Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now,

with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed.

We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time.

So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes.

I'll see you on the other side.

I remember walking into the lunchroom.

And I see this boat, I've never seen a boat before.

I didn't know how to swim. They was asking everyone to join the crew team and right away my answer was no.

That's Arce Cooper.

He's an author and motivational speaker.

But back in high school, he was a Chicago kid who had never seen a boat.

Until one day he walked into the cafeteria, and there it was bright white and 34 feet long. Behind it

played a video of Olympic athletes rowing brought in by recruiters and beside it

recruiters from a local rowing team.

No one on the TV screen looked like me,

and it was just so foreign that I said no to the opportunity.

Arshay wasn't the only student who said no,

so the recruiters changed tactics.

I came back the next day and that was pizza,

and I'm a soccer for pizza. But it takes more than pizza to get kids to fall in love with a sport.

The first time on the water they pushed us out and everyone was afraid.

I mean we had these guys that were used to the craziest things that happened on the west side of Chicago.

...