Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL Interviews the world's leading thinkers, and the people shaping the century.

600+
Interviews
3,000+
Quotes
1m+
Readers
15+
Years
Nobel
Laureates & World Leaders

In this interview I speak to Victor Vescovo - one of only two people ever to have stood at Earth’s highest peak, descended to its deepest trench, and looked back at the planet from space. A private equity entrepreneur, retired U.S. Navy Commander and pilot, he reflects on the genetics…

 

In this interview I speak to Eric Ries — creator of the Lean Startup method and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange — he argues that corporate corruption is structural, not moral. We discuss his recent book ‘Incorruptible’, where he introduces the “spiritual holding company” as a governance blueprint for…

 

In this interview I speak to author Turi Munthe, who argues that climate, geography, genes, brain shape and ancestral agriculture quietly script our deepest beliefs. He explains why polarisation thrives on a false assumption — that opponents are broken versions of us — and why difference, pluralism and disagreement are…

 

In this interview, I speak to Professor Jens Juul Holst — co-discoverer of GLP-1, the gut hormone now powering the most consequential drug class of the century. He talks about how a Copenhagen experiment rewrote our understanding of obesity, why the gut behaves like a second brain wired into the…

 

I speak to Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Alvin Roth on 'Moral Economics', exploring repugnant transactions — exchanges willing parties want but others would ban. Drawing on kidney exchange, vaccine challenge trials, surrogacy, drugs and medical aid in dying, he argues most contested markets cannot be abolished, only relocated, and must…

 

In this interview, I speak to Professor Andrés Velasco — Dean of LSE’s School of Public Policy, Chile’s former Finance Minister, and co-editor of The London Consensus. He argues that ideas, not interests, drive policy and makes the case for principles over prescriptions, wellbeing beyond GDP, narrative as a tool…

 

In this interview I speak to Dr Leanne ten Brinke - an award-winning psychologist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia, where she directs the Truth and Trust Lab. Drawing on more than two decades of research into the dark tetrad — psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism —…

 

In this interview I speak to Dr. Richard Socher — pioneer of neural NLP, inventor of widely used word vectors, and founder of You.com. He discusses his journey from contrarian Stanford researcher to building AI-powered search infrastructure, his vision for recursive self-improvement as the path to superintelligence, and his philosophy…

 

You know what to do. So why aren’t you doing it? In this interview, I speak to NYT bestselling author Nir Eyal — the man who wrote the book on habits, then the book on focus — argues the missing variable isn’t discipline or strategy. It’s belief. And belief, it…

 

Award-winning environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou OAM, author of Nature’s Last Dance, challenges our most fundamental assumptions about human intelligence, progress, and our relationship with nature — making a compelling case that wonder, storytelling, community, and active hope are our most powerful tools in the race against extinction.

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

Entrepreneurship is about taking risks and having the audacity to commit and persevere through all the obstacles and hurdles we have to overcome.

I guess the only thing I would say is if you get to the point to where you could comfortably believe that I could die tomorrow and I wouldn't regret my life, I think at least for me, I think that's where success would be.

— Mitch Lowe
Co-Founder of Netflix & Former Redbox CEO

Just before my father passed away, the company had grown considerably. He said to me, 'I have six children, and who would have believed that you, Frederik, out of all my children would have been the one that succeeded!' I'm not sure that was a compliment!

Robert Edwards won the 2010 Nobel Prize for IVF. By then, millions of children had been born through it. On the very day his Nobel was announced, the Vatican said giving him the prize was 'completely out of order'. Same person, same achievement, same day -- celebrated as a saviour by some, condemned as a murderer by others. That is what a real moral controversy looks like. It doesn't dissolve, even after the technology has changed millions of lives.

The world is lying to you. It tells you that in 10,000 hours you can become excellent at what you do and that your strength will never wane. That is a complete, utter, falsehood. At some point, the party must end. At some point, the greatness that came to define who 'you' are will wane.

— Arthur C. Brooks
Social Scientist & Author on Happiness, Meaning, and Conservative Values

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Long-form Interviews with the World's Leading Thinkers — Thought Economics


The Wisdom Series

Ten in-depth articles distilling insights from over 550 interviews with the world's leading thinkers, creators, and changemakers.

The Wisdom of Leadership The Wisdom of Entrepreneurship The Wisdom of Creativity The Wisdom of Technology The Wisdom of Meaning The Wisdom of the Mind The Wisdom of Justice The Wisdom of Science The Wisdom of Geopolitics The Wisdom of Health
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