Telling a clear story about your product is a basic entrepreneurial skill. But to build enduring impact, you need to help amplify other stories — those that surround you in your community and your customers. Marcus Samuelsson has done just this with beloved restaurants such as Hav & Mar and Red Rooster, and through his media group that celebrates the richness of the world's cuisines and the stories embedded within them. Marcus shares how embracing a diversity of stories has let him cre...
Jan 16, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the biggest strikes against the tech industry is too much noise and not enough signal. But does it always pay to "show, not tell," — even about the most innovative of products? Austin Russell of Luminar Technologies believes so. At just 17 years old, Austin created revolutionary tech that would unlock autonomous driving in the future, and make safer passenger cars today. Almost as startling is how he kept his breakthrough close to his chest for five years — carefully choosing trusted team...
Jan 09, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we settle into 2024, the Masters of Scale team reflect on their favorite moments from the past year during which host Reid Hoffman sat down with inspiring and iconic leaders across the business world. They explored numerous entrepreneurial lessons including how to make your networking more impactful, evolving your creative process, and keeping ideas simple and adaptable. Featuring guest appearances from Ron Howard, Daymond John, Reshma Saujani, and more. Read a transcript of this episode:&nbs...
Jan 02, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast To survive your entrepreneurial journey, you have to learn to recharge. Knowing when to turn the lights out may be the only way to keep the lights on. Few know this better than Arianna Huffington, who dramatically scaled the Huffington Post – and then experienced profound physical burnout. Her venture, Thrive Global, scales the idea of balance across an organization. With cameo appearances from Chris Yeh (co-author, Blitzscaling ) and Dr. Matt Walker (author of Why We Sleep ). Read a...
Dec 26, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s no better way to prepare for 2024 than to look back at the year that was. 2023 offered a slew of challenges and opportunities, from AI mania to inflation to Taylor Swift obsession. In this special episode, Rapid Response host Bob Safian shares the most impactful business lessons from the year, exploring the importance of an experimentation mindset, empathy-driven leadership, and adapting to the modern workplace. Featuring guest appearances from Gary Vaynerchuk, Bozoma Saint-John, Rana el...
Dec 19, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The AI boom in 2023 left Intel chasing rival Nvidia, whose chips — and shares — have been in high demand. Like other laggards amid this year’s AI mania, Intel is now fighting back, announcing the first-ever AI PC. Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger sits down with Rapid Response host Bob Safian to discuss how the company is working to re-establish itself — and sharing lessons for leaders everywhere about the long-term trajectory of the AI wave and how to practically position yourself to ride it. Plus, Pat...
Dec 14, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast What lessons can business leaders learn from the games industry? Elan Lee, co-founder of Exploding Kittens Inc., joins Reid Hoffman to discuss how Exploding Kittens became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time. Elan shares how creativity and diverse expertise were essential for scaling a potential one-off success into a prolific games studio. And he reveals how he cultivated a community by transforming casual colleagues, partners and customers into key stakeholders. Read a...
Dec 12, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's no perfect process for achieving your goals. Accepting that the rules you play by need to be constantly tweaked, hacked or reinvented will open you up to new ways of innovating. Instilling this attitude throughout your organization will help you be boldly differential in your experimentation. Ed Catmull literally wrote the book on creating a dynamic and sustainable creative culture. Drawing on his experience as co-founder of celebrated animation studio Pixar, and president of Walt Disney...
Dec 05, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you restore confidence after a high-profile leadership uproar? Web Summit’s new CEO Katherine Maher joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to discuss taking over after the sudden, forced resignation of founding CEO Paddy Cosgrave. With echoes of the drama at OpenAI, Maher describes how she navigated the tumult, calming partners like Amazon and Google and enabling Web Summit’s signature event in Lisbon to draw 70,000 attendees. Plus, Maher shares lessons from her time at the helm of the Wiki...
Nov 30, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the five years since Scott Harrison’s first appearance on Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, the nonprofit organization he founded, charity: water, has scaled 5 times over. In this episode, he and host Bob Safian reflect on that journey by revisiting some of the stories and lessons from his original episode, and Scott shares new lessons of scale he's learned since. Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/ Subscribe to the Masters of S...
Nov 28, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Often a small tweak, a rethink of a feature, is what helps your product break out of the pack. Just ask the founder of the Bumble dating app, Whitney Wolfe Herd. She rebounded from one dating app start-up (that you may have heard of) with a brilliant idea for a whole new way of connecting. Hear how the small tweaks along the way helped her move into huge new markets. With cameo appearances by Steve Spohn (AbleGamer) and Marissa Mayer (Google, Yahoo). Read a transcript of this episode: http...
Nov 21, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast The true seed of scale is customer love, which you can’t buy, hack, or game. Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator, scaled countless start-ups by focusing on this one idea: Finding 100 users who love you is better than 1 million who kinda like you. As CEO of OpenAI, Sam leads the creation of genuinely useful AI products. He shares timeless insights in his interview from 2018 on how to build on the love of passionate customers to create world-shifting tools. Read a transcript of this episo...
Nov 20, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our attention economy, what does it take to capture the cultural zeitgeist? VaynerMedia’s Gary Vaynerchuk – or GaryVee – joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to preach the need for widespread empathy and fearless leadership, and he uncovers the secrets to his new platform’s unconventional scale. Plus, Vaynerchuk shares why he is the only person at his company with firing privileges, and why your happiness is worth fighting for above all else. In these trying times, it’s hard to not be inspire...
Nov 16, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast What happens when you tap into the collective genius of a diverse group? Does the cross-pollination of ideas let you create something greater than the sum of its parts? The real magic happens when you create a network of changemakers: people united by a common cause who will drive impact and innovation. Doing this will vastly improve your odds of forging groundbreaking solutions to the challenges you face. Reshma Saujani did this when she founded Girls Who Code, which has supported thousan...
Nov 14, 2023•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kick the conventional wisdom. In this episode of Rapid Response, Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera sit down with Bob Safian to discuss their book, The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind . The pair faced blowback for their damning investigation of business leadership in the wake of COVID. They share how lockdowns may have miscalculated risk versus reward, the pros and cons of a market-based society, and the era’s parallels to the Enron debacle. Pl...
Nov 09, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are AI’s harshest critics causing irreversible harm to humanity? How far should leaders lean into AI? And just what would Reid sound like speaking Chinese with a British accent? Reid Hoffman sits down with CEO of WaitWhat and longtime friend Jeff Berman to tackle these pressing questions and more. Join them in an unguarded exploration of how the AI landscape has continued to shift in the six months since Reid published Impromptu , the book he co-authored with ChatGPT. Reid also gives a sneak pee...
Nov 07, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this installment of our series, AI + You, we dissect the ethical concerns that builders and users of AI must keep in focus. As the AI rollout continues at dizzying pace, we all have a part to play in ensuring human wellbeing is the bedrock principle. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks with Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, Adept’s David Luan and more AI pioneers. Rather than be intimidated by these ethical issues, we’ll leave you inspired to play a part in shaping ...
Oct 31, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Keeping calm in a crisis is essential — and extremely difficult. In this special Rapid Response, we hear what it’s like right now in the Gaza Strip. Mercy Corps’s Arnaud Quemin talks with Bob Safian from Amman, Jordan about how his team in Gaza is coping, sharing first-hand accounts from those on the ground. As director of the humanitarian organization’s Middle East operations, Arnaud himself had to relocate from Beirut due to the crisis. He shares how he’s trying to help his team and others in ...
Oct 26, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can you foster peace between Palestinians and Israelis through business engagement? That’s been a priority of Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Kind Snacks, who has worked with entrepreneurs across the region for decades. Lubetzky joins Bob Safian for this special episode of Rapid Response to draw a distinction between Palestinians and Hamas, and to call for support for what he calls "builders" versus "destroyers" on both sides of the conflict. Read a transcript of this episode: https://ma...
Oct 23, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the midst of conflict and turmoil, Hello Heart CEO Maayan Cohen leads her team with compassion, resilience, and a commitment to justice. In this special episode of Masters of Scale Rapid Response, Cohen describes navigating the unprecedented challenges of running a business in Israel while the country is at war, all while prioritizing the safety and well-being of her employees and their families. This episode does contain descriptions of specific acts of violence that may be disturbing. Pleas...
Oct 18, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In part two of our 3-part series on AI + You, we offer an actionable playbook on how AI can help us scale ourselves personally. Personal scale is all about broadening your skill set and strengthening your human relationships. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks to Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, tech-centric artist Holly Herndon and more AI pioneers. You’ll discover how AI can amplify your ability as a leader, coworker, collaborator and friend. Read a transcript...
Oct 17, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can you reinvigorate a beloved but troubled brand by applying lessons from a different industry? Under Armour CEO Stephanie Linnartz firmly believes so — and earlier this year made the leap from Marriott to become the first woman to helm a major sports apparel brand. She joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to talk about how her 25 years with Marriott is giving her unexpected insight as she works to pivot Under Armour back to growth by leaning into sports style, sharper product segmentation, and...
Oct 12, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast AI can be overwhelming. In this 3-part series, we offer business leaders an actionable playbook to best implement AI. Part one: To unleash AI’s true power of scale, you must dive headfirst into ongoing experimentation. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks to Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, Adept’s David Luan, and more AI pioneers. Their experiences with AI provide a perfect lens for any leader to better understand and navigate this new era, even in industries far from...
Oct 10, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast With companies wrestling with the question of returning to the office or to continue working from home, there are so many questions around the future of work. How do you maximize your team’s creative output and entice them to want to come back to the office, while navigating the opportunities and challenges of working with AI? WPP CEO Mark Read believes that working together in an office is better – for collaboration, for training new employees, and for company culture. In this episode of Rapid ...
Oct 05, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Under a harsh spotlight, how do you remain composed while fighting for your mission? Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to take us inside the story of his public row with Elon Musk. Jonathan also explains how business leaders must ignite hope in the face of hate to help build a brighter future. Plus, he shares lessons about the seasonality of business, the importance of Hollywood, and why leaders everywhere should embrace conflict. Read a transcri...
Sep 29, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The buzz about AI focuses on how we can bolster our skills, knowledge and efficiency. But what role can AI play in enriching our lives as social beings with feelings, relationships and dreams? In this special interview, Mustafa Suleyman and Reid Hoffman — co-founders of Inflection AI, and two of the leading AI minds today — sit down to discuss the human-centered ideals at the core of Mustafa's cutting-edge work. They offer a clear eyed, optimistic view on how AI will revolutionize our live...
Sep 27, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The boldest of entrepreneurs take on the impossible. Recorded live at the Masters of Scale Summit, four scale leaders in Bjarke Ingels, Aurora James, Kathryn Finney, and Scott Harrison offer their strategies and ideas around taking on society’s most complex and tough challenges. In this episode, you’ll hear how each entrepreneur embraces a unique challenge from addressing systemic racism, designing sustainable architecture, to bringing clean and safe water across the globe. To take on the imposs...
Sep 19, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast For some entrepreneurs, risk is just part of the game. But for the reluctant entrepreneur, whose endeavors come as a response to a need they've identified, risk can feel more like a necessary evil. That’s why you need to learn to harness risk. Stacey Abrams, an entrepreneur and scale leader both in and outside of politics, is a perfect example of how harnessing risk can be key to your success. Outside of politics, she’s started three companies with her business partner, Lara Hodgs...
Sep 12, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Simplicity is notoriously difficult, but it’s key to iterating successfully — and staying relevant. Featuring cameos from entrepreneur superstar Daymond John, and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, this episode shares lessons from the timeless clothing brand, and its namesake creator, Eileen Fisher. During her 40 years at the helm, the company has scaled from a small shop on Madison Avenue, to one of the fashion world’s most recognizable, and sustainable brands. Read a transcript of this episod...
Sep 06, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amidst the fast pace of entrepreneurial life, how can we make our networking more impactful? The acclaimed film and television producer Brian Grazer argues that curiosity is the elixir for deeper human connection and cultivating a healthy network that serves as an ever-flowing well of inspiration. Brian joins Reid to share the unique practice that brings his healthy network to life. You’ll also hear how Brian founded Imagine Entertainment with his longtime creative partner, Ron Howard, and...
Aug 29, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
