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
HUMOR: How to Turn Levity Into Your Secret Weapon
BEGINNERS: The Joys of Being an Amateur
THINK AGAIN: Adam Grant on the Power of Changing Your Mind
VOICE: You Are What You Speak
THE BRAIN: A User’s Guide to the Blob Between Your Ears
SERENDIPITY: Good Luck and How to Get It
DRUG USE: Is Getting High an American Right?
POST CORONA: Predicting the Future With Scott Galloway
Season 3: New Ideas, Same Great Taste
LET’S BE REASONABLE: Sam Harris and Rufus in Conversation
MIND GAMES: What Poker Can Teach Us About Luck, Skill, and Ourselves
TRANSCENDENCE: Finding Fulfillment Beyond Ourselves
HUMANKIND: Finding Hope in Human History
MIGRATION: Why Human Beings Were Built to Move
BREATH: Harnessing the Power of a Lost Art
PERSUASION: How to Change People’s Minds
ALCHEMY: How Our Creations Recreate Us
UPSTREAM: Solving Problems Before They Happen
CIVILIZATION: Recalculating the Price of Progress
TOGETHER: A Doctor’s Prescription for Health and Happiness
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