Next week, TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, will appear in court as the U.S. government moves to force the Chinese company to shutter or sell its wildly popular social platform. Investor and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is preparing a consortium bid to buy the app — and access to its 170 million users. McCourt joins Rapid Response to explain the national security case against Bytedance, take us inside the story of his TikTok bid, and reveal how he would use the platform to address a central crisis of our digital age.

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfJC_QFM07c

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We are biologically wired to focus on the near-term, and that’s often a good thing. But in this moment — with global conflict, fast-evolving tech, and climate change dominating our present — we need to also prioritize long-term impacts. Futurist Ari Wallach joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to dive into our biological and business motivations around what he calls “futuring.” Host of the new PBS docuseries, A Brief History of the Future, Wallach shares lessons from the longest-standing corporations on Earth, why he views AI as “immortal algorithms,” and how business leaders must embrace the moral imperative of their business as a core KPI.

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

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Plant-based food companies were on the rise, when Impossible Foods’ Peter McGuinness first appeared on Rapid Response in 2022. Today, meat alternatives like Impossible are struggling on sales. McGuinness tells host Bob Safian where plant-based brands made big missteps, and why the industry’s marketing should evolve – potentially away from climate change messaging. McGuinness also shares how Impossible leverages retail partners like Starbucks and Burger King, lessons he learned from scaling oat milk for Chobani, and why Impossible see’s other plant-based players less as competitors and more as collaborative “frenemies.” 

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVqiYUb6Vjc

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When it comes to racial justice, many companies and organizations haven't matched their reality to their words. Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, the largest online racial justice organization in the U.S., is holding major corporations accountable. Hear Rashad talk through the difficulties of changing systems from Hollywood, Silicon Valley, to Washington DC, getting help from President Barack Obama, and what business leaders can do to actively change racial injustice.

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Amazon wants to get bigger, but with that scale comes great responsibility. So says Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon Web Services, the most profitable and fastest growing part of the tech giant. Selipsky, who also oversees Amazon’s climate change efforts, points to two additions to the company’s vaunted “Leadership Principles” as evidence of Amazon’s commitment. Arguing that AWS is still in early days, he shares what he’s hearing from other CEOs about their biggest concerns, why “carbon intensity” is the best measure of climate progress for businesses, and what Amazon's aspiration to be “Earth’s best employer” really means. 

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The fallout from the pandemic is proving to be as challenging for business leaders to navigate as the pandemic’s onset. Target’s CEO Brian Cornell had to make difficult decisions in the second quarter of this year to manage an unexpected surplus of goods and home technology. He shares his most recent learnings, as well as lessons for handling skepticism, the need for agility, and why mental wellness is key to a successful team. 

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Crypto winter isn’t a disaster, it's an opportunity. That’s how Michael Gronager, CEO of $8 billion crypto data company Chainalysis, describes the crashing prices and bankruptcies that have roiled the cryptocurrency sector. Gronager offers an insider’s perspective on operating in a volatile marketplace, providing lessons on dreaming too big in boom times and on leaning into building and creating when lulls emerge. Chainalysis helps track financial flows on blockchains, including crypto criminals from North Korea and Russia. Despite current risks, Gronager argues, the still-emerging crypto sector is maturing, and he’s as confident as ever about its future. 

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Reid Hoffman and Bob Safian sit down to discuss how today’s hot-button stories are impacting business. The co-hosts address the key trends that all entrepreneurs should be up to speed on, from the looming recession and cryptocurrency’s possible demise to the hybrid workplace and moral leadership. Featuring Mercy Corps’ Tjada McKenna, PwC’s Tim Ryan, and Girls Who Code’s Reshma Saujani.

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“Hope is a practice. It comes from doing.” As the head of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson is regrouping in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to remove the federal right to safe abortion. Johnson is now faced with the challenge to move her team from tears and shock to action. Any leader faced with a worst-case scenario can learn from her vision: “to fight and stay courageous, and maintain ourselves.”

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What’s the difference between an activist brand and an active brand? Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness says that acting on your values defines a business — from climate change to Roe v. Wade. To unleash the next wave of growth for plant-based meat purveyor Impossible, McGuiness is rethinking how the whole category presents itself, taking aim at what he calls “safe and lame” approaches, partnering with the likes of Billie Eilish, and targeting the $1.4 trillion global meat industry.

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Volunteering and service are muscles that can close America’s divides and push social change. Speaking live at the 2022 Social Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., AmeriCorps’ new CEO, Michael Smith, shares a vision for healing sociopolitical divides through partnerships and on-the-ground experiences. When it comes to tackling natural and social crises, he’s prioritizing impact over volume.

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When a tech nonprofit competes against a $2 billion incumbent dominating the market, its odds are slim. But Zo Orchingwa took that bet, founding Ameelio, believing that access to communication and education for the incarcerated is needed for their future success. Ameelio is on a quest to partner with every prison district in the country until one day, it scales enough to be redundant.   

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While gasoline prices soar, solar company Sunrun is poised to usher in a customer-led revolution of distributed energy technologies. Sunrun’s CEO Mary Powell combats a “no and slow” culture to transform more homes into virtual energy plants by preaching optimism and scorning bureaucracy. She’s moving with urgency to create a cleaner and more cost-effective future as fast as possible.

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Women are losing sleep, falling behind at work, suffering pain, and struggling in their relationships — all because we don’t talk enough about menopause or treat its symptoms. Midi Health’s Joanna Strober founded her company to tap the vast underserved market for this area of women’s health, which is finally getting mainstream attention. Strober shares with Rapid Response host Bob Safian the stakes of ignoring perimenopause and menopause, how she endured bias in fundraising to eventually secure $100 million, and why she isn’t shy about leaning into controversy.

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXEHeCPuBI8

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Most future of work conversations revolve around the “where,” but Upwork CEO Hayden Brown says it’s more important to focus on the “who.” 10% of the workforce at Upwork, the global tech platform for millions of freelance workers, was directly impacted by the Ukrainian war. Hayden’s people-focused approach to the difficult decision of how to manage remote employees in Russia is the same mindset she applies to meet the needs of all workers, from people feeling conflict to working mothers.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Charity Dean was one of the first public health officials to set the alarm on COVID. When she searched for a tool to forecast future bio threats, she realized that it didn’t exist yet. So she co-founded the Public Health Company, where she uses lessons from her government experiences, but without the same rules or limits. She speaks with Bob Safian about why all companies must be public health companies.

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Gayle Smith is the CEO of the ONE Campaign, the advocacy group founded by U2’s Bono — and last year, she was tapped by the U.S. State Department to coordinate America’s COVID response and vaccine distribution globally. Her experience both inside and outside government gives her a distinctive outlook on how business can and should help on humanitarian issues, from Ukraine dislocation to climate change. She also shares lessons about effective advocacy: tactics pioneered by ONE that can be useful to any organization trying to generate impact.

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Amid pandemic disruption, Chief turned a small, NYC-based club for women executives into a national phenomenon with more than 12,000 members. Co-founder and CEO Carolyn Childers joins Rapid Response to share how she and co-founder Lindsay Kaplan managed the unlikely transformation, which recently yielded a $100 million Series B funding round. She reveals how the company leveraged existing tech and their own innovations to build connections, identifying not just a gap in the marketplace but a need for a whole new set of tools to support business leaders.

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

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Meet Alyona Mysko, the CEO of a B2B startup in Ukraine called Fuelfinance, as she walks us through the lessons she’s learned while leading her company in a war. Her experience — which sometimes requires her and her team to work from bomb shelters during the day — offers lessons for every leader about communication, collaboration, and creativity in crisis. All of Ukraine is running like a start-up now, she says: Each citizen takes the initiative to pick up what needs to be done. Alyona talks about the importance of following a mission in a crisis, and makes a plea to all our listeners to buy from Ukrainian business.

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Learn the 5 mindsets that will reshape the way you hire, train, and retain — to build the team of superheroes that will power your business to scale. Hear real-world advice and great stories from Reid, Bob, and legendary leaders like PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, GoFundMe’s Tim Cadogan, Burberry and Apple’s Angela Ahrendts, and Vanderbilt basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse. 

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The high-flying Angel City Football Club has new controlling stake owners: Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, USC Annenberg dean, Willow Bay. Their investment takes Angel City to a valuation of $250 million — the highest ever for a professional women’s sports team. When the Los Angeles team started, franchises in its league went for as little as $2 million. In this episode, originally recorded in February 2024 for Masters of Scale, ACFC co-founders Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrman talk to host Jeff Berman about the game-changing strategies behind the team, created with a third co-founder, actor and activist Natalie Portman.

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dzZl7PAd9U

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“Don't let the roadblocks get in the way when there are people who need you desperately.” Eric Friedrichsen, the CEO of Emburse, a B2B software provider, has navigated around risks and financial costs to meet the needs of tech contractors based in Ukraine. Part of that response includes the company’s offer to relocate people and families to Spain, where Emburse’s European headquarters is located. The company’s executives are also personally funding housing costs for colleagues taking refuge in Poland. These choices haven’t come without obstacles for Emburse. But as Friedrichsen explains, the benefits are moral, communal, and even quantifiable for the business.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the sanctions that followed, have radically impacted supply chains around the world. Jennifer Bisceglie, CEO of Interos, a risk-management firm focused on supply chains, has seen her company’s risk dashboards light up in new and far-reaching ways. Mary businesses are more exposed than they realize, she says, with tech businesses surprisingly facing some of the highest risk. Driven by this disruption, a more sophisticated supply chain is coming together in real-time. Those who get on board now, she says, will have a competitive advantage in the long run.

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Airbnb’s charitable arm, Airbnb.org, has committed to offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia joins Rapid Response to discuss how the company is deploying business tools for humanitarian benefit. He also shares how Airbnb’s platform has become a surprising tool to transfer money directly to individual Ukrainians, already generating $15 million. Along with co-founders Brian Chesky and Nate Blecharczyk, Joe is a fierce believer that companies should be responsible to “participate in the world around us” and the importance, as leaders, to ask: What would make us proud?

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“It’s not about fixing women. It’s about fixing the system,” says Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code and Marshall Plan for Moms. As the author of the new book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work, Reshma calls out corporate feminism and society’s assumption that women have to solve the problems of workplace achievement on their own. She argues that childcare is an economic issue that should be subsidized by employers, and that the discourse around the “future of work” needs to move beyond employees’ return to the workplace. Reshma also takes Silicon Valley to task for not diversifying their tech force.

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Watching the news out of Ukraine, Tokunbo Koiki saw alarming reports of African and Caribbean students struggling because of racism to flee the country. The news both outraged and inspired her to take action — fast. Tokunbo, an entrepreneur and social worker, shares the real-time story of how she linked up with two strangers, Patricia Daley and Korrine Sky, to build a full-fledged aid organization for Black refugees, in a single weekend. Using only the tools and networks at their disposal, Black Women for Black Lives has helped some 1,200 Black students so far with direct assistance in cash and cryptocurrency — and amplified their harrowing stories to the world. This fast-scaling organization is the perfect illustration of how entrepreneurial thinking can mobilize action faster than you think it can.

You can donate to blackwomenforblacklives.org here: https://bit.ly/blackinukraine

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“My big call to action would be to support existing organizations,” says Susy Schöneberg, the founder and head of Flexport.org, the nonprofit arm of the logistics firm Flexport. Schöneberg and her team are organizing complex shipments of relief goods to Ukrainian refugee sites across Eastern Europe; she breaks down how her organization has been safely managing the flow of goods toward displaced refugees and the best way you can get involved — as a citizen or company. She leaves us with a lesson that applies to any crisis: joining together can produce far better results than trying to do it alone.

You can donate to the Flexport.org Fund here: www.flexport.org/donate

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“We have to assume that cyberattacks will happen,” says Bipul Sinha, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Rubrik. He joins Rapid Response to discuss the dramatic escalation of cyberthreats in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bipul explains how state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals are both heightened threats, and how traditional cybersecurity approaches are adjusting to counter them. He also shares what we can do to protect ourselves — from basic cyber hygiene to recovery strategies.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents a new level of disruption to an already fragile global trade system. Sara Menker, the CEO of Gro Intelligence, a data research firm with deep insights on global supply and demand, joins Rapid Response for the second time to discuss these disruptions. While her biggest focus is agriculture, Sara’s insights provide a window into how things are shifting across all parts of the economy. She also discusses what we need to understand about Russia’s trade with China and the largely overlooked impacts in the Middle East.

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Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, the CEO of Mercy Corps, an NGO on the front lines of the Ukrainian crisis, provides an inside look on how they’re helping address the needs of refugees. Mercy Corps began scenario planning well in advance of Russia’s aggression, and they’re now deploying food, cash, and social services to those in need. She also cautions about potential negative impacts elsewhere, as troubles in Ukraine pull resources from other struggling populations.

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General Motors’ Gerald Johnson shares the process and progress of trying to accomplish two daunting goals: an all-electric vehicle future, and to become the world’s most inclusive company. One thing that Johnson, the Executive Vice President of manufacturing and sustainability, has learned: “If you're not making mistakes, you're not making progress.” He adds that progress requires us to embrace being uncomfortable — and to learn from it. Johnson, who is a pastor as well, also discusses why he believes work-life integration is more realistic than work-life balance.

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Controversy, frat house culture, viral moments — when you hear ‘Barstool Sports,’ this may be what comes to mind. But former CEO Erika Ayers Badan is here to tell you that the business model that made Barstool into an online cultural juggernaut is replicable and poised to re-shape the food and lifestyle industry. Ayers Badan shares with Rapid Response why she decided to make a dramatic career pivot — taking over Food52 — and why running Barstool was like “a heart attack every day.” She also explores lessons around cultivating a community of fans, and why as a leader, “no” is often a better answer than “yes.”

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9BSpi1pFQ

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“We should expect more volatility,” Reid Hoffman tells Rapid Response host Bob Safian in the first Need to Know session of the year, covering news and business topics impacting entrepreneurs right now. Reid and Bob discuss the implications of the Ukraine invasion, then dive into the pandemic-fueled troubles at Peloton, PayPal, and Meta, new climate-change urgencies — including Reid’s recent trip to Antarctica, and how Activision will be different after merging with Microsoft. Plus: pay transparency; the lessons of Theranos; and the business case for democracy. Cameos: John Doerr (author of Speed & Scale), Jeremy Farrar (Wellcome Trust), Daniella Ballou-Aares (Leadership Now Project).

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It may appear off-brand for Betterment, a digital investment adviser, to acquire a cryptocurrency investing platform. But CEO Sarah Levy explains that Betterment, positioned around its long-term diversification philosophy, has approached this volatile space with their tried-and-true principles top of mind. “Once we believe that an asset class is here to stay,” she says, “the question is: how do we responsibly incorporate that alongside a traditional investment strategy?” Levy, who became CEO in the midst of the pandemic, offers an intriguing perspective on how new, fast-moving digital finance platforms are shifting the norms of the industry. “We are not saddled with legacy businesses here that prevent us from chasing new dreams.”

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Ken Frazier, the longtime CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck, was one of the few Black CEOs at the top of Corporate America. Now as an adviser at General Catalyst and co-founder of the social impact organization OneTen, he’s re-shaping how business addresses racial and health equity. He joins host Bob Safian to discuss crisis adjustment, the positive side of fear, and the importance of vulnerability. Plus, he addresses the rising divisiveness in American culture, and the important role that business can play – by stressing our commonality and emphasizing kindness.

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As the global chip shortage unfolded last year, Qualcomm’s engineers quickly redesigned their products – an effort that tapped into “every possible capacity we could find,” says CEO Cristiano Amon. Their story is a great lesson in how an established company can and must move with the speed of a startup. One key to moving at speed, says Amon: aligning the entire organization around a single strategy. But along with an all-hands effort, he insists, must also come time to rest. “Everything's new, everything's always changing, we have to move fast, but at the end of the day, we also need time for ourselves and our family,” he reminds us.

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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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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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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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“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. 

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Crate & Barrel CEO Janet Hayes has been on a mission to modernize the home decor company since she took over as CEO in August, 2020. When she first joined the company, stores were closed and the future of retail was uncertain as Covid-19 put in-person experiences to a screeching halt. She’s responded by leaning into digital and sustainability for her brands, and flexibility for her employees. “As soon as I said, ‘It's a flexible workplace, and I'm going to value talent, collaboration, and results over location,’ everybody has been working faster and smarter than ever,” she says.

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From the start of the pandemic, GoFundMe has served as a consistent global outlet for help. Since its inception, the for-profit crowdsourcing platform has facilitated $15 billion in giving through more than 200 million donations. It’s also attracted big names to the platform, including Taylor Swift, the Dalai Lama, and will_i_am. The key to the company’s success? According to CEO Tim Cadogan: "You need great people who are really ambitious in service of the mission.” Cadogan argues that the difference between GoFundMe and other businesses is that GoFundMe is about “people helping each other,” as opposed to commercial transactions. Asking for help, he says, unlocks more possibilities than people realize – a lesson for GoFundMe users, and for businesses overall.

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Reid Hoffman is a high-profile investor and entrepreneur, and suddenly, a much scrutinized political actor. His support for Kamala Harris and other Democrats and distaste for former President Trump has plunged him into headlines, in opposition to Elon Musk and others. Reid, a host of sister podcast Masters of Scale, joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to take us inside Silicon Valley’s reaction to Harris’s presidential bid, why some business leaders are embracing Trump, and what the Democratic Party is telling major donors like himself. Plus, Reid shares blitzscaling advice for the Harris campaign and explains why the number one factor guiding his vote in November is rule of law.

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

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8vYI76qTZ0

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This past summer, Fidji Simo departed from Facebook – where she stood among the highest-ranking female executives, serving as the head of their app – for the opportunity to become a first-time CEO at Instacart. She replaced founder Apoorva Mehta, who appeared on this show last spring to talk about Instacart’s incredible COVID-fueled growth. Since then, Fidji has emphasized an evolved company mission, diversifying the company’s leadership and focusing on providing the necessary technology to help grocery retailers best serve their customers. As you’ll hear Fidji mention in the episode, she was raised in a French-Sicilian family where food anchored their daily life. “To me, Instacart’s mission resonated deeply, and I saw a very big opportunity.”

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Reid Hoffman and Rapid Response host Bob Safian break down what you need to know right now about the most important issues and opportunities impacting entrepreneurs. The co-hosts dive into inflation reactions, Facebook quandaries, metaverse mania, AI & crypto trends, and lessons from the Great Resignation. Plus: why LinkedIn pulled back in China, and what pundits are missing in the big tech backlash. "We should be playing into the future with ambition, with heart, with soul, with speed," says Reid.

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In May 2020, as companies began making promises about how they’d help Black-owned businesses in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Aurora James launched the 15 Percent Pledge initiative with an Instagram post. Tagging major retailers, she declared that 15% of retail shelf space should belong to Black-owned businesses. And she's helped these companies turn promise into action, unlocking $10 billion in revenue for Black-owned businesses. It's a relatable story for any small business or team: the tactics and strategies that allow one small but dedicated effort to deliver outsized results.

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