Conversations with Mike Milken artwork

Conversations with Mike Milken

136 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings

COVID-19 has changed the way we work and live. In response to the public health emergency, Milken Institute Chairman Michael Milken is engaging a range of industry leaders and medical experts to help us better understand and confront a crisis that has not only altered our current day-to-day but will change the course of how we work, socialize, and fight disease for years to come.

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Episodes

Ep. 125: Leadership, with BTG Pactual’s André Esteves

June 07, 2021 20:18 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MB

“We need to attack extreme poverty. Of course, the pandemic brought additional challenge to that. But, we provided emergency aid for an extensive part of our population, around 60 million people. Of course it's a fiscal challenge, but we did more on a relative basis than all the other countries.” As one of Brazil’s wealthiest men, André Esteves could easily keep his head down and just take care of business. But the senior partner of BTG Pactual – the largest investment bank in Latin America, ...

Ep. 124: Accomplishments, with Secretary Elaine Chao

May 28, 2021 15:28 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MB

“Asian Americans are now beginning to find our voice. We’re learning that we need to be full participants in our democracy. The rise in violence and hateful rhetoric against the Asian American community during the COVID 19 pandemic has brought this community to a greater realization of the need to participate more fully in our country’s institutions, and be more vocal and visible.” As the excited 8-year-old girl watched the land of her birth recede from her view as her cargo ship pulled away ...

Ep. 123: Priorities, with Anheuser-Busch’s Michel Doukeris

February 02, 2021 18:00 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MB

“In protecting our business, we are not talking about protecting AB’s business, but everybody in the chain that was relying on AB to maintain their business continuity. And that came from the farmers to the people in our breweries, to the wholesalers that we service to the retailers that they service and for the consumers, that they would need to have some sense of normalcy.” An event like a pandemic can make one reexamine personal and professional priorities. For Brazilian-born Michel Douker...

Ep. 122: New Dimensions, with HP’s Enrique Lores

January 26, 2021 19:30 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MB

“We all have learned the things that a few months ago we thought were not possible were really possible. … As I think about manufacturing, I think about two big changes. First is the creation of more decentralized manufacturing networks, where companies will be able to produce closer … to where their customers will be. The second big change will be driven by personalization.”  After launching his 30-year career at HP with an internship, Enrique Lores was named CEO in November 2019. In between...

Ep. 121: The Novelist and the Neurologist, with John Grisham and Neal Kassell

January 15, 2021 20:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MB

This Podcast Features: John Grisham Author Neal Kassell Founder and Chairman, Focused Ultrasound Foundation “Once I realized the potential of this non-invasive surgical procedure to save countless lives and improve the healthcare of millions of people, I realized how important this work can be and is.” —John Grisham Friends and neighbors for 25 years, author John Grisham and neurologist Neal Kassell are on a mission. Together, they are raising awareness – and funds – for a promising, non-inva...

Ep. 120: Foresight, with Julie Sweet

January 13, 2021 20:00 - 14 minutes - 13.2 MB

“The crisis happened at a time of exponential change in technology that was already transforming the way we work, how we engage with clients, how we make decisions. … And then you instantly had behavioral change at a scale that we've never seen in the past.” Julie Sweet believes large companies should be flexible and light on their feet. Case in point: her own Accenture. When she became CEO of the multinational professional services company in 2019, she instituted sweeping changes to its oper...

Ep. 119: Revolutionary, with UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna

January 08, 2021 20:50 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MB

“Diagnosis goes hand in hand with vaccination, and of course with therapies as well. What CRISPR is doing is providing for rapid turnaround testing at a lower cost and higher throughput than we've had with other technologies. We'll see that happening in various testing labs, certainly around the U.S. And the nice thing about that is it really does go hand in hand with these vaccines that are coming forward.” When Jennifer Doudna first spoke with Mike on the podcast four months ago, she was lo...

Ep. 118: Core Values, with Google Cloud’s Thomas Kurian

January 08, 2021 14:00 - 14 minutes - 13.2 MB

“The process of digitization – whether that was e-commerce in retail, or online gaming for media, online streaming in the media business, digital platforms for the public sector – was already underway. But it enormously accelerated with the pandemic.” In his two years as CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian has seen revenues for his company’s services soar more than 40 percent. The Indian-born former president of Oracle believes that the “new normal” of telecommuting will continue to help drive...

Ep. 117: High Priority, with World Bank Group’s David Malpass

December 31, 2020 19:30 - 20 minutes - 18.3 MB

“The bigger part of our response over the next year, and then really over the next five years, is how do you really help countries get bigger private sectors, more jobs, including jobs for women and education for girls.” When David Malpass began his five-year term as president of the World Bank Group in 2019, he could not foresee that months later his institution would face its greatest test since the post-World War II era. Since its founding in 1947, the World Bank has had one mission: to en...

Ep. 116: Encore, with Sherry Lansing

December 29, 2020 17:45 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MB

“When we get out of this pandemic, I suspect people are going to want to flock to the movie theaters. But they're also going to say, I still want my content delivered. So, the movie industry is going to face a decision. Do they offer it both ways – on your iPad the same day as the release in the theater? What's the model? They're determining that as we speak. And I think COVID has upended the movie business even more than usual.” Most actresses who come to Hollywood don’t end up running a maj...

Ep. 115: New Heroes, with NIH’s Francis Collins

December 23, 2020 18:00 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MB

“It has been a year of terrible tragedy. … And yet, it's also been a year of heroism: the first responders, the healthcare providers, putting themselves at risk to try to help those who are suffering. But I also think there are heroes that have risen to this challenge in the research community, in the business community.” When NIH Director Francis Collins first spoke with Mike in April of 2020, he was marshalling an army of researchers among his 6,000 research scientists to tackle the coronav...

Ep. 114: Collaborating to Beat COVID: A Conversation with Leaders from Health and Bioscience

December 22, 2020 17:00 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MB

Sir Andrew Witty President, UnitedHealth Group; CEO, Optum; Co-Leader, COVID-19 Vaccine Development, World Health Organization George Yancopoulos President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron Esther Krofah Executive Director, FasterCures   “Are we willing to do for life sciences and global defense what we were willing to do for the financial environment in the 2008 financial crisis? Because if you compare the trillions of dollars committed to stabilize the financial systems to the billion...

Ep. 113: “To Boldly Go,” with Operation Warp Speed’s Moncef Slaoui

December 18, 2020 23:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

“The efficacy of these vaccines is spectacular. It's 95%, the same whether you are an African-American or Hispanic or over 65 years old. … Remarkably, these two vaccines developed in different companies, two different continents, give incredibly similar results, totally independent, which is also enhancing the likelihood that these data absolutely are real.” In a triumph of modern science and leadership, millions of highly effective doses of COVID-19 vaccines are currently being manufactured,...

Ep. 112: Speed of Science, with Pfizer’s Albert Bourla and Johnson & Johnson’s Alex Gorsky

December 16, 2020 19:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MB

Albert Bourla Chairman and CEO, Pfizer Alex Gorsky Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson “I think history has shown us to have major leaps forward almost after every crisis. Whether it's a war, a natural disaster, or frankly a big challenge such as going to the moon, these kinds of inflection points force us to go in new directions to collaborate and to accelerate technological breakthroughs.” – Alex Gorsky Two of the most important CEOs in the world today – Pfizer’s Albert Bourla and Johnson &...

Ep. 111: Global Scale, with Leaders from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

December 14, 2020 17:30 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MB

Sarah Murdoch Co-Chair, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) Kathryn North Director, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI); David Danks Professor of Child Health Research, University of Melbourne Hamish Graham Paediatrician and Senior Research Fellow, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI); University of Melbourne; Royal Children’s Hospital “With COVID, there's been this renewed focus on the importance of medical research. … With more funding and with philanthropic partne...

Ep. 110: Mettle, with Mubadala’s Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak

December 08, 2020 19:00 - 22 minutes - 21 MB

“The UAE was among the first countries in the world to make sure it implemented and successfully executed a testing policy. We ramped up on capacity, on ICU space, on respirator supplies. And that resulted in one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.” As the Group CEO and Managing Director of Mubadala Investment Company, H.E. Khaldoon Khalifi Al Mubarak is responsible for creating sustainable financial returns for Abu Dhabi, overseeing more than $230 billion in assets across 50+ busines...

Ep. 109: Lessons Learned: The Intersection of Cancer Research and COVID Treatments

December 03, 2020 14:00 - 39 minutes - 36 MB

Himisha Beltran Medical Oncologist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Felix Feng Radiation Oncologist and Vice Chair for Translational Research, UCSF Department of Radiation Oncology Christopher Haiman Genetic Epidemiologist and Professor of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC Deborah Scher Executive Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Jonathan Simons President and CEO, Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)   “The road to curing COVID runs right through lo...

Ep. 108: No Silos, with Google Health’s David Feinberg and FasterCures’ Esther Krofah

November 23, 2020 16:00 - 19 minutes - 17.5 MB

David Feinberg, Vice President, Google Health; Advisory Board Member, FasterCures Esther Krofah, Executive Director, FasterCures “What we've really tried to do is get information out there to the public, to researchers, to public health folks, so they can make better decisions about what's happening so that we can all get through this.” – David Feinberg When the history of COVID is written, David Feinberg and Esther Krofah will be among those rightfully celebrated for their work in furtherin...

Ep. 107: Dealmaker, with Thoma Bravo’s Orlando Bravo

November 19, 2020 19:00 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MB

“There were a lot of hedge fund blogs out there saying software is going to get destroyed. … And guess what happened? Our recurring revenue stream was really nearly untouched in a pandemic. Corporate customers paid their subscription software revenue, but they didn't pay rent. It was more stable than real estate.” To this day, Orlando Bravo would rather have played Wimbledon than become the first Puerto Rican-born billionaire. As a teen, he was a top-40 junior player; as an adult, Bravo event...

Ep. 106: On the Verge: Leaders in Bioscience Discuss the State of Vaccines and Treatments

November 10, 2020 17:15 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MB

George Yancopoulos Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron  Joseph Vinetz Professor of Medicine, Yale University; Infectious Disease Physician Tal Zaks Chief Medical Officer, Moderna  “We're going to need vaccines to create as widespread herd immunity as we can, but we're also going to need drugs that are targeted against the virus that can provide immediate protection and also treat those who are already sick. So we have multiple clinical trials ongoing with our antibody cocktail,...

Ep. 105: Pioneering, with FOX’s Maria Bartiromo

November 02, 2020 22:30 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MB

“It goes back to opportunity and jobs.… Government can only do so much. The private sector needs to step up and ensure that they are creating opportunities for a broad swath of the population who don't have those opportunities.” When Maria Bartiromo became the first journalist to report live from the floor New York Stock Exchange in 1995, she was well on her way to another honor: the first female journalist to be inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. Throughout her career, the two-time Emmy A...

Ep. 104: Driven, with GM’s Mary Barra

October 16, 2020 16:00 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MB

“There was this ventilator company that needed help. We realized there was one part on the ventilator that was very similar to the way a transmission is designed and they were having quality issues with it. We brought in transmission engineers and they figured out a way to improve the part and the ability to produce it.”  Just before this interview was recorded, General Motors announced it had completed a contract with the federal government to supply 30,000 ventilators for COVID patients. It...

Ep. 103: A Timely Solution, with EJF Capital’s Manny Friedman and Neal Wilson

October 09, 2020 22:00 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MB

“You've got to think big to solve problems. … Some of the present bills [have] the potential to solve the major inequality problem in the United States.” (Friedman) “Given the historically low rates, what we're saying is the government can be the catalyst for effecting long-term change.” (Wilson) As co-CEOs of EJF Capital, Manny Friedman and Neal Wilson oversee more than $6 billion in assets, with clients in 22 countries and offices on three continents. Their innovative strategies focus on tr...

Ep. 102: Humanitarian, with the Hilton Foundation’s Peter Laugharn

October 02, 2020 16:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MB

“Every society is more fragile than we realize, and every society can be taken advantage of. So I think it's incumbent on everyone to fight for community, to recognize the humanity of everybody. … It’s what keeps us safe, and it's what gives the future to our kids.” Just out of college in 1982, Peter Laugharn joined the Peace Corps, setting him on a lifelong journey of service. Today, with more than 25 years of leadership – including seven years at the Firelight Foundation and six years at th...

Ep. 101: Diversified, with Eldridge’s Todd Boehly

September 30, 2020 14:00 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MB

“Throughout our organization, we're continuously pushing on how do we continue to add diversity, and I think we're a young enough group where that has always been the way we've approached the world. … Our culture has been that diverse groups make better decisions.” Todd Boehly strives for an organization as diverse as the holdings of Eldridge Industries itself. As co-founder, chairman, and CEO, he manages and builds companies in wide-ranging sectors including technology, credit, insurance, re...

Ep. 100: Family, with Target’s Brian Cornell

September 18, 2020 16:00 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MB

“We need to have an organization that reflects the millions and millions of guests we serve each and every day. From the bottom up we've made a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Of the 1,900 stores we run in the United States, over half are led by female store directors, over a third are diverse, and we build that pipeline in the organization.” For more than three decades, Brian Cornell held executive roles in the consumer goods sector. But when he became chairman and CEO of Target in 20...

Ep. 99: Lessons, with Maria Contreras-Sweet

September 15, 2020 16:00 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MB

“Venture capital is concentrated in … three states: California, Massachusetts, and New York. We know that not all the good ideas come from those three places. And so it's really important that we think hard about how we make sure that all small businesses can access capital.” With a career that effortlessly spans public and private sectors, including successful forays into entrepreneurism and philanthropy, Maria Contreras-Sweet is lauded for her ability to bring efficiencies and modernization...

Ep. 98: Inclusive Capitalism, with TIAA’s Roger Ferguson

September 11, 2020 15:30 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MB

“We have to rebuild with a more inclusive capitalism, and I emphasize both of those words … so that as we go forward with crises – and there will be crises – the impact of those crises will not be so heavily defined by the color of one's skin.” As President and CEO of TIAA, Roger Ferguson manages 1.1 trillion dollars in retirement funds and services spanning the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields. As one of only four Black CEOs currently leading a Fortune 500 company, he knows t...

Ep. 97: Visionary, with iHeart Media’s Bob Pittman

September 08, 2020 14:45 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MB

“What we've done during COVID in many ways, we've taken 10 years of technology adoption and crammed it into three months. I'm certain we're getting ready to have a slew of new ideas that you and I haven't thought of, but that we're going to be delighted to support.” Bob Pittman was 15 when he started in radio – and he never looked back. The Mississippi native and current Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia has been hailed as a visionary and belongs to multiple broadcasting and advertising halls o...

Ep. 96: Transitions, with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s Michael Hofman

September 01, 2020 15:30 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MB

“Once you have a whole body PET scan, there's not a lot of value often in doing a physical examination or taking out your stethoscope because the information on that scan tells you everything you need to know. The classic medicine history examination is giving way to a whole new form of medicine where we are using a variety of different technologies.” As a noted physician-scientist and nuclear medicine physician at the University of Melbourne in Australia, Michael Hofman has built a career on...

Ep. 95: Real Impact, with Jennifer Doudna

August 26, 2020 17:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MB

“I really want to be building on this technology here at Berkeley and making sure that we are creating a community of scientists that are doing two things: not only extending this extraordinary science and thinking about how to apply genome editing in ways that will have real impact on humanity; but also doing it with an eye towards social responsibility.” It used to be the stuff of science fiction: A scientist discovers a way to edit genetic sequences in humans and plant life, creating new o...

Ep. 94: Immigrant Spirit, with ABH’s Anastasia Soare

August 21, 2020 19:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MB

“I think my immigrant spirit of adapting kicked in and I said, look guys, we need to do something. We cannot sit here and do nothing because the stores are closed. Let's start a plan of attack, let's start going online. … This is what we did within 10 days … and we grew 154% online.” Anastasia Soare is living proof that one can achieve the American Dream by building a better eyebrow. After emigrating from Romania in 1989 with limited cash and English skills – but with a solid education in art...

Ep. 93: Compassionate Capitalism, with Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

August 18, 2020 15:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

“I'm very committed to compassionate capitalism, which is what I like to call my business. … My products are there to help patients who need it anywhere in the world. And therefore, I believe that if I can actually produce these products in a way that provides affordable access … I will be very driven by that sense of purpose.” As one of India’s most celebrated biopharmaceutical entrepreneurs, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been committed to healing the sick since she was 25. In 2010, Time magazine ...

Ep. 92: Skills, with Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn CBE

August 14, 2020 15:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MB

“There's so much more that unites us than separates us. And at the same time, also from a business perspective, the small businesses around the world, well, they're looking for the same thing too. … I've been on the streets of the Soweto with some amazing female entrepreneurs. And they're telling me about the biggest businesses happening in New York today. And that wouldn't have been possible that a decade ago.” Lady Nicola Mendelsohn is doing her part to make the world smaller, and more acce...

Ep. 91: Transparency, with MCC’s Sean Cairncross

August 11, 2020 15:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MB

“Government funds alone simply aren't going to get the job done. What's needed is the engagement of the private sector and the private capital flows that come into these markets to make lasting change sustainable.”  Created in 2004 with broad bipartisan support, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is a U.S. Government aid agency that seeks to reduce poverty in the developing world through economic growth. CEO Sean Cairncross is committed to working with governments that have a proven record ...

Ep. 90: Well-Being, with the Motsepe Foundation’s Precious Moloi-Motsepe

August 07, 2020 15:00 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MB

“Your well-being, your wealth, is very intertwined and dependent on other people's well-being. … That is the philosophy that also drives us because we know that our children's well-being cannot be isolated from the well-being of the other children in South Africa, or other kids on the continent, for that matter.” When Precious Moloi began her career as a doctor in South Africa, she would eventually open the first women’s clinic in Johannesburg. After marrying Patrice Motsepe, they would becom...

Ep. 89: Impact, with GPIF’s Hiro Mizuno

August 04, 2020 17:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MB

“For us to have a sustainable portfolio, we have to have a sustainable capital market. And for us to have a sustainable capital market, we need to have a sustainable society. And for us to have a sustainable society, we need to have a sustainable environment? It's all connected.”  When he was managing Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Hiro Mizuno recognized that his role went beyond fiduciary. After all, with $1.6 trillion in assets, the fund wasn’t merely a traditional asset...

Ep. 88: Ownership, with Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei

July 30, 2020 16:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MB

“We developed a green team and a red team. The red team's job was to play defense, and first think mostly about liquidity and our downside. And the green team was supposed to think about where could we take advantage of this?” With COVID striking at the heart of Liberty Media’s sports portfolio (Formula 1 and the Atlanta Braves), it’s understandable that President and CEO Greg Maffei injected competitive stakes into how his managers look at their respective businesses. Some of Liberty’s other...

Ep. 87: Time to Reflect, with Larry Gagosian

July 28, 2020 14:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MB

“Many great artists have dealt with the tragedies and the turmoil of the time they lived in. I think the artist needs some time to reflect; you take it in, you process it, and maybe not consciously even, try to depict some horrible event that is filtered through your other experiences and your craft as an artist.” As a champion of modern and contemporary artists, Larry Gagosian has literally created the space in which their art can thrive as never before. Starting with one gallery in Los Ange...

Ep. 86: Compassion, with Cesar Purisima

July 24, 2020 16:00 - 21 minutes - 19.2 MB

“More people will move to poverty as a result of the pandemic. And the estimate is at least half a billion to a billion people. … I think that might push back a little bit the shift to a greener economy. And this is where I hope that the private sector can step up because this is not just a government responsibility. It is the biggest public private partnership there is, that we need to get together.” As the former Secretary of Finance for the Republic of the Philippines under two Presidents,...

Ep. 85: Sustainable, with Unilever’s Alan Jope

July 23, 2020 11:00 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

“The biggest tailwind is going to be the voice of young people demanding that the grownups do not ignore warnings about pandemics, about climate change, about gross inequality. One of the headwinds I'm very concerned about is a retreat to nationalism. We know that trade – global trade – has been tremendously helpful, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.” When William Lever packaged Sunshine – his first bar of soap – in the 19th Century, he couldn’t dream that his company wou...

Ep. 84: Culture, with Mastercard’s Ajay Banga

July 21, 2020 16:00 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MB

“Culture doesn’t just come because you wave a magic wand. It comes through hard work; it comes through sharing; it comes through cross‐fertilization of people and ideas. … The culture we built, we don't want to lose that during this process. Coming out of it, there will be an even bigger opportunity for our company.” Since becoming CEO of Mastercard in 2010, Ajay Banga has seen his company’s annual revenues more than triple, from $5 billion to $17 billion. The company is also doing well by do...

Ep. 83: Breaking Through, with Ursula M. Burns

July 17, 2020 15:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MB

“Let's start talking about this. How are we going to diversify our boards? How are we going to diversify our management teams? How are we going to diversify our entry-level pipeline? How are we going to work in a community to make it better? … In the last three weeks, four weeks, it's been amazing. And I am really working to make it not stop, because there's a chance that we can be better.” When Ursula Burns became CEO of Xerox in 2009, she was the first African American woman to reach that p...

Ep. 82: The Day After, with UC Berkeley’s Carol T. Christ

July 16, 2020 16:00 - 18 minutes - 16.6 MB

“Though the pandemic is taking so much of our energy right now in addressing it, there will be a day after. And institutions, organizations of any sort, have to have a very clear sense of what their mission and goals are in that day after.” As the 11th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley – and the first woman to hold that position – Carol Christ helms what U.S. News and World Report considers the world’s best public university. She sees her role as requiring both the flexibil...

Ep. 81: New World, with Guggenheim Partners’ Scott Minerd

July 15, 2020 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MB

“We can use this low interest rate period as an opportunity to finance for the future. Will we invest in things which will enhance the quality of life and enhance economic growth and output? … Because we can't go back to the old world. And I think the new world can be a much better place if we can continue being a community.” As Chairman of Investments and Global Chief Investment Officer for Guggenheim Partners, Scott Minerd oversees more than $270 billion in assets. In this brief but wide-ra...

Ep. 80: Reimagining, with Deepak Chopra

July 13, 2020 16:00 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MB

“COVID has actually given us a time to rethink and reimagine the world. How do we repair the ecosystem? How do we repair the microbiome, which is reversible? How do we create a more socially just, and economically just world and society?” For Deepak Chopra, healing the world begins with healing individuals – and that can begin by integrating Eastern spiritual traditions and Western medicine.  As the founder of the Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global – as well as the best-selling author of 90 ...

Ep. 79: Diplomacy, with Ambassador Kelly Craft

July 10, 2020 15:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MB

“Obviously, we wish it was earlier if China had been more forthcoming and transparent. But I think the important part is that we cannot allow any pandemic or any economic situation currently to cloud our moral responsibility for issues that are already on the ground.” Whether she’s voting in the Security Council or leading the personnel at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. (USUN), Ambassador Kelly Craft is keenly aware of the national values she represents. For her, it’s a matter of humility – as ...

Ep. 78: Tipping Point, with Seritage Growth Properties’ Kenneth T. Lombard

July 08, 2020 17:00 - 20 minutes - 19 MB

“It's really the first time that you've had challenges and down cycles in the financial side, on the racial side, and health-wise with COVID. … We're at an absolute tipping point from what we are going to do and how the consumer experience is going to be on the retail side.” When Kenneth Lombard looks at our current confluence of crises, the Executive Vice President and COO of Seritage Growth Properties sees opportunities – especially in the hard-hit brick and mortar retail space. After all, ...

Ep. 77: Minimizing Injustice, with Arnold Ventures’ Laura E. Arnold

July 07, 2020 16:30 - 22 minutes - 21 MB

“A sociologist … said that pandemics fracture society along known fault lines. And that is so true. Every single one of the issues that we have historically worked on that are at the core of what we do has been touched and exacerbated by COVID. … It’s energized us.” For ten years, husband and wife Laura and John Arnold have grappled with some of society’s most intractable problems. Their Houston-based philanthropy, Arnold Ventures, addresses disparities in public finance, health, education, a...

Ep. 76: Favoring the Bold, with the Dallas Mavericks’ Mark Cuban

July 06, 2020 17:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MB

“If you have a vision for what America 2.0 post-reset should look like, there will never be a better time to create a business that goes into an entirely new direction. … If you have a vision for something dramatically different, now's the time to do it.” For Mark Cuban, fortune favors the bold – and there’s no time like the present. As a serial entrepreneur, investor on TV’s “Shark Tank,” and current owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Cuban has always been a keen surveyor of the business l...