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When Do Leaders Actually Matter? A Conversation with Jared Diamond on Discretion, Timing and the Hamlet Test

In this interview, I spoke to Professor Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, about when individual leaders genuinely change outcomes. We discussed discretion, timing, his Hamlet Test for irreplaceability, assassination as a…

Vikas Shah 24 min read

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Three thousand moments. Three picked at random.

“On the one hand, Excel's oeuvre comprises of a string of box-office hits like Dil Chahta Hai, Don, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Talaash & Fukrey. Alongside these blockbusters, Excel has also launched avant garde ventures like Gully Boy, India's first hip hop film and the official entry to the Academy Awards this year and Inside Edge, India's first original series on Amazon Prime Video that was nominated for the coveted International Emmy Awards under the Best Drama category in 2018.”
— Ritesh Sidhwani Co-Founder of Excel Entertainment & Bollywood Producer
“We're heading to a world where we can eliminate disease, increase our intelligence, and access all the food, healthcare, energy and education we could desire.”
— Peter Diamandis Founder of X Prize Foundation & Singularity University
“If there's one thing that thematically aligns all startups: a tolerance for innovation in how the companies are run. This means there's a little bit more risk taking and attacking problems in a way that hasn't been done before.”
— Stewart Butterfield Co-Founder of Slack, Former CEO & Creator of Flickr

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  1. 01 Business & Economics A Conversation with Jesper Kouthoofd, Founder of Teenage Engineering, on Design, Play and Why Every Product Is an Illusion 363 interviews
  2. 02 Culture, Society, Sports & Arts A Conversation with Jesper Kouthoofd, Founder of Teenage Engineering, on Design, Play and Why Every Product Is an Illusion 237 interviews
  3. 03 Politics & Policy From the Minefields of Kuwait to Sandhurst: A Conversation with Major General Arthur Denaro on War, Leadership and Peace 170 interviews
  4. 04 Science & Technology We Are Not Alone: A Conversation with Jonathan Caplan KC on the Evidence for UAPs, Non-Human Intelligence and Why It Was Never Disclosed 136 interviews
  5. 05 Health & Medicine The Continuum of Mind: A Conversation with Professor Michael Levin on Cognition, Bioelectricity and the Future of Being 74 interviews
  6. 06 Nobel Laureates Markets, Morals and the Road Ahead: A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Professor Alvin Roth 21 interviews

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