When Rajiv Shah was in his late 20s and didn’t know what to do with his life, he got a job at a fledgling nonprofit, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before he knew it, he was a driving force behind a global vaccination program that immunized 900 million children and saved 16 million lives.
At 36, he became the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), managing a $20 billion budget, overseeing a staff of 10,000, and leading the U.S. response to global humanitarian crises.
Today, as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, he’s finding innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and end energy poverty.
What connects these experiences? At every step, Raj maintained a big bet mentality. What is a big bet? “A concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world. Big bets require setting profound, seemingly unachievable goals and believing they are achievable.” In this episode, he shares his methodology for creating large-scale change and making the world a better place.
Host: Rufus Griscom
Guest: Rajiv Shah
Book: Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens
THE ESSENTIALS: Our Favorite Moments From Season 4
BICYCLES: Are They the Future of Transportation?
BIG DATA: Cracking the Codes of Love, Happiness and Success
Susan Cain & Daniel Pink: Writing, Longing, and the Search for Meaning
RELATIONSHIPS: Why Everything You Know About Them Is (Mostly) Wrong
How To Be a Grown-Up
IMAGINABLE: How Anyone Can Predict the Future (Yes, Even You)
CULTURE: How Successful Groups Work
GET IT DONE: How the Science of Motivation Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
Bonus: The Not-So-Great Resignation (WorkLife with Adam Grant)
FUN: How to Have More of It
TWITTER: What Elon Musk’s Acquisition Means for the Future of Social Media
EMOTIONAL: Do Your Feelings Make You Smarter?
ORIGIN: How Did Humans Migrate to the Americas?
BITTERSWEET: Susan Cain on the Beauty of Sorrow and Longing
Regrets: Daniel Pink Has a Few (And So Should You)
REALITY+: Are We Living in a Simulation?
HURT SO GOOD: The Pleasures of Suffering (Paul Bloom & Susan Cain)
EMPIRE: Why Ray Dalio Thinks We May Be Headed for Civil War
TIME MANAGEMENT FOR MORTALS: Malcolm Gladwell and Oliver Burkeman
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