The Business of Disruption & “The Geek Way,” with Andrew McAfee, PhD

Name: Andrew McAfee, PhD

Specialty: Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management

Location: Cambridge, MA

There’s no shortage of books on Silicon Valley, with a quick Amazon search yielding over 40,000 results. Our guest today believes that most, if not all, of these books have overlooked a crucial element of the story: how these high-tech, disruptive, and revolutionary companies are actually run. How they implement and cultivate an organizational culture that is “freewheeling, fast-moving, egalitarian, evidence-driven, argumentative, and autonomous.”

Today, we’re thrilled to have Andrew McAfee with us. Andrew is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-founder and co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. His latest book, ‘The Geek Way,’ is aptly described by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, who wrote the foreword: ‘By combining management theory, competitive strategy, the science of evolution, psychology, military history, and cultural anthropology, he has produced a remarkable work of synthesis. This work, which he dubs ‘the geek way,’ finally explains, with a single unified theory, the reasons why the tech startup approach has taken over so much of the world.

This was a great conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. With that said, let’s get started.

Targeting PTSD with two Navy SEAL Physicians. Sean Mulvaney, MD with guest host, Robert Adams, MD

Guest Host: Robert Adams, MD

Specialty: Special Operations and Family Medicine

Location: Raleigh, NC

Guest: Sean Mulvaney, MD

Specialty: Special Operations, Sports & Pain Medicine

Location: Annapolis, MD

Today we are thrilled to embark on a new adventure here on PeerSpectrum. The first episode of our new guest host series. We’re inviting back some of our most popular past guests and handing over the microphone. As Keith and I have learned over the past few years, there is an art and craft to interviewing. Playing on the field has given us both a deeper appreciation and admiration for the true masters of the game. Masters such as the late Larry King (who passed away just last month) and his very close friend, and our most recent guest, Cal Fussman. As we discussed last time, one of my all-time favorite podcast interviews was Cal Fussman interviewing Larry King, on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. It was a rare opportunity to listen in as two masters discussed their game. These types of conversations are likely more common than we think. It’s just not as common to hear them.

Today we are happy to have our good friend and past guest, Dr. Robert Adams back with us. As you may recall, Bob is a former US Navy SEAL and command surgeon for the army’s elite Delta Force. A recently retired family physician in the UNC health system, Bob is also the author of two books, “Six Days of Impossible,” and “Swords and Saints: A Doctor’s Journey.” 

Today Bob is joined by his good friend and former colleague, Dr. Sean Mulvaney. Sean is also a former US Navy SEAL turned army physician. Their conversation will take us all around the world from the battle fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, to a surprise birthday party for Colin Powell aboard a US Navy warship.   

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