Soman Chainani People in Common Transcript Updated as of June 8, 2026 Jama Adams (00:00) In Young World, the teenage president says he wants to give young people a voice to tackle the anxiety and dread and stress everyone our age wakes up with every single day. That feeling is not fictional, something maybe we can all share. Soman Chainani is the New York Times best-selling author who has spent the last three weeks visiting schools across the country asking students who would want to run for president. He's not asking in a theoretical way. Today we talk about what he found, what he's building, and what any of us can do about this moment we're in. INTRO - Jama Adams (00:35) Welcome to People in Common. I'm Jama Adams. This is a podcast where we talk to leaders about connecting their personal stories to what's happening in this moment. What are we supposed to do? How do we translate values into action? How can we be People in Common? Jama Adams (01:02) Soman Chainani Soman Chainani (01:04) Thanks for having me. ⁓ Jama Adams (01:06) Welcome. Welcome. Thanks for making time for us on your last day. Soman Chainani (01:10) This is a nice way to to kinda end things before I sink into a ⁓ vacation. Jama Adams (01:16) A puddle. Soman Chainani (01:17) Yeah. Puddle is more accurate. Jama Adams (01:21) You’ve been on a whirlwind book tour, you actually just came from a middle school. What happens in those rooms? What did you hear today? Soman Chainani (01:29) It's a highly choreographed presentation ⁓ where I take them first to doom and and show them how bum bum bum Yeah. I'm like your life looks very different than ours did when we were growing up and that is because there's very little thought to what your future is gonna be and the older political class is trading on that future and I give them many examples why. I basically get them to trust me. Jama Adams (02:01) I’m on your side. Soman Chainani (02:02) I am here representing you, as your lawyer against, you know, the establishment that is raiding and robbing your futures. And then once I take them to doom, I'm like, okay, but there is hope. There is something we can do. Jama Adams (02:15) There's hope. Soman Chainani (02:16) So I give them a way out. And the way out is you have the numbers to throw all these corrupt people out of office. And that takes even from the earliest age, you know, fourteen, fifteen, starting to understand your political power, you know, and telling them you don't have to run for something. You don't have to be the kid in the book who ends up. Jama Adams (02:37) Benton Young, who ends up at seventeen years old becoming president of the United States of America. Soman Chainani (02:43) And I'm like, you don't have to be Benton. You don't have to be that kid. You have to vote for Benton though. I said you only have two options. You either run or Jama Adams (02:48) Here's your job. Soman Chainani (02:55) You vote for the person running. And the person running has to be young. That's like that's my new thing. It's like, you know, ideologically, yes, young people have different views. But there is a youth platform that we can all agree on. And I think that should actually be the foundation of what anybody young running does. It just have this platform. And in the book it's called the Revolting Youth Party. Yes. And there's four elements to the Jama Adams (03:22) Revolting youth, he said, just to make sure you take that in. Soman Chainani (03:25) And they've got a four four four prong platform to the party. ⁓ it's sustainable environment so that there's an inhabitable planet. Jama Adams (03:36) There's a lot of smoke and references to, you know, climate degradation and global warming in the Soman Chainani (03:42) So that's number one. Number two is an economic future that's not crushed by debt, right? And job loss and all that stuff. So viable economic future, viable planet. Third is no more kids getting killed in schools. So you know, guns ⁓ gun legislation that actually protects kids. Yeah. and the fourth is not surrendering humanity to AI. So whether you are the most extreme right or extreme left, every young person can agree on those four things. So that is the platform. And that's what I'm trying to get kids to believe in. Jama Adams (04:00) And so you sound like a politician. Soman Chainani (04:05) That's so funny. When I was at I did the big New York launch for this book, and I've been talking about fairy tales for the last thirteen years as this book of people was. And so we were at this event, and then my best friend who I've been friends with for twenty two years came up after. She goes, I have a very serious question. And I go, What? She goes, Are you running for president? Yeah. Jama Adams (04:16) What did you say? Soman Chainani (04:38) I was like no. She's like she goes, you sound like you're running And I was like I was like no no I said but I need someone to run for president who's young I think I'm too gay. I feel like I don't think it would work. I mean I would love to be president, I think I'd be really good at it, but Jama Adams (04:50) Are you too old? Let me ask you. Soman Chainani (05:02) I think I’m too gay. Soman Chainani (05:02) I think I know how to manage. You know what I mean? That's part of being an author, I think, to some extent is here's what's funny about being a young adult author. It's very similar to being president. Because you travel the country. I love you go to every state. I've been to every state in America. I've seen every kind of person, every kind of community. You spent time. But you're going to schools, right? So you're going into to three or four hundred people at a time. You're doing essentially rallies trying to convince people to Jama Adams (05:32) True. Soman Chainani (05:36) Similar to running for president. Interesting. and so I think there's a lot of of similar things. It's like you're you're painting a picture of what you want the world to be, and then the question is can you like execute this vision? And so No, I always like to think when I was young I dreamed of having a political future and now I do not. Like I'm being very like I think I would be a good president. I would never run or or be involved in politics at all. But I don't think it's a surprise that like I have now dedicated a significant portion of my life to trying to get young people into Jama Adams (06:13) To writing this. And then okay. Why would you never be involved in politics? Because you spend your life encouraging people to be involved in politics. Soman Chainani (06:22) I think because I almost can have more impact this way. Because I'm after the numbers game. I'm trying to get young people Jama Adams (06:33) Mass media. Soman Chainani (06:35) Yes. I'm trying to get young people to essentially change their behavior and stop thinking of politics as like a hopeless, helpless Jama Adams (06:39) A disgusting thing that thank God I don't have to think about that. It's not just young people who think that by the way. Like it's everybody and that's the problem. And Soman Chainani (06:43) Yes, I'm trying to make it like punk. Jama Adams (06:45) It’s not just young people who think that, by the way. It’s everybody. Soman Chainani (06:49) Everybody. Jama Adams (06:50) And that’s the problem. Soman Chainani (06:43) In the same way, I was thinking about Mamdani, because I used to be… Jama Adams (06:55) Yeah, you were there. Soman Chainani (06:56) I was not only there, I was kind of his babysitter when I was young because I worked for his mother. Jama Adams (06:59) What, what? Are you Forrest Gump? Okay, talk to me. Soman Chainani (07:03) I was his mother's personal assistant. So I was his mother's personal assistant. I was twenty four years old and he was thirteen, twelve. And so he was around all the time. It was just like, you know, where's Zohran [Mamdani]? I remember that he had the most beautiful smile. He wanted to play soccer, if I remember correctly. Jama Adams (07:26) He still has a beautiful smile. Soman Chainani (07:30) That’s it. The famous smile, the charisma. He had the most intelligent, charismatic, amazing parents. ASo it's very little surprise to me that someone like that can galvanize and inspire, but there's a lot of other Zohrans out there. Jama Adams (07:46) You're finding them. You're finding them in every audience. You're like, come on guys, who's running? Soman Chainani (07:48) And then I tell them, I'm like, look, in a group of three hundred, maybe one of you is a Zohran. The other two ninety nine better vote for the f vote you vote for you and support you. So like if you run for school board in your town, if you run for town council, whatever, all of you better be there helping that person. So basically I'm trying to propaganda my way to you know. And it's so funny, because I always get like negative negative things from adults being like, this is how Mao built his army in communist China, this is how Hitler used the youth, and I'm like Okay. We can do that. We can we can talk about how young people are you know, bad and should not be ⁓ motivated to participate in politics, or we can acknowledge that the reason we're so afraid of them participating in politics is because they Jama Adams (08:34) Power. Exactly. Why are people so focused on us not voting? Because we must be pretty powerful if everyone's spending their money and freaking out about this. Soman Chainani (08:44) percent. So I'm all about activating them through fiction. Jama Adams (08:50) Yes. And so you personally can have so much a much bigger impact in the numbers game by writing which in the book is so interesting and cool. Soman Chainani (09:01) It's crazy. I mean I think one of the things I needed to Jama Adams (09:08) It is kind of crazy. It’s so bright. It’s graphic novel-y. Soman Chainani (09:01) It's bright, it's different, it's just like a primal scream. Jama Adams (09:10) Primal scream. Soman Chainani (09:16) I think I wanted to write something that like any kid could pick up and just be like, Okay, what is this? And then just get pulled into. So you know, it's funny, like some adults Jama Adams (09:24) Irresistible. You are the person who can make this somewhat boring content irresistible. Soman Chainani (09:31) That's the thing. It's like trying to explain politics to kids is boring and they don't care. So the question was like I had a teacher, ⁓ government teacher be like, I have tried to teach the electoral map to my kids for 35 years. And he goes and I've never been able to do it. Jama Adams (09:48) Because the Electoral College is - can we say - it’s stupid. Soman Chainani (09:52) And he's like, I've never been able to do it. And then he goes, and then Jama Adams (09:57) And then that chart on page 75, the very idea. Soman Chainani (10:01) And for the first time, in two seconds they understood it. And he goes, I don't understand why. I said, I'll tell you why. Because when you show the electoral map, even I just tune out, I'm like, ⁓ what? How many votes does this state have? But in the map in the book, where Benton is winning states, the Revolting Youth party's winning states, kids are now like, I won that state. I won Nevada. I won Texas. So it's like that state's mine. So how many votes is it? Okay, so Nevada's nine votes? Okay, so then how did I like do I have enough to get all of a sudden they're like ⁓ Jama Adams (10:31) And it's it's a numbers and Soman Chainani (10:32) They pick it up in two seconds. So once you actually give them interesting give them power ⁓ to participate in that process. So I thought that was crucial. So like every graphic, everything is from the lens of where they're thinking, what is my power in this particular element? Where anything in politics, they're just so far removed they don't care. Jama Adams (10:54) It seems like an other. Like somebody other people and it's all swampy and blah. But this is you. At what point…you're movement building. You're community organizing, right? Yes. Soman Chainani (11:06) It is but it's not so explicit in the sense of I'm gonna be there getting them off the page to do something. My job is to inspire them. Jama Adams (11:30) Open the book. Soman Chainani (11:40) All I need them to do is read it. I think if enough kids read it, rest happens on its own. Because it's happened in other countries where the youth have started revolting against the government and it's all happening at the same time and everything like that. You look at India, you look at Nepal, you look at Kenya, Morocco, Peru. Like it's going to happen here also. But They need ⁓ young people need to get on the same page. So literally I felt like if I put it on the page, maybe they could get on the same page. Yeah. So that's I think the Jama Adams (11:46) Right, because you talk about it, it's somewhat of a handbook. I think it is a great quote. “The book I've written doesn't appear to be a novel anymore. It seems to be a living handbook to an unfolding revolution on the verge of going mainstream.” Soman Chainani (11:59) Yeah, I think that's right. I think it's this idea of like when I wrote it I thought of it almost as like dystopian satire or utopian satire. ⁓ and then over the last two years everything's changed. So I feel like so many things. Yeah, I finished the book before Trump ever took office. So and so that the parallels in the book of what's happened since are so eerie and crazy, but it's not because I designed it. It just is what happened. Jama Adams (12:07) Look that those are so close actually. What's the craziest one? Soman Chainani (12:29) My god, there's so many. One is like the Arctic and ⁓ Greenland and a war over Greenland is like the main Jama Adams (12:37) It's the main device of the book Soman Chainani (12:39) And so when he started being like, I'm taking Greenland, I'm taking all the oil and everything I've Jama Adams (12:43) Did you read Young World? Soman Chainani (12:45) Secretly like if you go to war with Greenland, you're going to ruin my book. Like no one's gonna want to read my book if we are in a war with Greenland. So like I need you to stop. My friends are like, Don't be selfish. Like this is not about your creative career and artistic career. Like the world events of this thing. And I'm like and then he kidnapped Maduro and we have kidnapping world leaders in there and then all the other Gen Z revolts were happening, like the in Nepal and Kenya where they're flying that one piece flag as a protest thing, and then we have the flag And so like one of my friends there was like I just have to ask you a question. I was like, what? He goes, there could be a non-zero chance that someone in the administration got an early copy of this book because they keep doing like I'm like, how non-zero? He's like he's like point zero zero zero zero one percent. I'm like, but yeah, I was like, I agree with you. There's just like too many things that are happening. Yeah, there's too many things happening. Jama Adams (13:38) Well, but that's kind of the point is like that you were a fiction writer, you are a fantasy writer, but life imitates art imitates life. I ha ha what do you where do you go from there? Soman Chainani (13:56) I mean I think you feel it, right? I just felt an undercurrent of something that there was there was this young people at some like I felt like we've just had so many n hundred year old, like decrepit politicians. Like you look at the median age of the Congress and it is like almost sixty. Yeah, the median age of the Senate is like almost sixty five. It's like Jama Adams (14:20) Which just for the record means that there's a lot - half actually - who are older than that. Soman Chainani (14:27) Yeah ⁓ so you just are like what are we doing? Like what country it belongs to young people, so where are they? What are they? What are they doing? So I also think young people can't advocate for themselves because no one takes them seriously. Jama Adams (14:41) Interesting. It's easy to dismiss because if you're young and saying this, it's this self-interested piece so I like the small selfish thing, I think you called it. Like the i in the book, the seventeen-year-old boy is in love with a girl and she's like, You gotta care about something. He's like ‘Watch me.’ Okay. So that was his first step. Yeah, well, I want to make a bunch of parallels, but like talk about and even just in a meta sense what you just said. I can't take the Trump administration's action as my selfish like please don't invade Greenland because it will ruin my book. Like talk about the small selfish acts and for the re what's the lesson for the rest of us on that? Soman Chainani (15:29) I mean I think that's the thing, as politicians at the end of the day, there is a desire for power and self-interest. No one goes into politics for completely altruistic reasons. I don't know. Jama Adams (15:41) Why would you? Because you're literally being attacked all the time. Soman Chainani (15:44) Everything about it. So like for instance, yeah. I think I'd be a great, you know, president, whatever, or mayor, governor, whatever. I would never put myself in that position because I don't want to deal with all the nonsense, right? So the people who do Jama Adams (16:00) Who are up for dealing with the nonsense or maybe the Soman Chainani (16:03) There's a certain yeah, there's a certain ego power element that overrides that, you know? And I think in other countries there's just less in the way of getting the right people in power, but I think every country still has this element with politics being the land of the selfish. Jama Adams (16:23) But at the same time, you want to reward the small selfish acts. Like in this book celebrates the fact that he didn't do this because he was like, I'm saving democracy. You're well you know, he did this because he wanted to impress a girl. And I’d like to talk about that tension. Yeah like that's both the savior and the Soman Chainani (16:43) I think it's in his case, right? He wants to impress a girl, but he never thinks any of this is gonna happen. So when he's put in the White House, you have somebody who never really intended to be there. So and I think that's what allows for a more kinda innocent view on on polit like it's from you're you're looking at the government from A teenager's fresh eyes. And so you're seeing everything innocently. And I think it's why you're able to root for him because he's actually looking at the government from a very clean point of view. You know. Versus us where, you know, everything's so polarized and messed up and everything that we can't be objective about anything. And he's quite objective about what he's seeing. Jama Adams (17:27) Hm. And what's the parallel for somebody who right now is listening to this and is like, ⁓ like it who reads the book or is listening to this or anything that you've done recently and is like, that's cool, I want to be part of something. What it like what's their small selfish act? Soman Chainani (17:45) I mean I think it's as simple as looking for an opportunity to either run for something, right? Like there's so many things in town that are like unopposed or like owned by a corrupt Jama Adams (17:58) Be on a commission or be on your library board or Soman Chainani (18:01) I tell kids all the time, I'm like there's probably like five corrupt eighty year olds on your school board who are banning books and making everyone crazy and just are like interfering in your school. Like why are they on the school board? Jama Adams (18:12) Why are they the ones deciding? Soman Chainani (18:14) They are selfish ones, right? Like why are they on the school board? They have a selfish impulse to be on that board for a school that they went to five hundred years ago that they have no like they should have no say over whatsoever because they don't know anything about kids and they don't know anything about the modern world. So why are they on the school board? So I find it like nauseating. So I'm trying to get these kids to kick them out. Right. Like any of you could get rid of them because you have more friends. Mm. So you know more people, so just run and and get them out. Yeah, exactly. So that's how I kind of frame it to the kids, which is like, you know, it's one thing if you look at your school board and it's like, you know, people who've been on it for a long time and are supporting you and are making your education better, and that's where you just can do your research, look at your record. But if there's been someone there who's a nuisance and ⁓ Jama Adams (19:09) There's always one. Soman Chainani (19:10) There's always one. Actively making a life form. Get them out. Jama Adams (19:12) Why. Yeah, that's, we could do that. That we can do. Have you had kids take you up on this yet? Soman Chainani (19:16) Yeah. I know a lot of them have signed up so we partner with an organization called Run for Something. Jama Adams (19:23) Which yes, we're gonna put all those links. Run for Something run by Amanda Lippmann who's a. We love her. She's fantastic. And so ⁓ Soman Chainani (19:25) Yeah. Jama Adams (19:29) Amazing. ⁓ inspired lots of people. I mean, she hasn't had a youth focus always, but it's just Run for Something. Soman Chainani (19:37) Yeah, and so I met her early on and I'm like, listen, I'm going to be I gave her an earlier early copy of the book. I'm like, we should partner because I'm gonna be sending a lot of kids your way. And so every time I go to a school I show them that website and because we have an embed on our form. So on our Revolting Youth website, which is the official website for the book. So Revolting Youth dot org, ⁓ you can see all the amazing things teenagers are doing around the world and then kids can go Jama Adams (20:02) It's so inspiring. Because you're all, you look at it and you're like, wait, is this fictional? Like from the books and then you're my god, no, this is act like kids are really Soman Chainani (20:10) The kids are really doing And we have a few yeah, we have a few Easter eggs from the book, but otherwise it's all real. And kids can go in there and they can ⁓ sign up on Run for Something's ⁓ website to actually find a position in their town to run for. Jama Adams (20:24) And at the same time so one of the things as things become hopefully in an ideal world more accessible, right? AI can be a tool here in this town, we have a like civic somebody took it upon themselves to make city budgets and meetings and notes and all of this stuff more accessible. Like, do you think that that how much of that is an unlock? Like it w what were the barriers? What were the bottlenecks? Soman Chainani (20:53) I just think that young people trusted. Jama Adams (20:24) That we had their backs? Soman Chainani I don't even know if it’s that we had their back, but that there were tracks. Okay, if I go to high school, I graduate, I go to college, I get a job. Jama Adams (21:06) If I do the things, then I can have a nice life. Soman Chainani (21:09) And what I try to explain to them is like the tracks are gone. “The tracks are gone” The tracks are gone. So no one's looking out for you, unfortunately. And so no one's coming to help because all the people in power are controlled by a billionaire class that will keep accruing power and young people are not on their mind. So unfortunately you have to throw them out. unfortunately you have to throw them out. This is the only option. So I've just been very clear about… Jama Adams (21:42) Let me give it to you straight. It's just you. That is so much about the People in Common ethos, which is there isn't some great man coming to save us. We are here to save us. “There isn't some great man coming to save us. We are here to save us.“ We have to be the change that we wish to see in the world. And it doesn't have to, to your point, it doesn't have to be running for president. You don't have to do the thing for all time. Right? I think is that it… How have you seen that play out with kids? Are they feeling the pressure to be like when you ask beause how does it play out when you ask them, Do you want to be president? Soman Chainani (22:20) I don't necessarily do that. What I do is I'll go in there and then after I do the sort of presentation, we play a game where I give them very difficult political situations. And I'm like, you are now the leader of your country. Here's a multiple choice exam on how you handle this. And then I call kids up. And it's very obvious that there's like Yeah, there's one kid in the 300 who because the first thing I ask is who's our Secretary of State? And no one knows. One kid knows. Jama Adams (22:36) Exercise. I heard just in this last one today somebody… Soman Chainani (22:48) The kid knows. And there's always a kid who's like Marco Rubio. I'm like, all right, come up here. How do you know it's Marco Rubio? And they'll be like, ⁓ I read a lot about politics and I'm like, Okay, I'd vote for you. You're like, Okay, here's our candidate. All of you are supporting them. And you can tell like some people are like, ⁓ I don't Yeah, like I thought you were friends with this kid. I'm like, it doesn't matter. Like it doesn't matter. Like I am completely uninterested in whether you like Jama Adams (22:59) You already you've already proven to me that you're It transcends cliques Soman Chainani (23:19) I tell them I am uninterested in whether you like the kid, I don't care if you've fought with him, I don't care if you've never voted, or if you have no interest in politics, you are now his supporter and voter. I am literally brainwashing them. Jama Adams (23:32) You are kind of which I get why people are like, Okay, Chairman Mao, what is happening? Soman Chainani (23:36) But I'm like this is it. Like you need to support your fellow youth, you know. And ultimately it's Jama Adams (23:42) All costs. We are, this is a project that we have to do together to pick somebody and go. Soman Chainani (23:46) As long as he's subscribing to the Revolting Youth platform. Like as long as he's on as he's on board with being a young leader that prioritizes youth. Yeah. And that's kind of what the book's about also, because the book is about a teenage president who leads a global youth movement. Eight other leaders ⁓ join him around the world in this movement. And so you and you realize that the issue is ⁓ Jama Adams (24:06) Get elected alongside the G. Soman Chainani (24:13) Some of these leaders are not on the agenda. So we've got some leaders operating as if they're old corrupt leaders. And Jama Adams (24:20) The same playbook. They're following the this is the new playbook, but they are following the Soman Chainani (24:25) And so the moral of the story is, you know, just because you're young doesn't mean you can trust them. And so like that contradicts what I'm saying, which is like they all have to support the young people. But my argument is like you need to be you need to have the same plan. Yeah, you have to you have to all subscribe to the same principles. Jama Adams (24:43) Right. And and w where did these principles come from? Did did you put them out for people's feedback or did the kids tell you what they wanted? Soman Chainani (24:52) In the course of writing the book, I tried to refine what are the things all young kids could agree on. Jama Adams (24:59) interesting. These four things are like. Soman Chainani (25:01) They want a planet, they want a roof over their heads, they don't want to be shot at and they would prefer to stay human. “They want a planet, they want a roof over their heads, they don't want to be shot at and they would prefer to stay human.” Jama Adams (25:04) I'm in. Like Yeah, you had me at hello. Okay, let's go back to because there's a tension in what you're saying. Okay, by the same argument, by the transitive property, not all old people are against you or against this agenda. But I'm hearing pretty strongly throw the bastards out. Like Soman Chainani (25:13) Yeah, hundred percent. Here's my argument. My argument is if young people form a big enough coalition, there's more of you and then you can look at an old politician running. Okay. ⁓ let's say a old person's running for Democrat, right? ⁓ the Democrat now has to partner with the Revolting Youth party in order to get elected. So it's not a matter of the old person saying, No, I really really am on board with you guys. They literally now have to make that deal. Jama Adams (25:32) There's more of you. Soman Chainani (25:56) So like to me it's about ⁓ Jama Adams (25:58) Some people turn out if to vote, then there's like basically just the numbers game. You're like, read this, this is the playbook, turn out, and then you will control the agenda. Soman Chainani (26:09) That's it. It's about control of the agenda. Because it's not enough to have a Republican or Democrat be like, no, we hear you, we agree with these four things. And then they get in office and nothing ever happens. I mean like everyone said they agree with those four things, but nothing's happened. And so you need a third party that actually goes in there ⁓ with those four things and forces the issue, right? Let's say you have a Revolting Youth party that can't actually get to power, but they can control which power wins. Now both parties have to curry favor with this group. And God forbid they don't get those things done. They'll be thrown out. Jama Adams (26:43) Right. ⁓ Soman Chainani (26:48) But I think that's what we're creating, kinda. Yeah. Because even though it doesn't work with our particular political system, you can create you can still create that parliamentary system in the way Jama Adams (27:00) Forcing by forcing your interesting. Okay. Soman Chainani (27:06) Because you can imagine a future where the head of Revolting Youth endorses one party over the other. Mm-hmm. And the youth all just you know It's kind of what happens anyway. Like young people didn't like Trump in twenty twenty, so they voted for Biden and then they didn't know what they were doing and got all like rabble roused and then voted for Trump. So like they ping pong anyway. So why not just formalize that? That's my argument. I think part of why I want to write the book is I just was also frustrated that young people just ping pong. And there's no like leverage. Jama Adams (27:37) There's no lasting power. Right, like twenty twenty two was the biggest spike of youth voting of all time, right? Of recorded history. And then but not in twenty twenty four. Yeah. Soman Chainani (27:49) Because they just get disaffected so easily because no one's doing anything. Jama Adams (27:53) And you're like, I agree, you should be disaffected. Soman Chainani (27:55) Yes, of course you should be disaffected, but you have to then exercise your power in a way that lets you use it. Right now they're just just kind of like, you know, flinging ⁓ mud at the wall whenever they get mad and it's not gonna not gonna work. Jama Adams (28:09) And again, young people are not the only ones doing that. No, right? I think most adults are just like screw the whole thing, like I don't want this. And again, understandable understandable reaction to the world as it is right now. Soman Chainani (28:21) It's a misunderstanding of our system. Jama Adams (28:24) And what democracy means, which is just how we work together on stuff. Do you like roads? Do you like firefighters? Like we don't we don't have the luxury of being like, ⁓ whatever, somebody else should do that. Soman Chainani (28:35) Hundred percent. And young people, I think, in power, like everyone's like, they're naive, they're stupid, they're idealistic, they'll never make it work. I disagree. I mean you look at Mamdani, like yes, he ran as the most idealistic candidate in the history of the world, but he's quite practical. He's constantly kind of shapeshifting to make his plans work. Jama Adams (28:51) Yeah, yeah. And I think you saw it from a very early age. Soman Chainani (28:57) Yes, I think it's exactly right. And a smart teenager will get it. You know, they're not so ideologically pure that way. and they'll make things happen. Yeah. It's Jama Adams (29:08) One of my favorite parts in the book is when Benton Young goes from this is y basically like there's no he's like, ha ha, this'll never happen. God, I've become president. Right. And and the best part in my mind was at the rally, everybody splattered in the in the bright orange paint, and that's the moment when he realizes, ⁓ this paint like we're united on something. This is bigger than me. And I'm gonna actually care and try and do. That that's like I mean, you were… Soman Chainani (29:45) Hundred percent. I wanted a character who was not your model UN AP government Jama Adams (29:49) Who didn't start wanting to run for president and do exactly like. Not pointing any fingers but…both of us. Soman Chainani (29:57) At seventeen, like if you'd been like your president, I'd be like, I'll be just fine. That's right. It's also why I didn't make a girl. Like everyone's like, Why couldn't it be a girl? I'm like, there'd be no book. She'd wander into the Oval Office, have her complete agenda set out, everything would be great. It would be super. She'd be fine. Jama Adams (30:12) She'd be too prepared, is your point? Soman Chainani (30:16) She’d be fine. There’d be no drama. Jama Adams (30:18) ‘I can't write a book about that. Girls got their shit together.‘ Soman Chainani (30:22) I could just think of like the smartest team I'm thinking of thinking of this girl I know, Caroline Starrett, daughter of Jama Adams (30:27) Shout out Caroline. Soman Chainani (30:29) Julia, like she would be Jama Adams (30:33) You're like I'd vote for her right now. Soman Chainani (30:35) I mean, I was like she would be great. Yeah. But I can't think of a boy Jama Adams (30:40) No drama. But not enough drama for a teen novel. Soman Chainani (30:45) Like teenage boys are different. They're a little more chaotic. They all keep a secret. Every teenage boy has a secret. ⁓ It's just part of being a teenage boy. It's just you keep secrets. Okay. ⁓ and so I just feel like there's more to work with. Yeah. Girls are just like they're organized, they're open, like they tell each other all their secrets and then there's no drama. So ⁓ I just I felt like there was more to work with. Jama Adams (30:49) Just regular. Totally. The hidden keep going with that. Like the hidden secret part of this. Soman Chainani (31:14) Think it's just when you're a teenage boy you're figuring yourself out and there's this feeling of you're not all in it together. You don't quite trust your teenage boy friends. There's a lot of fear of vulnerability, fear of weakness, fear of being yourself. You're just kind of working these things out. Girls understand that they're all in this miserable process of puberty and grow adolescence. You're just working it out together. Like you're you're telling everybody like all your secrets and things. And so I just think girls as adolescents are more they're just more capable of understanding the situation they're in. Like if a girl was made president at seventeen, she would be like, shit, I'm president. Okay, what are we doing? How are we making this work? How do we organize who do I need around me? She'd be asking all the right questions. I think a boy would just be Jama Adams (32:07) It just took him a little longer. He gets there. Soman Chainani (32:10) It's the same as like look at growth. Girls always mature faster. Yeah. So the boys will get there. It just takes longer and it's more chaotic and it's more nonlinear, which is what makes for a great novel. Jama Adams (32:21) Great novel and good inspiration. I think for this moment when all of us, I don't care who you are and where you stand on things, we're all completely overwhelmed. Doom scrolling, freaked out. There's no one who's like, we are everything's great, on the right track, everything's cool. So this is the in this is the inspiration we need right Soman Chainani (32:43) Yeah, I think what the book is saying is it makes it very simple. And so that's why when I go into schools and I do the first part of the presentation, I'm like, your phone is spying on you, it's finding your insecurities, it's trying to make you feel ugly, worthless, miserable in order to sell you things. I Jama Adams (32:57) Love that. That message comes very strongly through. He says, I don't know when I lost it. I was a kid. Like this is your point about my youth is being stolen. I was a kid and then when did that self loathing, right? Or on page forty one Soman Chainani (33:13) Yeah, yeah. When did the self closing start? When did everything ⁓ fall apart? So I'm trying to tell them like your phone is spying on you. It's making you miserable without you realizing it. It's brainwashing you into this cult of the algorithm that you don't even want to be a part of, right? If you actually thought about it. It's sanding all your personalities down into this common ⁓ sort of algorithmic hive in order to sell you things. Then you have AI, which is trying to prevent you from thinking altogether. Like you are stuck, right? There is doom Waiting for you. Like and so that's the beginning of presentation. And like you Jama Adams (33:44) Is everyone crying? Like when are you like… Soman Chainani (33:47) What's funny is they understand it. They're none of them are living it. Jama Adams (33:51) This is not surprising to them. Because no one's actually saying this to them. We're saying this about them. We're maybe talking adult to adult about this. Yeah. But we're not saying it to Soman Chainani (34:06) ⁓ So then to just be able to be like, here's what's happening. And so they're a little shocked and then I'm like, but hold on, there is a solution and it's not the solution you're getting from all the other adults in your life, which is they tell you don't use AI and stop using your phone so much. Like it's not gonna help. Because like ⁓ it just AI is there. It's a temptation that you it's just always there. Jama Adams (34:21) Just put your blinders on. Correct. We're not answering the question of like should we or shouldn't. That's been answered. Soman Chainani (34:34) Phone, it's like a drug. It's like telling somebody highly addicted to stop using something. So great. I mean I'm sure they're sort of staring at you and being like, thanks. Yeah. So ⁓ exactly. It's such a silly prescription. So instead, I'm like, if you ran the world, you would have different safeguards on this kind of stuff and you would interact with it differently and you would require different things. So you need to be in charge because the number one generation that's the most Jama Adams (34:44) Mm-hmm. Soman Chainani (35:04) ⁓ fascist about the use of phones for their kids is the new generation. If you ask them whether they'd let their kids use smartphones, all of them say no. Jama Adams (35:15) Especially the makers of the technology. Interestingly enough. You're like, hmm, that's a sign maybe. Soman Chainani (35:20) But every teenager, they're like when I have kids I'm not letting them use phones. Wow. So it's like they know it. And so you just need to put them in power. “So you just need to put them in power.” And I don't know if they're gonna ban phones or what, but I just think the world would look different. Jama Adams (35:32) Absolutely. And your point is why are you letting them decide for you? 100%. Activate. So everyone's looking around saying the system is broken. Your answer is you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have all the answers. You can be a 17-year-old boy metaphorically or literally. Yeah. In that sense. Start where you are with what you have in front of you. What you trust yourself. Yep. You know, you talk about follow the flow. I love this concept. I heard you talk about this. What is the young people version of following the flow into this movement? Soman Chainani (36:08) I think it's a question of thinking about what you want the world to look like. “What do you want the world to look like?” Right? Yeah. And don't ask ChatGPT what you want the world to look like because it does not know - or it will tell you what the old people want the world to look like. Jama Adams (36:40) Because it’s trained on old people. Soman Chainani (36:43) Exactly. So just think about what you want the world to look like and then how do you make that happen? For me it was writing fiction, right? “Think about what you want the world to look like and then how do you make that happen? For me it was writing fiction to show the world what I want it to look like. But you might have other ways of getting there.” Right? To show the world what I want it to look like. But you might have other ways of getting there. So I think it's important to to think about that because I think before it was like the question was, what do you want to be in this world? And now I'm trying to get young people to realize that that world is the problem. Jama Adams (36:49) Don't fit into this world. Don't just find a role with like fit into… Soman Chainani (36:53) Yeah, yeah, yeah. The world's changing too fast in ways it shouldn't be. So ⁓ how what do you want the world to look like? Yeah. And then slot into that. Jama Adams (37:02) Go and go do it. Yeah. I okay, and that's where we will bring it all together because that the the activation that we're both trying to do, the People in Common version of that is Figure out what you can affect. What is it? What is your zone of genius? What is your passion? Yep. And do that thing locally. You don't have to be everything to everybody. Absolutely not. Start with where you are. And if you're interested in finding those people who want to do it with you, we're exploring this way to try and match people up. Because everything changes. The reason I'm so excited about this being a movement, everything changes when there's somebody next to you who's like, yeah, that that sounds right. I'd help with that. Soman Chainani (37:49) Which is exactly how he gets elected president, right? He says something, you know, true and he's like, if a few people do this, I'm gonna get a date with this girl. Unfortunately, he his message resonates with fifty-five million people. Jama Adams (38:07) So next thing you know you might be president. Soman Chainani (38:09) What's It's just showing like, you know, if you tell the truth, a lot of things can happen. Tell the start. That's great. Jama Adams (38:14) truth. Yeah and just start saying. Ugh. You're the best. This is so fun. We're putting a cap on this end of the book tour. I'm delighted. Thank you for Soman Chainani (38:26) Thanks again. I love doing this. Jama Adams (38:31) Awesome. All right, get Young World, y'all. Soman Chainani (38:34) Thanks. Outro It really helps other listeners discover the show. You can find people in common on all major podcast platforms, and we'd love to hear from you on social media. Until next time, take care.