If you don’t know who Robert Putnam is -- you should. He is the author of the bestseller, “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis,” in which he writes a groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap and what we can do to fix it.  As you know, this is at the heart of what we are all about - providing economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. There could not be a more relevant discussion for us to be having at LinkedIn and we are incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to hear him in discussion with Reid Hoffman. In addition to income inequality, Professor Robert Putnam suggests that there is also a growing inequality of opportunity. For many children in lower income families, systemic obstacles – economic, social and political – become insurmountable and prevent social mobility and the realization of the American dream. What has caused this trend away from equal opportunity in the US? How can we address the crisis of inequality and shorten the opportunity gap? Professor Putnam will delve into this complex problem and its multifaceted solution, which he says begins with a commitment to invest in other people’s children.  

Buddhist monk, humanitarian activist, scientist, and author Matthieu Ricard (The Monk and the Philosopher, Happiness) turns his lens from the personal to the global with a rousing argument that altruism, genuine concern for the well-being of others, could be the saving grace of the 21st century. Altruism is, he believes, the vital force that can solve the greatest challenges of our time – from a troubled economy, to decreased life satisfaction, to environmental problems. Ricard's message has been taken up by respected economists and thinkers, including Joseph Stiglitz and George Soros.Our CEO Jeff Weiner, hosted the event and they discussed insights from Ricard’s newly released book, Altruisum: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World. 

We recently hosted Jack and Suzy Welch as a part of our LinkedIn Speaker Series.  The business titans and #1 New York Times bestselling authors were here to discuss their new modern, essential guide for everyone in business today—and tomorrow—that explores the most pressing challenges related to creating winning strategies, leading and managing others, and building a thriving career.  Coupled withJack Welch’s years of iconic leadership andSuzy Welch’s insights as former editor of the Harvard Business Review, their new database of knowledge infusesThe Real Life MBA with fresh, relevant stories and equally powerful solutions that every manager at any level can use right now. Our own Executive Editor, Dan Roth, hosted the event and discussed insights from their newly released book.

Mallika Chopra, Founder of Intent.com, is focused on bringing people together around personal, social, and global well-being.  Her new book, Living With Intent, is about her search to find more meaning, joy, and balance in her life. She provides a practical roadmap for how we can all move from thought to action to outcome. Chopra’s insights and advice will help us all come closer to fully living the lives we truly intend.

The LinkedIn Speaker Series, in partnership with BIG @ LinkedIn (Black Inclusion Group), is honored to host LinkedIn Influencer, John Hope Bryant, for an engaging session where he will tackle some of the fundamental principles of his bestselling book: How The Poor Can Save Capitalism.Homeless for six-months of his life at age 18, Bryant has built successful for-profit enterprises and best-in-class non-profit organizations with global impact. He has helped form financial literacy-to-entrepreneurship federal public policy for the U.S. federal government, working under both Democratic and Republican U.S. Presidents.Mr. Bryant is founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Widely published, Bryant is the only bestselling business author in America today who is African-American.You can also read more about John Hope Bryant at his website - www.johnhopebryant.com.

We are proud to host our first LinkedIn Speaker Series event live from the new office in Singapore!  During this session, you will find out what happens when a Mount Everest expedition leader becomes partially disabled and then decides to undertake a ten year study about how teams and individuals work together on and off the mountains! David Lim, leader of the first Singapore Everest Expedition in 1998, will share the lessons he learned from Everest and what climbing the great peaks can teach us all about self leadership and teamwork.This session will be just the inspiration you need for the rest of Q4!  Learn how to set and accomplish goals, understand how your brain works under pressure, create a winning culture, and gain meaningful insight about what you can do in your workplace to be more successful!

LinkedIn and Kiva are kindred spirits - sharing the common goal of economic opportunity expansion.  We are honored to host an enlightening conversation between Reid Hoffman, Premal Shah, Kiva’s President and Julie Hanna, Kiva’s Chair of the Board.     Premal and Julie will discuss everything they are learning about: The most effective ways to reach and truly financially empower the world's poorest The challenges of microfinance and how technological innovation & great social entrepreneurs can help overcome these challenges The challenges and opportunities of operating a non-profit internet public good The problem of credit access for U.S. small businesses and how innovation can help create more opportunity here at home More About Premal Shah Premal Shah leads Kiva.org, a website that allows you to lend $25 to the working poor. Since 2005, Kiva lenders have financed over 1 million low-income entrepreneurs from 75 countries, with a 98% repayment rate. The site has been named as one of Oprah's Favorite Things and a Top 50 Website by TIME Magazine. Premal’s inspiration for Kiva came in 2004. Working for several years at PayPal, he took 2 months off to volunteer in India. There he worked with low-income women to help them sell handcrafts online. While the project had mixed results, it strengthened his belief that the right combination of technology, business and love can dramatically accelerate opportunity for those most left out. Today with a burgeoning community of 1 million Kiva lenders, this belief becomes more of a reality each day. For his work as a social entrepreneur, Premal was named on FORTUNE magazine’s “Top 40 under 40″ list. Premal is a graduate of Stanford University.   More About Julie Hanna Julie Hanna is a serial entrepreneur who is driven by her belief in information technology as a democratizing force for social, political and business disruption. She has spent the last twenty years pioneering products that have allowed tens of millions around the world to connect, communicate and collaborate. Her experience creating innovative products and new business models now informs her work as a board member, angel investor and mentor to fellow entrepreneurs and CEO’s. In addition to serving as Chair of the Board at Kiva, Julie is a member of the board at Socialtext, the leading social networking SaaS provider for small and medium businesses, and an advisor to leading technology incubator, Idealab, as well as a number of internet startups and social ventures in the U.S. and Europe. Serving in roles that ranged from founding executive to founder & CEO, Julie has helped build five consumer internet and software companies. Among them, onebox.com, (acquired by OpenWave Nasdaq; OPNWV) the fastest growing internet communications service in 1999; Portola, the first internet mail system for businesses where she was instrumental to the acquisition by Netscape; Scalix, a pioneer and global leader in open source software and Healtheon, now WebMD (Nasdaq: WBMD).  

Join us for a conversation with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about how to raise your voice, make a difference and change the world.Revolutionary, transparent, empowering and forward-thinking are just a few of the words that have been used to describe Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Since taking office in 2009 at age 42 to fill Hillary Rodham Clinton's New York Senate seat when Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has established herself as a passionate, fearless, and laser-focused presence in Congress.The granddaughter and daughter of two trail-blazing feminists, Gillibrand is a fierce advocate for getting women involved in the issues that matter most to them and making their voices heard; in 2011, she formed the PAC Off the Sidelines with that very mission in mind. And as a wife and mother to two young sons, she's a role model to working moms everywhere. With the release of OFF THE SIDELINES: Raise Your Voice, Change the World, Senator Gillibrand hopes to share her message with a much wider audience.  By telling her story, she aims to inspire all women, no matter their age or socio-economic status, to live their lives with meaning and purpose— to let them know that women need to lift each other up, and that there is power in the collective. “Speak up, be heard. You can make a difference”, she writes.More About Senator Kirsten GillibrandBorn and raised in upstate New York, Kirsten Gillibrand got her start watching her grandmother, Polly Noonan, organize Albany women to make a difference. Those early experiences taught Kirsten the values that guide her public service to this day: hard work, idealism, honesty and bold action.As congresswoman, Gillibrand pledged to be honest, open and upfront with the public and always stay accessible and accountable. The New York Times called her commitment to transparency a "quiet touch of revolution" in Washington. Shortly after being elected to the Senate in 2009, Gillibrand made her presence felt, leading the fight to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and overcoming fierce partisan opposition to provide health care and compensation for the 9/11 first responders. This year, she has earned national recognition for fighting the Pentagon over how sexual assaults in the military are prosecuted, creating a unique bipartisan coalition in the process. She is now helping to lead a bipartisan coalition to take on the issue of sexual assaults on our college campuses – all while continuing her successful Off the Sidelines project which supports women candidates across the country. Gillibrand’s work led TIME Magazine to name her as one of 2014’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and the New York Daily News to place her number four on its recent list of “50 Most Powerful Women in New York.” Kirsten has also been recognized as one of Newsweek and The Daily Beast‘s “150 Women Who Shake the World.” Today, Kirsten and her husband, Jonathan, live in Troy, New York with their two young sons, Theo and Henry. Her family is a major inspiration behind her public service career. She does not want any mother to have to worry that there will not be enough food on the table or health care for their sick child.

This month we hosted our *youngest* speaker ever in our San Francisco office. When Vivienne Harr was 8 years old she learned that there was child slavery in the world and was deeply troubled by it. So, she decided to make a lemonade stand every day until she raised $100,000 to end child slavery. Two years later, she and her family have started “Make A Stand Lemon-aid” and through their ongoing dedication and passion for this cause, they have raised over $1 million dollars for organizations that are working to eradicate child slavery in the U.S. and around the world. Make a Stand is a social impact brand that supports its 10-year-old founder's vision of a world where all 18 million enslaved children are free and safe. "You don't have to be big or powerful to change the world. You can be just like me." - Vivienne Harr

This month’s Speaker Series was hosted from our New York office with our special guest, Adam Braun, Founder and CEO, Pencils of Promise -- the epitome of a transformational story.  JDan Roth, Executive Editor at LinkedIn, sat down with him to discuss the incredible work Pencils of Promise is doing and learned more about Adam’s personal journey.They also discussed his book: The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change.  The Promise of a Pencil is an inspiring story that shares the essential lessons to creating a life of meaning, passion, and purpose. The book shares the riveting story of how Adam started with only $25 and has now built over 200 schools around the world.  It also discusses the guiding steps that any ordinary person can take to lead a successful and significant life. Talk about transformation!More About AdamAdam Braun began on the path towards a career in finance, but met a young boy begging on the streets and asked him what he wanted most in the world. The answer- "A pencil." Braun then backpacked through 50+ countries to deeply understand the state of global education and develop a best-practice model to help local communities organize and educate their children.Pencils of Promise is now a leading nonprofit organization that has broken ground on more than 200 schools across Africa, Asia and Latin America and delivered nearly 10 million educational hours in its first five years. PoP was founded with just $25 using what Braun coined as a "For-Purpose" approach to blending nonprofit idealism with for-profit business principles.