Michael Slaby - For ALL the People: Redeeming the Broken Promises of Modern Media and Reclaiming Our Civic Life

Our world is in desperate need of leadership. Strong, principled, visionary leadership that provides comfort to those who feel anxious and depleted after years of political rancor, and a path forward that inspires and empowers us all to take action and drive change. What Michael Slaby has put forth in For ALL the People confirms his status as one of those leaders. The book combines the big thinking that is too often lacking from todays political dialogue and action steps that will actually make a difference. To say it is a must-read is an understatement.

BRIAN REICH, AUTHOR OF THE IMAGINATION GAP AND VP OF COMMUNICATIONS, MURMURATION

Slaby deftly illuminates our agency for taking back control of our community and leadership narratives, highlighting the ways that we can and must change antiquated media frameworks, public policy, legislation, and business models that govern our daily storytelling. In order to benefit from the promise of infinite digital connection, he exhorts us to create a modern public and technology-enabled space where not only information, but also experience is freely shared, authenticated, and given credibility. From a business perspective, this resonates as someone who believes that empathy is currencycreating beautiful and useful products can only happen through intense listening, openness to feedback, and focus on purpose. This book serves as an awakening for innovators seeking to drive positive social change and a reclamation of our democracy.

ELIZABETH BRIGHAM, DIRECTOR, HURT

For ALL the People is utterly necessary and timely. Slaby illuminates the how and why driving the existential dysfunction of our media ecosystem, and offers an incisive, thorough prescription toward something better. Essential reading for every storyteller, politician, technologist, and citizen.

LYEL RESNER, PROFESSOR, NYU INTERACTIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM

This is required reading for anyone working in media, technology, or civic life. This thoughtful dissection of modern media and its impact on democracy has implications for both public and private sector leaders. Slaby paints a picture of a new reality where civic conversation is productive and spurs on innovation. With clear, incremental steps to guide the construction of these new spaces, a healthy civic dialogue is in reach for all Americans.

ALEX JOHNSTON, FOUNDER, CITIES REIMAGINED

Michael Slabys For ALL the People should be required reading for anyone who watches the news or engages in social mediaso pretty much all of us. Slaby is the Yuval Noah Harari of media. He pointedly outlines the fracture of our culture and democracy while providing hopeful next steps for how we can redesign our systems for a more civically minded world.

MEGAN KIEFER, AUTHOR OF THE THIRD DIMENSION OF LITERACY AND FOUNDER, TAKE TWO FILM ACADEMY

My greatest concern about the increased division and hyperpartisanship of the last decade is the unfounded belief that it is happening to us, not by us. The existential threat in that belief is the lack of agency to fix it. For ALL the People does two critical thingsit helps us understand how we got here, and it reminds us that we have the agency to repair it. Perhaps most important and prophetic, Slaby shows that indeed we are the only ones who can.

JASON GREEN, FORMER ASSOCIATE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL AND DIRECTOR, FINDING FELLOWSHIP

For ALL the People examines how technology has rapidly and fundamentally changed how we engage in civil discourse, how we interact with governing institutions, and what can happen when systems are manipulated by those seeking to erode the pillars of a democratic society. After four years of our spiraling through disinformation cycles and infodemics, Slaby puts forward important ideas that can move us toward restoring trust in the information we receive and will enable a return to progress.

LISA KAPLAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, ALETHEA GROUP

This book is for anyone who has thought to themselves, It doesnt have to be this way. Michael Slaby offers a vivid reimagining of civic life in America, one in which technology and media bring us together instead of tearing us apart; one in which we unlearn the habits ingrained in us by a media economy optimized to capture our attention by any means necessary. Slaby shows us that it is possible to abandon the zero-sum mentality weve been conditioned to embrace, and reminds us that it is up to us to create the culture we wish we hadone born of community, dialogue, and the stories we tell.

KATE CATHERALL, FOUNDER OF ARENA AND EVP OF POLITICAL STRATEGY, AVALANCHE INSIGHTS

In For ALL the People, Slaby indeed writes for all the people: the trials and truths, the prescriptions and possibilities he outlines are universally applicable to people and societies everywhere. Indeed, the fraying of American culture was presaged by the fraying of polities in other parts of the world. But, it then also holds that the commitments Slaby insists we as Americans can make today, both individually and institutionally, should give hope to people everywhere, too. For if the problems of design, discourse, and democracy that have swept our national culture in recent years are, in fact, currents that travel far beyond our shores, then his insistence that we redesign, reclaim, restore, and then, finally, redeem the shared experiences that constitute our modern media should awaken all Americans to our opportunity to set an example for all the world.

RISHI JAITLY, FOUNDING CEO, TIMES BRIDGE; FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, ASIA PACIFIC/MIDDLE EAST, TWITTER; AND FORMER GOOGLE/YOUTUBE

In For ALL the People, Michael Slaby shows us how to think anew about media and the tsunami of information coming at us in our age of technology. This is a book for all of us, offering insights and actions to help make sense of our new world and connect more powerfully with one another.

BETH COMSTOCK, AUTHOR OF IMAGINE IT FORWARD AND FORMER VICE CHAIR, GE

In a world dominated by hot takes and clever sarcasm, Slaby offers us a new kind of conversation about how to leverage innovation and reclaim politics. An earnest and optimistic must-read that can help lead us to a better place as a nation.

LAUREN ZALAZNICK, FORMER CHAIR, ENTERTAINMENT AND DIGITAL NETWORKS, NBCUNIVERSAL

Nothing is easier than blaming social media for our broken national dialogue. If only it was that simple. How we communicate with one another is both symptom and cause. Michael Slaby does stellar work explaining how we got to this point as a society and, even more important, presents a compellingand constructivevision of where we go from here.

IAN BREMMER, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP

Michael Slaby offers a prescription to cure our social media ills, from redesigning the platforms to how we reclaim our own voices and stories. Its a must-read for anyone interested in disrupting the toxic social echo chambers and bringing about positive change.

CHARLENE LI, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DISRUPTION MINDSET

Published by Disruption Books

New York, NY

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Copyright 2021 by Michael Slaby

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