The Question of Education

a16z | 11 September 2020 | 0h 58m | Listen Later | iTunes
Marc Andreessen and Dylan Field discuss education. Covers the purpose, past and present of education; economics of education (student loans, the debt crisis, government funding, industry cost disease, credentialing and accreditation capture); tradeoffs of hard and soft degrees when it comes to making money and assessing skills objectively; and advice for students.

Christopher Phillips on Scouting and Scoring Baseball

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast | 29 January 2020 | 0h 44m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Christopher Phillips about his book Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know about Baseball. Argues, counter to Moneyball, that both scouts and scorers use quantified judgements to assess the value of baseball players.

The Fundamental Human Relationship with Work

HBR IdeaCast | 13 October 2020 | 0h 25m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with James Suzman about his book Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Applies an anthropologist’s perspective from studying an ancient hunter-gatherer society to suggest that our modern notions of work, economy, and productivity are perhaps too limiting. Argues that humans have always been drawn to work for its intrinsic value and that managers can prepare for the future workplace by broadening their thinking about work and purpose.

Adam Hart’s Unfit For Purpose

Little Atoms | 13 July 2020 | 0h 32m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Adam Hart about his book Unfit for Purpose: When Human Evolution Collides with the Modern World. Discusses the mismatch between our biological adaptations and our modern environment, so that our bodies struggle to cope with the modern diet, stress, social media and “fake news”.

Robert Rosenberg on Dunkin Donuts

Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People | 14 October 2020 | 0h 54m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Robert Rosenberg, the former CEO of Dunkin Donuts and author of Around the Corner to Around the World: A Dozen Lessons I Learned Running Dunkin’ Donuts. Describes running Dunkin Donuts for 35 years. Distilled business wisdom throughout, including on the challenges of a family business; focus versus diversity in product offerings; the role of a CEO; the role of a board of directors; and the process of planning and budgeting.

Tom Wainwright | How to Run a Drug Cartel

The Jordan Harbinger Show | 6 August 2020 | 1h 10m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Tom Wainwright about the harrowing and sometimes grisly experiences he endured while writing Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel. Discusses the parallels between the drug trade and regular businesses; how ideas of economics and business apply to any entrepreneurial or business venture; how drug cartels engage in corporate social responsibility, branding, and even PR campaigns; why drug cartels franchise, regulate labour, branch out online, and diversify into legal (and ubiquitous) industries; how an economist gets discovered wearing a GPS device to a meeting with a drug lord and lives to tell the tale; and more.

The Real Great Escape with Commander Steve Foster

Dan Snow’s History Hit | 3 September 2020 | 0h 38m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Steve Foster relating an extraordinary Second World War escape story. Moving tale of two unlikely friends escaping a Nazi war camp, audaciously travelling across Europe, even visiting a Munich beer hall, before reaching the Swiss border. Subsequently became the book The Soldier Who Came Back.

Musa al-Gharbi on the Value of Intellectual Diversity

Sean Carroll’s Mindscape | 19 October 2020 | 1h 16m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Musa al-Gharbi about the value in intellectual diversity, both by keeping ourselves honest and in allowing ideas from unexpected quarters. Discusses why there are a lot more liberals than conservatives on university faculties, the extent to which that’s a problem, Heterodox Academy, and how we should better think about the value of diverse viewpoints.