“Once you have a whole body PET scan, there's not a lot of value often in doing a physical examination or taking out your stethoscope because the information on that scan tells you everything you need to know. The classic medicine history examination is giving way to a whole new form of medicine where we are using a variety of different technologies.” As a noted physician-scientist and nuclear medicine physician at the University of Melbourne in Australia, Michael Hofman has built a career on us...
Sep 01, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 96
“I really want to be building on this technology here at Berkeley and making sure that we are creating a community of scientists that are doing two things: not only extending this extraordinary science and thinking about how to apply genome editing in ways that will have real impact on humanity; but also doing it with an eye towards social responsibility.” It used to be the stuff of science fiction: A scientist discovers a way to edit genetic sequences in humans and plant life, creating new oppo...
Aug 26, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 95
“I think my immigrant spirit of adapting kicked in and I said, look guys, we need to do something. We cannot sit here and do nothing because the stores are closed. Let's start a plan of attack, let's start going online. … This is what we did within 10 days … and we grew 154% online.” Anastasia Soare is living proof that one can achieve the American Dream by building a better eyebrow. After emigrating from Romania in 1989 with limited cash and English skills – but with a solid education in art – ...
Aug 21, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 94
“I'm very committed to compassionate capitalism, which is what I like to call my business. … My products are there to help patients who need it anywhere in the world. And therefore, I believe that if I can actually produce these products in a way that provides affordable access … I will be very driven by that sense of purpose.” As one of India’s most celebrated biopharmaceutical entrepreneurs, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been committed to healing the sick since she was 25. In 2010, Time magazine nam...
Aug 18, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 93
“There's so much more that unites us than separates us. And at the same time, also from a business perspective, the small businesses around the world, well, they're looking for the same thing too. … I've been on the streets of the Soweto with some amazing female entrepreneurs. And they're telling me about the biggest businesses happening in New York today. And that wouldn't have been possible that a decade ago.” Lady Nicola Mendelsohn is doing her part to make the world smaller, and more accessi...
Aug 14, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 92
“Government funds alone simply aren't going to get the job done. What's needed is the engagement of the private sector and the private capital flows that come into these markets to make lasting change sustainable.” Created in 2004 with broad bipartisan support, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is a U.S. Government aid agency that seeks to reduce poverty in the developing world through economic growth. CEO Sean Cairncross is committed to working with governments that have a proven record of s...
Aug 11, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 91
“Your well-being, your wealth, is very intertwined and dependent on other people's well-being. … That is the philosophy that also drives us because we know that our children's well-being cannot be isolated from the well-being of the other children in South Africa, or other kids on the continent, for that matter.” When Precious Moloi began her career as a doctor in South Africa, she would eventually open the first women’s clinic in Johannesburg. After marrying Patrice Motsepe, they would become t...
Aug 07, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 90
“For us to have a sustainable portfolio, we have to have a sustainable capital market. And for us to have a sustainable capital market, we need to have a sustainable society. And for us to have a sustainable society, we need to have a sustainable environment? It's all connected.” When he was managing Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Hiro Mizuno recognized that his role went beyond fiduciary. After all, with $1.6 trillion in assets, the fund wasn’t merely a traditional asset man...
Aug 04, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 89
“We developed a green team and a red team. The red team's job was to play defense, and first think mostly about liquidity and our downside. And the green team was supposed to think about where could we take advantage of this?” With COVID striking at the heart of Liberty Media’s sports portfolio (Formula 1 and the Atlanta Braves), it’s understandable that President and CEO Greg Maffei injected competitive stakes into how his managers look at their respective businesses. Some of Liberty’s other ho...
Jul 30, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 88
“Many great artists have dealt with the tragedies and the turmoil of the time they lived in. I think the artist needs some time to reflect; you take it in, you process it, and maybe not consciously even, try to depict some horrible event that is filtered through your other experiences and your craft as an artist.” As a champion of modern and contemporary artists, Larry Gagosian has literally created the space in which their art can thrive as never before. Starting with one gallery in Los Angeles...
Jul 28, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 87
“More people will move to poverty as a result of the pandemic. And the estimate is at least half a billion to a billion people. … I think that might push back a little bit the shift to a greener economy. And this is where I hope that the private sector can step up because this is not just a government responsibility. It is the biggest public private partnership there is, that we need to get together.” As the former Secretary of Finance for the Republic of the Philippines under two Presidents, Ce...
Jul 24, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 86
“The biggest tailwind is going to be the voice of young people demanding that the grownups do not ignore warnings about pandemics, about climate change, about gross inequality. One of the headwinds I'm very concerned about is a retreat to nationalism. We know that trade – global trade – has been tremendously helpful, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.” When William Lever packaged Sunshine – his first bar of soap – in the 19th Century, he couldn’t dream that his company would ...
Jul 23, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 85
“Culture doesn’t just come because you wave a magic wand. It comes through hard work; it comes through sharing; it comes through cross‐fertilization of people and ideas. … The culture we built, we don't want to lose that during this process. Coming out of it, there will be an even bigger opportunity for our company.” Since becoming CEO of Mastercard in 2010, Ajay Banga has seen his company’s annual revenues more than triple, from $5 billion to $17 billion. The company is also doing well by doing...
Jul 21, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 84
“Let's start talking about this. How are we going to diversify our boards? How are we going to diversify our management teams? How are we going to diversify our entry-level pipeline? How are we going to work in a community to make it better? … In the last three weeks, four weeks, it's been amazing. And I am really working to make it not stop, because there's a chance that we can be better.” When Ursula Burns became CEO of Xerox in 2009, she was the first African American woman to reach that posi...
Jul 17, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 83
“Though the pandemic is taking so much of our energy right now in addressing it, there will be a day after. And institutions, organizations of any sort, have to have a very clear sense of what their mission and goals are in that day after.” As the 11th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley – and the first woman to hold that position – Carol Christ helms what U.S. News and World Report considers the world’s best public university. She sees her role as requiring both the flexibility...
Jul 16, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 82
“We can use this low interest rate period as an opportunity to finance for the future. Will we invest in things which will enhance the quality of life and enhance economic growth and output? … Because we can't go back to the old world. And I think the new world can be a much better place if we can continue being a community.” As Chairman of Investments and Global Chief Investment Officer for Guggenheim Partners, Scott Minerd oversees more than $270 billion in assets. In this brief but wide-rangi...
Jul 15, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 81
“COVID has actually given us a time to rethink and reimagine the world. How do we repair the ecosystem? How do we repair the microbiome, which is reversible? How do we create a more socially just, and economically just world and society?” For Deepak Chopra, healing the world begins with healing individuals – and that can begin by integrating Eastern spiritual traditions and Western medicine. As the founder of the Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global – as well as the best-selling author of 90 book...
Jul 13, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 80
“Obviously, we wish it was earlier if China had been more forthcoming and transparent. But I think the important part is that we cannot allow any pandemic or any economic situation currently to cloud our moral responsibility for issues that are already on the ground.” Whether she’s voting in the Security Council or leading the personnel at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. (USUN), Ambassador Kelly Craft is keenly aware of the national values she represents. For her, it’s a matter of humility – as whe...
Jul 10, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 79
“It's really the first time that you've had challenges and down cycles in the financial side, on the racial side, and health-wise with COVID. … We're at an absolute tipping point from what we are going to do and how the consumer experience is going to be on the retail side.” When Kenneth Lombard looks at our current confluence of crises, the Executive Vice President and COO of Seritage Growth Properties sees opportunities – especially in the hard-hit brick and mortar retail space. After all, as ...
Jul 08, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 78
“A sociologist … said that pandemics fracture society along known fault lines. And that is so true. Every single one of the issues that we have historically worked on that are at the core of what we do has been touched and exacerbated by COVID. … It’s energized us.” For ten years, husband and wife Laura and John Arnold have grappled with some of society’s most intractable problems. Their Houston-based philanthropy, Arnold Ventures, addresses disparities in public finance, health, education, and ...
Jul 07, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 77
“If you have a vision for what America 2.0 post-reset should look like, there will never be a better time to create a business that goes into an entirely new direction. … If you have a vision for something dramatically different, now's the time to do it.” For Mark Cuban, fortune favors the bold – and there’s no time like the present. As a serial entrepreneur, investor on TV’s “Shark Tank,” and current owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Cuban has always been a keen surveyor of the business land...
Jul 06, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 76
“ The Wall Street Journal last week reported that 41% of the African American businesses have stopped transacting and stopped conducting business and have closed up, which is a true tragedy. They don't have the banking systems, which limited their ability to actually process the Payroll Protection Program loans through the CARES Act.” With the pandemic revealing greater inequities in existing economic systems, Robert F. Smith is determined to make a difference. He authorized one of Vista Equity ...
Jul 02, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 75
“Our policy engagement is very strong everywhere, but … the same way people with preconditions are more vulnerable to the virus, weakened economies are more vulnerable to the economic shock we experience today. So, they need more of our help.” For struggling economies around the world, the IMF is a lifeline. Since 1944, it has promoted financial stability and sustainable growth to its 189 member countries with zero percent loans and reserves of more than one trillion dollars. As the Fund’s Manag...
Jul 01, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 74
“Each day you have to answer a series of questions so that you can electronically access the office. If you don't, we'll either send you to one of our testing labs or to a telemedicine doctor. … We have these huge UV chambers. You put all your outerwear, your phones, your shoes, and we can actually UV disinfect, almost anything.” As CEO of one of Fortune’s "100 Best Companies to Work For," Activision Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick will do whatever is necessary to keep his workforce healthy. After all, ...
Jun 30, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 73
“It can feel like the world is a colder and riskier place, [but] we've been through these things before, and we generally know that society comes through. We learn lessons. We become stronger over time and create opportunities for personal growth and societal learning that can continue to make the world a better place.” Chevron has been weathering the vicissitudes of cultural and industrial shifts around the world since it was founded 141 years ago to provide a substitute for whale oil used in l...
Jun 29, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 72
“Six out of the seven jobs of the future have not been created yet. The future of workplaces and workforces are going to change significantly. The change was gradual, but with the pandemic and in the post‐pandemic era, the changes will be all of a sudden.” As the world struggles with the vagaries of a pandemic, Ravi Kumar S. is already planning for a transformed workplace. As President of Infosys, his effort begins with finding a new pipeline of formerly underserved workers and then training the...
Jun 26, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 71
“I certainly hope this is a unique moment where we will have profound conversations, not only about our own lessons or our own challenges, but about the future of humanity. … This lockdown gives us the opportunity to have long conversations that otherwise would not have happened.” Last year, the World Bank Group was busily working on two ambitious goals for its 189 member nations: ending extreme poverty within a generation, and boosting shared prosperity. This year, it has announced it will prov...
Jun 25, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 70
“In the last three months we’ve probably have had five years’ worth of acceleration in terms of e‐commerce. … People are realizing that cash is a way that germs get transmitted. Currency is dirty.” When the pandemic hit in January, Al Kelly made a vow to have zero layoffs at Visa. Fortunately, as one of the world’s foremost purveyors of e-commerce, they soon found that 97% of their 20,000 employees were able to work from home, and they shuttered all but five of their 130 international offices. N...
Jun 23, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 69
“The whole premise that where you live dictates your access to specialty care, dictates your outcomes, dictates your access to tools to manage your disease. That's absurd in this day and age. … We have to seize this opportunity to level the playing field and really begin to truly give equal care no matter where you live. When David Panzirer was named a Trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust thirteen years ago, he knew little about being a philanthropist. Today, he helps to direct that fund’s $...
Jun 18, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 68
“I will be honest in saying that I never imagined the degree of exhaustion and the multitude of issues that have come about with this crisis: on a personal level, on an institutional level, on a community level, on a national level.” For 150 years, Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC has been a beacon of pediatric excellence. With Dr. Joelle Simpson as its Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness, they have partnered with philanthropists to provide free drive-through care and COVID...
Jun 17, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 67
