Rapid Response

Latest Episodes:

Most Innovative Companies 2026: Who’s in, who’s out, with Fast Company’s Amy Farley Mar 27, 2026

Show notes

Who's really winning the AI race? And what does innovation even mean anymore? Fast Company’s Executive Editor Amy Farley joins Rapid Response to break down this year's Most Innovative Companies list — the surprising winners, the notable snubs, and the unexpected lessons hiding between Google, Gap, and Bad Bunny.

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Crisis at Hormuz, and your $160b tariff refund clock, with Flexport’s Ryan Petersen Mar 24, 2026

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When global trade buckles, Ryan Petersen is the person executives call. The founder and CEO of Flexport returns to Rapid Response to offer a real-time account of the Strait of Hormuz crisis — what he's seeing on the ground, on the water, and across the supply chains straining under the pressure. Petersen also digs into the prospect of tariff refunds in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling against the Trump Administration, and why businesses risk leaving $160 billion on the table by not acting. Plus, how AI is reshaping both logistics and software-based firms, and whether all the trade turbulence might actually be a tailwind for Flexport itself.

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Business History: From Tyrant to Tech Empire Mar 21, 2026

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William Shockley was a brilliant inventor and Nobel Prize winner, but he was a terrible boss. Paranoid, cruel, and obsessed with micromanaging, he drove away the team of young engineers — later called “The Traitorous Eight” — he had assembled in Northern California. They went on to pioneer silicon chips, create companies like Intel and AMD, and fund tech giants like Google and Slack. This episode from Business History, hosted by former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith, tells the story of how one bad boss accidentally sparked the tech revolution that became Silicon Valley.

Find Business History on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnk.to/BHRapid

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The GLP-1 economy is here, with Ro’s Zach Reitano Mar 20, 2026

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On this episode of Rapid Response, Ro CEO Zach Reitano joins the show to talk about what happens when a breakout drug becomes a full-blown market force. Since first appearing at the height of the Ozempic-Wegovy-Zepbound boom, Reitano has helped scale Ro into a leading provider of branded GLP-1s — grabbing headlines with a Super Bowl ad featuring Serena Williams and landing a major partnership with Novo Nordisk for the new pill version of Wegovy. He also takes on the tougher questions: the long-term health unknowns, the cultural backlash to “Ozempic face,” and what this wave of disruption could mean not just for pharma, but for the future of healthcare.

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The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim Mar 17, 2026

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Career disruption is accelerating across the economy — and few people have navigated it more boldly than Maryam Banikarim. The former CMO of Univision, Gannett, and Hyatt, and host of The Messy Parts podcast, Banikarim joins Rapid Response to share hard-won wisdom about C-suite politics, and ultimately betting on yourself. Growing up in Iran during the time of revolution, Banikarim offers a unique perspective on the current Middle East conflict — and her determined search for hope amid the chaos.

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The Oscars 2026 mark a big shift for Hollywood, with The Ankler’s Janice Min Mar 13, 2026

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Hollywood's biggest night is more than a spectacle — it's a stress test for an industry in freefall. Janice Min, CEO of The Ankler, joins Rapid Response to break down her Oscars predictions and what the show's upcoming move to YouTube signals about the future of mainstream media. Min also unpacks the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal that caught everyone off guard, what David Ellison's arrival really means for Hollywood, and why a viral AI video of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise has the entertainment world more rattled than any box office bomb.

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Stop waiting for clarity. Unfreeze and act, with Accenture’s Julie Sweet Mar 10, 2026

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AI disruption and geopolitical upheaval are forcing business leaders to make high-stakes decisions — fast. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to share what she's hearing from her 9,000 clients and the hard-won advice she's giving them. Sweet reveals why AI proficiency is now a requirement for promotion at Accenture, why she's doubling down on entry-level hiring amid the automation wave, and why tension in the C-suite may be the most underrated leadership advantage right now. Plus, Sweet unpacks the hidden power of "leader-led learning", and makes the case for why preparing society for an AI future is not just a government job, but a business imperative.

Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/

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Logitech’s CEO treats AI like a board member Mar 06, 2026

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Logitech may be known for keyboards, webcams, and gaming gear, but CEO Hanneke Faber is going AI-first. On this episode of Rapid Response, she explains how she’s leading the hardware brand through an AI shift, approaching it as a leadership challenge, not just a tech one. Faber also shares lessons from competitive diving, navigating tariffs, and why she gave herself a 48-hour crash course in gaming to understand her customers.

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Rapid Recap: Iran, Anthropic vs. Pentagon, Paramount’s win, and more Mar 03, 2026

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Geopolitics is back at the top of every business leader's agenda — and the signals are coming fast. Host Bob Safian sits down with Rapid Response producer Alex Morris to cut through the noise and decode the stories shaping the business world right now: from Jeff Bezos' Washington Post shakeup and Jack Dorsey's AI-driven layoff memo, to a landmark Supreme Court tariff ruling and the Ellison family's rising grip on media. Plus, Bob and Alex play a round of Noise or Legit, separating the meaningful from the merely buzzworthy in today's business zeitgeist.

Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/

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Remarkable People: How social media is rewiring childhood, with Jonathan Haidt Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

What happens when childhood is rewired by smartphones and social media? Jonathan Haidt breaks down how a single decade transformed attention, resilience, and the emotional lives of millions of kids. In this episode of Remarkable People with Guy Kawasaki, Haidt draws from his bestselling book The Anxious Generation, explaining why Gen Z’s spike in anxiety wasn’t random — and what we can do to make sure Gen Alpha doesn’t suffer the same fate.

Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/

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