Matt is the MANAGING DIRECTOR of Madrona Venture Group, a Seattle based Venture capital firm. We spent today talking about Venture investments, being a good board memeber,  business in the Pacific Northwest and the future of Seattle. Matt invests in a broad range of software-driven companies with a focus on cloud computing, intelligent applications and the intersection of the digital and physical world.Before joining Madrona in 2000, Matt was vice president of business process for the Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC). He also was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, concentrating on strategy and marketing in technology-driven sectors and prior to that worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse.Matt has been named several times to both the list of Top 100 Venture Capitalists by CB Insights and The New York Times and the Forbes Midas list.Matt is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Blindspot

Venture in the Pacific Northwest with Matt Mcilwain

We recorded today with guest host Francis Brown and we are happy to be joined by Weijian Shan. WEIJIAN SHAN is chairman and CEO of PAG, a private equity firm. Prior to PAG, he was a partner of TPG, a private equity firm based in San Francisco. He led a number of landmark transactions including the acquisitions of Korea First Bank and China’s Shenzhen Development Bank.Previously, Shan was a managing director of JP Morgan, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a farm labor in China’s Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the Univer­sity of San Francisco. We talk about Mao's cultural revolution, the current US/China trade war and the future of China's growth on the world stage.

Weijian Shan - Out of the Gobi - My Story of China and America

I'm very lucky to be joined on the show today by 2 wonderful guests, Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas who are here to talk about humor in business. Jennifer is a behavioral psychologist, author and the General Atlantic Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Her research focuses on time, money, and happiness. She was unanimously voted the least funny person in her family.Naomi Bagdonas is a Lecturer in Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Naomi designs and facilities immersive workshops for groups of executives. She has trained at Upright Citizens Brigade and BATS, worked at IDEO, and has been making SNL-inspired shorts in her living room since before she could lift the VHS recorder. She has since built muscle mass.Today we talk about humor in the workplace, the types of humor, the risks and how it can be a powerful culture tool.

Humor in Business with Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas

Nancy Koehn is a historian at the Harvard Business School where she holds the James E. Robison chair of Business Administration. Koehn's research focuses on how leaders, past and present, craft lives of purpose, worth, and impact. We spoke about authentic leadership in times of crisis, how to be political as a business leader, race and gender relations and using history to inform our business thinking. Her forthcoming book, Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times is an enthralling historical narrative filled with critical leadership insights that will be of interest to a wide range of readers—including those in government, business, education, and the arts—Forged in Crisis spotlights five masters of crisis: polar explorer Ernest Shackleton; President Abraham Lincoln; legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; and environmental crusader Rachel Carson.

Leadership in Crisis - with HBS's Nancy Koehn

I'm happy to welcome on the podcast today Lanhee Chen. We discussed Health Care reform, immigration and the future of conservatism. Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University; and an affiliate of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He is also a Counsel at the law firm of Arent Fox LLP.A veteran of several high-profile political campaigns Chen served as the policy director for the 2012 Mitt Romney campaign and most recently, Chen was a senior adviser to Senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. Chen earned his Ph.D. and A.M. in political science from Harvard University, his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. magna cum laude in government from Harvard College. He is a member of the State Bar of California.

Health care, immigration and the future of conservatism with Lanhee Chen.

It's my pleasure to have Kori Shake back with me on the podcast today. We discussed Trump's first 100 days, the current state of foreign policy and the strategy in Syria and North Korea. Kori is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is the editor, with Jim Mattis, of the book Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. She teaches Thinking About War at Stanford, is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, and a contributor to War on the Rocks.

Foreign Policy in Trump's first 100 days - with Kori Shake

Wage inequality, job losses and the gig economy with Economist Paul Oyer. My guest today is economics Professor Paul Oyer. Today we discuss the way the economy and jobs are changing in the US. We also touch on policy recommendations, the pros and cons of the gig economy and the future of work. Paul Oyer is The Fred H. Merrill Professor of Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is also a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economics and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Labor Economics.Paul does research in the field of personnel economics. In addition, he is the author of two books published in 2014. “Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned from Online Dating” is an entertaining and non-technical explanation of numerous key ideas in microeconomics using examples from online dating, as well as labor markets and many product markets. “Roadside MBA” (with Michael Mazzeo and Scott Schaefer) is a non-technical Strategy guide for small businesses based on the authors’ extensive travel around the US interviewing small business owners.

Wage inequality, job losses and the gig economy with Economist Paul Oyer

John is a former Naval officer who served 14 years in Naval Special Warfare (otherwise known as the Seals), where he completed over 10 deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. His military career concluded with service as the Executive Officer (deputy commander) of a 250-person squadron. After transitioning from government service at the beginning of 2016, John served as director of national operations at the startup online pharmacy “PillPack.

A Navy SEAL in Silicon Valley - Leadership, grit and hiring "the best athletes" - with John Kingsbury

Today I'm very happy to welcome my guest Elizaveta Osetinskaya. We cover the media in Russia, Trump's reported connections to the Kremlin and Putin's role in the world. Elizaveta Osetinskaya was until May 2016 chief editor of RBC Media Holding, Russia’s leading privately owned media company.She and two other senior editors were abruptly fired a few weeks after RBC was the only major Russian news outlet to cover the Panama Papers’ revelation that a Russian businessman with ties to President Vladimir Putin had funneled billions of dollars through offshore accounts. Before joining RBC, Osetinskaya was editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia, considered by many to be the only independent and reliable business magazine in Russia.

Russia, Trump and the motives of Putin with Elizaveta Osetinskaya

We are happy to have as our guest this week, Peter Van Valkenburgh on the line from Washington DC.We spoke everything cryptocurrency - Bitcoin, Etherium and the future of the Blockchain. Today’s show is co hosted by my colleague and Cryptocurrency enthusiast David Lawant. Peter is the Director of Research at Coin Center. Based in Washington, D.C., Coin Center is the leading non-profit research and advocacy center focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency and decentralized computing technologies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Plus decentralized security FTW. He has a JD from NYU, and is a 2013 Google Policy Fellow. He writes about how legal theory can help us understand the development of self-regulation and self-governance within online communities, and, conversely, how network technologies can improve traditional legal systems.

Bitcoin, Blockchain and the future of Cryptocurrency with Peter van Valkenburg

Today’s episode is co-hosted by my colleague, Sloan fellow and education expert Joe Ballou. Our guest today is Robert Pondiscio, on the line from New York.Robert Pondiscio is senior fellow and vice president for external affairs at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He is also a senior advisor to Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of high-performing charter schools based in Harlem, New York. He writes and speaks extensively on education and education-reform issues, with an emphasis on literacy, curriculum, teaching, and urban education. After twenty years in journalism, including senior positions at TIME and BusinessWeek, Robert became a fifth-grade teacher at a struggling South Bronx public school in 2002. He subsequently served as vice president for the Core Knowledge Foundation.

Education in America with Robert Pondiscio

I am joined by returning guest Professor Neil Malhotra. We spoke about President Trump, the immigration ban and the power of institutions. Neil is the Professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. We recorded today on the campus of Stanford University at the Graduate School of business, live from the Seminar series : moving forward after political confrontation and are joined by a cross section of students and faculty from across the university.

Trump and Immigration with Neil Malhotra

I'm very happy to welcome on the show this week, Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. This week we talk about power and why it's a BlindSpot and how played out in the 2016 elections. Also how Donald Trump is a power master. JEFFREY PFEFFER is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of 14 books including:The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First;Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t;

Jeffrey Pfeffer - Power, Politics and the rise of Trump

I'm very happy to welcome onto the podcast today, previous guest on my old show, long time contributor and friend Russell Lamberti. This week we talk about the economic hangover of the financial crisis, the banning of interest and the revolt against technocratic socialism. We also dig into the political results of 2016 and why it might be good for the world. Russell is the head strategist of ETM analytics, a Global macro research & advisory firm. His specialties include monetary economics and currency, gold, hyperinflations, capital markets, and long term wealth protection strategies. Russell is the author of When money destroys nations.

Debt and Donald - Why the World needed 2016 - with Russell Lamberti

Today is a special episode of Blindspot as I'm joined by guest host Matt Cooke.Our Guest today is Michal Kosinski. We discussed Big Data, micro targeting and why computers can know you better than your spouse. Dr.Michal Kosinski is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.Dr Kosinski received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2014. Kosinski’s research has had a significant impact on both academia and the industry. His research focuses on individual differences in behavior, preferences, and performance. Specifically, he is interested in the mechanisms linking psychological traits (such as personality) with a broad range of organizational and social outcomes, including job performance, person-job fit, consumer preferences, and ideology, as well as the expression and recognition of psychological traits from behavioral residues, language, and facial features. Kosinski conducts his research using a range of computational methods, including machine learning, data mining, and observational studies involving millions of participants.

Why computers know you better than your spouse - Michal Kosinski on the rise of Big Data

BlindSpot is a interview based podcast series that focuses on critical issues of domestic and international policy in the US.We will ask the critical question: what are we not paying enough attention to and what impact will it have in the future?We have frank and honest conversations with our guests about the current state of foreign policy, the economy, technology and business and the challenges facing us in the future to discover what is beyond our periphery.

hubhopper

Blindspot

hubhopper