Open to Debate founder discusses his book on Stoic Capitalism

May 5, 2025

 

The new episode of Open to Debate interviews someone who usually remains behind-the-scenes: The program’s founder Robert Rosenkranz. He’s written a new book titled The Stoic Capitalist: Advice for the Exceptionally Ambitious. Michael Bloomberg called it “an inspiring story of a life well lived.”In the episode, Rosenkranz tells Open to Debate host John Donvan about practicing Stoicism—the practice of living according to the philosophical framework that came out of Greece and Rome around 2000 years ago—throughout his business and philanthropic career. They also discuss, of course, why he started Open to Debate (then called “Intelligence Squared U.S.”) in the first place:”I felt the state of public discourse in America was kind of dismal; people on the right couldn’t talk to people on the left,” he says. “If you introduced a political topic at a dinner party, the conversation would fall apart, and while there were thoughtful organizations, they were preaching to the choir, so I wanted to bring something to the public square that would be an antidote to that. I’m really proud…that we have built a community of people who are interested in taking a deep dive into issues, who are open-minded, who want to hear both sides. That strikes me as a real contribution that we’ve made to the public square in America.”

Donvan says about the episode, “As I have told Robert many times, the chance he gave me to lead our debates as moderator-in-chief has afforded me one of the most satisfying experiences of my professional career. I was pleased to be able to put my thanks for that on the record in this program.”

Watch or listen to the episode at OpentoDebate.org, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts.