For four years, NPR’s Guy Raz has helped weave stories and life advice together on the TED Radio Hour. Now, in addition to that popular series, he’s telling the stories of some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs — and getting world-class business advice along the way. On each episode of How I Built This, which debuts today on NPR, Raz talks with one entrepreneur for 30 minutes, to hear, in Raz’s words, “The journey from that day when they were pounding the pavement by themselves, to when they were at the New York Stock Exchange, ringing the opening bell.”
Upcoming guests include everyone from Ariana Huffington to Richard Branson to Sarah Blakely, the billionaire inventor of Spanx. “Everybody we talked to started somewhere,” Raz says, “and usually it was from a modest place. And so, generosity is worth a lot; most all of them remember a person who gave them a break, or who was generous to them.” For this reason, guests are strikingly forthcoming with their tips for success — and with their shortcomings over the years. “It’s a storytelling show that’s accessible and hopefully interesting to everybody — but there’s sort of a cheeky and subversive thing that we put in there, which is like a master class in how to do this….I’ve learned so many lessons, you can imagine.”
Raz shared with us some of the biggest lessons he’s learned so far, told from the champions of what he dubbed the “new golden age of entrepreneurship.” Read on for a taste of the master class, and be sure to give How I Built This a listen below.
Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia: Principles Outweigh Growth. “Chouinard is sort of like the anti-entrepreneur. He actively worked to slow down the growth of his company. If it were up to him, Patagonia wouldn’t grow by more than one or two percentage points a year, because he wants the company to last — and he sees a direct correlation between economic growth and environmental degradation.
“So I asked him, during the interview, how many puffy Patagonia jackets do you own? And he said: ‘I own one, and it’s 15 years old. And when I have tears in it, I just get it repaired. And by the way, I encourage anyone listening not to buy a new Patagonia jacket or fleece. If it’s broken, send it back to us; for a small fee, we’ll repair it. We want to do that. We don’t need you to consume more stuff.’
“And it’s not a marketing trick for them; he really believes that. This is a really important core value for him.”
Kathy Hughes, Founder of Radio One: Once the Deal Is Sealed, Stop Selling It. “Kathy Hughes is one of the wealthiest self-made African-American women in America. She was a single mother in Omaha, Nebraska; she had a child at seventeen. She just was relentless and talented and optimistic, and she managed to rise up the ranks of radio stations in Washington D.C., until she managed to cobble together loans and enough money to buy her own radio station in the late ‘70s. Her company is now worth $250 million.
