Out of Office

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception , a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as s...

Sandro Pierri had no clue what mutual funds were when he first ventured into the world of finance. Today, the boy who grew up in a small Italian village sits at the helm of BNP Paribas Asset Management, overseeing half a trillion euros. He credits people always taking a bet on him early on in his career, and he wants to pay it forward. In this episode, Pierri reflects on his career, lessons from h...

A legend in the tech industry, the former CISCO CEO reveals why a chat with a young girl at a work function turned out to be a pivotal moment in his professional and personal life. In this candid and informal chat, John talks about disruption, dyslexia and why he’s always motivated to do the right thing.  Today's episode is a replay from June 9, 2022. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

At the start of the pandemic, Julia Hartz realized she might lose everything she had spent 14 years building. So the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite activated her mamma bear. She got fierce. She moved fast. And she kept the live events platform alive. In this episode, Julia Hartz talks about how she got the publicly traded company back from the brink of shutting down, shares why working at a loca...

More than 30 years ago, a new mom, tinkered with creating lipsticks from her bedroom in a New York City suburb, found a chemist who manufactured it for her and they split the $15 earned per tube, evenly. So it began Bobbi Brown’s journey that made her a global, household name. Bobbi sold her company in 1995, and after waiting out a 25-year non-compete period, she is back for her second innings. Sh...

In the early days of her career, Marg Franklin took the formidable CFA exam. It didn’t go according to plan. An exhausted new mother, she dozed off, only to wake up two hours later. Eventually, she passed it and today, she’s the first woman to be the President & CEO of this 75-year-old institution. In this episode, Marg talks about how courage shapes leadership, what working in a bike store ta...

When Hugh Evans was 14, he spent one night in a Manila slum as part of a school trip. Surrounded by crawling cockroaches and rancid garbage, he tossed and turned while his host, a local boy, slept soundly. Hugh realized the only reason the boy slept there, and not in his comfortable Melbourne home, was a lottery of fate. Hugh made a vow to himself that night - he would dedicate his life to eradica...

Hours after the earthquake that flattened parts of Turkey and Syria, celebrity chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, José Andrés turned up in Istanbul. Since then, he’s been driving to the worst-hit areas, collaborating with local restaurants to feed quake survivors. They are currently serving more than 260,000 meals a day. Andres talks to us from Turkey about why he rushes to the frontlines...

Carolyn Childers grew up in a town so small it had no traffic lights. Now, the club she co-foundered - Chief - connects more than 20,000 women in business across the US and has 60,000 more on the waitlist. Chief opened its first overseas branch in the UK in January 2023. Childers explains what membership at Chief gets you, learning through failure, and why the notion that women can have it all is...

Over 100 years ago, L.L. Bean combined leather with rubber to create a unique shoe that would keep his feet warm when he went fishing. The result? The Maine Hunting Shoe, a functional, innovative boot that changed footwear forever. Today, his great grandson, Shawn Gorman is the Chairman of the family owned business. Shawn talks about his role as a steward of the brand, abiding by a set of golden r...

Dropbox is best-known for its service that lets consumers easily sync files between computers. At least, that's how began 15 years ago. Today, it's a publicly-traded company worth more than $8 billion at the time of recording, with consumers and enterprise clients paying for cloud-storage in quantities that makes it one of the biggest competitors to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple's iCloud...

Marc Lore founded two e-commerce startups and sold them for $550 million and $3.3 billion before spending the last five years running Walmart’s online business. Since announcing his departure from Walmart in January, Lore has been on a tear: He bought a stake in an NBA basketball team, launched an upscale food delivery business, and started a venture capital firm that’s invested in everything from...

Catherine Powell draws on her tenure at Disney - and now Airbnb - to explain how vulnerability translates into courage. The head of hosting at the rental giant talks candidly about how that's shaped the way she leads and the gift of a high-powered girlfriends club. And she shares her fun fact: she’s given birth in 3 different languages. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Rogers grew up poor in a town so small that his phone number consisted of one digit: 5. He was desperate to see the world. He gave himself a deadline: he would make a million by the age of 35. He did it at 37 and then went on to visit more than a hundred countries. The veteran investor shares his life story, discusses the experiences that shaped him, and explains why he’s sticking to his inves...

“You are not aggressive enough.” That’s the feedback banker Lavanya Chari was given early in her career. Over the years, she learned that being empathetic does not mean being weak. And if you lead with empathy, you can still crush it at work. HSBC’s Global Head of Investments and Wealth Solutions opens up about learning to bring her whole self to work. Unapologetically so.  See omnystudio.com/list...

When Patrick Spence joined Research in Motion, few people had heard of the company. That was before it became a global sensation as the maker of BlackBerry. Remember the BlackBerry? Well, the device faded away but working at RIM had a profound impact on Spence, who then went on to join yet another unknown company called Sonos. Today, he’s the CEO of the well-known audio brand and Spence talks abou...

A legend in the tech industry, the former CISCO CEO reveals why a chat with a young girl at a work function turned out to be a pivotal moment in his professional and personal life. In this candid and informal chat, John talks about disruption, dyslexia and why he’s always motivated to do the right thing.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Weber has been the chief executive of Brooks Running since 2001. In his newly released book, “Running With Purpose,” Weber talks about how he turned a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy into a billion-dollar consumer brand. On this episode of Out of Office , Weber talks business, leadership, and how his battle with cancer—which left him unable to run—has s...

From bread-baking to DIY home renovation, many people started new activities during the pandemic. Kağan Sümer started a new company. Over the last two years, his rapid food delivery startup Gorillas blew up to become one of the best funded businesses in an industry that didn’t exist before 2020. We get a fascinating look at the story behind Europe’s fastest unicorn - and the futur...

The pandemic has been rough on everyone, but women in particular have suffered as they try to juggle Zoom calls with their endless responsibilities at home. More than two million American women have left the labor force, and many struggle to return due to difficulties finding care for children or elderly parents. And it’s not just working moms: Younger women are also leaving employers who fail to...

The CEO of Visa often talks about the 3 C’s of leadership: courage, curiosity and communication. He talks about the myriad influences that have shaped him over the years – being the eldest of seven children, leading a church choir (unexpectedly), running technology for the Reagan administration and being driven by faith.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See...

The CEO of British fintech company, Atom Bank, Mark Mullen moved his company to a four-day work week last year. Employees work fewer hours, for the same pay. It’s a bold move but, according to Mullen, it’s common sense. His costs haven’t changed, he hasn’t lost any customers and he says his staff is more productive. Plus, at the end of one’s career, who regrets not having spent more time at work?...

The pandemic-induced carnage that swept through live entertainment didn’t spare one of the most recognizable names in the industry. Cirque du Soleil’s revenues went from millions to zero in two days as lockdowns forced the company to cancel shows. Its executive vice-chair, Daniel Lamarre describes how they got through this difficult time, what years of working in entertainment have taught him abou...

When Best Buy announced that it hired Hubert Joly to turn around the struggling consumer electronics retailer in 2012, the stock tanked as investors questioned why the company would hire a Frenchman with no experience in big-box retailing. But Joly proved to be up to the turnaround task, winning over employees, customers and shareholders with a strategy that fended off competition from Amazon and...

Told she was too nice to be a successful leader, Barbara Humpton reflects on her trailblazing journey to the top job of a global tech giant. She’s carved her own unique path. In this episode, she tells us how growing up in a family of lively rule breakers, passionate problem solvers — and nice people — defines her. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnyst...