Rapid Response

With the help of co-founder Mark Cuban, Cost Plus Drugs CEO Alex Oshmyansky is radically re-engineering the pharma marketplace and dramatically cutting the price for many prescription drugs. Oshmyansky joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to share his amazing journey — from struggling as an immigrant in primary school to starting college at age 13, how medical practice led to entrepreneurship, plu...

Apple defies gravity, and AI is Divine. That’s how Guy Kawasaki, who worked closely with Steve Jobs and is now chief evangelist at Canva and host of the podcast Remarkable People, describes the state of tech now. Guy argues that Jobs would thrive in today’s business climate, muses about Tim Cook’s limitations, and explains what he means when he says “AI is God.” Plus unconventional advice about wh...

Potential tariff wars, market movements, allies in big tech … About two months out from Trump’s return to office, there’s rampant speculation about the new administration’s impact on the business world. To cut through the noise, Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer joins Rapid Response to share what he’s hearing from individuals in global governments and boardrooms. Bremmer reveals which industries are poi...

Rapper and musician Iggy Azalea wants you to know that her crypto token $MOTHER isn’t just another ‘pump and dump’ celebrity crypto play. She believes in the future of cryptocurrency and the potential for fostering a new engaged community of followers — or ‘stans’ as she calls them. Azalea sits down with Rapid Response host Bob Safian to reveal why she retired from music and made the pivot into cr...

Gender equity suddenly cuts both ways in 2024: Some argue that men are being unfairly demonized, while data shows a continuing gap in opportunity for women. Live from the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, Jessi Hempel, host of the Hello Monday podcast, leads a thought-provoking panel with the CEO of Lean In, Rachel Thomas; the chief diversity officer at Meta, Maxine Williams; and the found...

How do you cultivate loyalty, from investors to team members and, of course, customers? Business leaders have long debated this. Host Bob Safian invites two guests to weigh in with their secrets to brand and company loyalty. Chewy CEO Sumit Singh has built his pet-centric business around customer service and care. And seasoned CEO Sarah Robb O’Hagan has led at Exos, Equinox, Nike, and more – all b...

Following Donald Trump’s victory in this week’s US presidential election, Reid Hoffman (a major donor to Vice President Harris’ campaign) is figuring out where business, tech, and his own energy go from here. Hoffman joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to share his reaction to the election and what the outcome means for Silicon Valley, the overall economy, and more. Despite being a vocal critic o...

In this special 2-for-1 episode, we offer two segments of rapid-fire fun from the 2024 Masters of Scale Summit. First, Slutty Vegan’s Pinky Cole joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian for a gamified session on capturing consumer attention that delivers lessons on the power of joy, building celebrity, and competing with stalwarts like McDonald’s. Then, ocean storyteller and entrepreneur Philippe...

Who is listening in and tracking our digital activity? And is it really necessary? Recorded live at the 2024 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, Rapid Response host Bob Safian sits down with Signal president Meredith Whittaker to discuss privacy, trust and digital surveillance, from governments and from companies. Whittaker argues that we should question what she sees as extreme data collect...

As conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate, Rapid Response host Bob Safian led a discussion live on stage at the Masters of Scale Summit between two experienced leaders with close knowledge of the region. World Central Kitchen’s CEO Erin Gore has been providing food relief in Gaza and beyond, and Daniel Lubetzky leads the Builders Movement, an organization committed to overcoming extremi...

Anyone can build wealth, argues Codie Sanchez, investor and founder of Contrarian Thinking: You’ve just got to play the game the right way. Sanchez has built a massive following across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram by offering unconventional financial advice, particularly to younger people. Codie joins Rapid Response to break down the biggest misconceptions about personal finance, the pitfal...

Leonardo da Vinci is a thoroughly modern figure, even if he lived hundreds of years ago. So says Ken Burns, the legendary documentary filmmaker on topics from the Civil War to Muhammad Ali. Burns joins Rapid Response to talk about his new, upcoming project on da Vinci and what leaders in 2024 can learn from his interdisciplinary approach. Burns also opens up about the challenges of creative integr...

How much should we tip? Legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer returns to Rapid Response to assess an inflection point in customer expectations and experiences around that and other questions. The founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack shares his hard-earned lessons from unsuccessfully challenging the tipping norm, plus why he sees right now as a golden age for new restaurants. Hear...

Wikipedia is among the top ten most-visited websites in the world, and it’s been a pillar of online knowledge for more than 20 years. The site’s parent nonprofit, Wikimedia Foundation, wants it to stay that way. CEO Maryana Iskander joins Rapid Response to discuss how Wikipedia is navigating AI-generated misinformation, why debates around truth and neutrality will only intensify, and threats to th...

Salesforce is launching a new fleet of tools for AI agents called Agentforce, and CEO Marc Benioff contends it will change the business world forever. Benioff joins Rapid Response to take us inside Salesforce’s pivot—and to slag on Microsoft’s competing CoPilot AI. He says that there’s a ‘fantasyland’ to today’s AI narrative. Benioff also shares stories about his ownership of TIME magazine, how co...

As early voting begins in the US presidential election, there is a nascent movement afoot that would reshuffle future contests from local school boards to Washington DC – and it revolves around our smartphones. Venture capitalist and political strategist Bradley Tusk has invested $20 million in building what he says is a safe, secure app that would allow mobile voting, which he’s bankrolled pilots...

Epidemic levels of loneliness can increase cases of anxiety and depression, and Carter Barnhart, founder of the virtual mental health platform Charlie Health, says the problem defies simple explanations like overuse of social media. Barnhart is on a mission to improve access to mental health services like group therapy, and to prevent suicides in particular. With Charlie operating in more than 30...

The Black List has reshaped Hollywood by identifying overlooked screenplays from Argo to The King’s Speech that have become commercial and artistic successes. Now, founder Franklin Leonard is opening The Black List’s successful model to the book industry. He shares what Hollywood and publishing have in common: a bottleneck in talent discovery, and billions in missed revenue from untapped audiences...

As Google’s high-profile antitrust trial reaches the end of week three, the future of its gargantuan ad business is in flux. Check My Ads’ Arielle Garcia has been in every court session to cover the DOJ’s arguments and Google’s defense. As head of intelligence for the digital ads watchdog and an ad industry veteran, she joins Rapid Response to share how the trial is poised to not only disrupt the...

While EA’s pursuit of 1 billion users may sound ambitious at first, once you hear CEO Andrew Wilson explain the developers’ strategy to get there, the 1 billion mark starts to almost sound conservative. Wilson returns to Rapid Response to shed light on EA’s recent announcements around a community-driven app, and plans to unleash new AI tools for creators and gamers alike. Wilson also shares the in...

AI is changing our lives every single day. To help you keep up, AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor Dr. Rana el Kaliouby offers a definitive guide to the forefront of this transformative technology with her new podcast, Pioneers of AI. To mark the show’s launch, Bob Safian welcomes Rana back to Rapid Response. We introduce the first episode of Pioneers of AI, featuring Dr. Joy Buolamwini, an...

While Shōgun, Hacks, and Baby Reindeer bask in their success at The Emmys, the awards reveal deeper lessons about TV’s future. Janice Min, co-founder and CEO of The Ankler, guides us through the key storylines, from Disney to HBO to Netflix. We also dig deep on Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and what it says about the politics of celebrity in 2024 — for stars and for CEOs. &...

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...

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...

noplace, a new social media app for Gen Z, rocketed to the top of the app download charts this summer. Founder Tiffany Zhong (or “TZ” as she calls herself) joins Rapid Response to share what has gotten young users so excited. As a longtime advisor to brands on Gen Z trends and habits, TZ offers valuable insight about what authentic, no-BS business leadership looks like in 2024. TZ also shares the...