Landing Moonshots with Google's Innovation Chief Dr. Astro Teller

A Bit of Optimism

The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek

Self-improvement, Careers, Business, Management, Education

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Before Elon Musk rebranded Twitter, X was already in use — at Google. Google X was Google's secret research lab, where Google's most imaginative ideas came to life.

As CEO and co-founder, Astro Teller's job is to harness X's wildest, most futuristic technology to solve the world's hardest problems. The same "moonshot factory" that created Google Brain and Waymo self-driving cars is also working on carbon capture, laser-beam Internet, delivery drones, and more.

I sat down with Astro to discuss how we build cultures of radical innovation. He shares some useful wisdom about unlearning what we know and why the counterintuitive approach is the key to landing moonshots.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

To learn more about Astro and his work, check out:

X, the moonshot factory

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Before Elon Musk rebranded Twitter, the letter X was already in use at Google.
0:06.0	Google X was the company's top secret research and development lab,
0:11.0	a place where Google's wildest and most outlandish ideas had the chance to come to life.
0:16.4	There was only one catch. For a project to be an X project, it had to try to solve one of the world's hardest most
0:24.0	intractable problems problems, problems so big they could only be described as
0:29.2	moonshots.
0:32.0	Welcome to the Cino Show.
0:35.0	I'm your host, Cino McFarland.
0:38.0	I'm an addiction specialist.
0:40.0	I'm a coach.
0:41.0	I'm a translator.
0:42.0	And I'm God's middleman.
0:43.2	My job is to crack hearts and let the light in
0:46.2	and help everyone shift the narrative.
0:48.4	Whether your get down is sex, drugs, alcohol, love addiction, self-hate, codependency, or anything else for that matter.
0:56.5	I want to help you wake up and I want to help you get free.
0:59.4	I want to help you unleash your potential, overcome obstacles, and achieve your goals.
1:05.0	Most importantly, I don't want you to feel alone.
1:08.0	So join me on the Cino show, where each week we'll feature a compelling individual with an even more
1:14.4	noteworthy story that will be sure to inspire and educate.
1:18.4	Listen to the Cino show every Wednesday on I Heart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your
1:25.4	podcast.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.