It's Not Magic, a Sixth Street podcast

In the final episode of It's Not Magic's San Francisco Season, Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO of Waymo, joined Sixth Street Co-President David Stiepleman for a Waymo ride around San Francisco and a conversation at our office about the journey of bringing autonomous driving from an innovative project to a daily reality for hundreds of thousands of riders. As a leader at the forefront of physical AI, Tekedra shares insights on Waymo’s expansion to operating in ten cities, with many more on the horizon, and the rigorous safety standards that have led to a 10x reduction in injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers. A former IP and telecoms lawyer, she reflects on how her background in navigating highly regulated industries and earning stakeholder trust prepared her to lead a company at the intersection of technology, policy, and global operations. The conversation dives into the reasoning capabilities of the Waymo Driver, her vision for wider applications of Waymo’s technology, the future of urban space in San Francisco and beyond, and why being "deliberate, strategic, and focused" is the right approach for safety-critical innovation. Thank you to Tekedra for joining us!

Daniela Amodei, Co-Founder and President of Anthropic, joins us for episode four of It’s Not Magic’s San Francisco season. Founded in San Francisco in 2021 as a Public Benefit Corporation, Anthropic has emerged as a global leader in AI safety and research, known for its flagship model, Claude. In this episode, Daniela discusses Anthropic's commitment to responsible scaling and how the company has grown to now serve over 300,000 business customers. The conversation dives into the "wonder and fear" of the current moment, covering the pace of model development, the importance of regulation, preserving culture amid rapid growth, and why generalists and specialists need each other to succeed. As a San Francisco native, Daniela also reflects on launching the company in her hometown and why the city's culture of innovation remains the ideal base for their new downtown headquarters. Thank you to Daniela for this illuminating conversation.

Episode three of It’s Not Magic’s San Francisco Season features Ghazi, Founder and CEO of EMPIRE and Bay Area native. EMPIRE was founded and built in San Francisco and is now the largest independent record label, distributor, and publisher in the United States, working with artists including Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, and Shaboozey. Since launching EMPIRE in 2010, Ghazi has built a global powerhouse, known for its innovation, artist-first approach to partnership, and cultural impact that extends far beyond the Bay. Recorded at Sixth Street’s San Francisco headquarters, Sixth Street Co-President David Stiepleman and Ghazi dive into the city’s legacy of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, how Ghazi’s own technical expertise and creativity were foundational to building EMPIRE, and the role culture is playing in San Francisco’s renewal. Ghazi underscores how important it was for him to build his dream in the city where he grew up, asking, “Why do I have to go somewhere else to do something I’m good at?” With EMPIRE's recent acquisition of the historic One Montgomery building, Ghazi shares his plans to build EMPIRE’s new headquarters in San Francisco’s financial district and inspire the next wave of energy in the city. Thank you to Ghazi for joining us for this inspiring conversation. 

The second episode of It’s Not Magic’s San Francisco Season features our hometown San Francisco Giants' very own Larry Baer, President and CEO, and Buster Posey, President of Baseball Operations. In an exclusive conversation at Oracle Park, Sixth Street Co-Founder and Co-President David Stiepleman, Larry and Buster discuss the role of sports as a civic catalyst, highlighting how professional sports franchises can drive a positive impact on their communities. As pivotal forces behind the Giants’ success both on and off the field, Larry and Buster shared how the team has built a winning culture—uniting the organization from the dugout to operations to the team’s multi-generational fans and the broader San Francisco community. Thank you to Larry and Buster for joining us for this special conversation. Let’s go Giants!

On this episode of It’s Not Magic, Sixth Street Co-Founder and Co-President, David Stiepleman sat down with Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), for a conversation on transformative business leadership and operational standards.Kwame shares powerful insights into redefining HCZ as a "tax-exempt business" and emphasizes the importance of building a culture of excellence. From their transformative cradle-to-career model to innovative programs like Baby College, HCZ is working to create what Kwame calls the "vaccine to poverty."Discover how intentional decision-making, transparent communication, and talent development drive success—not just for HCZ, but for any high-performing organization.Thank you to Kwame for the important and timely discussion.

What happens when you put two strangers from across the political divide together, not to talk about politics, but just to get to know each other as human beings? That’s what Dave Isay set out to answer. From twenty-plus years of running StoryCorps, Dave has shown time and again the importance of recognizing the value of humanity in everyone regardless of their politics, religion, or background, and how the act of listening can provide new perspectives and transform lives in unexpected ways. The StoryCorps team took that knowledge to form One Small Step, an initiative that bridges the gap between strangers with differing political views during a polarizing election season. Dave came to San Francisco recently to speak to the Sixth Street team in a conversation with Sixth Street Co-President David Stiepleman about One Small Step and what he’s learned from a career of facilitating human conversations in an increasingly impersonal world.  

During Westbound Equity Partners’ Annual Summit, Sixth Street Co-Founder and Co-President, David Stiepleman sat down with award-winning AI researcher and best-selling author Dr. Joy Buolamwini for a conversation about, in the words of her Algorithmic Justice League, getting the world to “remember that who codes matters, how we code matters, and that we can code a better future.” On this episode of It’s Not Magic, you’ll hear how in her office at MIT, Dr. Buolamwini stumbled on the realization that nascent AI systems weren’t neutral and could prefer, and exclude, people based on how we look. We discuss Dr. Buolamwini’s journey from academia, to discovering ways to combine hard research and art, to becoming a Sundance documentary star, to walking the halls of power, to leading the movement for equitable and accountable AI. We also discuss how, if AI eliminates entry-level drudgery, we may be living in the “age of the last masters.” We are proud to be a founding strategic partner of Westbound Equity Partners, an early-stage investment firm deploying financial and social capital to build great companies and close gaps for underrepresented talent. The conversation took place this summer at the Westbound Equity Partners Summit. Thank you to the Westbound Equity team for having us and to Dr. Buolamwini for the important and timely discussion. Note: Westbound Equity Partners, formerly known as Concrete Rose Capital.

Steve Kerr has won nine NBA championships as a member of three different dynasties: as Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors and as a player for the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls.  Earlier this month at the Sixth Street Offsite, he was gracious enough to spend time with our team and share what he’s learned about leadership and life over the course of his career.  His conversation with Sixth Street’s David Stiepleman covered Steve’s approach to leadership, building strong cultures, and performing at the highest level of his craft, including what went through his head when Michael Jordan gave him the ball for the go-ahead shot in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals.  He also walked us through how, after a career playing for legendary coaches like Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, he developed his own individual coaching philosophy.  Steve’s message to aspiring leaders was clear: be genuine.  “You can’t be anyone but yourself. Your players will see right through it.” He has nine rings to show for it.