Latest Interviews
Showing 2491–2505 of 2,630 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute21 min
Lunch Program | Part 1: A Conversation with Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Commerce
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who originally opposed Donald Trump during the Taj Mahal bankruptcy proceedings before offering his support, now leads the Department of Commerce with a mandate to prioritize bilateral trade agreements over multilateral ones. Under Ross's direction, the administration secured a 100-day window with China for specific deliverables while imposing tariffs on Canadian lumber, positioning these actions alongside expectations for 2% to 2.5% GDP growth once tax reforms and regulatory rollbacks are enacted. Despite facing a fragmented Republican Party and united Democratic opposition that slow legislative progress, Ross maintains that high-quality personnel and strong market sentiment will drive the administration's economic agenda.
- Milken Institute31 min
MIc'd Up | Part 2: A Conversation with Elizabeth Blackburn
Salk Institute President Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn discusses the biological mechanisms of aging and telomere maintenance with host Jun Yun, framing the extended human lifespan as an opportunity to maximize health span rather than a inevitable decline. The dialogue details how specific lifestyle interventions—including brisk daily exercise, seven hours of sleep, and cognitive reframing of stress—directly influence telomere length to mitigate risks of chronic diseases like Alzheimer's and diabetes. By integrating molecular biology with health psychology, Blackburn argues that dynamic gene expression allows individuals to actively shape their cellular health and extend their years of vitality.
- Milken Institute31 min
MIc'd Up | Part 1: A Conversation with Robert Ballard
Robert Ballard, Brian Sullivan
Explorer Robert Ballard advocates for a paradigm shift in ocean stewardship by urging a massive reallocation of resources to match NASA's funding levels, emphasizing that 95% of the planet's living space remains unexplored despite holding critical mineral reserves and biodiversity. His Ocean Exploration Trust employs advanced remote-operated vehicles and real-time data networks to discover deep-sea resources while simultaneously launching an educational initiative that targets middle school students to cultivate a new generation of scientists. By balancing regulated deep-sea mining with the establishment of marine sanctuaries, Ballard aims to transition humanity from an ocean "hunter-gatherer" phase to sustainable aquaculture and large-scale surface colonization.
- Milken Institute36 min
MIc'd Up | Part 2: Jim Yong Kim in Conversation with Michael Milken
Former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the first Asian American leader of an Ivy League school and co-founder of Partners in Health, outlines a strategy to transform the institution into a financial facilitator that aligns private capital returns with global development goals. He highlights the critical need to adapt to the fourth industrial revolution by training emerging market experts to deploy capital markets for poverty reduction while navigating automation challenges in Africa. Kim concludes by emphasizing the necessity of aggressive capital market application to solve extreme poverty and announces his impending departure to continue advocating for this integration of finance and opportunity.
- Milken Institute31 min
MIc'd Up | Part 1: Jeb Bush in Conversation with Terry Duffy
Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter announced their joint acquisition of the Miami Marlins, a venture designed to leverage data analytics and market growth while avoiding the financial pitfalls of high-salary player acquisition. The former Florida governor simultaneously urged for comprehensive federal reforms to resolve bureaucratic gridlock, advocating for tax code simplification, term limits, and a shift toward an economy-driven immigration system. While expressing cautious support for the current administration's foreign policy coherence, Bush emphasized the urgent need to address workforce displacement caused by automation through 21st-century educational overhauls.
- Milken Institute30 min
MIc'd Up | Part 2: Pedro Domingos in Conversation with Eric Schmidt
Led by industry leaders like Bill Gates and Pedro Domingos, the event examines how converging advances in algorithms, data, and computing are shifting machine learning from rule-based programming to generalized intelligence. The presentation details critical hurdles in generalization and the urgent global talent shortage, while outlining transformative economic shifts where traditional hardware models face commoditization and new crowdsourced learning ecosystems emerge. Looking five to ten years ahead, the discussion predicts a workforce evolution where humans act as strategic captains alongside AI systems, enabling universal programming capabilities that could unlock a $5 trillion new world economy.
- Milken Institute29 min
MIc'd Up | Part 1: A Conversation with John Chambers and Ken Griffin
John Chambers, Ken Griffin, Gillian Tett
Ken Griffin and John Chambers evaluate the early regulatory shifts of the new administration while advocating for a three-to-five-year strategic horizon to assess tax reform, healthcare restructuring, and a "fair trade" agenda. The leaders emphasize that prioritizing digital infrastructure, retaining high-skilled immigrant talent, and reforming K-12 education are critical for sparking innovation and overcoming stagnation in the U.S. IPO market. Despite these opportunities, both figures warn that a lack of a unified national strategy, combined with limited fiscal tools and potential geopolitical trade conflicts, could derail the economy's path toward sustained 4% growth.
- Milken Institute28 min
MIc'd Up | Part 1: A Conversation with Angela Ahrendts
Angela Ahrens is redefining Apple Retail as a global community hub by transforming physical locations into "hardware" designed for social connection rather than mere sales transactions. This strategic shift introduces the "Today at Apple" curriculum and "Creative Pros" roles across 500 stores to teach public classes in coding and arts, aiming to combat social isolation while leveraging the fact that half of recent Genius Bar visits were for education. By prioritizing human connection and meaningful work, the initiative has driven employee retention to 82% and positions the company to set new standards for corporate social responsibility through free lifelong learning opportunities.
- Milken Institute31 min
A Conversation with Steven Mnuchin, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin, Mike, Marie, Maria
The administration is pursuing a comprehensive tax reform agenda that seeks to accelerate economic growth to 3% annually by consolidating the tax code into a flat 15% corporate rate, eliminating most deductions, and removing the SALT deduction to broaden the tax base. While maintaining a stated goal of not cutting taxes for the wealthy through the Mnuchin Rule, the Treasury Department is negotiating with legislative leaders on the remaining details and preparing to use Senate reconciliation if bipartisan support cannot be secured. This fiscal strategy is complemented by parallel efforts to deregulate financial and energy sectors, reform GSEs to remove taxpayer risk, and advance reciprocal trade policies to support long-term revenue generation.
- Y Combinator35 min
Scaling Growth | Gustaf Alstromer, YC Partner (formerly Airbnb) & Ed Baker (formerly Uber)
Ed Arons and Gustav Sorensen discuss their experience scaling growth teams at Uber, Airbnb, and Facebook, contrasting early viral tactics that exploited platform loopholes with sustainable strategies focused on retention and marketplace liquidity. The speakers detail how successful scaling requires aligning product and engineering functions, adapting paid acquisition to local constraints, and replacing short-term viral hacks with long-term investments in SEO, data science, and user experience optimization. Furthermore, they emphasize the necessity of institutionalizing experimentation to challenge assumptions, citing specific examples like copy adjustments in Japan and WeChat integration in China, while advocating for unified operational models that track acquisition, churn, and re-engagement separately.
- Y Combinator34 min
How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups? – Jeff Bussgang and Michael Seibel
Jeff Bussgang, Michael Seibel, Craig Cannon
YC CEO Michael Seibel and HBS lecturer Jeff Busgang debate the persistent gaps between MBA education and startup execution, identifying technical deficits, lack of commitment, and excessive research as primary reasons for high rejection rates. While Business Schools like Harvard are adapting through physical integration with engineering departments and new joint degrees, the traditional curriculum often fails to instill the immediate traction and hands-on coding skills required by venture capitalists. Ultimately, Seibel advises non-technical founders outside top hubs to prioritize working at early-stage startups over pursuing an MBA, citing real-world experience as superior preparation for building transformational ventures.
- Y Combinator40 min
At the Intersection of AI, Governments, and Google - Tim Hwang
Tim Wong, Google's Global Public Policy Lead for AI and Machine Learning, navigates the intersection of technical security challenges, privacy constraints, and societal impacts like job displacement. He highlights critical tensions between de-biasing data and protecting minority privacy while emphasizing that current adversarial vulnerabilities limit high-stakes automation adoption. To address these issues, Google promotes global policy experimentation and educational reforms that shift computer science toward example-based learning and domain-specific expertise.
- Y Combinator31 min
Building Your Board | Glenn Kelman
Glenn Kelman, Selina Tobaccowala, James Slavitt, Jeff Markowitz, Mark Singer, Emily Melton, Austin Ligon, Reed, Julie Bornstein, Bob Milad, Jason, Janie, Scott, Chris Roski
Redfin CEO Peter van de Ven transformed his company's governance by shifting board relations from adversarial to collaborative, implementing strict communication protocols and off-site retreats to foster honest dialogue and strategic alignment. To ensure operational efficiency, the firm recruited board members based on peer-scale experience and mission alignment rather than corporate prestige, resulting in employed agents who are three times more productive than industry standards. This deliberate restructuring of founder-board dynamics and executive accountability has enabled Redfin to maintain higher Net Promoter Scores while generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue.
- The Economist39 min
The Impact Investing Summit
Matthew Bishop, Lisa Ashford, Mark Campanale, Mark Goldring, Lutfey Siddiqi, Matthew Spencer, Tristram Stewart, Rod Schwartz, Arthur Wood, Mel Tam
In an Oxford-style debate regarding the primary agent for climate action, Lisa Ashford and Mark Campanali argued that investors and bankers can bypass political inertia to drive rapid decarbonization, while Matthew Spencer and colleagues contended that social movements and government policy are essential to establish the regulatory frameworks that make green investment viable. Despite pro-market arguments citing market failures and capital efficiency, the opposition team successfully countered by highlighting historical precedents where moral pressure and state intervention preceded financial shifts. Ultimately, the side opposing the motion won by persuading the audience to view political and social activism as the necessary "generals" that guide the "cavalry" of private capital.
- Y Combinator31 min
Scaling Product | Fireside with Joe Gebbia and Reid Hoffman
Airbnb achieved product-market fit by abandoning scalable code solutions in favor of manual, non-scalable actions, such as founders personally photographing listings to overcome trust barriers and reduce user friction. To sustain hyper-growth while maintaining culture and empathy, the company institutionalized practices like hiring for future needs, training core values interviewers, and mandating that employees regularly experience the platform as travelers and hosts. This strategic focus on deep user connection and operational realism eventually enabled the expansion from a simple room-rental service to a comprehensive travel ecosystem featuring Experiences and a global network of professional photographers.