Rapid Response: Lessons from Gaza & Israel, with World Central Kitchen’s Erin Gore and the Builders Movement's Daniel Lubetzky

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Join us at masters of scale dot com slash apply twenty six. That's mastersofscom slash apply. Twenty six. Ha ha ha. Hey everyone, it's Bob here. We're fresh off the Invite Only Masters of Scale summit in San Francisco. Two days of extraordinary conversations and insights from AI to brand loyalty to team building.

And one of the most important stage sessions I led had to do with Gaza and Israel. We're gonna share that session with you here today. It features Aaron Gore, the CEO of World Central Kitchen, which is providing much needed food relief in Gaza and has lost several team members in the violence there. And Daniel Lubetsky, founder of Kind Snacks and the One Voice Movement, an organization dedicated to building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. As you'll hear, our conversation clarifies the challenges in the region, as well as offering lessons on how to lead during crisis.

and how to keep our minds open to varied beliefs and perspectives. It's important stuff, so let's get to the stage. I'm Bob Safien. And this is rapid response.

We're gonna do a live rapid response session here today. And uh we're gonna talk about managing in an environment of of crisis and uncertainty. And division. Uh and it's it's serious. We're gonna be talking today about about

Israel and Gaza. Um this is a A difficult. And challenging Topic.

Uh we realize that there will be references in the conversation. to to violence and and to hate and to other difficult issues. We ask you to be respectful of what you hear. Um think you try to keep Uh

Your your eyes, your ears, your minds um open. And and please do try to, you know, be respectful of the opinions that you hear voiced by by everybody up here, because it is a challenging topic. And in the process, we hope that your you Can look for and find and see ways of dealing with Really um fast moving challenging situations. I in a way that might apply to your world, because we all have uh challenges that we are we are addressing with our teams and in our world. Um so with your with your cooperation, some deep breaths.

As we as we delve into this topic, I'm gonna have uh two guests up here. The first is the CEO of World Central Kitchen, Aaron Gore. You you saw uh World Central Kitchen is is a winner of this year's Master Scale Rapid Response Award, uh World Central Kitchener. is an extraordinary organization. They uh they've been feeding millions of people all around the globe, from from hurricane victims uh to uh to Ukraine and to Israel and Gaza as well. So if you uh will join me, please welcome uh Aaron Gore. So Aaron, we're gonna jump right in. Let's do it. You're ready? Ready? Okay.

World Center Kitchen. Works in Uh incredibly difficult situations all over the world. Thousands of people have been uh tragically killed in Gaza and Israel and Lebanon over the past year. I want to begin by asking you about

Вот you've called the worst day of your life. Last april first when seven world central kitchen Aid workers were killed by an IDF. Strike in Gaza you and your team First heard about this on social media.

When people were posting images of of your colleagues with passports identifying them. I mean I I can only imagine that trauma. Yeah. So

How how do you how do you react in that situation as a leader? How do you think about Leading your team like what you what do you do? And then I guess From there, sort of how does it impact

World Central Kitchens relief efforts going forward from there. Yeah. A lot to unpack and I think I'm still honestly processing some of it to this day. Um

Ar work in Gaza. I work in Israel, our work in Lebanon. It's it's so profound. We have learned so much about Who we are, how we show up, how we have impact. Over the almost fifteen years that we have been in existence as a nonprofit, our purpose is to feed people.

Авто дизастер з Автокрасис. What I've heard from the team in Israel especially in Gaza and now in Lebanon is that Our work. Has never been more dire, more profound, more life saving.

Then what we are doing, what we are accomplishing. in Gaza. Ar team The seven colleagues and friends that we lost on top of the five hundred Palestinians that still carry out this work in Gaza for us.

Every single day. They were there because we had fed over We had served over seventy five million meals. We were A дriving force And breaking through barriers to really complicated, really challenging

Scenarios where food is absolutely A lifeline. Um I mean I could I could see in a situation like that Also sort of saying like well

Maybe we should Pull back a little bit because we're we're in danger in a way that maybe we didn't expect we were necessarily gonna be in danger. Instead you sort of Doubled down, added new kitchens named after some of your colleagues. Look, we had really, really hard Conversations.

Um I mean you're showing my colleagues right now it's Saef, it's Sami, Damien, Jacob. John, Jim, and James. Um You know, a lot of the work that we do carrying forward is in their honor.

To honor their legacy, I speak their names often because they're not here. Physically. But I can keep them alive, we can keep their memories alive by saying their names. And that is a promise that we have made, that I have made. To their families, to the organization. that they would want and so

You know In moments of crisis or disasters, and that that's what we do, right? Of all the people that are used to operating in disasters and crises, it's world central kitchen. Um but to lead In that moment There's

As you said, how we found out social media And that's That's common in Gaza. There aren't a lot of news outlets there's not a lot of international press there's Again, so many Palestinian heroes that are doing their best, risking their lives to share so many different stories every single day.

Um And so for us to find out on social media, everybody has a crisis plan. You have your A, you call this person, you call that person. All of that just implodes. It explodes, right and so For us, it was just Leading

through making decisions with incomplete information, which is oftentimes what happens during crises, during disasters is it's piecemeal, but you have to make Immediate decisions, immediate action and you have to sort of set your own emotions aside. Try to Yeah.

Try to um in this case I was able to do that because my first priority was the families of of our victims, of our colleagues, of our friends, right? Um Everything my purpose became

you know to find information to give them answers Um obviously World Central Kitchen, we want and need more answers than we have today. Um, and we continue to ask those questions. We continue our investigation, which we're not so open about, we're not public about, but that does continue. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's really challenging and I think we're all here because we do challenging things and you know, there's lots of pride and accomplishment that drives us forward, but sometimes there's there's lots of

But You know Through these moments it's very iterative. You learn more information or you make a decision. And then oh it wasn't the right decision, so you have to very quickly pivot. So you just have to be very comfortable. In that space.

Um, even when so much is weighing on you, when the world is looking at you, when other NGOs are calling and saying Okay, this is the moment, World Central Kitchen. decisions and I mean as much as I would love to have and wield That power it's simply not true. And so

it there's a lot weighing, you know, in these crisis scenarios, but In a We did pause the activation, right? You mentioned that we stopped and then we carried forward. We did pause the activation'cause there for a while I wasn't sure. Yeah.

this paya pan that is our beloved logo, if this paella pan was effectively a bullseye, right? The vehicles that our teammates that our our colleagues and friends are traveling in were marked vehicles. They were mostly armored vehicles and the drones, you know, hit Right. Through our logos and so safety, security first in in in a context where there are no guarantees, but in a place where International humanitarian law should carry some weight, right? And so

It did take us a while. I did pause our activation for about a month. um had really hard conversations with colleagues had really hard conversations and when I say colleagues I mean the five hundred Palestinians who are working with us still to this day Um essentially and effectively what it came down to was them their heart. Their passion And we as World Central Kitchen meeting and always leading with community and listening.

to the community. The situation again it's a lifeline. There's so many dangers. Um I have so many messages in my WhatsApp, yeah, saying You know, we're gonna we might die. We might die today. There's so many that have just kind of accepted their own mortality, right? That any day, any moment could be their their time.

And that Their time might come from A gun, a missile. Or starvation.

I I don't want to die from starvation. Yeah. we can do something about that. So how can we not show up I'm gonna uh Thank you for sharing.

I'm gonna bring out our second guest. Another Master Scale Awards honor, our our Global Impact Award winner. He spent Um decades working to try to bring Israeli and Palestinian businesses together to to build bridges, uh build bridges through the one voice movement. He's also the founder of Kind Snacks. So if uh please welcome uh Daniel Lubetsky. Well, uh Daniel, thanks for thanks for joining us. Um y you were a guest on my on my rapid response.

uh podcast a year ago, just after Hamas uh the October seventh attacks. And hostage taking, and you talked about needing to support. Builders over destroyers. Um since then we've seen a a lot more destruction.

than we've seen building. I mean Gazes. You know, thousands of Palestinians perishing. Violence spreading to Lebanon.

How has the last year impacted your your perspective? Are you still Focused on Building. Mm-hmm.

Um Yeah, the last year's one of the hardest years of my life. I mean pales into comparison in comparison to what my father went through. He was a Holocaust survivor, so I wanna also be a little bit uh uh respectful of of other people's suffering which is much greater but uh

Just to give people some background because you might not know this about me and then I can answer your question. I was born in Mexico but came to United States when I was sixteen. My first company after law school is Peaceworks, which For twenty five years brought Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and Turks to use business as a force for Breaking stereotypes, cementing relationships and building ventures that lasted for a quarter century. And then uh together with uh

Palestinian Israeli co-founder Mohammed Daralsha, we launched the one voice movement, which became the largest grassroots movement in both Israel and Palestine. to try to Empower citizens to seize back the agenda for conflict resolution and sees it back away from forces of violent absolutism on all sides. And so

During the Hamas massacre of October seventh. A lot of our Palestinian and Israeli Staff and family members died. including Mohammed Rausha, my co founder's cousin, who was a Muslim nurse trying to tend to victims

of the massacre and who was killed by the Hamas terrorists. And Following Israel's response to Hamas, we had also A number of our Palestinian staff members died. Um

And it's heartbreaking. Like it's it's heartbreaking to have Israeli Jewish, Israeli, Muslim and Palestinian members be killed by this conflict. And um What breaks my heart even more is What I've noticed, you know, when when I started

Peace work and one voice. Айвоста май ро was gonna be to build bridges in the Middle East and to prevent what happened to my father from happening again to others in the Middle East but bringing peace to that region. I now worry globally that instead of us exporting that, we're importing

Across the world, more tribalisation, more hate. All of us here in the United States are experiencing. More Division. Certainly then since I immigrated to United States. And it's a global problem of builders as destroyers, and there's many, many forces contributing to toxic polarization.

that are actually winning right now if you look at the last year Every one of us around the audience. Myself, all of us. Uh Um

being impacted by that and every one of us recognizes that there's a problem On the other side. But we don't recognize it happening to us and and to our groups, and it's very, very serious because Whether it's In the context of the Ізraї Palestinian conflict where

Pro Israel people have one set of information that they're getting and pro Palestine people have another one, or in the context of the blue red divide here. Our social media feeds are telling us what we wanna hear rather than what we need to hear. And Each side only sees the worst of the other side. They don't understand the pain of the other side. We're just losing empathy. We're losing an appreciation.

for a little bit more nuance and context and it's it's gonna be harder for us as builders to overcome these divisions if we allow that. So I think it starts with everyone that's listening today and everyone in their daily lives. understanding that this is happening to us that whether it's rigid ideologies of foreign adversaries funding groups to try to divide us.

or political uh Forces using scandal and division to raise funds and stay in power rather than to solve problems. or social media algorithms feeding us this hate or or or or all these toxic forces polarization. We need to try to overcome that by

Building alliances with those that are different from us. Mm. However difficult it is, it's double important. Searching within ourselves for the four C of curiosity, compassion, creativity, and courage that make a builder's mindset, and then affirmatively doing something about it. And I mean it just gonna take a ton of work.

I I'm Jewish also. You you have not been a supporter necessarily of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's uh he said he considers you an enemy, he's called you uh A traitor to the Jewish people. I'm curious how you parse your feelings about Israel.

Versus your feelings about the Israeli government. So Uh the easy part for I assuming the audience for people to like me is to say yes I I recognize that Prime Minister Netanyahu

was not in the best interests of the Israeli people, the Jewish people of the world over ten, twelve years ago, and the reason he called me that is because I supported who's now President Herzog when he uh Sought to unsit Prime Minister Netanyahu over ten years ago. Um I don't think he's a a good person, but Just like

the the context of Trump just because It's Netanyahu or Trump that has a policy. everything they're doing monstrous. And so I I'm gonna challenge you and myself by just saying that The con the conflict today

Um The extremists are winning because they're manipulating us. And so extremists on both sides. On both sides. And so prior to October seventh, the Netanyahu Bengir Smotrich government is the more Моск far right wing government that's existed in Israel's history, and there's a lot of factors why Netanyahu allied himself with them, which are not not good reasons.

related to his investigation. So I think that government is Definitely. A problem. But today for people like Kai to be able to come and be builders and build jobs and build opportunities and bridges

I recognize that that will never be possible so long as Hamas stays in power in Gaza. So I'm peacemaker, I'm not a pacifist. I

Formi to do my job. And and for my Palestinian partners to do their job. And my Israeli partners too. I'm a confused Mexican Jew, by the way, so I uh I mean this with but but I've been to Gaza multiple times, I've been to the West Bank countless times, to Israel countless times. I very much believe in the right of Israel and the homeland to the Jewish people. to live uh in peace with its Palestinian partners as the homeland of the Palestinian people.

And You know I will answer your question once again, but I want to say Anybody that plays into violent absolutists on either side is actually condemning their own people because over the last year we've been seeing people supporting Hamas and supporting the extremists on either side. You're not helping your own people because if you have an absolutist vision that wants Palestine to raise Israel, the Israelis are never gonna hand the keys, it's just gonna

Create a perpetual conflict. And the people that are living with the consequences in Palestine and Israel understand that, and they want to find a historic compromise. But It just gets harder and harder. But going back to Netanyahu, I I don't think he's a a good person But I wouldn't just because he supports a particular policy

I oppose that policy and and I as painful as it is because I see everyday images Today uh I saw images of seven thousand Palestinians leaving the Jabalia refugee camp and it's heart wrenching to see the kids having to leave and I I I see that content because my Palestinian partners make sure that I see it and my Israeli partners make sure that I see their content.

Um but Until we remove Hamas from power, my Palestinian partners tell me this It's not gonna be possible for us to start bringing in investments, bringing jobs, and starting to rebuild a better future, just like we need to remove the Netanyahu bank very small church government from power through elections because in Israel there will be hopefully democratic elections in the next eighteen months.

Um And and once you have those conditions, we need to double down. But until then we need to start preparing with a builders blueprint for how we're gonna Take this horrible crisis and turn it. into uh the need for us to Advances.

Just a quick breather here to absorb what we've been hearing. The complications in the Middle East are so challenging and they reflect rising challenges elsewhere. But there is hope and incredible heroism underway. After the break, we'll hear more from Daniel and Aaron, as well as a reflection from a Palestinian business leader. Stay with us. Before the break, we heard World Central Kitchen CEO Aaron Gore and Kind Snacks and One Voice Movement founder Daniel Lubetsky on stage at the Masters of Scale summit talking about the conflict in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. Now we get into the emotional challenge of trying to be neutral amid so much strife, and the role of optimism versus determination in working to resolve the conflict. Plus Insights from a Palestinian business leader.

Let's get back to it. I wanna ask you something, Erin. I I was recently at an event with you, World Central Kitchen that you had with founder Jose Andres, and I got to meet um a bunch of your colleagues who have been serving people in in the Middle East and elsewhere And I I could see that for them it sort of can be hard for them to maintain. Um neutrality?

You know, they're they they have a lot of strong feelings about the environment that they're in. Um but I also know that as an aid organization, you kind of have to be Neutral. to be able to get access to to these areas where where you're working I'm just curious how you balance this neutrality with sort of addressing these strong emotions from your teams. A lot of folks out here have teams that have strong emotions on all sides of this of this issue. I know you've had two people quit because they wanted World Central Kitchen to take stronger positions. Like how how do you think about balancing those things?

I mean from a corporate mission standpoint it's simple. It's so simple. We show up, we feed people, no questions asked. Have you been affected by a disaster crisis? Here's a warm meal. Uh from the people standpoint it has been challenging. It really has, and I think that that really speaks to the divisive divisiveness that you were mentioning earlier. I mean There's um a simplicity to what we do, right? Non political

We actually started feeding in Israel first shortly after October seventh, I think on October eighth, actually. And then as soon as we could get into Gaza, because it's very complex and complicated getting in there, then You know, we start feeding in Gaza and now we're in Lebanon, and so You know, we Walk the walk. We talk the talk.

I as a leader. Always have to be very purposeful. And driven, grounded. But the minute we start to take a side Either way is the minute that we don't have the freedom and the liberty

To feed around the world, right? And I would never jeopardize that. I think That it really speaks to the do you has has the business community Bien global community you've been like sort of helpful or not? In in helping you deal with the situation, in you know, protecting people in harm's way.

Do you feel like The partnerships are in the right places. Yeah. Um You know that's I love that question actually in their hearts.

Yes. Not always in their actions, right? And I think that there's so much trepidation. Фром бізнес лідер. to come forth outright and support I mean we're nonprofits, so we take financial donations, right? We haven't raised as much as we have in the Ukraine when the um Ukraine war escalated, right? And so I think that there's A lot of fear to take a side, or that

Helping which I don't really understand. We're helping humanity. We're feeding people, right? It's not taking a side. You're picking people. I want to go deeper to what you were talking about. I really want to make sure that all of us understand how serious this issue are not just in the very serious context of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but in everything that we're experiencing nowadays, because I believe if you were to track how open minded society and all of us were ten years ago versus right now. Every one of us is less so today because of all these forces that I said. And so we need to exercise the muscle of a builder's mindset. And when I say curiosity, I mean

What we all need to do is as painful as it is read sources that we're uncomfortable reading, as painful as it is click On link Of Commentary from the opposite side of where we come from. So we better understand the other side. Because these algorithms are just gonna tell you what you want to hear and affirm rather than inform your beliefs, and it just gets worse and worse and worse. I even see it in my own algorithms. I used to get more balanced Israeli-Pestinian stuff, but as a Jewish person, it's hard for me to click on that painful stuff about Palestinian suffering. So now my feeds are much more just the Israeli narrative, and it just

Takes a lot of work to do the painful work. to understand what's going on on other sides. Almost always when I get information from om ninety nine percent of people I know what they're gonna tell me.

Challenge themselves. Don't just share to reaffirm what your friends believe, what you believe, it's so much easier for all of us. Try to understand the other side because whether we're talking about The Izraeli Palestine conflict or the election here.

I mean Aaron was actually backstage showing me some uh photos of her recent trip to Florida during uh during the hurricane, and you showed me a gunball machine, which is not Something um yes, it's a gumball machine with ammunition in it, which is um You know. Just another

part of the world to to reflect on. There's actually um there's a there's someone here in the in the audience who I want to bring into this conversation if I can. He's a he's a Palestinian business leader. Um he was forced to uh flee his home in Gaza in twenty fourteen. I think I have that right. He works here in the US now. He actually works with Daniel at the at the uh one voice movement. His name is uh Ez Mazri. Ez thank you for uh thank you for joining us here. Um back at your family's home in uh in Gaza, you experienced a lot of hardship. Hamas uh had you had guns in your backyard, your home was ransacked and eventually destroyed. You still have family and friends there. So I'm going to go to the money

What are what are things that you think the business community that this group here should understand about what's happening on the ground in Gaza? Um w what do we misunderstand? What do we need to hear? Uh first I would like to extend my deep condolences to the Ward Center Kitchen. And thank you for feeding my family and the Palestinian people in Gaza. Thank you very much.

What I wanted to say in uh the population of Gaza is one point uh two point three uh million and uh the uh conflict with Israel is between the extremists in Gaza and the extremists in Israel, and the majority of the Palestinian in Gaza want to live and raise their uh kids and to have uh economic prosperity. Uh we are uh people У want to live in peace next to Israel. uh hopefully in a two state uh solution. Yeah, you're are are you

Are you more or less optimistic that that's gonna happen? There is no solution to Ezra Palestine conflict but the two state solution. We have two proud people that each needs I state. Um Or Aaron, do you do you have a question you want to ask? Yeah, I ask uh Daniel and I say something to Daniel that uh since I met you eighteen years ago in Gaza, we have been building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. Unfortunately, wars break bridges, burn bridges.

And my question to you Are we back at square one and what we're gonna do in the future? Thank you. Thank you. So Daniel, what what what do you do? Are you b you back to the beginning?

You st you gotta start over? Listen, I I agree with Ezeldine that uh there's no alternative And um Very often times where you're doing this work. You ask yourself why the hell you're doing it, because it's so difficult.

And I think that The the answer is because there's no alternative. There's just no alternative. We need to Find a way. out of this because otherwise we're gonna condemn future generations to this. So

Like Zeldin said during times of war. Everybody becomes more radical. I've been in this space for thirty plus years. I have not come up with solution. because I'm not a a warrior, right? I'm a bridge builder. And I'm not in those situations. I I don't know how to build bridges

When you're trying to stop the war. What I do not have absolute conviction about is that The Pentop Hate

Will provide us a small window of opportunity way when when this thing ends, which I God willing think Will be within the next Six to twenty four months. We will have an opportunity of a lifetime because The people have experienced so much pain.

They understand that there's no alternative, like Azal Din said, but to ultimately recognize the right of both proud peoples. to a future Not because they love each other, but because They understand that for them to fulfill their potential. They need to allow both sides to fulfill the potential. There is no settlement of the conflict without fulfilling the national aspirations of both people for a better future and respecting each other. And so we need to start preparing for that. And what the way we need to prepare internally, personally, is not allowing the absolutists from hijacking our minds and supporting

any absolute agendas, it's much harder than it seems. Remembering to keep context. of the need to recognize the humanity of both sides, which is extraordinarily hard, and then starting to prepare a blueprint where business people start organizing, when governments start thinking, how are we going to do a Marshall Plan where we are going to empower the builders, In Gaza, in across the West Bank also, in Lebanon, in Israel, and strengthen the builders.

In order for the device to not hijack our lives. Um one of the beauties of World Central Kitchen and how we do our work is by people, community members. We have North Star statement. We go so far as to say community is our superpower. We hire locally, we try to purchase as much food locally as possible. So We come in contact with people from all walks Of life. that are literally just like us trying to live their life every single day.

Not political, just like World Central Kitchen too. And so I don't think we're starting From square one when it comes to the community, when it comes to people, their heart, their passion, I think Um I I know that there are ізraelis.

That would go into Gaza. And join World Central Kitchen and feed Palestinians. I know. that there are Palestinians that would go into Israel if they had that magic paper. That That magic passport, right? That would allow them to. I don't think all hope is lost by any means. I think

People realize when politicians when the world has gone too far when that line has been crossed and I suffice it to say that a lot of people on both sides are very much at that point right now in Israel, in Gaza, and in Lebanon because they see what's coming, right? And so politic I mean, this isn't gonna be solved with with war, with bombs, with death. It's not the same thing. the conflict is going to last six to twenty four months. And I could see you sort of be a little bit like I was wondering if it was because you think that's not realistic or because it's so painful every more than I think. Yeah. I mean I I just wonder and I know we we don't have too much time. This is very important to understand. What we don't wanna have happen.

is for this to happen again in one year or two years, five years. The reason why I'm Not Because I don't want this to happen again. Can you imagine the pain if it happens again in two, five, ten years? We need to use this horrible painful moment to have a cathartic resolution of the conflict. And so we need to remove extremists from power, not just from the Israeli Palestinian areas, but also from the Islamic Republic regime in Iran, which is feeding, you know, they they fund the Hamas to try to prevent this from The Israeli Saudi realignment. You need to make sure that anybody that's acting as a spoiler and a divide, anybody as an absolutist

Конвікціодифіт. humanity we need to remove them from power in the United States, everywhere. It's just Otherwise we're not gonna be able to sorry Bob go ahead. No I I I I mean I guess what I'm I just I I I just wanted to Aaron, your your perspective on like this time period, this four years. You know, like we have to keep Ar patients

And our optimism up For a long time. You know, to be able to get to Like The work you guys do at World Central Kitchen, like it's never gonna end.

Because if it's not this Disaster. It's the next one that you're in. Like how do you You know, keep doing on this work that's never ending. How do you stay optimistic? How do you Keep your teams optimistic. Um, look, we all have our hard days, right? I think just going back to the community, the beauty in which this this universe

These communities are living, operating, I mm. In the darkest days you see the brightest of humanity, right? You see the best of humanity come out. Yes. It's like an adrenaline rush. Yes. Who doesn't want to be around? The best of humanity and you know, World Central Kitchen. Exists because we're filling

A gap, a niche that nobody else was operating in, right? There's FEMA, there's other organizations that are responding after disasters, but nobody with the tenacity, nobody with The speed in which we operate, right? There's You know, Jose always says people aren't hungry. In a week, if you're hungry, you're hungry now, right? And there's such a A space for

us and for others to show up when something when a disaster happens, whether it's you know A neighbor's house catching on fire and burning down or as large scale as Ukraine or what our teams are actually responding to right now in Acapulco after Hurricane John, which is actually more devastating than Hurricane Otis, right? Um Teams are still in Asheville, North Carolina, in Florida responding to hurricanes. So I think it definitely requires a certain person. It's not for everybody. We know that. But um yeah, there's there's a real need for what we do. And A hope and again this this

connection with people And I think what fuels him or what fuels me, it's not necessarily optimism as much as determination. I always say that uh It's not whether the glass is half full or half empty, it's about filling up the glass. And Jos Andrés, the way he thinks, is like let's solve it, let's do it, let's be a builder. He's a builder, and what we need is builders.

Uh for me definitely What fuels me is purpose and the recognition, like Zeldean said, that we have to do this because there's no alternative. But it's not about Optimism as much as var conviction that it's upon us that we all Everyone has the power, and then with that power comes the responsibility for us to be part of the solutions and to be builders rather than destroyers.

Well I I wanna I wanna thank both of you for uh for being willing to engage in this difficult conversation and um And actually I know we're gonna recognize the uh the award winners later today. But uh While I have you up here, I feel like we have to give you your awards now. So so let's uh let's do that.

I was proud to hand Erin and Daniel their Masters of Scale Business Awards, new awards being inaugurated this year, World Central Kitchen a recipient of the Rapid Response Award, and Daniel a recipient of the Global Impact Award. The conflict in the Middle East is so difficult to talk about. Emotions are high, and a lot of business leaders would prefer to just avoid the topic. But I think that's a mistake, and I commend Aaron and Daniel for jumping in. The human toll and ripple effects of the conflict require us to engage. I also think it's an opportunity to show true leadership.

As Daniel says, you don't need to be optimistic, you just need to be determined. Even in the darkest moments, as Aaron says, you see the best of humanity come out. So Let's put in the work. to have the hard conversations about difficult third rail topics.

To bring out the best in ourselves. And above all, to stay open, loving, and empathetic. I'm Bob Safian. Thanks for listening. Rapid response is a wait what original.

I'm Bob Safian. Our executive producer is Eve Tro. Our producer is Alex Morris. Assistant producer is Masha Makutonina. Mixing and mastering by Aaron Bastanelli. Theme music by Ryan Holiday. My head of podcasts is Lital Malad. For more, visit rapidresponsshow.com.

Hey listeners, Bob here. If you listen to Rapid Response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing half the show because every Friday we release a second Rapid Response exclusively in the Rapid Response feed. The guests and topics are just as compelling and timely. From Ford CEO to NASA's administrator to the lessons from The Devil Wears Prada. It takes about 10 seconds to find, just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit follow to make sure you never miss an episode. I hope to see you there.

What you see above is a preview of the first minutes. One unlock costs 3 credits and covers this episode forever: full segment and word-level timestamps on this page, plus .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like.