On Institutes

At the turn of this century, I caught the bug to build an institute. 

Having never belonged to one and with no clue how to begin, I studied the concept and concluded there are three possible paths. First, persuade a philanthropic billionaire to write a big check—the downside being that the donor dictates the philosophy. Second, launch one on the fly—the risk being that the new entity spends most of its time with its hand out, raising money. Third, build a self-sustaining organization capable of funding itself—the challenge being that it takes decades to achieve.

Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s founding of the American Philosophical Society in 1743 to promote “useful knowledge,” we launched City Club in 2005 as a self-sustaining economic entity. With Highland as its home, we formally launched Highland Institute for the Advancement of Humanity in 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the intention “to make elite knowledge, common knowledge.”

Since then, we have strived to find our footing. When members ask me for a progress report, I tell them that we are all blind men touching the elephant, trying to figure out what it is, and then offer three assignments:

— Listen to this short AI-generated summary of my founder’s letters that sums up a vision for rebuilding moral, civic, and cultural coherence from the ground up.

— Listen to this short AI-generated summary of member Steve Smith’s Member Monday series that sums up City Club’s cultural DNA.

— Watch member Kubs Lalchandani interview Congressman Ro Khanna of California’s 17th District, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Now serving his fifth term, Khanna has emerged as a leading progressive voice to restore America’s manufacturing and technological leadership and is a likely 2028 presidential candidate.

These conversations remind me that the Highland Institute was not meant to be built overnight. It was meant to be built to last.

— Sina.