Future Efficiency: CEO of Airtable, Drift's Management Shift; Plus, Revisiting George Floyd

Howie Liu of Airtable, Toluse Olorunnipa of The Washington Post, David Cancel of Drift

This week is off to a rocky start in the financial markets, with Bitcoin plunging and tech stocks wobbling on fresh concerns about China lockdowns and weakening demand. Let’s take a step back and see how innovators are trying to outrun the economic environment:

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence on Competing with Tech Giants: CNBC Working Lunch

Apple this week laid out plans for its software, hardware and payments platforms at its Worldwide Developer Conference. Now I brings you up close with Sonos CEO Patrick Spence, who lost big to Apple once, and is determined to do things differently this time:

A Big Enough Idea: Airtable CEO Howie Liu on the Power of No-Code Automation

I speak with Airtable’s cofounder and CEO, Howie Liu, about selling his first company to Salesforce, starting another with a bigger idea, and why automation has room to run:

Toluse Olorunnipa, co-author of His Name is George Floyd, on the Story Behind the Story

I’ve known Toluse Olorunnipa since he was fresh out of high school, joining Knight-Ridder Newspapers as an intern. Now he’s part of the politics team at The Washington Post, and he’s co-authored a book that examines the life and death of George Floyd, and the overlooked forces that shape our outcomes:

Drift Cofounder David Cancel Hands the CEO Reins to Scott Ernst

I caught up with Drift cofounder David Cancel, as he moves to executive chairman and brings Scott Ernst on as CEO. We talk private equity, what motivated the change, and what’s next for the workforce:

Does Shopify's Founder Have Too Much Voting Power? On the Other Hand

Shopify shareholders this week voted to give the company's founder and CEO special rights that boost his voting power to 40%. Other Internet stocks like Meta, Pinterest and Snap have big founder influence too. Their prices have faltered. Is this too much control for Shopify's founder? I argued both sides in the latest edition of On the Other Hand:

Check out The Black Experience in America: The Course, an online educational resource I researched, designed and built. A free PDF download is available to bring the material to kids, and the online interactive experience is made for young people and adults. You can also take interactive courses at your own pace: