New speaker forum to focus on solving problems across differences

Working across differences takes bold thinking, smart collaboration, and leadership grounded in empathy.

Starting this fall, the Stanford community will have the opportunity to hear from people who have found creative ways to bridge divides through the Stanford Builders Forum, a new quarterly event that will bring external speakers to campus who will share their stories about how they navigated high-conflict situations and disagreement.

While there has been robust programming that has modeled what a productive discussion on divisive issues looks like – from the course Democracy and Disagreement to dorm discussions like Civic Salons – the Stanford Builders Forum will focus on highlighting the skills and resources needed to work across differences and the dispositions required.

The first event will take place Oct. 8 from 5 to 6 p.m. in Crown 290 and will feature Daniel Lubetzky, JD ’93, a Stanford Law School alum, social entrepreneur, and founder of KIND Snacks, whose gift to ePluribus Stanford is making the speaker forum possible. Students may recognize Lubetzky as a recurring “shark” on the ABC television program Shark Tank.

Lubetzky’s gift to Stanford also includes funding for ePluribus Stanford’s broader mission to foster critical thinking, constructive dialogue, and engaged citizenship across the Stanford experience. He has also endowed a faculty fellow in Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE), which will honor Stanford faculty committed to teaching in the first-year undergraduate program.

The new speaker forum is named for the nonprofit Builders Movement, which Lubetzky founded to equip citizens to bridge differences through creative problem-solving.

“Our students come from many different backgrounds and have many different interests, perspectives, and even values.  When people can learn from each other, this is a strength. It can lead to innovation, new ideas, and solutions to seemingly intractable problems. When people don’t have the skills to manage disagreement and difference, it can descend into destructive conflict. Daniel Lubetzky has committed much of his life to reducing polarization, and I am so grateful for his generosity in helping us scale ePluribus and foster a culture of open minds on campus.”

Martinez launched ePluribus Stanford in 2024 as a university-wide initiative to revive Stanford’s core mission to prepare students for a meaningful, engaged civic life, starting with their experience on campus. One of the initiative’s goals is to empower students to engage across differences and negotiate disagreement, skills that are as essential in learning as they are in being informed citizens engaged in a pluralistic society.

Building alliances, not animosity

The Stanford Builders Forum will showcase what pluralism looks like in practice, the challenges real people encountered in doing critical bridge-building work, and how they overcame them. The quarterly events will complement the COLLEGE curriculum and be anchored in the “4Cs” of the Builders Mindset: curiosity, compassion, courage, and creativity.

The first event in the forum, titled Curiosity, Courage, and College, will feature a conversation between Martinez and Lubetzky.

Joining them will be Stanford psychology professor Jamil Zaki, whose work has shown that empathy-driven dialogue – sharing personal stories and engaging with genuine curiosity – can reduce hostility and promote understanding.

Zaki has been involved in the Builders Movement as a Builders Movement Partner.

Moderating will be Debra Satz, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, who also serves as a senior advisor to ePluribus Stanford.

Other events in the speaker forum will be announced in winter and spring quarters.

Overcoming polarization through collaboration

Lubetzky, the son of a Holocaust survivor, says he grew up with a deep awareness of how fear and division destroy societies – and a lifelong drive to prevent history from repeating itself. His early work focused on bridging divides in the Middle East through economic cooperation, which introduced him to food entrepreneurship. In 2004, Lubetzky founded KIND Snacks, which he grew into a multibillion-dollar brand known for its role in health transparency and commitment to making the world kinder.

In his 2023 Convocation address to matriculating Stanford Law School students, Lubetzky shared that when he emigrated to the United States from Mexico at the age of 16, he was awed by the freedoms guiding American democracy, in which pluralism and freedom of expression thrive. He said he was drawn to Stanford Law School to learn how to uphold them.

It was while taking a legislative law course with Professor Byron Sher that Lubetzky came up with the idea for his first company, Peaceworks, a food company intended to help Israelis and Palestinians work together peacefully. Peaceworks eventually expanded to other countries in the Middle East, as well as Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Lubetzky founded the Builders Movement, a grassroots international effort, to get out of the “us vs. them” thinking that causes people to view themselves as belonging to distinct, often opposing, groups. Its motto is “Together Works.” Today, through Camino Partners, Lubetzky backs companies that seek to enhance consumers’ lives.

Lubetzky has previously made gifts to support Stanford Law School and allergy research through Stanford Medicine.

This story originally appeared in Stanford Report.