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
PARENTING: Learn How to Do It Better With Science, Data, and Mr. Rogers
PERSONALITY: The Science of Being Who You Want
JOYFUL: Ingrid Fetell Lee and Adam Grant on the Objects That Make Us Happy
CULT OF WE: How WeWork's CEO Vaporized $40 Billion
BREATH: Is Deep Breathing the Secret to Long Living?
DRUNK: Can Alcohol Make You More Creative, Sociable, and Attractive?
DEATH, SEX & MONEY: Anna Sale Talks About Hard Things
THE BOMBER MAFIA: Malcolm Gladwell on Warfare, Audiobooks, and the Future of Storytelling
EFFORTLESS: Embrace the Easy Option
HIGH CONFLICT: How to Defuse Any Squabble (Amanda Ripley & Susan Cain)
EXTENDED MIND: Want to Get Smarter? Try Thinking Outside of Your Brain
DELUSIONS: How Self-Deception Can Help You Flourish (Shankar Vedantam & Daniel Pink)
AI: The Extraordinary Story of the Tech That’s Changing the World
MINE: How the Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives
GATHERING: Mastering the Art of Hanging Out
EMAIL: Would the World Be Better Without It?
WORK: Should You Do Less of It? Adam Grant and James Suzman on the 15-Hour Workweek.
CODE BREAKER: Why Walter Isaacson Thinks CRISPR Will Change Life As We Know It
FOOD: Can We Taste Climate Change?
CHATTER: Learning to Love the Voice in Your Head
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