Tonight's guest on The Daily Show is Rosabeth Moss Kanter and the panelists on The Nightly Show are Jermaine Fowler, Constance Zimmer, and Sabrina Jalees.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a professor of business at Harvard Business School, where she holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship. In addition she is director and chair of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative and is the author of
Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead
Americans are stuck. We live with travel delays on congested roads, shipping delays on clogged railways, and delays on repairs, project approvals, and funding due to gridlocked leadership. These delays affect us all, whether you are a daily commuter, a frequent flyer, an entrepreneur, an online shopper, a job-seeker, or a community leader. If people can't move, if goods are delayed, and if information networks can't connect, then economic opportunity deteriorates and social inequity grows.
We have been stuck for too long, writes Harvard Business School professor and best-selling author Rosabeth Moss Kanter. In Move, Kanter visits cities and states across the country to tackle our challenges―and reveal solutions―on the roads and rails, and in our cities, skies, and the halls of Washington, D.C. We meet a visionary engineer and public servant spearheading an underwater tunnel in Miami to streamline port operations and redirect constant traffic from the city center. We see mayors partnering with large corporations and nimble entrepreneurs to unveil parking apps, bike-sharing programs, and seamless Wi-Fi networks in greener, more vibrant, more connected cities. And we learn about much-needed efforts―such as dynamic tolls on highways and fees based on vehicle miles traveled―to reduce our dependence on the outmoded gasoline tax in our new electric car age.
It all adds up to a new vision for American mobility, where local leaders shape initiatives without waiting for Congress to act, and ambitious companies partner with governments to tackle projects that serve the public good, create jobs, and improve quality of life while providing healthy sources of investment. With unique insight and unrivaled expertise, Kanter gives us a sweeping look across America, revealing the innovative projects, vital leaders, and bold solutions that are moving our transportation infrastructure toward a cleaner, faster, and more prosperous future.
Repairing America’s deteriorating infrastructure – crumbling bridges, congested highways, outmoded airports and train tracks, crowded runways – is important, but not enough. Transportation infrastructure must be renewed and reinvented. Systems conceived and built 50-60 years ago should be reimagined for the 20th century, whether high speed trains, innovative public transit, or technology-enabled roads and vehicles that tap the potential of sensors, smartphones, wireless networks, and Big Data for greener, cleaner, more efficient mobility. This could usher in an era of accelerated growth, with a renewed sense of national purpose and shared prosperity.
Infrastructure has no ideology or party; bridges can collapse in red states as readily as in blue states. A new narrative could show how past infrastructure investments created opportunity. A new vision could look beyond maintenance to investments that build communities, create a foundation for the nation’s future, and spur economic growth. That growth could in turn generate trillions more in returns while improving opportunity and quality of life. Framing it that way would put in perspective the trillions of dollars the OECD and the American Society of Civil Engineers say is required to put American back in the lead.
Transportation is the ultimate connector, yet it is often discussed in silos, industry by industry, one mode of transportation at a time, with the private sector separated from public policy. At a time when major institutions understand the value of operating as one seamless enterprise, it’s time to upgrade the vision of One America. Mobility issues are of a piece and part of a connected system, even if it is connected less than optimally, e.g., in places where trains don’t stop at airports. Talking about the issues together means including the whole spectrum of actors and stakeholders in national and regional coalitions.
Users do not care how they (or their goods) go from A to B; they just want to get there quickly, safely, and cost-effectively. Multi-modal systems powered by data and transparency are a compelling goal that can get people excited and make the case for investment. For example, technology could enable one ticket to move from buses to rail to air, perhaps a smartphone barcode accompanied by data to coordinate schedule.
America’s Leaders Need to Tell a New Story About Infrastructure
Many people find infrastructure boring but I enjoy the topic and this sounds really interesting to me. I am hoping for a double segment, but I doubt we will get one.
Jermaine Fowler
is an actor and producer, known for CollegeHumor Originals (2006), Friends of the People (2014) and Delores & Jermaine (2015).
Constance Zimmer
is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Dana Gordon in HBO's Entourage and as Claire Simms on the critically acclaimed ABC legal comedy-drama Boston Legal. She also starred on NBC's short-lived series Love Bites. Since February 2013, she has starred in the Netflix original series House of Cards. She will also star in the upcoming television series UnREAL that will premiere on Lifetime in June 2015.
Sabrina Jalees
is a Canadian comedian, dancer, actor, host and writer from Toronto, Ontario, now based in New York City, who writes a weekly column in the Toronto Star's ID section. Most recently, she was a writer for Canada's Got Talent.
This Week's Guests
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
Th 5/28: Matt Harvey