Smart Talks. Cold Drinks.
Presenting THINK & DRINK – where the curious gather. This ongoing lecture series delivers a wide array of topics that generate fresh perspectives, ideas, and discussion. These community-driven events are powered by a collaboration between UMKC, Linda Hall Library, The Third Place Historian, and Casual Animal Brewing Company.
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NOVEMBER 19 - Explain it Like I'm 5: Why kids ask so many questions and why it matters how we answer them
Speaker: Ken Sofer, Founder & Principal, New Colossus Advisors; UMKC Foreign Policy Professor
Before they ever set foot in kindergarten, a child asks something on the order of 40,000 questions that demand a real explanation. Most get waved away, or answered with whatever will end the conversation fastest. But the research is clear that children aren't asking for attention. They are hunting for how the world actually works, and they can tell the difference between a real answer and one that tries to end the conversation.
This talk starts with the science of why kids ask, and what is happening inside a young brain when they do. Then it turns to the rest of us. Drawing on a decade spent explaining wars, outbreaks, and famines to people who needed to understand them, Ken makes the case that explaining something to a five-year-old is the same discipline that breaks down the walls between experts, brings people together across fields that don't speak the same language, and gets hard problems solved.
speaker bio:
Ken Sofer is a policy expert, advocate, and strategic communicator with more than 15 years of experience advising global civil society, think tanks, and senior executives. He is the Founder & Principal of New Colossus Advisors, a strategic consulting firm focused on bringing advocacy and communications together to drive human-centric impact. In addition to his work leading New Colossus, Ken is a foreign policy professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Prior to founding New Colossus, Ken worked for the humanitarian aid charity the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which supports people in more than 50 countries whose lives have been shattered by crisis and conflict. He supported the organization’s mission as a policy advisor and speechwriter for the President & CEO, as well as leading the organization’s advocacy on issues ranging from child hunger to the climate crisis. Ken has also worked on US national security issues for the DC-based think tank the Center for American Progress and served as a foreign policy advisor to a presidential campaign.