Most people think power always looks the same—loud, demanding, aggressive, and increasingly in your face. But actually, not always. Penny Abeywardena has spent her life mastering another kind of power: soft power. Something we can all use to help change the world if we become more familiar with it, and better at using it in our lives and in our work.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott is joined by Penny Abeywardena—former Commissioner for International Affairs for New York City, Clinton Foundation leader, and founder of Soft Power Strategies—for a conversation about influence, leadership, and how to create change when you don't have the title, the budget, or the permission to demand it. Penny traces her path from surviving domestic violence as a child in Los Angeles to becoming effectively the Secretary of State for the most diplomatically complex city in the world.

She explains how she built a coalition of 350 local governments around the sustainable development goals when Washington walked away from the climate table, and how she secured half a million pieces of PPE directly from the UN's own stockpile when New York was told it was on its own during COVID. She makes the case that in a moment when too many people are choosing to check out, soft power is more urgent than ever. This episode explores themes of soft power, leadership, diplomacy, women's empowerment, and vulnerability.