Highlights to inspire your 2024

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0:41That's why over 3 ,000 firms trust Affinity, the CRM platform purpose-built for private capital. Affinity's relationship intelligence reveals your team's strongest paths to founders, investors, and decision makers using insights It's hidden in emails, calendars, and meetings. With powerful AI tools like Affinity NoteTaker and Deal Assist, you'll spend less time managing data and more time closing the right deals. Learn more at affinity.co slash marketplace. Hi, listeners. It's Chris McLeod, executive producer of Masters of Scale. Over the past year, we've shared some truly remarkable scale stories, from fashion icons to AI visionaries, tech startups to Hollywood mainstays.

1:31And as we close the book on 2023, we thought it'd be a great time to take a look back and share some of these unforgettable moments. And this week, Reid is passing the mic to the team who makes the show. Five of us behind the curtain have selected our favorite moments of the year. After the break, the Masters of Scale team shares their five favorite moments from 2023.

2:24do it. This is Masters of Scale.

2:36I'm Jodine Dorsay, VP of Live at Wait What, the company that brings Masters of Scale to life. My favorite moment from 2023 is Damon John's Ode to Financial Literacy featured in the Eileen Fisher episode. I love Damon's commitment to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. The lesson at the heart of this clip is about keeping ideas simple and adaptable, something I've thought about a lot in my own work since the episode dropped.

3:10Imagine you're a kid visiting a library for story time. Once you get past the stuffy, dewy decimalization of the grown-up shelves, you find yourself in the wonder-filled world of the children's section. There are dragons painted on the wall. Plush owls are posted on tables. And Saturn hangs from the ceiling. As you gather around with the other kids, your excitement builds. Are you about to hear a heartwarming tale about a hungry caterpillar? Or perhaps you're going to launch into a space rocket adventure. Or maybe you're going to shiver your timbers on a jaunty pirate adventure. Beat him to the sharks.

3:58So imagine how you react when you learn that this story time is going to be all about financial literacy. I will have my revenge. That may sound like a hard sell to a bunch of hyperactive six-year-olds, but for one superstar entrepreneur, there was a finance-shaped hole in the world of children's literature that he felt compelled to fill. There are so many great books that talk about getting to know your feelings and the differences of others, and there were no books about financial intelligence or entrepreneurship. So I just figured, why not me? That's Damon John The founder of the game-changing streetwear brand FUBU And one of the original sharks On ABC's Emmy Award-winning Shark Tank Most of the challenges we have Come from the lack of money And the lack of information Or what to do with money He'd need to tell a simple, relatable story To capture kids' imaginations So he looked to his own childhood for inspiration.

5:10Really rooted in a version of Damon at 20 years old.

5:17And a version of Damon at six years old.

5:25I did sell pencils when I was young and stuff like that to make money. My passion was hip hop. Damon titled his book, Little Damon Learns to Earn telling the story of a six-year-old who creates a t-shirt business so he can buy a poster of his favorite hip-hop artist At its heart is a simple refrain that every little kid can get on board with To get kids to participate in it studies have shown that they feel very strong about counting to five I can count really fast to five One, two, three, four, five So when you see the Chris Dollar Bill laid out and you're reading that in the classroom or the mom or dad is reading that their kid, they go one, two, three.

6:12I know you're thinking about the count right now. One, two, three, four, five. I know you're thinking about the count right now. One, two, three. But it's all, you know, there's certain methods and ways to communicate with children that are easier because they're absorbing information in a certain way. The aim of this simple idea is to give kids a lifelong interest in building their financial literacy. And there's something that even the most seasoned leaders can learn from keeping simplicity at the heart of their businesses. Every single business has to have clarity and simplicity. And so, you know, when you say Nike, just do it, fool before it's biased, White Castle, what you crave, TNT, we know drama, TBS, very funny.

7:03You know that you are getting to the core of something. That's why they say the great people know how to do what they call an elevator pitch, 90 seconds. You should be able to convey whatever you do on the back of a business card. So you better either have a huge-ass business card, write very small, or you get it. Put it in a couple of words. You got to convey what you do. There's nothing more important than simplicity and clarity. The challenge is keeping things simple, but not letting that keep you behind the times. One, two, three, four, five. I know you're thinking about the count right now.

7:50That's why I believe if you want your company to stand the test of time, you need to keep things simple without letting them stay the same.

8:07Hi, it's Masha Mukatonina, assistant producer at Masters of Scale. My favorite moment is hands down from Priya Krishna's segment in our special mini-series. AI and you. I don't want to spoil the clip, but as a cookbook author, Priya attempts to use technology in a totally new way to develop Thanksgiving recipes. What I love about this excerpt is that Priya shows the power of a true experimentation mindset. This moment inspired me to pursue creative risks and rethink how I use technology to amplify my skill set.

8:44On the final Thursday of every November, many homes across the U.S. burst with the sounds of a parade on the TV. Spirited family debates. You want to talk politics? Let's talk politics. And the squeak of an old oven door. For some people, preparation for the holiday begins months in advance. While traditions may stay the same, the menu often evolves. It's like, what's a new way to make turkey? What's a new way to make pie? It can be so frustrating. That's Priya Krishna. Priya is a best-selling cookbook author and food reporter at the New York Times. Every Thanksgiving, Priya feels the pressure to conjure new and creative recipes.

9:29So Priya decided to welcome an unlikely sous chef into her kitchen. We thought, what if we just asked AI to generate our Thanksgiving menu for us? Priya wondered, rather than bend over backwards to invent the next turducken, what if AI was the secret weapon every recipe writer didn't know they needed? Priya and her team filmed their experiment. She committed to cooking the AI-generated recipes word for word. We gave ChatGPT a bunch of different prompts. Show us a Thanksgiving dessert that is a spin on pumpkin pie. show me an unconventional take on stuffing show me an indie inspired version of turkey and that's where things got really interesting the more specific we made the prompts the more creative chat GPT would get to Priya's surprise GPT's recipe for stuffing called for Indian naan bread naan is not the most intuitive bread for a stuffing.

10:39You think you would want something that's super absorbent. But in my mind, I was like, maybe there's something too non. While Priya cooked through each of the AI recipes, she battled against her instincts, desperate to amend peculiar directions and measurements. The first dish Priya finished and plated was the non-stuffing. It looked a little gnarly coming out of the oven. It sort of looked like a cinnamon raisin bread pudding. Thankfully, other dishes looked more appetizing. The cake looked delightful. It was like a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting. To judge AI's Thanksgiving dishes, Priya invited four New York Times cooking columnists.

11:28The green beans were cooked to that perfect, crisp, tender texture. Bright green, they've got a little crunch. And then on the other hand, you had this turkey that was just dry as a bone. The general consensus was, if I went to someone's Thanksgiving dinner and they served this, I'd be ordering pizza afterwards. Despite GPT's lack of culinary success, Priya came away with some optimism. There are plenty of uses for AI in cooking. You could tell AI, I've got mushrooms and chicken broth and green beans in my fridge. What are some things I could make? And AI could give you ideas. I'm cooking chicken thighs.

12:14What temperature should they be at to be considered fully cooked? What is the roasting temperature for sweet potatoes that are cut into cubes? AI can be very good as sort of a kitchen assistant rather than perhaps the kitchen leader. Prio is only able to make this useful discovery through experimentation. No chef expects to create a flawless dish on their first attempt. They know from experience that commitment and patience are key in finding the perfect balance of flavors, textures, and smells. Although AI lacks the distinctly human senses and emotions needed to enjoy a turkey with all the trimmings, It can still help us come together and experiment and collaborate to make cooking creative, exciting, and accessible.

13:08Even though the AI's integration was far from a triumph, it encouraged Priya to step outside of her comfort zone and open her eyes to new ideas. Every business leader should take inspiration from Priya's willingness to invite AI into the kitchen and experiment. With patience and an open mind, the potential is boundless. That's why I believe that AI won't revolutionize your business overnight. To unleash AI's true power of scale, you must dive headfirst into an era of ongoing experimentation.

13:49Hi, it's Anya Profumo, the ad producer here at Masters of Scale. My favorite moment of the year is from Reshma Suljani's episode, where she talks about creating a network of changemakers. Reshma is the founder of Girls Who Code and the founder and CEO of Moms First. In a year where news from around the world makes it harder than ever to stay motivated, I think Reshma's story of optimism and empowerment feels even more inspiring. In the clip you're about to hear, Reshma shares the origin story for Girls Who Code. At this point in the program's journey, Girls Who Code is still just an idea for Reshma, a summer course for 20 young women to come together and learn to code.

14:34We also get to hear from Diana Chris Navarro, who is one of those first 20 girls to take part in the program. 74 % of high school girls wanted to pick a career that was about changing the world. And back then, less than like 0.2 % of girls were going into computer science. So I thought, you know what, if I could connect coding to change making, I could inspire a generation of girls to go into technology. Reshma didn't just want to build a network to address the issue of representation in tech. You could use these programs to close the gender gap. The idea was that you would come out of that summer classroom, You would love coding so much that you would want to go major or minor in computer science.

15:21And if you major or minored in computer science, you would then go work in the technology workforce. This is a job where you can march up into the middle class. Maybe for the first time, we're kind of starting kids out at the same place. And whether you are a young girl living in a homeless shelter in Harlem or a girl going to the best private school in New York City, you have an equal shot at getting a job at LinkedIn, right? Like, that really excited me. At the core of my life is not just solving equity for women and girls, but it's also solving poverty. And here I saw an opportunity to do both.

16:01So I put the model together. When I talked to people, the number 20 kept coming up, that you wanted to put a group of 20 together to teach them a new skill set. And so I designed these summer camps to have 20 girls. And then I did my first program. For insight on how that first cohort felt, let's hear from Diana Chris Navarro, a software engineer who was one of the first Girls Who Code students. I took AP Computer Science in high school. We started off with like three girls, and then they dropped out, and I ended up being the only girl in the class. It was very cutthroat and super competitive, And I remember this dude got a 97 on a test and he was like arguing with the teacher and was like, this should be like a 98.

16:51And I was just so embarrassed because I was just doing so poorly. I was like, this sucks. I really don't want to code ever again. The experience was so negative that Diana decided software engineering was a closed network and one she couldn't break into. That was until she came across the website for Girls Who Code. She applied, was accepted, and in the summer of 2012, arrived for her first Girls Who Code session at an office building in downtown Manhattan. Sitting around this gorgeous wooden table, everyone holding laptops, and it's awesome. And then Rushma came in with a box of these super fancy, cool-looking donuts.

17:37The program covered coding skills, but Breshma also made sure to get the cohort thinking about how they could work together to solve a range of problems. What app would you create? What technology would you build? And I remember just watching the room. I believed in this idea that if you actually bring together girls that were black, white, straight, gay, you know what I mean, rich, poor, and you put them in a classroom together and you taught them a new skill set, that they would become best friends. You could just feel like, oh, we're all going to be really good friends, and we're all going to do really cool stuff together, and there's people here that really believe in us and really want us to succeed.

18:16And it's just this, like, freaking awesome feeling. It was this big light that went off in my head. I thought to myself, you know, maybe I could help create an entire generation of girls that could make the world a better place. And she's like, you guys are going to change the world. And then that was it. We were going to build Girls Who Code.

18:47After the break, we'll hear more of our team members share their favorite Masters of Scale moments from 2023. So stick around. Real leaders don't back down when the stakes are high. They innovate, they push forward, and then they take the stage at the Masters of Scale Summit. Join us in San Francisco, October 7th to 9th, to hear from the CEO of the New York Times, scientists using cutting-edge technology to find cures, the leader of crypto powerhouse Coinbase, a retired four-star general, and many, many more. Apply now at mastersofscale.com slash apply25. That's mastersofscale.com slash apply25.

19:56aws.amazon.com slash activate and start building. Expanding your business in the U.S. can feel like a maze. Every state has its own payroll, benefits, and compliance rules, which can pull your focus away from growth. That's why founders use Deal. Deal is the Professional Employer Organization, or PEO, that gives you a dedicated HR expert plus Fortune 500 level benefits for your team. The National Association of PEOs says businesses can grow twice as fast if they use one. So if you're scaling, make it simple with Deal. Go to deel.com slash M-O-S and get up to three months free. We're back with our favorite Masters of Scale moments from 2023.

20:45There's so many incredible moments that we don't have time to share it today. And we're curious what your favorite was. Let us know. We're at Masters of Scale on all social platforms. Next up, passing the mic to Adam.

21:06Hello, this is Adam Skuse, Senior Writer at Masters of Scale. My favorite moment of the year is a story about Steve Jobs from Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull. Ed tells how Steve leaned into his lighter side at the 1999 Macworld event, poking fun at the event and himself. Ed used the story to illustrate a change he saw in the years he worked closely with Steve, a change that produced a lighter-hearted, more accepting Steve Jobs that remained somewhat shrouded by his reputation. The theory of the episode is about the need to constantly reinvent your creative processes, something mastered by both Steve and Ed, and a skill that is only going to become more vital with the runaway development of AI.

21:48When Steve Jobs bought us, at the beginning, to be honest, we were nervous. Because we did know what Steve was like and what the reputation was. And I have to say, for several years, I didn't see any sense of humor at all. That's Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar recalling Steve Jobs as a creative genius yes, but a genius who was demanding, brash, abrasive and that's putting it mildly I would say from 91 to 95 was a dramatic change in him as a person He became more empathetic and caring He paid attention to people You actually begin to see him having a sense of humor But this reputation stuck with Steve even after the changes Ed is talking about.

22:45So when the stories were written about him, they're about the early public stories, because frankly it's kind of sexy to talk about bad behavior or various things like that. Makes for more dramatic television.

23:02A good example of that dramatic television is the 1999 TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. Noah Wiley had played Steve in a television movie that was fairly derogatory towards Steve. I want beauty, not incompetence. Are you listening to me? Are you listening? Yes, I'm listening! I'm so sick of your abusiveness. That's all you know. Tearing people down, throwing tantrums, you miserable son of a... Shortly after the film came out was the annual Apple showcase, Macworld 99. It meant the image of Steve Jobs as an intense, humorless taskmaster was fresh in the minds of attendees. That didn't stop them from going wild as the lights dimmed and a turtleneck figure screwed out to the center of the stage.

24:00Welcome to the Macworld 99 stage, Steve Jobs.

24:08This is going to be a great Macworld. What you could hear in the audience, sort of this increasing titter as people begin to laugh because they realize it wasn't Steve. In fact, it was Noah Wiley that came out. You know, everybody at Apple has been thinking different for the last couple of years. We're selling a lot of computers. But there's something else happening here. The resurgence of Apple. So this went on for a couple of minutes and then reached the point where Noah Wiley says something like an extreme version of what Steve used to say. Some really great new products. some insanely great new products, some really, totally, wildly, insanely great new products.

25:00We have got products that are going to make... And then Steve came out. That's not me at all. That's not me at all. You're blowing it. You're supposed to come over here, open a water. Now Steve, with this lighter sense of humor, thought it would be a great idea to have Noah Wiley come out on the stage and pretend to be him. He just demonstrated the depth of humor to be able to do that. It's a insanely great thing. We stopped using that 100 years ago. You know? This moment of levity was a clear indication of how Steve had changed. It's a change Ed had been tracking for a long time, even if most of the world overlooked it.

25:48And it had a huge effect on how Steve worked. Part of his change over time was that in recognizing why things weren't going the way expected, he could then change the way he worked and thought about people. And throughout his life, he kept learning and growing as we all should be doing. As a result of that, Steve and Apple had a major transformative effect in the world. The MacBook, the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone. These are some of the vastly impactful things that Steve Jobs shepherded into the world. And I'd argue these were all so successful in part because Steve learned to change his approach, his process, and even the way he saw himself.

26:44I believe you need to constantly tweak, hack, and reinvent the ways you work to keep at the top of your creative game.

26:58Now that we've heard from a few members of our incredible team, I get to share my favorite moment of the year. This fall, we chronicled the story of Imagine Entertainment through two separate episodes with the company's co-founders, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. We heard in Brian's episode about his unique networking practice, which he calls Curiosity Conversations. Whether it's a Hollywood star or a young office assistant, the way Brian spends meaningful time to connect with people has stuck with me. As a podcast producer, or even just a human being in the world, it's so important to remember how curiosity can be a catalyst for meaningful connection.