What David Miliband & The Nudge Unit Taught Me About Leadership | Ravi Gurumurthy, Nesta CEO

Ravi Gurumurthy on Leading Nesta: Missions, Policy, Experimentation, and Intrinsic Motivation Welcome to What We Don't Know. The show about better leadership in a truly chaotic world. Today, Hayaatun is joined by Jimmy McLoughlin OBE, host of ‪@jimmysjobs‬, to chat with Ravi Gurumurthy, CEO of Nesta, about leading mission-driven innovation in an uncertain world. Ravi explains Nesta’s three “moonshot” missions - halving obesity, achieving net zero homes, and closing the school-readiness gap for children on free school meals, and shaping policy from practical learning. Ravi also reflects on his background in Burnley, early rebellious leadership, experiences of racism, and a rapid rise in the civil service, including work on Every Child Matters, the Children Act 2004, and the Climate Change Act. We also cover policymaking’s short-termism, better use of data and trials, how AI and synthetic data could help, learning from failure through “crash testing,” the importance of dosage and numbers, and why leaders should focus on intrinsic motivation over incentives. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:52 Meet Ravi and Nesta 06:46 CEO Role and Missions 09:17 Family Roots and Oxford 12:21 Early Leadership and Identity 14:18 Fast Track in Government 16:17 Mentors and Learning Leadership 18:33 Policy Horizons and Data 26:29 AI and Synthetic Data 29:06 Experimentation and Failure 30:08 Donor Embraces Findings 30:39 Blunkett Sack Letter 32:10 Risk Over Safety 33:40 Ungovernable Leadership 34:42 Rituals For Failure 35:54 Crash Testing Ideas 37:01 CEO As Thought Leader 40:03 Measuring Social Impact 41:49 MacKay Numbers Not Adjectives 43:56 Preparing For Policy 46:30 Motivation Beyond Incentives 47:39 Insecurity And Identity 49:03 Future Career Paths 51:08 Quick Fire Round 53:59 Dogs And Social Capital 54:55 Change Is Harder Than Thought 55:54 Hosts Reflect And Wrap Subscribe to not miss an episode! ▶️ ⚡️ Powered by Boxlight.io https://www.boxlight.io/ Credits: Producer: Sunny Winter Producer: Thuy Dong Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices