What does good leadership look like when the system around you isn't working? Host Sophia Layne puts that question to US Congressional Representative Sam Liccardo — first-term member of the minority party in what some describe as the least productive Congress in the post-war era.

His answer is disarmingly practical: find the areas where unlikely allies actually agree, get laser-focused on what you can move, and resist the pull of the outrage cycle. In a polarized Congress, that has meant identifying housing affordability as rare common ground, landing a seat on the Financial Services Committee, and introducing five bipartisan bills — three of which have already passed both chambers.

Liccardo is equally candid about the emotional work of leadership — how to communicate authentic hope without glossing over hard realities, how to keep y ...