Philanthropy and Company Building in a Different Way

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Tatne: I used to keep cut on those two sides of my life quite nicely separated. Now, you think about company building in a pretty different way. Do you also think about philanthropy in a different way? And what would you describe as the unity across your approach to companies and your approach to philanthropy? This is becoming excruciating. Tatne ah, the parallel between the two has over the years struck me, and it's been kind of most instructive. But nevertheless, describing it future backwards, and being anchored in the future as supposed to anchor it only in the present or the past. That thinking does affect very much the philanthropy that i've been involded.

“The world of innovation is very much one of toggling between survival and then thriving,” says Noubar Afeyan. Co-founder of Moderna and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the biomedical innovator, philanthropist, and entrepreneur credits his successes to his “paranoid optimism” shaped by his experiences as an Armenian-American. Exceptional achievements like the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine, he believes, aren’t usually unpredictable but rather the result of systematic processes that include embracing unreasonable propositions and even unreasonable people.

He joined Tyler to discuss which aspect of entrepreneurship is hardest to teach, his predictions on the future of gene editing and CRISPR technology, why the pharmaceutical field can’t be winner takes all, why “basic research” is a poor term, the secret to Boston’s culture of innovation, the potential of plant biotech, why Montreal is (still) a special place to him, how his classical pianist mother influenced his musical tastes, his discussion-based approach to ethical dilemmas, how thinking future-backward shapes his approach to business and philanthropy, the blessing and curse of Lebanese optimism, the importance of creating a culture where people can say things that are wrong, what we can all learn by being an American by choice, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded January 6th, 2021 Other ways to connect

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