Latest Interviews
Showing 5746–5760 of 6,111 interview transcripts.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Darren Star: From "Sex and the City" to "Younger": Coming of Age on Television
Speaker Aaron established a transformative television legacy by creating *90210*, *Melrose Place*, and *Sex and the City*, which collectively shifted network standards to embrace serialized storytelling, diverse representation, and female-centric narratives. His production strategy consistently prioritized controversial content and "found families" to challenge industry norms, directly influencing the cultural landscape and forcing *90210* to evolve from an issue-of-the-week format into a character-driven soap opera. Currently, he applies these foundational principles to *Younger*, leveraging streaming platforms to craft bingeable content that explores generational divides and encourages creative risk-taking in the modern media environment.
- Goldman Sachs15 min
Ken Griffin: How Talent and Technology Are Shaping the Markets
Citadel leverages a synergistic framework of fundamental, quantitative, and market-making strategies to manage approximately $30 billion, prioritizing human judgment augmented by robust technology over artificial intelligence for generating alpha. The firm sustains its competitive edge through a rigorous meritocratic culture that focuses on global talent acquisition and an 18-year pipeline for grooming associates into portfolio managers, while using advanced diagnostic tools to shift decision-making from defensive risk management to offensive positioning. This operational model, which emphasizes resource allocation and rapid infrastructure scaling, enabled the firm to navigate the 2008 crisis and maintain superlative performance despite a modest 52% hit rate in idiosyncratic stock picking.
- Goldman Sachs35 min
Oskar Eustis: From "Hair" to "Hamilton": The Promise of The Public Theater
For thirteen years, Artistic Director Oskar Justus has guided The Public Theater to democratize storytelling, championing works like *Angels in America*, *Fun Home*, and *Hamilton* that bridge social divides through shared human narratives. By commissioning visionary artists such as Tony Kushner and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Justus fostered productions that transformed specific cultural moments into universal experiences, proving that theater can intervene in the national conversation by building identity across class and ethnic lines. This institutional legacy reflects Justus's evolution from radical protest to sustainable arts leadership, prioritizing the power of story to connect diverse audiences regardless of their background.
- Goldman Sachs13 min
Dr. Paul Farmer: Reshaping the Global Health Community
Dr. Paul Farmer, Christina Minnis
Dr. Paul Farmer and co-founders established Partners in Health in 1987 based on a mission to build university teaching hospitals in resource-poor settings, differentiating the organization as an academic NGO focused on long-term capacity building over temporary relief. The network achieved critical global health milestones, including the mobilization during the Ebola crisis and the success of PEPFAR which saved millions of lives, while simultaneously demonstrating in Rwanda that community-based care could eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission at rates surpassing U.S. standards. Farmer contrasts these outcomes with the U.S. healthcare system, arguing it functions as an illness care model lacking the integrated community support necessary to prevent patients from being lost to follow-up.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Jeremy Lin on His Unconventional Brand and Basketball Career
Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin is returning to the NBA after a two-year hiatus, explicitly framing his comeback through the lens of his Asian-American underdog identity and a strategic rejection of polarized media expectations. Drawing on a foundation built by his family's financial sacrifices and his own conversion to authenticity, Lin leverages social media to challenge stereotypes while balancing his athletic career with a commitment to Christian faith and future philanthropy focused on women's empowerment and education. Although he acknowledges ongoing physical uncertainties, the former Harvard graduate aims to sustain a public persona that integrates his diverse interests, including gaming and design, to advocate for global issues beyond his time on the court.
- a16z22 min
In Conversation: Netflix' Ted Sarandos and Marc Andreessen
During an exploration of Netflix's evolution from a domestic DVD service to a global streaming giant, the interviewee details the strategic tension between Silicon Valley data metrics and Hollywood creative instincts. Under Reed Hastings' guidance, the company pioneered a model that treats showrunners like startup founders, granting autonomous control to greenlight approximately 220 original projects annually with a rejection rate of 99%. This approach has enabled the production of authentic local content from 19 countries, successfully countering fears of cultural homogenization while managing the inherent risks of "false negatives" in an industry where successful adaptations often diverge significantly from their original pitches.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Mr. Speaker: A Conversation With Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan, Conrad Kiechel, Brian Sullivan
Concluding the Milken Institute Global Conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan addressed political polarization, the structural hurdles of the Senate filibuster, and the administration's "Better Way" economic agenda centered on tax reform and infrastructure. While declining to run for president again to prioritize his family, Ryan detailed legislative successes in aviation and veterans' affairs while warning that a split government following the 2018 midterms would result in dangerous gridlock. The interview further highlighted his strategies for addressing entitlement costs, labor market mismatches, and trade uncertainties, emphasizing that securing economic security is the most effective remedy for identity-based division.
- Y Combinator48 min
Advice for Students and Recent Graduates on Finding Jobs – Liz Wessel of WayUp
WayUp co-founders and former Google associate product marketing manager and his partner Joel Flegelman launched their job platform after validating a user base of tens of thousands during their senior year at the University of Pennsylvania. Leveraging insights from mentor Roloff Botha and a strategic stint at Google, the duo differentiated the service from general job boards by utilizing rich, 360-degree candidate profiles to achieve a one-in-three hire rate. Today, the company operates under a distinct management philosophy that prioritizes personality alignment and skill-based hiring to help students navigate the transition into their careers.
- Lex Fridman58 min
Christof Koch: Consciousness | Lex Fridman Podcast #2
Neuroscientist Christoph Koch argues that while intelligent artificial intelligence may eventually pass the Turing test, true consciousness requires neuromorphic hardware that mimics the brain's causal power rather than mere algorithmic simulation. He supports this distinction by identifying the claustrum as a key binding structure for unified experience and introducing measurement techniques that can accurately distinguish conscious from unconscious states. Koch further contends that future advanced AI systems must be engineered with capacities for empathy and suffering to ensure moral alignment, suggesting that consciousness is essential for ethical behavior even if it is not strictly necessary for functional intelligence.
- Y Combinator1h 19m
Simon Benjamin on Architectures for Quantum Computing
Simon Benjamin, John Preskill, Craig Cannon
Driven by experimental progress surpassing the 99% fault-tolerance threshold, Oxford University's ion trap systems now achieve 99.9% gate fidelity, enabling the first viable implementations of quantum error correction. The research team proposes a modular networking architecture that links high-fidelity units via optical fibers and entanglement purification to scale toward useful applications like molecular simulation while avoiding the engineering bottlenecks of monolithic designs. By addressing hardware limitations through this approach, the project aims to demonstrate a fully linked two-module system within a year, bridging the gap between current quantum supremacy demonstrations and future large-scale computational utility.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Eric Schmidt: The Artificial Intelligence Revolution
Goldman Sachs accelerates its cloud migration to leverage superior cybersecurity and specialized hardware for AI workloads, while the broader industry shifts toward data-driven deep learning that prioritizes scale over algorithmic provability. This transition enables "savant systems" in fields like healthcare and finance to automate trial-and-error processes, supported by a global talent market increasingly dominated by computer science graduates. Although these technologies promise to democratize expert-level capabilities through on-device and cloud computing, their adoption faces monetization hurdles and ongoing geopolitical competition, particularly from China.
- Goldman Sachs45 min
Mary Barra on Driving Into the Future
GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra is steering General Motors from a post-bankruptcy restructuring into a profitable leader focused on the strategic goals of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. Under her leadership, the automaker prioritized product safety by adopting aerospace standards and launched a "speak up for safety" initiative following the 2014 ignition switch crisis, while simultaneously advancing autonomous vehicle technology through its subsidiary Cruise Automation. Beyond corporate strategy, Barra champions STEM education and female workforce retention through programs like "Take Two" and the Detroit Children's Fund to ensure diverse representation and community economic revitalization.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Diana B. Henriques: “A First-Class Catastrophe”: Lessons Learned from Black Monday
Diana B. Henriques, Sharmin Mosavaramani
This analysis juxtaposes the 1987 Black Monday crash, driven by opaque portfolio insurance strategies and fragmented regulation, with modern market vulnerabilities amplified by trillion-dollar asset managers and enduring regulatory silos. It further examines the psychological profile of Bernie Madoff, highlighting his pathological fear of failure and the spontaneous nature of his fraud's collapse, while detailing the HBO film "Wizard of Lies" production that secured Robert De Niro's casting through authentic in-prison dynamics. Together, these case studies illustrate how historical market failures and individual pathologies continue to inform contemporary debates on financial transparency and systemic risk.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
A Conversation With Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall, Brian Sheth, Melissa Stevens
Jane Goodall and Brian Sheth discuss the convergence of private equity capital and global conservation through Goodall's Jane Goodall Institute and Sheth's leadership of Global Wildlife Conservation. They detail the expansion of Goodall's Roots & Shoots program to 150,000 youth groups and the institute's use of satellite technology to protect chimpanzee populations in Gombe and the Republic of Congo. The dialogue concludes with a strategic emphasis on integrating scientific rigor into policy-making and leveraging financial markets to sustain long-term environmental resilience.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
Lord of the Rings: A Conversation With Five-Time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady
Tom Brady reaffirmed his commitment to playing through the 2018-2019 season by prioritizing longevity through his TB12 Method, a wellness protocol focused on pliability and injury prevention that aims to extend his career into his mid-40s. During a comprehensive discussion on team dynamics and personal philosophy, he clarified that he had no input on the Super Bowl LII roster decisions while emphasizing his reliance on family for motivation and his distinct approach to leadership. The conversation also covered his skepticism of new NFL rules, his assessment of Bill Belichick's genius, and his belief that the league must balance entertainment value with player safety to sustain industry growth.