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Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

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Award-winning business advice from Silicon Valley and beyond. Iconic CEOs, from Nike to Netflix, Starbucks to Slack, share the strategies that helped them grow from startups into global brands — and to weather crisis when it strikes.

Our two formats help tell the complete story of how a business grows, survives and thrives, and the mindsets of growth that keep leaders in the game.

On each episode of our classic format, host Reid Hoffman — LinkedIn cofounder, Greylock partner and legendary Silicon Valley investor — proves an unconventional theory about how businesses scale, asking his guests to share their stories of entrepreneurship, leadership, strategy, management, fundraising. You’ll hear the human journey too — failures, setbacks, learnings.

From our Rapid Response format, you can expect real-time wisdom from business leaders in fast-changing situations. Hosted by Bob Safian, past editor in chief of Fast Company, these episodes tackle crisis response, rebuilding, diversity & inclusion, leadership change and much more.

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Amid pandemic disruption, Chief turned a small, NYC-based club for women executives into a national phenomenon with more than 12,000 members. Co-founder and CEO Carolyn Childers joins Rapid Response to share how she and co-founder Lindsay Kaplan managed the unlikely transformation, which recently yielded a $100 million Series B funding round. She reveals how the company leveraged existing tech and their own innovations to build connections, identifying not just a gap in the marketplace but a need for a whole new set of tools to support business leaders.

Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Successful daredevils aren't really winging it, even if it looks that way from the outside. They have a method. No one knows this better – or does this better – than Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. Sir Richard has been willing to take death-defying entrepreneurial leaps again and again, into new markets and industries, establishing himself as one of the most prolific and successful founders ever. You can't help but marvel at his bias to action: his eagerness to ask “What if?” and then follow up those fanciful thoughts with bold and decisive steps forward. You don't have to be born with Sir Richard’s bravado to cultivate a bias to action. Sir Richard shares how you too can learn to take the right leaps, in the right moments, to generate outsize opportunities.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/richard-branson/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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05/12/20 • 32 min

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5.0

The Apple logo. The iconic Burberry check. These images inspire loyalty of customers and employees alike. But it takes more than a beloved brand to power a company and motivate a team. No one knows this better than Angela Ahrendts, former SVP of retail at Apple, and the former CEO of Burberry. Angela has spent most of her career learning how to imbue those logos with meaning – and support them by down-to-earth, everyday, human connection. Why? Because to unite a team – especially one that’s large, global and dispersed – you need to turn them into mission-driven families.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/angela-ahrendts/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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01/26/21 • 33 min

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4.0

The biggest challenge for founders often isn’t winning the strategic game – it’s winning the mental game. For a master class in mastering your emotions, we turn to Sam Harris, author, neuroscientist, and philosopher. His podcast “Making Sense,” his app “Waking Up,” and his many books have drawn a devoted following among entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond. Leadership experts often talk about the importance of adding new skills to your metaphorical toolbox, but less attention is paid to the actual toolbox itself: your mind. Sam shares how you can manage your own emotions, and master your own runaway thoughts, to not only make it through the entrepreneurial journey but learn more, and scale faster along the way.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/sam-harris/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Google has succeeded by innovating again and again. Their secret? They don’t tell their employees how to innovate; they manage the chaos. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google since 2001 and now chair of parent company Alphabet, shares the controversial management techniques he created to lead an environment of free-flowing ideas — and the disciplined decision-making that helps to make a breakthrough idea into a profitable product. He reveals the secret to Google’s former “20% time” policy, their approach to hiring smart creatives, and the parallels between leading Google and piloting small aircraft. Plus, his “roommate” at Google, and the decision he made to support a crazy idea that he was certain would bankrupt the company.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/eric-schmidt-innovation-managed-chaos/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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When the FDA blessed Upside Foods’ grown-from-cells chicken as safe to eat, it was a coming-of-age moment for cultivated meat. Upside founder and CEO Uma Valeti, MD, shares his journey of convincing skeptics, landing investors from Bill Gates to food giants Tyson and Cargill, and building a collaborative partnership with the FDA and USDA. Plus, his lessons on leadership from a career in cardiology and what it will take to convert consumers to a never-before-seen product.

Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/how-to-cultivate-a-new-industry-uma-valeti/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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02/06/20 • 36 min

Classic episode: You need a strong culture to build a company that will scale beyond the early days of start up. And strong company cultures only emerge when every employee feels they own the culture from day one. Here's how Reed Hastings did it – and made Netflix culture (and its “culture deck”) famous in the process. Cameo appearances: Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Aneel Bhusri (Workday), Margaret Heffernan (entrepreneur), Tristan Walker (Walker & Co.), Mariam Naficy (Minted).

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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11/08/17 • 41 min

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5.0

If you want to grow your business, your goal isn’t to beat the competition — it’s to escape the competition altogether. No one knows this better than PayPal founder Peter Thiel. His theory? “Competition is for losers.” Thiel is a former colleague, frequent co-investor and longtime intellectual sparring partner with host Reid Hoffman. Their combined thinking on the competitive landscape is unmissable.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/peter-thiel-escape-the-competition/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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11/15/17 • 37 min

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In your company’s darkest moment, remember: You CAN pivot from failure to success. But only if you slash and burn everything that isn’t working. Slack’s co-founder and CEO, Stewart Butterfield, has twice navigated this kind of Big Pivot. He launched two different game companies, which both (surprise!) turned into game-changing communications platforms: Flickr and Slack. Hear the thinking behind making a hard left turn —and bringing your team along with you.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/stewart-butterfield-the-big-pivot/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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01/22/19 • 43 min

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5.0

In this special episode, we turn the tables on host Reid Hoffman. He’s the guest and we tell his story, while proving a theory that’s perfect for Reid: You can chart an epic journey to scale, if you make everyone a hero along the way. Our guest host is June Cohen, executive producer of Masters of Scale, CEO of WaitWhat, and former executive producer of TED Talks. Cameo: Matthew Mercer, host of the web series Critical Role.

Listen to Critical Role: https://critrole.com/

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/reid-hoffman-make-everyone-a-hero/

Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtX

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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4.9

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10 Ratings

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