Thom Mayne is a Pritzker Prize–winning American architect and educator, who founded the interdisciplinary architecture and urban design firm mOrphosis in 1972. He is the cofounder and executive director of the Now Institute and currently distinguished professor at UCLA’s Architecture and Urban Design.  The Now Institute is an urban research center at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design that applies strategic interdisciplinary thinking to real-world issues.

Entrepreneur and bestselling author of The Lean Startup Eric Ries reveals how entrepreneurial principles can be used by businesses ranging from established companies to early-stage startups to grow revenues, drive innovation, and emerge as truly modern organizations poised to take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the 21st century. 

Entertainment and tech insider Robert Kyncl is Chief Business Officer at YouTube, where he oversees all business functions including content, sales, marketing, platforms, access, and strategy. He was previously Vice President of Content at Netflix, where he spearheaded the company’s content acquisition for streaming TV shows and movies over the Internet.   

Nilofer Merchant has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s leading visionaries. She’s launched over 100 products that have netted $18B in sales, and has worked for companies ranging from Apple to Autodesk. Her 2013 TED Talk “Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation,” is among TED’s most viewed talks. Her visionary ideas have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and Time. 

Ken Blanchard, PhD, is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world. He has co-authored 60 books, including Raving Fans and Gung Ho! (with Sheldon Bowles). His groundbreaking works have been translated into over 40 languages and their combined sales total more than 21 million copies.

Great leadership begins with great understanding. No one knows that better than basketball legend Byron Scott and lifelong business executive Charlie Norris who, respectively, won NBA championships and resurrected multimillion-dollar corporations by being team players no matter their position. Whether it’s on the basketball court, in the boardroom, or in everyday life, getting to the heads and hearts of people is paramount to getting the most out of them.

Maureen Chiquet began her career in marketing at L’Oreal Paris in 1985. She has worked at The Gap, helped launch Old Navy, and was president of Banana Republic before becoming COO and President of US operations of Chanel in 2003. In 2007 she became its first Global CEO, where she oversaw the business and brand’s world-wide expansion.  She charts her unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive, guiding readers to move beyond the confines of staid expectations and discover their own true paths, strengths, and leadership values.

Jonathan Taplin is the Director Emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and a former tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band, as well as a film producer for Martin Scorsese. An expert in digital media entertainment, Taplin is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and sits on the California Broadband Task Force and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Council on Technology and Innovation. Move Fast and Break Things tells the story of how a small group of libertarian entrepreneurs began in the 1990s to hijack the original decentralized vision of the Internet, in the process creating Continue reading…

Daniel Franklin is Executive Editor of the Economist and editor of the Economist’s annual publication, ‘The World in…’, which focuses on the year ahead. He is interviewed by Ann Winblad, a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.  Technology moves fast – so where will it have taken us by 2050? How will it affect the way we live? And how far are we willing to let it go? In Megatech, distinguished scientists, industry leaders, star academics and acclaimed science-fiction writers join journalists from The Economist to explore answers to these questions and more.

“Brad Stone gives us a lively, fascinating picture of the new new thing in technology—startups like Uber and Airbnb that are disrupting old businesses across the world. He provides a much needed glimpse into the companies that fail as well as the ones that make it big. And he points to the broad policy issues raised by these new technologies, which are surely no fun for the people whose lives are being disrupted.”—Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World and host of CNN’S “Fareed Zakaria GPS”