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Masters of Scale

Padma Lakshmi’s secret to authentic leadership? Stop trying.

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Startups, Business, Mindset, Management, Bob Safian, Entrepreneurship, Diversity & Inclusion, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Berman

4.64.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TV host, producer, author, and UN Goodwill Ambassador Padma Lakshmi joins Rapid Response with candid advice for business leaders on speaking out, showing courage, and staying true to themselves, particularly amid the Trump Administration’s violent immigration crackdown. A passionate voice at the intersection of food, culture, and identity, Lakshmi shares how she’s shaking up food media with her new series America’s Culinary Cup, and offers a refreshingly human take on modern work life, including why she chooses to take zoom meetings from the comfort of her own bed. 

Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/

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Transcript

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0:00.0

One of the biggest scaling breakthroughs founders have is realizing they don't have to do it all.

0:05.8

That's where Upwork comes in.

0:07.7

It's a one-stop shop to find trusted freelance talent across IT, web dev, design, marketing, and more.

0:13.9

And with Upwork Business Plus, you get instant access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork.

0:18.9

You'll get a curated shortlist of expert talent sent to your inbox

0:22.0

in hours so you can delegate with confidence and focus on growing your business. If you want to

0:27.7

scale smarter, not harder, post a job today and hire tomorrow at Upwork. Visit Upwork.com right now

0:34.5

and post your job for free. That's upw-o-rk.com. Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's upworg.com. Upwork.com.

0:42.6

As your company scales, the hardest part isn't ambition, it's alignment. That's why Atlassian

0:49.2

built the teamwork collection, an AI-powered teamwork platform designed to help teams move faster together.

0:55.8

By connecting Jira, Confluence, Lume, and Rovo, teams can easily align work to real business

1:01.8

goals, plan and track progress together, remove knowledge silos, and access the real magic

1:08.3

of AI plus human collaboration. Visit at lassian.com slash team changer to learn more.

1:15.5

That's A-T-L-A-S-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash team changer.

1:23.9

Every year product teams make the same promise. This is the year we get clear on our priorities.

1:30.1

But how do you decide which ideas to prioritize?

1:33.5

Jira product discovery is built to help you decide with confidence. It gives teams a single

1:38.3

place to capture insights, prioritize the highest impact ideas, and share living roadmaps,

1:43.8

stakeholders can rally around.

1:45.9

And because it's built on Jira, what gets prioritized becomes what gets built, with end-to-end

1:51.4

visibility from discovery to delivery. Try Jira product discovery free at Atlassian.com

1:56.9

slash scale. Build the right thing.

...

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