Latest Interviews
Showing 1561–1575 of 1,628 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 5m
MIc'd Up: Conversation with Robert Ballard, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Conversation with Katie Couric
Robert Ballard, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Katie Couric, Brian Sullivan, Buzz Aldrin
Oceanographer Robert Ballard contrasts the underfunded state of deep-sea exploration with NASA's space budget, highlighting discoveries of life origins at hydrothermal vents and the urgent need for sustainable aquaculture to address fishing depletion. Meanwhile, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reflects on his 50-year mentorship with John Wooden, detailing how their cross-racial friendship navigated civil rights challenges and shaped his conversion to Islam. Together, these perspectives underscore the importance of expanding human knowledge in both the unmapped depths of the ocean and the diverse landscapes of society.
- Y Combinator52 min
Rick and Morty Writer: Ryan Ridley
Creator Ryan Ridley, drawing on early exposure to comedy legends at his father's club and formal training within Chicago's digital video scene, helped pioneer the unique voice of *Rick and Morty* by blending dark sci-fi tropes with a collaborative, writer-driven approach that prioritized personal creative satisfaction over market trends. The show's development involved rigorous internal debates on lore and character design, such as the scale of Meeseeks or the logic of the Citadel of Ricks, while relying on universal human fears and specific genre subversions to distinguish its humor from predecessors like *Futurama*. Ultimately, Ridley's strategy of making content for a self-curated audience of one, combined with Justin Roiland's distinct vocal performance and Dan Harmon's vision, facilitated the series' global success and continues to influence Ridley's current work on high-status animated projects.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
A Conversation with the 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Michael Milken
Former President George W. Bush discusses the Bush Institute's multifaceted mission, highlighting the enduring legacy of PEPFAR in reducing global HIV transmission and the organization's contemporary focus on leadership development through the Presidential Leadership Scholars program. The dialogue further addresses critical domestic policy priorities, including education reform grounded in accountability, the economic necessity of immigration reform, and veteran support initiatives designed to mitigate post-traumatic stress. Throughout the exchange, these initiatives are framed as strategic imperatives for national security, extending from the treatment of HIV in Namibia to the diplomatic assessment of Russian leadership.
- Y Combinator55 min
An AI Primer with Wojciech Zaremba
Wojciech Zaremba, Craig Cannon
OpenAI founder Wojciech Zaremba details the organization's mission to develop artificial general intelligence through robotics manipulation and deep reinforcement learning, while highlighting the significant hurdles in defining real-world rewards compared to digital game environments. He contrasts narrow, supervised learning successes in commercial applications with the theoretical complexities of general AI, noting that current deep learning architectures struggle to match human learning speeds without massive computational resources. Zaremba concludes by predicting that rapid automation will necessitate societal shifts like Universal Basic Income and recommends specific educational resources for those seeking to understand these emerging technologies.
- Y Combinator48 min
How to Design Hardware Products with Hosain Rahman (How to Start a Startup 2014: Lecture 17)
Jawbone positions itself as a full-stack creator of invisible, high-quality hardware that functions as a central context engine within the fragmented Internet of Things landscape. By aligning slow hardware cycles with agile software development through cross-functional pods and frameworks like "Track, Understand, Act," the company successfully launched the Jambox and evolved its Up fitness tracker into a data-driven behavioral guide. This integrated approach enables Jawbone to shift market focus from individual connected objects to the user, aiming to automate interactions across a unified smart home ecosystem.
- Y Combinator51 min
Hiring and Culture with Patrick and John Collison and Ben Silbermann (HtSaS 2014: 11)
John Collison, Ben Silbermann, Patrick Collison, Sam
Stripe and Pinterest founders articulate a culture-building strategy rooted in the strategic hiring of the first ten employees, who serve as multiplicative agents for future growth while embodying specific traits of intellectual honesty and obsessive detail. To sustain this integrity as organizations scale, leaders transition from rigid architectural planning to adaptive "gardening" practices that prioritize radical transparency, autonomous units, and structured onboarding to manage complexity. This approach relies on selling the hard challenges of the mission rather than guaranteed success, ensuring that only those with genuine conviction join teams that operate with high self-awareness and rapid feedback loops.
- Y Combinator51 min
Culture with Brian Chesky and Alfred Lin (How to Start a Startup 2014: Lecture 10)
Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin, Sam Altman
This discussion features Zappos leadership and Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky demonstrating how defining core values through rigorous processes drives financial performance and strategic stability. By prioritizing cultural fit during hiring and maintaining a hierarchy of trust and accountability, these leaders transformed startups into market leaders that rejected lucrative short-term offers to preserve long-term mission integrity. The dialogue underscores that culture requires intentional daily management, serving as the foundational differentiator between companies that merely scale and those that sustain exceptional brand loyalty and operational excellence.
- Milken Institute59 min
Artificial Intelligence: A Smarter Future?
Harry Stebbings, Duncan Anderson, Mike DeAddio, Siraj Khaliq, Ben Medlock, Kate Niehaus
In a 2016 panel discussion, experts including Ben Medlock, Kate Niehaus, and Siraj Khaliq analyzed how the convergence of big data, cloud computing, and neural network breakthroughs has catalyzed a rapid shift toward narrow AI applications. The dialogue highlighted critical challenges such as data oligarchies, the propagation of bias in "garbage in, garbage out" systems, and the impending displacement of knowledge workers by algorithms that currently lack human empathy or general reasoning. While the panelists estimate that Artificial General Intelligence remains at least a century away, they stressed the urgent need for ethical frameworks and regulatory agility to manage immediate societal disruptions and ensure the responsible deployment of autonomous systems.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Investment Outlook from Global Industry Titans
Michael Milken, Leon Black, David Bonderman, Lei Zhang
A coalition of 70 university researchers and global stakeholders is mobilizing a half-million-person initiative to address Japan's $23 trillion U.S. cash surplus and the social security gap through a new six-sector classification system. This strategy integrates fiscal reforms, climate change measures, and a dedicated focus on disability inclusion to stabilize currency fluctuations and revive underperforming industrial sectors highlighted during recent G20 discussions. By leveraging direct community engagement over social media and establishing a new scientific framework for labor, the group aims to achieve a 35% growth rate while avoiding the pitfalls of past economic failures.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age
Jo Ann Jenkins, Soledad O'Brien
AARP CEO Joanne Jenkins leverages her extensive federal background to spearhead the "Disrupt Aging" initiative, which aims to reframe the societal narrative around aging as a period of continued vitality rather than decline. Through high-impact campaigns like the viral "What is Old?" video and a $40 million innovation fund, the organization actively promotes policies supporting "freedom to earn," while simultaneously advocating for critical infrastructure changes to ensure financial security and independent living for the 10,000 daily new retirees. This multifaceted approach addresses the economic realities of a population where half of those over 50 rely on Social Security, utilizing a 38-million-member base to influence everything from healthcare funding to workplace flexibility.
- Milken Institute57 min
Marketing in the Digital Age: A Conversation with John Sculley and David A. Steinberg
John Sculley, David A. Steinberg, Peter L. Hopkins
Former Pepsi CEO John Scully and Zeta Interactive discuss the critical industry shift from mass-media brand campaigns to data-driven, attribution-based marketing that directly correlates ad spend to sales outcomes. This transformation is powered by Zeta's proprietary database of 350 million individuals, which enables real-time "fast data" analytics to replace traditional agency models while adhering to strict privacy standards and opt-in regulations. Looking ahead, the speakers predict that surviving organizations must pivot toward adaptive innovation and the "experience internet," where future success depends on customer lifecycle management rather than broad advertising budgets.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Governors Address Challenges Facing States
Eric Schmidt, John Hickenlooper, Terry McAuliffe, Rick Scott, Scott Walker
Governors Rick Scott, Scott Walker, John Hickenlooper, and Terry McAuliffe convened to discuss distinct state-level strategies for economic growth, ranging from Florida's tax-cut model and Wisconsin's fiscal stabilization to Colorado's workforce adaptability and Virginia's international trade focus. Despite operating in opposing partisan environments, these leaders emphasized a unified shift from job creation to filling vacancies by prioritizing apprenticeships, dismantling federal mandates on healthcare and infrastructure, and challenging anti-capitalist sentiment through high-wage employment. The panel concluded that states must serve as "laboratories of democracy" to craft granular solutions for environmental and social issues while advocating for federal devolution of authority to maximize efficiency in workforce development and public safety.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Connectivity Is the New World Order: A Conversation with Parag Khanna
Senior fellow Parag Khanna argues that massive global infrastructure investment has replaced geography as the primary driver of destiny, creating a "Connectography" where traditional borders and territorial conquest are increasingly obsolete. His analysis highlights a shift toward competitive connectivity, where nations like China and the United States compete for control over trade enclaves, digital networks, and energy grids rather than physical land. Khenna contends that future geopolitical stability depends on adopting long-term infrastructure diplomacy and economic integration strategies to manage accelerating migration and the complex web of megaprojects reshaping the world.
- Milken Institute54 min
End of an Era: A Conversation With NBA Great Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant concludes his twenty-year NBA career by prioritizing personal fulfillment over team contention, a decision marked by a final 60-point performance that he dismissed as irrelevant to his internal motivation to transition into storytelling and media ventures through "Kobe Inc." Reflecting on a leadership style defined by brutal honesty and a focus on unlocking teammates' potential, Bryant details his evolution from a self-centered competitor to a mentor who utilized his relationship with Michael Jordan and his friction with Shaquille O'Neal as catalysts for greatness. His post-retirement philosophy emphasizes controlling effort rather than doubting outcomes, setting a precedent for his future endeavors that value historical legacy and personal growth over external validation.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Lighting the Globe: Manoj Bhargava in Conversation with Sheryl WuDunn
Manoj Bhargava, Sheryl WuDunn, Eric Schmidt, John McCutchan, Raymond Santos, Jennifer Doyle, Sharon Chandran
Forbes billionaire and 5-Hour Energy founder Manoj Parga has launched "Stage 2," a venture dedicated to deploying low-maintenance, scalable technologies in water, energy, and health for underserved populations. The initiative introduces hardware like the $250 Free Electric bicycle to generate power for livelihoods, the energy-efficient Rainmaker desalination unit, and a medical patch for early disease detection, all designed to replace unreliable solar and complex medical diagnostics in rural areas. Parga explicitly rejects proprietary hoarding by offering to train competitors and sell production lines, prioritizing rapid global adoption of simple, functional engineering over traditional philanthropic overhead.