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

Francis Ngannou is a remarkable individual. He is currently the heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and is ranked as having the hardest punch in the world. Francis Ngannou was born in the village of Batié (Cameroon), and grew up with very little: no home, no formal education, and…
Thought Economics

 

Albert Wenger is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures (USV), a New York-based thesis-driven venture capital firm, where his investments have included Etsy, Twilio and MongoDB. Before joining USV, Albert was the President of del.icio.us from founding through the company’s sale to Yahoo. Albert graduated summa cum laude from…
Thought Economics

 

Alibaba combines the economic might of Amazon, the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google and the cultural significance of YouTube. In China alone, Alibaba has over close to 1billion active customers and over 250,000 employees. At peak, the platform processed over 583,000 orders per second. Each year, Alibaba receives…
Thought Economics

 

In this interview, I speak to Jud Brewer MD PhD (“Dr. Jud”), one of the world’s foremost experts in habit change, addiction, self-mastery and mindfulness. Dr. Jud has more than 20 years of experience in research and clinic, and we discuss the very fundamentals of building and breaking habits, the…
Thought Economics

 

Ant Middleton is a remarkable individual. As a soldier, he had a formidable career in the UK’s most elite fighting forces, including the Marines, 9 Parachute Squadron and Special Boat Service (SBS). This career led him to his synonymous role as the Chief Instructor on SAS: Who Dares Wins and…
Thought Economics

 

Jody Michael is one of the world’s top leadership coaches. She’s an internationally credentialed Master Certified Coach, Board Certified Coach, University of Chicago trained psychotherapist, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She has delivered over 40,000 hours of coaching over the last 25 years, including 15 years working in corporate leadership…
Thought Economics

 

The single best way to have a great idea is to produce lots of ideas. The number of new ideas your organization can produce is a metric for its ability to generate novel solutions to any given problem. Your ideaflow is the most crucial business metric that you've never considered.…
Thought Economics

 

Dandapani is a Hindu priest, entrepreneur and a former monk of 10 years. After graduating university with a degree in Electrical Engineering he left it all behind to become a Hindu monk under the guidance of one of Hinduism’s foremost spiritual leaders of our time, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. For 10 years…
Thought Economics

 

Mary Bekhait is one of the most powerful figureheads in the global entertainment industry. As Chief Executive of YMU Group, she leads an international business representing household name clients across music, sport, entertainment, literary, social, art and business management. In this interview, I speak to Mary Bekhait about the secrets…
Thought Economics

 

Mitch Lowe has been a leader in some of the most influential and disruptive companies in the entertainment business. Mitch never graduated from high school. After a youth spent smuggling goods and money in Europe, he invested in and eventually ran video stores in the 1980s and 1990s. He was…
Thought Economics

 

Work relationships can be hard. The stress of dealing with difficult people dampens our creativity and productivity, degrades our ability to think clearly and make sound decisions, and causes us to disengage. We might lie awake at night worrying, withdraw from work, or react in ways we later regret—rolling our…
Thought Economics

 

All Interviews  (580)
Business & Economics  (343)
My interview with reMarkable CEO, Phil Hess. We discuss the thesis behind reMarkable that led to the creation of one of Europe’s fastest growing technology companies, and a product with millions of users, which made Time magazine’s list of Best Inventions of 2020. Phil digs into reMarkable’s traction and growth,…
In this interview, I speak to Baron Jon Moynihan on his new book, Return to Growth Volume One: How to Fix the Economy. We discuss the UK’s decades-long stagnant economy and looks at what can be done to resuscitate it. In our conversation, we explore the key dynamics affecting economic…
Culture, Society, Sports & Arts  (234)
Health & Medicine  (65)
In this interview, I speak to James Nestor (author of ‘Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art’) we discuss his extraordinary journey understanding how modern civilisation has forgotten the importance of the most important thing we do, breathing. We discuss the impact that poor breathing has on our health…
In this interview I speak to Professor Bruce Hood, a world-leading psychologist and happiness expert. Grounded in decades of neuroscience, Professor Hood’s recent book The Science of Happiness explores the simple, life-changing discoveries that can really impact our own happiness. In our conversation, we discuss the fundamental nature of happiness,…
Nobel Laureates  (20)
Politics & Policy  (162)
In this interview, I speak to Baron Jon Moynihan on his new book, Return to Growth Volume One: How to Fix the Economy. We discuss the UK’s decades-long stagnant economy and looks at what can be done to resuscitate it. In our conversation, we explore the key dynamics affecting economic…
Science & Technology  (120)