Serial entrepreneur Harry Nathan Gottlieb ’88 has some experience making hard stuff fun. As founder of Jellyvision, which helps companies manage benefits, he worked to make employees’ decision-making more informed and less stressful. At Jackbox Games, he produced party games (Quiplash and Trivia Murder Party are two). But stuck in his mind was the hardest problem of all: how to get Americans to talk, really talk, across political differences. “What if our differences were precisely the superpower we need?” asks nonpartisan nonprofit Unify America, which Gottlieb founded in 2020 to leverage technology and games to reduce political polarization and teach civic and problem-solving skills. The Unify Challenge (there’s a College Bowl version too) invites people to take part in something that happens all too rarely: guided video conversations with another person who holds different views.
Business & Entrepreneurship
Ready Player One
By Pippa Jack / November–December 2024
November 15th, 2024