Masters of Scale

Latest Episodes:

Strategy Session Live!: How can a start-up beat a Goliath? What gets top talent to stay put? How do you keep multiple stakeholders happy? Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

How can a small business survive a David vs. Goliath competition? If two sets of stakeholders have opposing needs, how can a startup pivot to keep them both happy? Reid Hoffman and Bob Safian answer these questions and more from small business owners in the Masters of Scale community. Plus: another round of Pivot Point!

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Read a transcript of Strategy Session 12 at: https://mastersofscale.com/strategy-session-beat-a-goliath/

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Rapid Response: Don’t wait for the system, build it!, w/Genius Guild’s Kathryn Finney Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

Entrepreneurship is an essential tool for building a more equitable society — which is why Kathryn Finney is laser-focused on encouraging people who don’t fit the mold of the stereotypical founder to jump in. Her new book, “Build the Damn Thing,” taps into wisdom from her years at the venture studio Genius Guild and beyond. She brings a message to founders: The universe is conspiring for your greatness.

Read a transcript of this interview at: mastersofscale.com

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Lead, lead again, w/Meta's Sheryl Sandberg Jun 07, 2022

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In just 6 years, Facebook grew to 2 billion users and 14,000 employees. How? Well, first, they hired COO Sheryl Sandberg. And she knew that to lead a fast-changing organization, you have to be as skilled at breaking plans as you are at making them. Great scale leaders know how to pivot, because every day there are new competitors, new threats, new opportunities. Sandberg shares the practical, tactical on-the-ground leadership lessons she learned while scaling at Google and Meta.

Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/sheryl-sandberg-lead-lead-again/

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Rapid Response: Why business must be a force for good, w/former American Express CEO Ken Chenault Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

"Corporations can be a force for good – and they can also be very successful," says Ken Chenault, chair of investment firm General Catalyst and former longtime CEO of American Express. During the past year, Ken has been an outspoken advocate for business leaders to actively engage in societal matters. After George Floyd’s death, he and Merck CEO Ken Frazier launched OneTen, a coalition to create 1 million jobs for Black Americans that now includes major brands from IBM to Nike to Walmart. Chenault has pushed corporate chiefs to use their leverage to protect voting rights, and he's come out with a platform for Responsible Innovation that puts what he calls “social due diligence” alongside financial due diligence. Standing up for what's right, Ken says, fuels long-term success: "The most important thing is the quest for truth, character, and values."

Read a transcript of this interview at: mastersofscale.com

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Extraordinary leaps need solid foundations, part 2, w/Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel May 31, 2022

Show notes

A diverse network of collaborators is key when making scale leaps. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel has cultivated a wide network of scientists, business leaders, and government officials across his career. When COVID-19 struck, Bancel called upon this nexus of experts to aid the warp-speed development of the mRNA-based vaccine in the race to save millions of lives.

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Rapid Response: A global benefit concert for Ukraine, w/World Unite for Ukraine’s Victoria Yampolsky May 26, 2022

Show notes

It’s easy to have a grand idea; putting that plan into action is not. Victoria Yampolsky conceived of a global concert in support of Ukraine. Without any experience in entertainment or international aid, she shares how she didn’t accept “no” for an answer in her quest to book big-name guests like Pink Floyd and negotiate a streaming deal — to pursue a fundraising goal of $10 million.

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

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Extraordinary leaps need solid foundations, part 1, w/Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel May 24, 2022

Show notes

If you're launching a moonshot, success depends on how you manage the trajectory of risk. When Stéphane Bancel became Moderna's first CEO, the biotech start-up was chasing a way-out idea many experts thought was impossible. Stéphane built a culture of calculated risk-taking to create a platform for extraordinary leaps — one that enabled life-saving mRNA vaccines when Covid-19 struck.

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

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Rapid Response: Inside a $2.4 billion bet on talent, w/PwC's Tim Ryan May 19, 2022

Show notes

With the workplace in historic flux, consulting firm PwC is committing a whopping $2.4 billion to create an employee engagement platform offering a radically new level of choice. PwC’s U.S. chair, Tim Ryan, shares why the bold initiative is necessary in the face of the Great Resignation. It's just one of several evolving crises, Ryan says, that has made leading a business more complex and demanding than ever.

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

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Ford’s Bill Ford: The Refounder Mindset, part 2 May 17, 2022

Show notes

Massive change isn’t something you can brute-force — you need to ignite buy-in, again and again, up and down your organization. Because even if your changes will make things more fun, more interesting, and more profitable, you’re going to face defiance and inertia until you clue everyone in. That’s what Bill Ford learned while working to remake Ford Motor Company as an environmental powerhouse — against surprising internal and even national-level resistance.

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

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Rapid Response: Stay scrappy, deliver fast, w/Gopuff’s Yakir Gola May 12, 2022

Show notes

Has Gopuff cracked the code of instant delivery — a field where even Amazon has struggled? Co-founder Yakir Gola talks about the challenge of owning the customer journey from app to warehouse to doorstep, and the reasons why being outside Silicon Valley is giving Gopuff a big advantage as it expands across the United States and around the world. Yakir talks with host Bob Safian about why moving fast is only one piece of the growth puzzle.

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

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