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
EVENING ROCKET: Decoding Elon Musk’s Sci-Fi Visions of the Future
GOOD ANXIETY: Can You Turn Worrying Into a Superpower?
HACK YOUR HABITS: The Science of Making Changes That Stick
TOGETHER: The Surgeon General’s Prescription for Health and Happiness
SPIRITUAL TECHNOLOGIES: Two Scientists Debate the Benefits of Religion
DAWN OF EVERYTHING: The True History of Humanity
DOPAMINE NATION: Why the Modern World Puts Us All at Risk for Addiction
AMBITION: How to Achieve Success on Your Own Terms
FRIENDSHIP: The Science Behind Life’s Deepest Bond
EXPONENTIAL AGE: Everything Is Accelerating. Who’s at the Wheel?
NEW POWER: How to Spread Ideas, Build Movements, and Leap Ahead
SPORTS: Life Lessons From an Olympian, a Hockey Coach, and a Middle-Aged Beginner
FEELING & KNOWING: Unlocking the Secrets of Consciousness
Bonus: Adam Grant and Annie Murphy Paul
LAZINESS: There's No Such Thing
HOW TO CHANGE: Science-Backed Tips for Becoming Your Best Self (Katy Milkman & Daniel Pink)
RATIONALITY: Steven Pinker’s Love Song to Critical Thinking
LOONSHOTS: The Science of Generating Crazy Ideas (Safi Bahcall & Daniel Pink)
DEADLINE EFFECT: Can You Work Like It's the Last Minute Before the Last Minute?
EXTRA LIFE: We Doubled Life Expectancy in the Last Century. Can We Do It Again?
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