Masters of Scale

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Rapid Response: Tapping a new generation of consumers, w/The Drone Racing League's Rachel Jacobson Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

With their eyes fixed on what’s next, the Drone Racing League has established a fresh fanbase, previously left untapped by professional sports. President Rachel Jacobson, formerly an NBA executive, refers to this audience as “techsetters” – young, enthusiastic, tech-driven fans who are “invested in what the future looks like.” It’s a new demographic that could have only emerged from the league’s unique positioning that intersects sports, entertainment, and technology. As Rachel says, the companies that aren’t planning for their future demographics of consumers will “age out really quickly.” She spoke with Rapid Response host Bob Safian about diving into future ideas that may first appear unrealistic – and spinning them into realities. The Drone Racing League has successfully secured partnerships with some of the biggest media and commercial organizations in the world, such as NBC, Twitter, T-Mobile, and DraftKings.

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Don’t predict the future. Create it, w/Net-a-Porter's Natalie Massenet Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

You’ve had a glimpse into the future, and you’re sitting on an idea that could change the world. Now what? Well, prepare for layers of resistance, and be ready to spring into action. Throughout her career, Natalie Massenet has proved her ability to spot – and act on – a trend, first as a fashion journalist and then as founder of the luxury e-commerce site Net-a-Porter, which pioneered online shopping for high fashion. Now, she’s at the helm of the new fund Imaginary Ventures, with $1 billion under management. Natalie and Reid share tactics about how to deliver the future to consumers, manage pushback, and navigate uncharted territory.

Listen to the audio story "Give Me Away" by Mac Rogers: https://www.gideon-media.com/give-me-away

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Rapid Response: Be relentless – so your team can be fearless, w/Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Faced with long odds, how do you keep your team motivated and moving forward? As a leader, Alexis McGill Johnson is focused on building hope. As the president of Planned Parenthood, Johnson is preparing for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. But in the meantime, she’s modeling a sense of relentlessness for her team – so they can be fearless and unapologetic. Since she took over at Planned Parenthood, she’s faced both internal and external challenges. Something she learned early: "You really need to drive it like you stole it,” she says. “And don't wait for permission to make the transformations that you need to see.” She’s chosen to speak boldly, emphasizing equity and addressing the organization’s legacies of racism head on. The lessons she offers can be focused as a refusal to shy away from disappointments – and impossible dreams.

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The 4 core principles of crisis management, w/Ellen Kullman (DuPont, Carbon) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

To survive a crisis, you have to double down on who you already are as a company. This is something Ellen Kullman knows, having led DuPont through the 2008-2009 financial crisis, and taken the CEO role at 3D-printing unicorn Carbon only weeks before Covid hit. Through her years as a leader, Ellen has developed four crisis principles that allowed her to lead teams and thrive through pandemic, economic meltdown, and beyond. The key? Practicing the principles in calmer times, before crisis hits. Because as Reid says: there's no such thing as a crisis playbook. There's just your playbook. Cameos: Amy Shira Teitel (spaceflight historian), Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed), Brian Chesky (Airbnb), Neil Blumenthal (Warby Parker), and Stacy Brown-Philpot (TaskRabbit).

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/ellen-kullman/

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Rapid Response: Lessons of Omicron, w/Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome Trust Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

Sir Jeremy Farrar is UK’s pre-eminent scientific authority on Covid-19 and the chief executive at the research foundation Wellcome Trust. He joins Rapid Response to discuss the latest learnings of the Omicron variant – and offers a framework for reacting to the uncertainty. Farrar, whose research specializes in infectious diseases, also shares the two most important leadership lessons he’s learned during the pandemic: find time for yourself, and take warnings seriously. “Humanity often finds ways of going through some really bad periods to get to a good place. And I think we're going through a bad period at the moment,” Farrar says.

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Always be recruiting, w/Paul English, co-founder of Kayak Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

The more your business scales, the more tempting it is to delegate your company’s recruiting efforts. Resist that urge! You should always be recruiting. Featuring Paul English, co-founder of travel search platform Kayak, this episode guides us through five critical lessons for the hiring journey. English is passionate and relentless about the subject of recruiting – and the scale of the stakes: “The first 10 people you hire set the tone for the next thousand people you hire."

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Lessons that matter most: What we’ve learned from 100 episodes of Masters of Scale Jan 15, 2022

Show notes

What’s harder about entrepreneurship than most people realize? How do you overcome your own doubts? Can you really trust your team? In this special episode, Reid Hoffman and Masters of Scale executive producer June Cohen gather five of their favorite guests – Brian Chesky, Tyra Banks, Angela Ahrendts, Sallie Krawcheck, and Franklin Leonard — for a raw, honest, open dialogue filled with nonstop insights on those questions and many more. Sharing personal confessions and in-the-trenches stories, Reid’s guests provide unforgettable lessons from their leadership journeys. In commemoration of Reid’s 100th episode.

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Rapid Response: How to decarbonize your business, w/John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

“Go for the megatons.” That’s John Doerr’s recommendation for how we need to combat the existential threat of climate change. Doerr, a venture capitalist and author of the new book Speed and Scale, joins host Bob Safian to discuss our decarbonization efforts, what he calls “the greatest economic opportunity of the next century.” The book quantifies the specific societal needs, in six discrete areas, to achieve a carbon-neutral world. John isn’t arguing that we all need to be vegan ascetics, but rather, the need for collective action – and the critical role that business plays in advancing that movement.

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

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Leap before you look, w/Marc Lore (Jet.com) Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Marc Lore is all too familiar with leaping into the unknown. He’s made leaps of faith as the founder of Diapers.com, Jet.com, the CEO of Walmart U.S. e-commerce, and now, as a part owner of NBA/WNBA teams, along with Telosa, a city that he’s announced he’s building from scratch. One thing he’s learned from all of these audacious endeavors: you can’t leap alone. You need to convince your team, and more importantly, your customers to leap with you. As you’ll hear in this episode, Lore’s many leaps have evolved the way he assesses the risk involved. And each time, he's refined his method for bringing others – including customers, investors, co-founders and suppliers – along with him.

Listen to Mark Lore on Rapid Response: https://link.chtbl.com/LoreMoSBlurb

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Marc Andreessen: The 6 secrets of great timing Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

As an early internet founder and iconic venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen has thought deeply about the role timing plays in a startup's success. Timing is of vital importance to any business: when to launch that first product; when to ramp up scale; when to make the move into a new market; when to pivot. Getting the timing wrong on any of these can have a catastrophic effect on your business. Getting it right will give you a key opportunity to get to scale ahead of your competitors. We've broken down some of these deep learnings about timing into today’s episode.

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

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