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21st March 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

A new dawn of brain tracking and hacking is coming. Will you be prepared for what comes next? Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, your thoughts can be used as evidence of a crime, and your own feelings can be held against you. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions. Neuroscience has already made all this possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the “universal controller” for all of our interactions with technology. This can benefit humanity immensely, but without safeguards, it can seriously threaten our fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination. In this interview, I speak to Nita Farahany – widely considered to be one the foremost experts on the ethics of neuroscience. We discuss the battle for our brains – and why we need to defend the right to think freely in the age of neurotechnology.

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21-03-2023 11:15:55
Thought Economics

28th January 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Hamish McKenzie is co-founder of subscription publishing start-up Substack and author of Insane Mode: How Elon Musk’s Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil (November 2018). In recent years, he has been the lead writer for Tesla, an advisor to Kik, a tech reporter, and a freelance journalist covering everything from the World Beard and Moustache Championships to the world’s most comprehensive face transplant. In this interview, I speak to Substack Co-Founder, Hamish McKenzie. We discuss the failures in traditional media, the genesis of Substack, and how it’s grown to become one of the world’s fastest-growing media platforms.

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28-01-2023 17:22:15
Thought Economics

8th January 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Laura Gassner Otting is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily, Laura’s 30-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected national search firm to expand a tech start-up; and founded, ran, and sold her own global search firm, partnering with the full gamut of mission driven corporate and non-profit executives. In this interview, I speak to Laura Gassner Otting. We discuss the true nature of success, why it isn’t always what we expect it to be, and what she’s learned from working with thousands of the world’s most successful executives about life in Wonderhell; and why success isn’t always what it seems

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12-03-2023 12:45:20
Thought Economics

6th January 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

It was 1998 when Barry’s first opened its doors in West Hollywood with an innovative new offering in fitness, combining HIIT interval training in a group setting. One part strength, one part cardio, 100% Barry Jay. This first site was founded by Barry Stich (Barry Jay) with help from his partners John & Rachel Mumford.  By 2011, the business had gone global (with its first site in Bergen, Norway) and today Barry’s has over 90 locations around the world, with over 140,000 people a week taking classes. In 2015, North Castle Partners (the investors behind Equinox Fitness, Curves International, Jenny Craig, Naked Juice & Octane Fitness) made a significant investment in Barry’s Bootcamp – allowing Barry Jay to move onto the next stage of his career, writing, producing, and directing horror films. In this interview, I speak to Barry Jay about Barry’s Bootcamp and how he built one of the world’s most recognised and fastest-growing fitness brands. We talk about his journey, succession, and how he’s gone on to find success in a whole new field, horror films.

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13-01-2023 19:32:17
Thought Economics

31st December 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Dr. Joshua N. Weiss is one of the world’s foremost experts in negotiation. He is co-founder of the Global Negotiation Initiative at Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Negotiation Project. He is also the Director and creator of the Master of Science degree in Leadership and Negotiation at Bay Path University. Dr. Weiss has spoken and published on leadership, negotiation, mediation, and systemic approaches to dealing with conflict. In this interview, we discuss what it takes to be a great negotiator, why negotiation skills matter, and the secrets of how to effectively handle even the most complex negotiations.

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31-12-2022 12:39:08
Thought Economics

3rd December 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Will Ahmed is the Founder and CEO of WHOOP, which has developed next generation wearable technology for optimizing human performance and health. WHOOP members include professional athletes, Fortune 500 CEOs, fitness enthusiasts, military personnel, frontline workers, and a broad range of people looking to improve their performance. WHOOP has raised more than $400 million from top investors and is valued at $3.6 billion, making it the most valuable standalone wearables company in the world. In this interview, I speak to Will Ahmed about his mission to transform human-health, and what he’s learned from building one of the world’s most valuable startups.

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03-12-2022 19:24:59
Thought Economics

6th November 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

DoorDash is a remarkable business. Founded in 2013, the business now has millions of monthly active users, across 27 countries, who utilise the services of millions of Dashers on the platform to get, ‘restaurants and more, delivered to their door.’ DoorDash is empowering a whole new economic model – In the period from Q1 2020 through today, the platform has generated over $70 billion in sales for merchants, and over $25 billion in earnings for Dashers. It took 7 years for DoorDash to complete their first billion orders (from founding through October 2020), it took 10 months to complete their next billion – the scaling continues – in Q3 2022 alone, DoorDash delivered over 430 million orders. DoorDash IPO’d in 2020, and is regarded as one of the most valuable consumer businesses on the planet. In this interview, I speak to Christopher Payne, President of DoorDash. He served as COO from 2016-2021, and prior to joining DoorDash, he led the North American business at eBay, ran development of MSN Search (now Bing) and mapping (Virtual Earth) for Microsoft. He also led Amazon’s expansion beyond books into video, electronics, wireless, PCs and software. He is one of the world’s most accomplished technology leaders.

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06-11-2022 20:01:17
Thought Economics

1st November 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, a New York Times #1 bestselling author, has written or edited 51 books which have sold over 3 million copies, been translated into 32 languages, and become bestsellers in 12 countries. Amazon recently recognized the ‘100 Best Leadership & Success Books Ever Written’ – and included Marshall’s Triggers and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. He is the only living author with two books on the list. His other bestsellers include: MOJO, Succession: Are You Ready?, The Leader of the Future and How Women Rise (with lead author, Sally Helgesen). His new NYT bestseller, The Earned Life, is an Amazon Editor’s Choice for Book of the Year So Far in 2022. Marshall’s acknowledgements include: Global Gurus – Corps D ’Elite Award for Lifetime Contribution in both Leadership and Coaching, Harvard Business Review – World’s #1 Leadership Thinker, Institute for Management Studies – Lifetime Achievement Award for Teaching, American Management Association – 50 great thinkers who have influenced the field of management and BusinessWeek – 50 great leaders in America. His life is featured in the documentary movie, “The Earned Life” and the New Yorker profile, “The Better Boss”. He is one of a select few executive coaches who has worked with over 200 major CEOs and their management teams. He served on the Advisory Board of the Peter Drucker Foundation for ten years. In this interview, I speak to Dr. Marshall Goldsmith about finding our path in life, the pursuit of happiness, the scorecards for success, the power of mentorship, discipline and what it takes to live the life you deserve.

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01-11-2022 11:21:26
Thought Economics

28th October 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Renowned economist Nouriel Roubini was nicknamed “Dr. Doom,” until his prediction of the 2008 housing crisis and Great Recession came true – when it was too late. Now he is back with a much scarier prediction, one that we ignore at our peril. There are no fewer than ten overlapping, interconnected threats that are so serious, he calls them Megathreats. From the worst debt crisis the world has ever seen, to governments pumping out too much money, to borders that are blocked to workers and to many shipments of goods, to the rise of a new superpower competition between China and the U.S., to climate change that strikes directly at our most populated cities, we are facing not one, not two, but ten causes of disaster. There is a slight chance we can avoid them if we come to our senses – but we must act now. In this interview, I speak to Professor Nouriel Roubini, who speaks on how We are heading towards the worst economic catastrophe of our lifetimes – unless we can defend against ten terrifying threats.

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28-10-2022 14:45:56
Thought Economics

9th October 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Mike Evans is the founder of GrubHub. Hungry and tired one night, Mike wanted a pizza, but getting a pizza was a pain in the neck. He didn’t want to call a million restaurants to see what was open. So, as an avid coder, he created GrubHub in his spare bedroom to figure out who delivered to his apartment. Then, armed with a $140 check from his first customer and ignoring his crushing college debt, he quit his job. Over the next decade, Mike grew his little delivery guide into the world’s premier online ordering website. In doing so, he entered the company of an elite few entrepreneurs to take a start-up from an idea all the way to an IPO. In 2021, JustEat acquired GrubHub for over $7billion. In this interview, I speak to Mike Evans, Founder of GrubHub. We talk about the brutal realities start-up life, what it takes to lead an innovative, scaling, consumer focussed business and how he took a $140 cheque and turned it into a $7bn+ business.

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09-10-2022 15:37:02
Thought Economics

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