J.J. Abrams: Make room for magic

You can’t predict your next a-ha moment. but you can create favorable circumstances for serendipity to happen – for you, and for your team. No one knows this better than J.J. Abrams, director, producer, screenwriter, and co-founder and co-CEO of Bad Robot Productions, which has been behind some of the most successful TV series and films of the last 20 years, from Lost to Star Trek to the Star Wars sequel trilogy. J.J. explains how creativity and collaboration are things you cultivate, not conjure; and that making room for magic isn’t a luxury, it’s an essential part of entrepreneurship. Building the conditions for discovery emboldens and energizes a team, he shows, helping to accelerate the arrival of the next surprise-and-delight solution.

Rapid Response: How to cultivate a new industry, w/Upside Foods CEO Uma Valeti, MD

When the FDA blessed Upside Foods’ grown-from-cells chicken as safe to eat, it was a coming-of-age moment for cultivated meat. Upside founder and CEO Uma Valeti, MD, shares his journey of convincing skeptics, landing investors from Bill Gates to food giants Tyson and Cargill, and building a collaborative partnership with the FDA and USDA. Plus, his lessons on leadership from a career in cardiology and what it will take to convert consumers to a never-before-seen product. 

The team behind Masters of Scale also creates another show about this exact topic: cultivating creativity. It’s called Spark & Fire. We recently launched Season 2. Each week, guests — like Rian Johnson (Knives Out), Domee Shi (Turning Red), Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits), and Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) — share their stories of bringing one beloved work to life.

You can listen here >>