The Head of Bloomberg Beta with $150M Under Management on Team Chemistry and the Future of Work--Roy Bahat

10/01/19 • 49 min

My guest today is Roy Bahat who is the head of Bloomberg Beta, an investment firm with over 150 million dollars under management. He invests in the future of work with a focus on machine intelligence and automation. Fast Company magazine named Roy one of the Most Creative People in Business.

Before heading up Bloomberg Beta, Roy served as the president of IGN Entertainment, the leading Video Games' media company. There he was known for unorthodox but very effective hiring strategy.

Roy is also on the faculty at U.C. Berkeley, where he teaches about media at the Haas School of Business. He's a graduate of Harvard and was also a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

I had a great time chatting with Roy today. He is the leading expert on the future of work. In our conversation we talk about how he choses a startup team, the principals he uses to run Bloomberg Beta, the future of media, and more. Below are all the show notes with associated timestamps:

Bloomberg Beta background (min. 02:45)
Finding companies with potential (min. 03:45)
Data vs. gut feeling (min. 06:30)
Successful startup team makeup (min. 12:00)
Lessons learned over the years at Bloomberg (min. 15:30)
Trends of the future (min. 22:30)
Future of work (min. 25:00)
Artificial Intelligence (min. 28:00)
Separating the signal from the noise (min. 33:45)
De-emphasizing the resume (min. 35:00)
Future of formal education (min. 39:00)
Advice for next generation (min. 41:30)
Projects working on now (min. 43:45)

Before heading up Bloomberg Beta, Roy served as the president of IGN Entertainment, the leading Video Games' media company. There he was known for unorthodox but very effective hiring strategy.

Roy is also on the faculty at U.C. Berkeley, where he teaches about media at the Haas School of Business. He's a graduate of Harvard and was also a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

Bloomberg Beta background (min. 02:45)
Finding companies with potential (min. 03:45)
Data vs. gut feeling (min. 06:30)
Successful startup team makeup (min. 12:00)
Lessons learned over the years at Bloomberg (min. 15:30)
Trends of the future (min. 22:30)
Future of work (min. 25:00)
Artificial Intelligence (min. 28:00)
Separating the signal from the noise (min. 33:45)
De-emphasizing the resume (min. 35:00)
Future of formal education (min. 39:00)
Advice for next generation (min. 41:30)
Projects working on now (min. 43:45)

Previous Episode

The FBI's Lead International Kidnapping Negotiator on How to Get a Raise and More--Chris Voss

My guest today is Chris Voss who served as the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI. During his career, he worked on over 150 international hostage cases. During his 24 year tenure, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He is also a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.

Chris is a master negotiator who has since written one of the top books in the field titled "Never Split the Difference." He also works as an adjunct professor at USC's Marshall School of Business and Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. In our conversation we talk about what it's like to be on the phone with a terrorist, the traits required of a hostage negotiator, how everyone can become better at negotiating, and more. Below are all the topics with associated timestamps:

Big picture of his career and highlights (min 03:00)
The moment he starts speaking to a terrorist or criminal (min 04:30)
Building rapport with the other side (min 09:30)
The ebbs and flows of a hostage negotiation? (min 11:45)
Traits of a great hostage negotiator? (min 16:30)
Why only 5 people on the planet can do this (min 19:45)
Negotiation he's most proud of (min 23:00)
Negotiation that didn't go well (min 25:15)
Reading someone's voice (min 27:45)
Negotiating in business (min 31:00)
How to improve your negotiation skills (min 34:30)
Mistakes most people make (min 38:00)
Dealing with people who have a big ego (min 39:15)
Negotiating over email (min 40:15)
Asking for a raise (min 42:30)
Negotiating exercises (min 43:45)

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Next Episode

Legendary Baseball Pitcher Who Was Born Without a Right Hand--Jim Abbott

My guest today is Jim Abbott, a pitcher who played for 10 seasons in the Major Leagues. Despite being born with only one hand, he won the James Sullivan Award as the nation's best amateur athlete and then went on to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics. He is one of only 8 players in the last 40 years to skip the minor leagues and make his debut in the Majors. His successful career is highlighted by a no-hitter he thew as a member of the New York Yankees.

Jim is a trailblazer who inspired me going up. In our conversation he talks about the electric feeling of taking a no-hitter into the 9th inning, his mental training, how he de-briefed his outings, and more. Note: the audio has some issues the first 10 minutes, but smoothes out after. Below are the show notes with associated timestamps:

Pitching a No-Hitter--thinking and feeling throughout (min. 03:30)
No mold to follow--did that empower or intimidate? (min. 10:30)
Mindset growing up (min. 15:00)
A moment that altered the trajectory of his life (min. 19:30)
Winning a gold medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics (min. 25:30)
Skipping the minor leagues (min. 28:30)
His motivation (min. 31:15)
Techniques to perform your best (min. 32:30)
Mental Preparation (min. 34:00)
The baseball debrief (min. 37:00)
Biggest lesson for the next generation (min. 47:30)

Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode

I've also started a monthly newsletter where I send out a few useful or insightful things that have helped me over the last month. You can sign up by clicking here or going to:
https://www.professionalsplaybook.com/newsletter
Instagram-- @justinfighterpilot
Facebook--@justinfighterpilot
This episode was edited by Trevor Cabler
If you got value from this episode, please give the show a review by tapping here and scrolling to the bottom where it says: "Write a Review." Make sure you use a unique username. Thanks for the support 👊