How We Future: Stories of Hope, Hype, and Gratitude

Lisa Kay Solomon
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

There is no "they" who should determine our future. We are the "they." Futurist, author, and educator Lisa Kay Solomon believes in doing hard things, optimistically. Each week, Lisa and her remarkable guests illuminate the skills and practices we all need to develop hope, hype, and gratitude: traits that are crucial to build towards a more positive future. As Futurist in Residence at the Stanford d.school, where she teaches courses like "View from the Future" and "Futures Thinking for Strategic Decision Making," Lisa has spent her career making the tools of futures thinking accessible to everyone from K-12 educators to global executives. Now, through How We Future, she's bringing that same approach to you. You'll hear from architects rethinking how we build, educators transforming how we learn, artists expanding what we create, coaches revealing what it takes to lead, and futurists mapping what's coming. So far, How We Future has covered how to incorporate play into serious work, how wisdom and aging can be competitive advantages, and how creative risk-taking builds resilience. Other guests have included Dana Cowin, former Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine, ten-time NCAA champion coach John Tanner, and Ahmed Best, who plays Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars. Whether you're a student, a leader, an educator, or simply someone who wants to shape tomorrow rather than just react to it, you'll leave each episode with new questions, fresh perspectives, and a renewed sense that the future is something you get to participate in creating.

  1. 2d ago

    How a Library Can Change Your Community with the Urban Library Council’s Shamichael Hallman

    Your local library is an important hub for building community. Today, Lisa is talking with Shamichael Hallman, Director of Civic Health and Workforce Opportunity at the Urban Libraries Council, about the many ways libraries are evolving beyond only a place to borrow books. In fact, Shamichael’s been working on transforming libraries into recording studios and makerspaces with entrepreneurship resources, civic programming, community events, and spaces for people to gather. Shamichael believes that libraries can be places where people learn, create, connect, and participate in the life of their communities. Lisa and Shamichael talk about libraries as bridges where people with different backgrounds and perspectives can come together through shared experiences. A cooking class, a knitting group, a coding workshop, or a community event can create the conditions for people to encounter one another in ways that begin with shared interest rather than political identity or disagreement. In this episode, we explore: How ShaMichael helped reimagine Memphis’ Cossitt Library as a creative and civic hubThe difference between “more than books” and “books and more”How libraries can be embedded into existing community gathering places like malls and barbershopsAnd what each of us can do to participate in the future of our local libraryShamichael is also the author of the amazing book Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy. Reading it will inspire you to get a library card and use it, organize an event, volunteer, share what your library offers with your neighbors, and advocate for the libraries that make your community stronger. Links from the episode: Meet Me at the Library by Shamichael HallmanShamichael’s TED Talk: Reimagining the Public Library to Reconnect the CommunityUrban Libraries CouncilFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    How a Library Can Change Your Community with the Urban Library Council’s Shamichael Hallman

  2. Oct 13

    Hopemaxxing with Gen Z Advocate Rachel Janfaza

    What do we get wrong about Gen Z? Rachel Janfaza has devoted her career to listening to young people across the country. College campuses, community centers, focus groups, and conversations with her growing Gen Z community at The Up and Up. What she’s found is far more nuanced than many of the headlines about young people and politics would have us believe. In this episode of How We Future, Lisa talks with Rachel about what Gen Z is actually thinking, what they want from their leaders and institutions, and why you should simply have a conversation with a young person in your life. Rachel explains why the viral debate over Gen Z bringing iced coffee to job interviews is a perfect example of how easily older generations can make assumptions about young people without actually asking them what they think. In this episode, Lisa and Rachel talk about: Why calling Gen Z “apathetic” misses the ways young people are already engaging in civic lifeRachel’s “Two Gen Zs” framework and how COVID, TikTok, and AI shaped different cohortsWhy trust in institutions and authority has declined among young peopleWhat Gen Z is actually focused on heading into the 2026 midtermsWhy economic anxiety is intersecting with young people’s political viewsIf Gen Z is the future, understanding how they see that future and giving them agency in shaping it is a civic responsibility we all share. Links from the episode: The Up and UpRachel’s websiteRachel’s InstagramNo, Gen Z doesn’t actually want to bring iced coffee to their job interviewsFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    Hopemaxxing with Gen Z Advocate Rachel Janfaza

  3. Oct 6

    How Sports Build Better Citizens with Coaches Eric Reveno and Joe Kennedy

    What can a basketball court teach us about being a citizen? In this episode of How We Future, Lisa is joined by two people who have had a huge influence on civic engagement in college athletics: Coach Eric Reveno and Joe Kennedy, co-founders of The Team. Their work began exploring how student athletes could practice civic engagement in a way that empowers them and others to create the future they want to see. For Eric, or Rev, that question came to life in 2020, when a conversation with his players led him to launch All Vote No Play, an effort to give student athletes time and space to vote. Joe soon joined the effort, bringing his background as a college basketball coach and former Obama White House staff member. Over time, Joe, Rev, and Lisa created The Team, an organization focused on integrating nonpartisan civic and community engagement into college athletics. In our conversation, we talk about: Why being a great teammate can be a form of civic practiceWhy athletes and coaches have a unique ability to act as trusted messengers and civic leaders on their campuses and in their communities.Examples of accessible civic engagement, like a tailgate, pizza, and a competitive game of rock, paper, scissors.When you don’t know exactly what to do next, sometimes the best thing you can do is just try something, and then go to the next play. Listen to the full episode to hear how two coaches turned one simple idea into a growing movement and what sports can teach all of us about getting in the game. Links from the episode: The TeamAll Vote No PlayThe Team’s Engaged Athlete FellowshipHome Court at the Obama Presidential CenterFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    How Sports Build Better Citizens with Coaches Eric Reveno and Joe Kennedy

  4. Sep 29

    Shift from Spectator to Engaged Citizen with Citizen University’s Eric Liu

    What if being a good citizen has less to do with politics and more to do with how we show up for one another? To kick off Season 5 of How We Future, Lisa is talking with civic leader, author, and Citizen University co-founder Eric Liu about his new book, Live Like a Citizen: 8 Ways to Change Your Mindset and Our Country. The conversation explores why civic life needs joy, grief, love, imagination, and practice more than facts and policy solutions. Eric shares a practice called Power Walk, which helps people take stock of the civic decisions embedded in the places around them. He also explains how Civic Saturdays became a way for people to gather, reflect, and reconnect after the 2016 election. In this episode, Eric and Lisa discuss: The story of Rosa Chang and the transformation of an overlooked space beneath the Brooklyn BridgeWhy joining a club might be one of the simplest ways to fight isolation and reclaim civic agencyHow civic imagination can be used for both pro-social and antisocial purposesWhy building a better future requires both imagination and commitmentUltimately, this episode is an invitation to stop being spectators of the future and start practicing citizenship wherever we are. A few ideas to take with you Take a power walk. Walk around your neighborhood with fresh eyes. What do you notice? Why is it that way? Join something. Find a club, community group, neighborhood organization, library program, or other place where you can show up repeatedly and build relationships.Practice civic joy. Choose to animate the things that give us life even when things are hard.Imagine and Act. Turn your picture of a better future into collective choices, habits, and commitments.Links from the episode: Learn more about Citizen University.Buy Live Like a Citizen: Eight Ways to Change Your Mindset in Our Country.Learn how to host a Civic SaturdayWatch Eric’s Ted TalksCheck out Citizen University’s resourcesFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    Shift from Spectator to Engaged Citizen with Citizen University’s Eric Liu

  5. Sep 8 ·  Bonus

    Bonus: Faith, AI and the Future of Hope with Engineer Jeremy Kirshbaum and Futurist Bob Johansen

    What does it take to have hope when the future feels increasingly brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible? In this special bonus episode of How We Future, Lisa continues her conversation with futurist Bob Johansen and welcomes Jeremy Kirshbaum, co-authors of the forthcoming book Disciplines of Hope. Bob previously joined Lisa in Season 4 alongside Bishop Andy Doyle to explore the book’s ideas around faith, hope, and action. This time, Jeremy brings the lens of the intersection of generative AI, meaning-making, and hope. Jeremy, Bob, and Lisa explore what we might gain and what we might lose when we optimize everything for speed and frictionlessness, and why some forms of useful struggle, reflection, and repetition are essential to building meaning. In this conversation, you’ll learn: What it means to live and lead in a BANI futureThe value of useful friction in a world increasingly optimized for efficiencyWhat religious traditions can teach us about hope and collaborationWhy leaders increasingly need to help people find faith in a future worth buildingThe idea of generativityListen to the full episode to explore how we can develop our own disciplines of hope and use them to create futures that are more meaningful, connected, and generative. Links from the episode: Pre-Order Disciplines of HopeHow We Future featuring Bob Johansen and Bishop Andy DoyleNavigating the Age of Chaos by Bob Johansen, Jamais Cascio, and Angela F. WilliamsInstitute for the FutureHow We Future featuring Bob SuttonHow We Future featuring Roman KrznaricThe Friction Project by Bob Sutton and Huggy RaoHow We Future featuring Jennifer Dulski Follow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    Bonus: Faith, AI and the Future of Hope with Engineer Jeremy Kirshbaum and Futurist Bob Johansen

  6. Sep 1

    Why Changing Your Situation Works with Psychologist Angela Duckworth

    What if you can become your best self by changing the situation around you? In our season 4 finale of How We Future, Lisa Kay Solomon talks with psychologist, University of Pennsylvania professor, and author Angela Duckworth about her new book, Situated, and the powerful role our environments, relationships, and circumstances play in shaping what we think, feel, and do. Angela’s previous book, Grit, explores how to leverage our inner qualities. Now, she’s examining the “outside game”: the mentors, peers, teams, spaces, and systems that can help us thrive. Listen to the full episode to learn strategies for changing your environment, building supportive relationships, making behavior change easier, and using your agency to create better conditions for yourself and others. Lisa and Angela talk about: Angela’s three-box model for changing behaviorWhy changing your environment can be smarter than relying on willpowerWhat Michael Phelps and Jerry Seinfeld teach us about situational agencyAnd as always, we’d love to hear from you: What’s one part of your situation you could change to make the future you want a little easier to reach? Links from the episode: Learn more about Angela on her websiteBuy Angela’s new book, SituatedMan’s Search For Meaning by Victor FrankelFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    Why Changing Your Situation Works with Psychologist Angela Duckworth

  7. Aug 25

    Walking Towards the Unknown with Management Innovator Nilofer Merchant

    You don't have to fix what failed you. You can build what frees you. In this episode of How We Future, Lisa Kay Solomon and Nilofer Merchant talk about Nilofer’s new book, Our Best Work, and why to question the invisible norms that are limiting the way we work and lead. Nilofer argues that many of the ways we measure work today focus on what has already happened—revenue, productivity, efficiency—rather than the leading indicators that tell us whether we’re actually doing the work needed to create a better future. In this conversation, Lisa and Nilofer explore: Expanding our definition of intelligence to include intuition, context, synthesis, vulnerability, and the unique perspectives each person brings.The difference between actually helping people grow or simply making ourselves feel helpful.Building trust through integrity, where our actions consistently match our words.Walking toward the unknown without needing to know the entire path ahead.What are you spending your energy trying to fix that you could instead imagine and begin building differently? Links from the episode: Nilofer’s newest book, Our Best Work Explore Nilofer’s work on her websiteNilofer’s “Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation” TED TalkFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    Walking Towards the Unknown with Management Innovator Nilofer Merchant

  8. Aug 18

    How Purpose Can Amplify Your Talent with CEO Jennifer Dulski

    Your career doesn’t have to follow a straight line to have a clear purpose. Lisa talks with Jennifer Dulski on this week’s episode of How We Future. Jennifer is an entrepreneur, Stanford Business School Professor, and author of Purposeful. Jennifer’s own career has taken her from teaching and nonprofits to Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Change.org, and her current company, Rising Team. But what all these roles have in common is that Jennifer has been devoting her life to amplifying the potential in other people. Together, Lisa and Jennifer explore what it means to build a purposeful life and career, how to make an impact even when you feel too small to make a difference, and why sometimes the best career strategy is simply to just add value. They also get into what Jennifer learned as a college crew coxswain about leading teams, knowing when to push and when to ease up, adapting to different people’s motivations, and being willing to “take one for the team.” In this episode, we explore: Finding the thread of purpose across a winding careerWhy high expectations + support can help people reach their potentialHow teaching can make you a better learner and leaderAnd because the future of leadership is changing fast, Jennifer shares how she’s experimenting with AI to help people practice difficult conversations. You won’t want to miss this episode. Links from the episode: Purposeful by Jennifer Dulski Jen’s company, Rising TeamHow We Future featuring Coach John TannerFollow How We Future: Lisa Kay Solomon on LinkedIn@lisakaysolomon on Instagram@howwefuture on TikTokhowwefuture.substack.comWant to contact us? Email hello@howwefuture.com

    How Purpose Can Amplify Your Talent with CEO Jennifer Dulski
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About

There is no "they" who should determine our future. We are the "they." Futurist, author, and educator Lisa Kay Solomon believes in doing hard things, optimistically. Each week, Lisa and her remarkable guests illuminate the skills and practices we all need to develop hope, hype, and gratitude: traits that are crucial to build towards a more positive future. As Futurist in Residence at the Stanford d.school, where she teaches courses like "View from the Future" and "Futures Thinking for Strategic Decision Making," Lisa has spent her career making the tools of futures thinking accessible to everyone from K-12 educators to global executives. Now, through How We Future, she's bringing that same approach to you. You'll hear from architects rethinking how we build, educators transforming how we learn, artists expanding what we create, coaches revealing what it takes to lead, and futurists mapping what's coming. So far, How We Future has covered how to incorporate play into serious work, how wisdom and aging can be competitive advantages, and how creative risk-taking builds resilience. Other guests have included Dana Cowin, former Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine, ten-time NCAA champion coach John Tanner, and Ahmed Best, who plays Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars. Whether you're a student, a leader, an educator, or simply someone who wants to shape tomorrow rather than just react to it, you'll leave each episode with new questions, fresh perspectives, and a renewed sense that the future is something you get to participate in creating.

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