Rawls, and Stevens that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Combining different perspectives and populations, John Duffy, Psy.D. (FAN ’20), a clinical psychologist in private practice in the Chicago area specializing in work with adolescents, young adults, and their parents, and Shaka A. Rawls, the principal at Leo High School in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side, will discuss their strategies for helping teenage boys navigate a world that often feels hostile, hard to fit into, and joyless. Duffy and Rawls will delve into a useful set of solutions for parents, educators, clinicians, and anyone with a stake in helping young men feel invested in—and excited about—their own futures.
Duffy’s brand-new book is Rescuing Our Sons: 8 Solutions to Our Crisis of Disaffected Teen Boys. He has written and contributed to articles for CNN, the Washington Post, The New York Times, Your Teen, and other media outlets. He has shared his expertise through frequent appearances on CNN, the Today show, The Morning Blend, and others. On radio, he is a regularly appearing expert on WGN, WLS and NPR.
Rawls has worked in urban education for more than 20 years as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Before coming to Leo, he worked for Chicago Public Schools, his efforts focused on the challenges facing public and charter high schools in some of Chicago’s most disadvantaged urban communities. As the first African-American alumnus to serve as principal in Leo’s 96-year history, Rawls has overseen a 65% increase in enrollment over the last five years, as well as a 21% improvement in test scores. Leo has achieved a 100% graduation rate among its seniors in each year of Rawls’ 7-year tenure.
Duffy and Rawls will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. Prior to joining TMW, Stevens worked at the Chicago Tribune for 23 years, where she wrote a daily column called “Balancing Act.” She maintains a weekly nationally syndicated column. Stevens also serves as a FAN board member.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans Aliza Pressman, Ph.D.
2024-02-08 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 8, 2024, 7:00 PM, The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans, a FAN webinar featuring Aliza Pressman, Ph.D., in conversation with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/PressmanFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The 5 Principles of Parenting from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Pressman that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
In the age of high-pressure parenting, when so many of us we feel like we’ve got to get everything exactly right the first time, Aliza Pressman, Ph.D. is the compassionate, reassuring expert we all need—and the one whose advice we can all use. Already beloved by listeners of her hit podcast, Raising Good Humans, Dr. Pressman distills it all in her new book, The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans. She offers a handful of strategies: Relationship, Reflection, Regulation, Rules, and Repair.
No matter how you were raised, how your coparent behaves, or how your kids have been parented up until now, you can start using The 5 Principles of Parenting to chart a manageable course for raising good humans that’s aligned with your own values and with your children’s unique temperaments. Whether you’re in the trenches with a toddler or a tween, it’s never too late to learn to use these 5 principles to reparent yourself and help your kids build the resilience they need to thrive.
Dr. Pressman is an assistant clinical professor in the Division of Behavioral Health Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital where she is cofounding director of The Mount Sinai Parenting Center. She will be in conversation with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., author of The Bottom Line for Baby and co-author, with Dan Siegel, MD (FAN ’16) of The Power of Showing Up, The Yes Brain, and two New York Times bestsellers: The Whole-Brained Child and No-Drama Discipline.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Everyday Dharma: 8 Essential Practices for Finding Success and Joy in Everything You Do Suneel Gupta
2024-02-12 19:00 | Zoom
Monday, February 12, 2024, 7:00 PM, Everyday Dharma: 8 Essential Practices for Finding Success and Joy in Everything You Do, a FAN webinar featuring Suneel Gupta, in conversation with Debbie Millman.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/GuptaFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Everyday Dharma from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Gupta and Millman that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
We’ve been conditioned, from an early age, to believe that one day we’ll reach a moment of “arrival.” But no matter how much we achieve or acquire we still don’t feel as satisfied or as fulfilled as we thought we would be. Exhausted, we become burned out and cynical, questioning the purpose of it all.
An expert on happiness and work, Suneel Gupta argues that for too long society has been fixated on the Future of Work and ignored the Future of Worth. We’ve compartmentalized work and well-being and ignored the fact that both are essential for sustained success. We’ve assumed that outer success leads to inner well-being–despite history showing us that this has never been the case. In his new book Everyday Dharma: 8 Essential Practices for Finding Success and Joy in Everything You Do, Gupta helps us break this negative cycle. A captivating storyteller, he weaves personal stories, history, science, Eastern philosophy, and Western modalities in this engaging, enlightening, and prescriptive book.
As the founding CEO of RISE and a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School, Gupta travels the world, deconstructing how extraordinary performers overcome their most difficult moments. His work has been featured by outlets including Vanity Fair, Fast Company, and the New York Times. He will be in conversation with Debbie Millman, host of the Webby Award-winning podcast Design Matters, one of the first and longest running podcasts in the world; chair of the first-ever Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City; co-owner and editorial director of PrintMag.com; and the author of seven books on design and branding.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Attention Span: Find Focus, Fight Distraction Gloria Mark, Ph.D.
2024-02-13 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, February 13, 2024, 7:00 PM, Attention Span: Find Focus, Fight Distraction, a FAN webinar featuring Gloria Mark, Ph.D., in conversation with David Epstein (FAN “16 and ’20)
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/MarkFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Attention Span from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Prof. Mark that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
We spend an average of just 47 seconds on any screen before shifting our attention. It takes 25 minutes to bring our attention back to a task after an interruption. And we interrupt ourselves more than we’re interrupted by others. In Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, psychologist Gloria Mark, Ph.D. reveals these and more surprising results from her decades of research into how technology affects our attention.
Based on decades of original research in what Prof. Mark calls “living laboratories,” where she studies technology use in people’s real-world environments, Attention Span not only presents the science of exactly how short our attention spans have become, how much we’re interrupted and how much stress that causes us, but also how we can gain control of our attention and achieve wellbeing.
Prof. Mark is Chancellor’s Professor Emerita at the University of California, Irvine, and has been a visiting senior researcher at Microsoft Research since 2012. For over two decades she has studied the impact of digital media on people’s lives, focusing on how using our devices affects our multitasking, distractions, mood, and behavior. She has also been a Fulbright scholar and has received the prestigious NSF Career grant.
Prof. Mark will be in conversation with David Epstein (FAN ’16 and ’20), a science writer and author of the New York Times bestsellers Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, and The Sports Gene. Epstein was previously an investigative reporter at ProPublica, and prior to that a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. His two TED Talks on human development and performance have been viewed 12 million times.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There Cass R. Sunstein
2024-02-27 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 7:00 PM, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, a FAN webinar featuring Cass R. Sunstein, in conversation with Ayelet Fishbach, Ph.D. (FAN ’22).
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/SunsteinFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Look Again from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Prof. Sunstein that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
It’s common to feel jaded and unexcited by what many consider the mundane in our day to day lives. Years into a dream job, a happy relationship, or a beloved apartment, the very things that once thrilled us can take on the ho hum. We also get used to the terrible: corruption, lies, dirty air, misinformation, toxic relationships.
But what if we could find a way to see everything anew? What if you could regain sensitivity, not only to the great things in your life, but also to the terrible things you stopped noticing and so don’t try to change? In Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There professors Cass R. Sunstein and Tali Sharot, Ph.D. share with readers a groundbreaking study of how disrupting our well-worn routines, both good and bad, can rejuvenate our days and reset our brains to allow us to live happier and more fulfilling lives. The key to this disruption—to seeing, feeling, and noticing again—is change. By temporarily changing your environment, changing the rules, changing the people you interact with—or even just stepping back and imagining change—you regain sensitivity, allowing you to identify more clearly the bad and more deeply appreciate the good.
Prof. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School and is the nation’s most-cited legal scholar. He taught at the University of Chicago Law School for 27 years, and for the past fifteen years, he has been at the forefront of behavioral economics. His book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, coauthored with Nobel laureate Richard H. Thaler, was a national bestseller. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; since that time, he has served in the US government in multiple capacities.
Prof. Sunstein will be in conversation with Ayelet Fishbach, Ph.D. (FAN ’22), the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and the author of the award-winning book Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. She is the past president of the Society for the Science of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being Sue Varma, MD
2024-02-29 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 29, 2024, 7:00 PM, Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being, a FAN webinar featuring Sue Varma, MD, in conversation with Tara Lipinski.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/VarmaFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Practical Optimism from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Varma and Lipinski that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Sue Varma, MD, the first medical director treating first responders and civilians for PTSD, depression, and anxiety at the World Trade Center Mental Health program (WTC MHP), made a fascinating discovery: she realized that fostering an optimistic mindset firmly grounded in reality is crucial for making wise and reasonable decisions. In her debut book, Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being, Dr. Varma blends philosophy, personal experiences, and the latest research in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and neuroscience to guide readers on a path toward resilience and personal growth.
Optimists tend to achieve more success, report higher incomes and job satisfaction, adopt healthier habits, build stronger relationships, and experience greater overall life satisfaction, ultimately leading to increased happiness. Practical optimists are resourceful, realistic, and thoughtful problem solvers who possess something of rare value: the inner resources to cope during a crisis and to use as fuel to flourish. Practical optimism is a transformative approach to experiencing greater meaning, mastery, and acceptance.
Dr. Varma is a distinguished psychiatrist and cognitive behavioral therapist based and holds the position of Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University Langone Health. Her accomplishments have been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, where she was named a Distinguished Fellow, the highest honor bestowed upon its members.
Dr. Varma will be in conversation with Tara Lipinski, the internationally acclaimed American figure skater. At the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, Lipinski became the youngest female to capture the Olympic gold medal in figure-skating. She now has new roles as a sports commentator, an actress, a documentary film producer, a philanthropist, and more.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Holy Shift!: Moving Your Company Forward to the Future of Work Dan Michelson
2024-03-07 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 7:00 PM, Holy Shift!: Moving Your Company Forward to the Future of Work, a FAN webinar featuring Dan Michelson, in conversation with Sarah Alter.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/MichelsonFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Holy Shift! from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Michelson and Alter that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Dan Michelson’s new book, Holy Shift!: Moving Your Company Forward to the Future of Work, takes you on a fascinating journey to the heart of the single biggest and fastest shift in how we work and live in history. Readers and leaders at every level of an organization will discover practical ideas and actions that address three big, thorny questions: How did we get here, where do we go from here, and how do we get there?
A visionary CEO with a track-record of building world-class company cultures, Michelson combines a reflection of how we got to now with research on how companies are managing this moment to create a roadmap in the form of a strategic framework and pragmatic playbook. Holy Shift! maps three simple steps to create momentum to move your company towards the future of work: 1) See the Shift; 2) Shift Your Mindset; and 3) Make Shift Happen.
Michelson is the founder and CEO of InCommon, a “for purpose” company that helps companies turn culture into a strategy that drives productivity and engagement. From 2012 to 2022, he served as the CEO of Strata, a 500-person tech company with a mission to help heal healthcare. Prior to Strata, he spent a decade as the chief marketing officer of Allscripts, a global leader in healthcare technology.
Michelson will be in conversation with Sarah Alter, a national thought leader and role model in the workplace, serving for six years as the CEO of NextUp, the largest network of executive women in the country. Alter’s previous experience includes executive roles at Staples, Discover, and General Growth Properties. She has been appointed to serve three terms on the Illinois State Lottery Advisory Board.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House Jared Cohen
2024-03-11 19:00 | Zoom
Monday, March 11, 2024, 7:00 PM, Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House, a FAN webinar featuring Jared Cohen, in conversation with Elise Jordan.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/JCohenFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Life After Power from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Cohen that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Former presidents have an unusual place in American life. King George III believed that George Washington’s departure after two terms made him “the greatest character of the age.” But Alexander Hamilton worried former presidents might “[wander] among the people like ghosts.” They were both right. In Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House, New York Times bestselling author Jared Cohen tells the stories of seven former presidents, from the Founding to today. Each changed history. Each offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life.
Thomas Jefferson was the first former president to accomplish great things after the White House, shaping public debates and founding the University of Virginia, an accomplishment he included on his tombstone, unlike his presidency. John Quincy Adams served in Congress and became a leading abolitionist, passing the torch to Abraham Lincoln. Grover Cleveland was the only president in American history to serve a nonconsecutive term. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover shaped the modern conservative movement, led relief efforts after World War II, reorganized the executive branch, and reconciled John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter has had the longest postpresidency in American history, advancing humanitarian causes, human rights, and peace. George W. Bush made a clean break from politics, bringing back George Washington’s precedent, and reminding the public that the institution of the presidency is bigger than any person.
Cohen will be in conversation with Elise Jordan, a communication strategist, writer, and political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Her forthcoming history of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the women who worked for him during World War II will be published by Knopf in 2025.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story Leslie Jamison, Ph.D.
2024-03-18 19:00 | Zoom
Monday, March 18, 2024, 7:00 PM, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a FAN webinar featuring Leslie Jamison, Ph.D., in conversation with Ashley C. Ford.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/JamisonFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Splinters from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Jamison and Ford that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Leslie Jamison, Ph.D. has become one of our most beloved contemporary voices, a scribe of the real, the true, the complex. She has been compared to Joan Didion and Susan Sontag, acclaimed for her powerful thinking, deep feeling, and electric prose. But while Jamison has never shied away from challenging material—scouring her own psyche and digging into our most unanswerable questions across four books—Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story enters a new realm.
In her first memoir, Jamison turns her unrivaled powers of perception on some of the most intimate relationships of her life: her consuming love for her young daughter, a ruptured marriage once swollen with hope, and the shaping legacy of her own parents’ complicated bond. In examining what it means for a woman to be many things at once—a mother, an artist, a teacher, a lover—Jamison places the magical and the mundane side by side in surprising ways. The result is a work of nonfiction like no other, an almost impossibly deep reckoning with the muchness of life and art, and a book that grieves the departure of one love even as it celebrates the arrival of another.
How do we move forward into joy when we are haunted by loss? How do we claim hope alongside the harm we’ve caused? A memoir for which the very term tour de force seems to have been coined, Splinters plumbs these and other pressing questions with writing that is revelatory to the last page, full of linguistic daring and emotional acuity.
Jamison will be in conversation with Ashley C. Ford, the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Somebody’s Daughter. Ford is the former co-host of the HBO companion podcast Lovecraft Country Radio, and the current host of Ben & Jerry’s Into The Mix.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls Kara Alaimo, Ph.D.
2024-03-20 19:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 7:00 PM, Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls, a FAN webinar featuring Kara Alaimo, Ph.D., in conversation with Laura Apperson.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/AlaimoFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Over the Influence from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Alaimo and Apperson that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
In Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls – And How We Can Take It Back, communication professor and CNN Opinion contributor Kara Alaimo, Ph.D. reveals how social media is affecting every aspect of the lives of women, girls, and nonbinary people —from our relationships and our parenting to our physical and mental wellbeing. Over the Influence is a book about what it means to live in the world social media has wrought – whether you’re constantly connected or have deleted your accounts forever. Alaimo shows why you’re likely to get fewer followers if you’re a woman. She demonstrates how fake news is crafted to prey on women’s vulnerabilities. She reveals why so much of the content we find in our feeds is specifically designed to hold us back. And she explains how social media has made the offline world an uglier place for women.
Alaimo offers up brilliant advice for how to get over the influence—how to handle our daughters’ use of social media, use dating apps to find who we’re looking for, use social networks to bolster our careers, and protect ourselves from sextortionists, catfishers, and trolls. She also explains what we need to demand from lawmakers and tech companies to solve these problems.
Alaimo will be in conversation with Laura Apperson, an editor who specializes in innovative nonfiction who is spearheading the new nonfiction program at Alcove Press. Previously, Apperson was an editor at St. Martin’s Press and Rockridge Press.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection Charles Duhigg
2024-04-02 19:00 | New Trier High School, Northfield Campus, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd.,, Northfield, 60093, United States
Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 7:00 PM, Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, New Trier High School, Northfield Campus, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd., Northfield, IL 60093. Interviewer: Nicholas Epley, Ph.D. BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY of Supercommunicators at the event, while supplies last. No registration required.
Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better, launches yet another New York Times bestseller: Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, a fascinating exploration of what makes conversations work—and how we can all learn to be supercommunicators at work and in life.
Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect.
Supercommunicators know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations, and deeply held beliefs that color so much of what we say and how we listen. Our experiences, our values, our emotional lives—and how we see ourselves, and others—shape every discussion, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work.
Duhigg is a staff writer at The New Yorker and was previously a reporter at the New York Times where he won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2013. He will be in conversation with Nicholas Epley, Ph.D, the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavior Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He is the author of Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] To Tell the Truth: Race, Identity, and Healing Rachel Jamison Webster
2024-04-04 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, April 4, 2024, 7:00 PM, To Tell the Truth: Race, Identity, and Healing, a FAN webinar featuring Rachel Jamison Webster, in conversation with Melissa Blount, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/WebsterFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Benjamin Banneker and Us from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Webster and Blount that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Since the sequencing of the genome in 2003, we have known that humans share 99.9 percent of our DNA with all other humans, regardless of skin tone or nationality, indicating that race is not a biological reality as much as a legal and cultural construction. Today, thanks to sites like Ancestry.com and 23 and Me, these facts are getting personal, as Americans discover ancestries that complicate long-held family identities. What should we do when we discover a family secret? And how can our ancestral stories help to illuminate our present moment?
This conversation begins with the premise that telling the truth is essential for healing. Join Rachel Jamison Webster, Professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern University, as she shares the story of her book, Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family. In 2016, Webster learned about several generations of African American ancestry that had been hidden in her family. This line traced back to the sister of Benjamin Banneker—the first Black man of science. Banneker was a free man living in the Revolutionary era. He helped survey Washington D.C., he compiled and published bestselling almanacs, and he corresponded with Jefferson about the heinous injustice of slavery.
Webster’s journey led her to celebrate Banneker’s brilliance, as well as that of his parents, grandparents, and sisters, and to grapple with the ways that racism had clouded the story of her family and country. She found herself in deep relationship and collaboration with her African American cousins—fellow Banneker descendants who came together to collaborate on the book. Together they celebrated their shared ancestors, and discussed race, history, and identity with unflinching honesty.
Webster will be in conversation with Melissa Blount, Ph.D., an artist, writer, and licensed clinical psychologist practicing her craft in Evanston, IL. Her textile pieces explore notions of Black womanhood, trauma, and white supremacy in America.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Menopause Brain Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D.
2024-04-08 19:00 | Zoom
Monday, April 8, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Menopause Brain, a FAN webinar featuring Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., in conversation with Lisa Genova, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/MosconiFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The Menopause Brain from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Dr. Mosconi that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Menopause and perimenopause are still a black box to most doctors, leaving patients exasperated as they grapple with symptoms ranging from hot flashes to insomnia to brain fog. In her new book, The Menopause Brain, leading neuroscientist and women’s brain health specialist Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D. unravels these mysteries by revealing how menopause doesn’t just impact the ovaries—it’s a hormonal show in which the brain takes center stage.
The decline of the hormone estrogen during menopause influences everything from body temperature to mood to memory, potentially paving the way for cognitive decline later in life. To conquer these challenges successfully, Dr. Mosconi brings us the latest approaches—explaining the role of cutting-edge hormone replacement therapies like “designer estrogens,” hormonal contraception, and key lifestyle changes encompassing diet, exercise, self-care, and self-talk. Best of all, Dr. Mosconi dispels the myth that menopause signifies an end, demonstrating that it is a transition. Contrary to popular belief, if we know how to take care of ourselves during menopause, we can emerge with a renewed, enhanced brain—ushering in a meaningful and vibrant new chapter of life.
Dr. Mosconi is an associate professor of neuroscience in Neurology and Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), and the director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at WCM/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The program includes the Women’s Brain Initiative, the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic, and the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinical Trials Unit. She will be in conversation with Lisa Genova, Ph.D. Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University. She is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including Still Alice and Every Note Played. Genova’s first work of nonfiction, Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and her TED talks on Alzheimer’s and memory have over 11 million views.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension Hanif Abdurraqib
2024-04-11 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, April 11, 2024, 7:00 PM, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, a FAN webinar featuring Hanif Abdurraqib, in conversation with Ross Gay, Ph.D. (FAN ’23).
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/HAFANWebinar
BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY! We are giving away copies of There’s Always This Year to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension is award-winning poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib’s poignant, personal reflection on basketball, talent, and allegiance, and of course, LeBron James. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio in the 1990s, Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron were forged, and countless others weren’t. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tensions between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling. “Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father’s jump shot,” Abdurraqib writes. “The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.”
There’s Always This Year is a triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focus – whether it’s basketball, music, or performance — Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.
Abdurraqib (FAN ’21) will be in conversation with Ross Gay, Ph.D. (FAN ’23), the New York Times bestselling author of the essay collections The Book of (More) Delights, The Book of Delights, and Inciting Joy and four books of poetry. His Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award; and Be Holding won the 2021 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides Geoffrey L. Cohen, Ph.D.
2024-04-15 19:00 | Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Little Theater, 1 Stevenson Drive, Lincolnshire, IL, 60069
Monday, April 15, 2024, 7:00 PM, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Little Theater, 1 Stevenson Dr., Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Interviewer: LeViis Haney, Ed.D. NOTE: No registration required. Access the event via the Circle Drive.
We live in enormously divisive times. Divisions based on class, politics, race, religion, gender, and nationality are erupting around the globe. The consequences of not having a sense of belonging range from political strife to illness to underperformance at work and in the classroom. Americans have become disconnected from their communities, and about one in five Americans suffers from chronic loneliness, especially young adults. Why is our sense of belonging so undermined? What if there were a set of science-backed techniques for navigating modern social life that could help us overcome our differences, create empathy, and forge lasting connections across divides?
Geoffrey L. Cohen, Ph.D. (FAN ’22), Professor of Psychology and the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business at Stanford University, answers these questions and more in his extraordinary 2022 book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides. As Prof. Cohen explains, often inadvertently, we behave in ways that threaten others’ sense of belonging. Yet small acts that establish connection, brief activities such as reflecting on our core values, and a wealth of practices that he refers to under the general rubric of “situation-crafting” have been shown to lessen polarization in our politics, improve motivation and performance in school and work, combat racism in our communities, enhance health and well-being, and unleash the potential in ourselves and our relationships. The book’s research is essential for managers, educators, parents, administrators, caregivers, and everyone who wants those around them to thrive.
Prof. Cohen will be in conversation with LeViis Haney, Ed.D., the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Dr. Haney also teaches principal preparation courses as an adjunct professor at Northeastern Illinois University and Loyola University Chicago, and is a facilitator for the Kaleidoscope Group, a DEI firm based in Chicago.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Breakthrough Years: A New Scientific Framework for Raising Thriving Teens Ellen Galinsky
2024-04-16 19:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Breakthrough Years: A New Scientific Framework for Raising Thriving Teens, a FAN webinar featuring Ellen Galinsky, in conversation with Matthew Montgomery, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/GalinskyFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The Breakthrough Years from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Ms. Galinsky that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
Many assumptions about adolescents are just plain wrong, argues Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute and former chief science officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and one of the foremost child development experts in the world. In The Breakthrough Years: A New Scientific Framework for Raising Thriving Teens, she challenges and debunks the many myths, misunderstandings, and stereotypes about adolescents while weaving research-tested ways to influence them for success during these impressionable and transformative years.
Galinsky, the author of the best-selling Mind in the Making, set out to uncover the best strategies for raising thriving teens by interviewing and studying a nationally representative group of 1,666 adolescents (ages 9 to 19) and their parents, asking “What would you like to tell the adults of America about people your age?” Compelling, informative, and eye-opening, The Breakthrough Years is the culmination of this seven-year study into the adolescent brain and behavior.
Galinsky will be in conversation with Matthew Montgomery, Ph.D., superintendent of Lake Forest School Districts 67 and 115 in Illinois. A proponent of lifelong learning, Dr. Montgomery is also the Lead Superintendent for Cohort and Partner Connections with the School Superintendents Association (AASA), co-chairs the AASA STEM Leadership Consortium.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child Kelley Coleman
2024-04-18 19:00 | Zoom
Thursday, April 18, 2024, 7:00 PM, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child, a FAN webinar featuring Kelley Coleman, in conversation with Lindsay Crain.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/ColemanFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTERHOURS event hosted by Ms. Coleman that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a baby is born with a birth defect every 4½ minutes. One of those children was Kelley Coleman’s son, born with a rare (and still undiagnosed) genetic syndrome. Feeling equal parts terrified and alone, she soon learned that no one tells parents how to do any of this. In her new book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child: Your Guide to the Essential System, Services, and Supports, Coleman, a feature film development executive turned author and passionate advocate for parent caregivers and individuals with disabilities, turns her hard-earned expertise into the much needed “You Are Here” on the map of this unexpected journey.
Presented with empathy and humor, the book gives parents the tools to navigate the complex medical, educational, and social service systems necessary for disabled children to thrive. This is “been there, tried that” insider information about diagnosis, working with your medical team, insurance, school, financial and future planning, disability rights, and advocacy.
Coleman will be in conversation with Lindsay Crain, head of Content and Community at Undivided, an organization with a mission to support and empower parents raising children with disabilities. As the parent of a teenager with cerebral palsy, Crain is driven to build and reinforce systems and practices that create a more inclusive culture. She is currently serving as a Community Representative on the CA State Interagency Coordinating Council on Early Intervention.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Somehow: Thoughts on Love Anne Lamott
2024-04-23 19:00 | Loyola Academy McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 1100 Laramie Ave., Wilmette, IL, 60091, United States
Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 7:00 PM, Somehow: Thoughts on Love, Loyola Academy, McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 1100 Laramie Ave., Wilmette, IL 60091. Interviewer: Heidi Stevens. BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY of Somehow: Thoughts on Love at the event, while supplies last. No registration required.
In Somehow: Thoughts on Love, beloved bestselling author Anne Lamott explores the transformative power that love has in our lives: how it surprises us, forces us to confront uncomfortable truths, reminds us of our humanity, and guides us forward. “Love just won’t be pinned down,” she says. “It is in our very atmosphere” and lies at the heart of who we are. We are, Lamott says, creatures of love.
In each chapter of Somehow, Lamott refracts all the colors of the spectrum. She explores the unexpected love for a partner later in life. The bruised (and bruising) love for a child who disappoints, even frightens. The sustaining love among a group of sinners, for a community in transition, in the wider world. The lessons she underscores are that love enlightens as it educates, comforts as it energizes, sustains as it surprises.
Lamott is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, including Dusk, Night, Dawn; Almost Everything; Hallelujah Anyway; Small Victories; Stitches; Help, Thanks, Wow; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; and Traveling Mercies, as well as several novels. She is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame.
Lamott will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, and creative director for Parent Nation, an initiative of the TMW Center. Prior to joining TMW, Stevens worked at the Chicago Tribune for 23 years, where she wrote a daily column called “Balancing Act.” She maintains a weekly nationally syndicated column. Stevens also serves as a FAN board member.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Ph.D.
2024-04-26 12:30 - 14:00 | Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practic, 969 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Friday, April 26, 2024, 12:30 PM, We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, 969 E. 60th St. Chicago, IL 60637. Interviewer: Lisa L. Moore, Ph.D., LICSW. NOTE: REGISTRATION REQUIRED. CEUs available. Information on registration website. BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY to the first 200 attendees, one per household.
REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/GlaudeFANCrown
We are more than the circumstances of our lives, and what we do matters. In We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Ph.D., one of the nation’s preeminent scholars and a New York Times bestselling author, makes the case that the hard work of becoming a better person should be a critical feature of Black politics. Through virtuoso interpretations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, Dr. Glaude shows how ordinary people have the capacity to be the heroes that our democracy so desperately requires, rather than outsourcing their needs to leaders who purportedly represent them.
The book begins with Dr. Glaude’s unease with the Obama years. He felt then, and does even more urgently now, that the excitement around the Obama presidency had become a disciplining tool to narrow legitimate forms of Black political dissent. This narrowing continues to undermine the well-being of Black communities. In response, Dr. Glaude guides us away from enthusiastic reliance on elected leaders and full surrender to a belief in unchanging political structures. He weaves anecdotes about his own evolving views on Black politics together with the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Sheldon Wolin, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison.
Dr. Glaude (FAN ’20) is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University and the author of several books, including Democracy in Black and the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, winner of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Book Prize.
Dr. Glaude will be in conversation with Lisa L. Moore, Ph.D., LICSW, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master’s Program in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. She has worked in higher education for over 25 years as an administrator and faculty member.

[FAN] The Civil Rights Act at 60: Is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream for Chicago and the Country Attainable?
2024-04-29 19:00 | Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201
Monday, April 29, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Civil Rights Act at 60: Is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Dream for Chicago and the Country Attainable?, Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL 60201. Interviewer: Natalie Y. Moore. NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Sixty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pushed for the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the signature legislation of the Civil Rights Movement. With that victory, Dr. King turned his attention north, where he helped lead the Chicago Freedom Movement, a coalition of organizations that addressed the range of ills connected to residential segregation and economic inequality in Chicago. Though shortlived, the Chicago Freedom Movement is credited with inspiring the 1968 Fair Housing Act. This event takes stock of Dr. King’s legacy in Chicago and the nation, offering views on how far we’ve come, what work remains, and how best to carry out that work.
For this lively and wide-ranging discussion, FAN is collaborating with the brand-new Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies, led by founding co-directors Tomás R. Jiménez, Ph.D. and Brian Lowery, Ph.D. (FAN ’23). Together, we are honored to welcome two acclaimed leaders as panelists: award-winning author Lerone A. Martin, Ph.D., Professor in Religious Studies and African & African American Studies at Stanford University and director of Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, and Vaughn Bryant, executive director of Chicago-based Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), an organization that provides services to heal communities at the highest risk for gun violence. MPI’s core specialties include the Metropolitan Peace Academy, behavioral health, workforce readiness, legal aid, and street outreach supervision.
Moderating the panel will be Natalie Y. Moore, an award-winning journalist covering segregation and inequality for WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate. Her reporting tackles race, housing, economic development, food injustice, and violence and her work has been broadcast on the BBC and Marketplace, and on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. She is the author of The Billboard and The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED. This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded but not live streamed and will be available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations David Montero
2024-05-06 19:00 | Zoom
Monday, May 6, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations, a FAN webinar featuring David Montero, in conversation with Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/MonteroFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The Stolen Wealth of Slavery from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Mr. Montero and Prof. Dyson that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
In this timely, powerful, investigative history, The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations, Emmy Award-nominated journalist David Montero follows the trail of the massive wealth amassed by Northern corporations throughout America’s history of enslavement. It has long been maintained by many that the North wasn’t complicit in the horrors of slavery. The truth, however, is that large Northern banks—including well-known institutions like Citibank, Bank of New York, and Bank of America—were critical to the financing of slavery; that they saw their fortunes rise dramatically from their involvement in the business of enslavement; and that white business leaders and their surrounding communities created enormous wealth from the enslavement and abuse of Black bodies.
Most white Southern enslavers were not rich—many were barely making ends meet—with Northern businesses benefitting the most from bondage-based profits. And some of the very Northerners who would be considered pro-Union during the Civil War were in fact anti-abolition, seeing the institution of slavery as being in their best financial interests, and only supporting the Union once they realized doing so would be good for business. It is a myth that the wealth generated from slavery vanished after the war. Rather, it helped finance the industrialization of the country, and became part of the bedrock of the growth of modern corporations, helping to transform America into a global economic behemoth.
In this remarkable book, Montero elegantly and meticulously details rampant Northern investment in slavery. He showcases exactly what was stolen, who stole it, and to whom it is owed, calling for corporate reparations as he details contemporary movements to hold companies accountable for past atrocities.
Montero will be in conversation with Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University and author of 25 books, including 7 New York Times bestsellers, among them Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World R. Jisung Park, PH.D.
2024-05-08 19:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 7:00 PM, Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World, a FAN webinar featuring R. Jisung Park, Ph.D., in conversation with Robert Frank, Ph.D. (FAN ’22)
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/ParkFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of Slow Burn from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Prof. Park that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.
It’s hard not to feel anxious about the problem of climate change, especially if we think of it as an impending planetary catastrophe. In Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World, R. Jisung Park, Ph.D., an environmental and labor economist at the University of Pennsylvania, encourages us to view climate change through a different lens: one that focuses less on the possibility of mass climate extinction in a theoretical future, and more on the everyday implications of climate change here and now.
Drawing on a wealth of new data and cutting-edge economics, Prof. Park shows how climate change headlines often miss some of the most important costs. When wildfires blaze, what happens to people downwind of the smoke? When natural disasters destroy buildings and bridges, what happens to educational outcomes? Park explains how climate change operates as the silent accumulation of a thousand tiny conflagrations: imperceptibly elevated health risks spread across billions of people; pennies off the dollar of productivity; fewer opportunities for upward mobility.
By investigating how the physical phenomenon of climate change interacts with social and economic institutions, Park illustrates how climate change already affects everyone, and may act as an amplifier of inequality. Wealthier households and corporations may adapt quickly, but, without targeted interventions, less advantaged communities may not. Viewing climate change as a slow and unequal burn comes with an important silver lining. It puts dollars and cents behind the case for aggressive emissions cuts and helps identify concrete steps that can be taken to better manage its adverse effects.
Prof. Park received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, where he was an NSF Fellow, and master’s degrees in Environmental Change and Management (MSc) and Development Economics (MSc) from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He will be in conversation with Robert Frank, Ph.D. (FAN ’22), the H. J. Louis Professor Emeritus of Management and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Algebra of Wealth: Achieving Economic Security Scott Galloway
2024-05-13 12:30 | Zoom
Monday, May 13, 2024, 12:30 PM, The Algebra of Wealth: Achieving Economic Security, a FAN webinar featuring Scott Galloway, in conversation with Adam Alter, Ph.D. (FAN ’17, ‘23).
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/GallowayFANWebinar
BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY! We are giving away copies of The Algebra of Wealth to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Today’s workers have more opportunities and mobility than any generation before. They also face unprecedented challenges, including inflation, labor and housing shortages, and climate volatility. Even the notion of retirement is undergoing a profound rethink, as our life spans extend and our relationship with work evolves. In this environment, the tried-and-true financial advice our parents followed no longer applies. It’s time for a new playbook.
In The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security, Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a serial entrepreneur, lays bare the rules of financial success in today’s economy. In his characteristic unvarnished, no-BS style, he explains what you need to know to better your chances for economic security no matter what.
Galloway has founded nine companies, including Prophet, RedEnvelope, L2, and Section, where he also teaches. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, Post Corona, and Adrift: America in 100 Charts. He has served on the boards of directors of The New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters, University of California/Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Panera Bread, and Ledger. He has won multiple Webby and Best Podcast awards, and his books have been translated into 28 languages. Across his Prof G and Pivot podcasts, No Mercy/No Malice newsletter, and his YouTube channel, Galloway reaches millions.
Galloway will be in conversation with Adam Alter, Ph.D. (FAN ’17, ’23), Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Robert Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department. Prof. Alter is the author of multiple bestsellers, including Anatomy of a Breakthrough, Irresistible, and Drunk Tank Pink.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

[FAN] The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder
2024-05-15 19:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 7:00 PM, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, a FAN webinar featuring Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D., in conversation with Liz Gerber, Ph.D.
REGISTER: www.bit.ly/SuttonFANWebinar
BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of The Friction Project from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Prof. Sutton and Prof. Gerber that will start immediately after the webinar. AND: FAN will gift a second copy of the book to After-Hours guests! Details on the webinar registration page.
Every organization is plagued by destructive friction. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. In The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, co-authors Robert I. Sutton, Ph.D. and Huggy Rao, Ph.D. draw from seven years of hands-on research to teach us how to become “friction fixers.”
The Friction Project unpacks how skilled friction fixers think and act like trustees of others’ time. The authors provide friction forensics to help readers identify where to avert and repair bad organizational friction and where to maintain and inject good friction. Then their “help pyramid” shows how friction fixers do their work, from reframing friction troubles they can’t fix right now, so they feel less threatening, to designing and repairing organizations. The heart of the book digs into the causes and solutions for five of the most common and damaging friction troubles: oblivious leaders, addition sickness, broken connections, jargon monoxide, and fast and frenzied people and teams.
Prof. Sutton is an organizational psychologist and Stanford professor (emeritus) who studies, writes, teaches, and speaks about the interplay between people and organizations. He has written more than 200 academic and practical articles and is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books. He is a co-founder of the Stanford d. School, Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and Center for Work, Technology and Organization.
Prof. Sutton will be in conversation with Liz Gerber, Ph.D. (FAN ’13, ’16), a professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern University, co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design, and faculty founder of Design for America.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
