Always be the challenger, with Savannah Bananas founder Jesse Cole

Tom Freston is a cofounder of MTV and former CEO of Viacom. He joined host Jeff Berman to dig into the wild stories and meaningful lessons from his life as an unconventional corporate leader. Freston reveals how MTV’s audience-first mentality and “subway car” approach to hiring helped the network scale into a cultural icon. Tom’s memoir is Unplugged: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Unplugged/Tom-Freston/9781668089798 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What’s the business story of the summer thus far? SpaceX’s stumble post-IPO? AI security breaches? Ongoing tension surrounding the Strait of Hormuz? Host Bob Safian sits down with Rapid Response producer Alex Morris to weigh in. The pair also break down the impact of Uber COO Andrew Macdonald’s appearance on the podcast, and how it sparked a broader conversation throughout the business world about AI spending. Plus, leadership lessons forged in the fire of FIFA’s privatization play, Kalshi’s New York lawsuit, and the BTS boycott of The Grammy’s.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For decades, Wieden+Kennedy has defined the brands that shape culture. Now, as economic uncertainty, AI, and shifting consumer expectations rewrite the rules of business, CEO Neal Arthur joins Rapid Response to break down why understanding your audience is no longer just the marketing team's job. Arthur shares what today's most successful brands are getting right and how leaders can better understand the culture that moves their customers. He also takes us behind the scenes of Nike's headline-making World Cup campaign, its emotional New York Knicks spot, and what’s at stake for the future of creativity in business. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After his first VC-backed business flopped, ButcherBox CEO and founder Mike Salguero turned lessons learned the hard way into the fuel that built his subscription meat delivery business. Salguero joined host Jeff Berman to reveal how a blend of clean ingredients, clever marketing, and hiring for grit helped him scale into a business that’s now making more than $600M a year and expanding into retail nationwide. Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Serena Williams doesn't just defy convention on the court. She’s also applying her competitive mindset to entrepreneurship and venture investing, recently rebranding her firm from Serena Ventures to StarFire Ventures. Serena joins Bob Safian to discuss how she identified the 16 unicorns now in her portfolio, what she looks for in founders, and how partnerships with companies from Nike to Ro fit into her broader vision. Recorded live at the Reckitt Catalyst event in Palm Beach, Serena also opens up about balancing business with family life—and why she still feels the pull of the tennis court.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.