Denver: We are going to do Take Five with Dave Wish, the CEO of Little Kids Rock. Are you ready Dave?
David: I’m ready to rock.
Denver: What should we be worried about?
David Wish and Denver Frederick
David: We should be worried that our children do not get music education in our schools and that means they won’t have music in their lives for purpose.
Denver: What is one of your favorite documentaries or movies?
David: 20 Feet From Stardom and Lotcho Drom.
Denver: What is today’s most underreported story?
David: Hope.
Denver: What idea in philanthropy is ready for retirement?
David: Charity helps other people and not people who are giving.
Denver: What is something you believe that other people think is just insane?
David: That every human being is musical.
Denver: Name some organization or person that you have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for.
David: Chuck Slaughter of Living Goods, Bill Draper of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Robin Richards of the same foundation.
Denver: What is one of the most interesting part of your morning ritual?
David: I like to swim 50 laps before I see anybody I know by first name except for the gym workers.
Denver: What is the most important thing that makes for a healthy organizational culture?
David: Having a mission and understanding it.
Denver: What did you changed your mind about in the last 10 years and why?
David: I listen to the other side whatever it happens to be with an open heart and an open mind.
Denver: If you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be?
David: I would be a spatula because I like to get the last drop out of everything.
Denver: What do you wish more people would be open and honest about?
David: Their own insecurities and understanding that those are shared by everyone.
Denver: If you were to start your career all over again and do something completely different and away from this field, what would that be?
David: I would be a person working on another massive global issue.
Denver: What is your superpower?
David: My superpower is revealing my weaknesses in public to be instructive for other people.
Denver: If you could have one gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say?
David: It would be in Times Square, and it would say, “Peace in the world or the world in pieces.”
Denver: What is something, whether related to your work or not, that you’re exceptionally excited about right now?
David: I am exceptionally excited about what technology can mean for saving us from ourselves.
Denver: What are you currently reading?
David: How democracies die.
Denver: What is the one book you would give as a gift?
David: The Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard? Get it.
Denver: What do you think about when you’re driving in your car alone?
David: I think about my children. I think about my work.
Denver: What topic would you speak about if you were asked to give a TED Talk on something completely outside your main area of expertise?
David: Risk-taking.
Denver: What is something about you that very few other people know?
David: I’m an enormous dinosaur fan, and I’m obsessed with ancient cultures.
Denver: Given the choice of anyone famous in the world, dead or alive, that you can invite over as a dinner guest, who would that be?
David: Martin Luther King.
Denver: When was the last time you sang to yourself?
David: Before I got here today.
Denver: To someone else?
David: Before I got here today.
Denver: What advice would you give to your 25-year-old self?
David: Mistakes are where the magic happens.
Denver: Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
David: If you want to serve somebody, meet them where they are not where you think they could be or should be, but right there where they are.
Denver: Beautiful. You were great.