It’s remarkable how things have changed. No one could have predicted back then that 7 of the 10 most valuable companies in the world today would be tech companies and that the center of gravity of tech would be the Bay Area (back then, Boston rivaled Silicon Valley). And, when it came to political power, the Bay Area started to become the center of the Democratic universe. As my company grew into the largest operator of hotels in the Bay Area, I got to regularly have meals at my Hotel Vitale with Willie Brown (who ran the California legislature and was San Francisco’s Mayor), spend quality time with Jerry Brown and his wife (Anne) with whom I was on the Glide Memorial Church board, and sit in hotel management meetings with Dianne Feinstein as we owned a hotel together while also managing another hotel that had been in her family for years. Excuse the humble bragging, but I’m still shocked by how I planted myself in such fertile ground.
And, as many of you know, I became the mentor to Gavin Newsom thirty years ago when he wasn’t yet a politician but, instead, just a struggling hospitality entrepreneur. As he became Mayor, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor, I’ve been his consigliere and was just with him at Hearst Castle for the day two weeks ago as he asked me to run an off-site retreat for his cabinet secretaries and senior leadership team. Of course, Gavin and I spent the day also talking privately about Kamala who we’ve both known for a quarter-century. Scroll down my New Year’s Day blog post to see the photo of Kamala, Gavin, Google founder Larry Page at a picnic together 20 years ago. These three youngsters have come a looong way since then and have far surpassed one of their modern elders, me.
But, the grande dame of San Francisco politics could also be the most powerful modern elder in the world, 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi. Who else could engineer the following in just two and a half weeks: convincing a sitting President with all the convention delegates to retire, supporting the elevation of the not-so-appreciated VP to become the new Democratic Presidential nominee, and using her art of persuasion to get a teacher/coach and heartland left-populist (a dying breed) who was an unknown two weeks ago to become the VP nominee? We’ve never seen anything like this, but we’ve also never seen a politician as wise as Nancy Pelosi, whether you like or don’t like her politics.
I thought Tim Walz was maybe fourth place on the list of candidates a week ago and then I started hearing from my San Francisco political friends that he was Nancy Pelosi’s choice because she felt he could be endorsed by the left (AOC, Bernie Sanders) and the right (Joe Manchin) in her party. Walz is able to espouse seemingly progressive values to a seemingly non-progressive audience. He’s got a sense of humor and exudes infectious joy (Nancy says this will be a Presidential election choice between “dark and weird AND joyful and normal”). Nancy knows that football is our civic religion (93% of the 100 most watched network TV programs last year were NFL games) and a guy who took his failing high school football team to the state championships has a story that Americans will love. In sum, Tim Walz stands out in a sea of elitist strivers; someone who takes the work seriously, but not himself seriously.
But, who has the kind of instincts to see a diamond in the distant rough and buck conventional wisdom for a choice like Walz? Nancy Pelosi. Ironically, she has a new book that came out this week aptly called “The Art of Power.” In the book, she has a classic line as a modern elder, “People say trust your gut. But your gut is no good unless your gut is informed, has judgment, experience and — in the case of a woman — intuition.” While I don’t think only women have intuition and I don’t always agree with Nancy’s politics, I will say that it’s been inspiring to see this crop of San Francisco politicians become more and more influential. So, yes, I’m glad I moved to San Francisco forty years ago.
-Chip
P.S. Speaking of influential modern elders, I have the great honor of interviewing 90-year-old Gloria Steinem (and her younger friend Amy Richards) next Wednesday in an online fireside chat. Register here for this free event.
