Cara Underwood, Senior Program and Public Policy Manager, Southern California Grantmakers

This afternoon, Independent Sector brought together attendees from the Public Policy Action Institute (PPAI) and NGen Pre-Conference for the Luncheon Keynote and Conversation with a Sector Leader to hear from two of the field's greatest champions about leadership, policy, and the future of our sector.
 
A policy pioneer in California, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom opened his address with a challenge to participants: "If you don't like the answer, ask a better question." Former Mayor of San Francisco, Newsom was the youngest mayor to take office in San Francisco in 100 years. He broke ground on issues such as same-sex marriage and universal healthcare for the city -- policy reforms that happened by asking better questions.

Revealing his comical side, he reminded the audience that in 2005, "Twitter was a sound, clouds were in the sky, 4G was a parking space, LinkedIn meant prison and Skype was a typo." Named the Most Social Mayor in America due to his participation and influence through social media, he reflected on the role of government in a digital age by drawing a parallel with the iPhone. Steve Jobs created a platform; we put it to use. Newsom argued that government needs to take the iPhone approach--it needs to be a platform for participation instead of a vending machine for consumption. We can't conceive of what is to come, Newsom said, and following Steve Job's approach, we need a big on WHAT and small on HOW model of government.

Shifting the conversation to the role of philanthropy, President and CEO of Independent Sector Diana Aviv interviewed one of the sector's newest leaders, president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Larry Kramer. Kramer, former dean of Stanford Law School, brought experience in education reform and multidisciplinary law and a long career serving the public interest. Kramer reminded us of the important role that philanthropy has to play in taking the risks that government cannot. He cautioned against a top-down approach noting that social change cannot be micromanaged. Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to support civil society and seek long-term solutions and he intends to advance this role by building upon the accomplishments of the Hewlett Foundation.

In community, PPAI and NGen participants were inspired, provoked, and called upon to lead change by taking risks and asking better questions to strengthen the 21st century.