Acknowledging Innovation and Leadership

The latest episode of The Eric Ries Show features my conversation with Reid Hoffman. Executive Vice President of PayPal, co-founder of LinkedIn, and legendary investor at Greylock Partners are just a few of his official roles that have changed our world. He’s also been a mentor to countless founders of iconic companies like Airbnb, Facebook, and OpenAI. He’s an author, a podcast host – both Masters of Scale and his new show, Possible, with Aria Finger – and perhaps most importantly a crucial steward of AI, including co-founding Inflection AI, a Public Benefit Corporation, in 2022.

Reid has also long been a voice of moral clarity and a stabilizing influence on the tech ecosystem, supporting people who are working to make the world a better place at every level. He’s a firm believer that “the way that we express ourselves over time is by being citizens of the polis – tribal members.” That includes not just supporting the legal system and democratic process but also building organizations “from the founding and through scaling and ongoing iteration to have a functional and healthy society.”

We talked about all of this, as well as AI, from multiple angles – including the story of how he came to broker the first meeting between Sam Altman and Satya Nadella that led to the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership. He also had a lot to say about how AI will work as a meta-tool for all the other tools we use. We are, as he said,” homo techne,” – meaning we evolve through the technology we make.

We also broke down his famous saying that “entrepreneurship is like jumping off a cliff and assembling the plane on the way down” and:

• The human tendency to form groups

• The relationship between doing good for people and profits

• AI as a meta-tool

• What he looks for in a leader

• The necessity of evolving culture

• Being willing to take public positions

• His thoughts on the economy and the upcoming election

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Where to find Reid Hoffman:

• Reid’s Website: https://www.reidhoffman.org/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reidhoffman/

• X: https://x.com/reidhoffman

Where to find Eric:

• Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericries.carrd.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

• Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericriesshow.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

• X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ericries⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

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In This Episode We Cover:

(01:15) Meet Reid Hoffman

(06:01) The three eras of LinkedIn

(08:21) The alignment of LinkedIn and Microsoft’s missions

(10:39) The power of being mission-driven

(18:42) Embedding culture in every function

(21:08) The purpose of organizations

(23:45) Organizations as tribes for human expression

(29:08) Reid’s advice for navigating profit vs. purpose

(38:33) The moment Reid realized the AI future is actually now

(41:57) Home techne

(44:52) AI as meta-tool

(47:05) Why Reid co-founded Inflection AI

(49:53) The early days of OpenAI

(55:41) How Reid introduced Sam Altman and Satya Nadella

(58:26) The unusual structure of the Microsoft-OpenAI deal

(1:04:42) The importance of aligning governance structure with mission

(1:09:56) Making a company trustworthy through accountability 

(1:15:59) Inflection’s pivot a unique model

(1:19:53) Companies that are doing lean AI right

(1:22:52) Reid’s advice for deploying AI effectively 

(1:26:21) Being a voice of moral clarity in complicated times 

(1:31:26) The economy and what’s at stake in the 2024 election

(1:37:24) The qualities Reid looks for in a leader

(1:39:43) Lightning round, including board games, the PayPal mafia, regulation, and more

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Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.