#582: Mark Zuckerberg on Long-Term Strategy, Business and Parenting Principles, Personal Energy Management, Building the Metaverse, Seeking Awe, the Role of Religion, Solving Deep Technical Challenges (e.g., AR), and More

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Mark Zuckerberg (FB/IG) is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Meta, which he originally founded as Facebook in 2004. Mark is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company. In October 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta to reflect all of its products and services across its family of apps and a focus on developing social experiences for the metaverse—moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

He is also the co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with his wife Priscilla, which is leveraging technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges—including supporting the science and technology that will make it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the 21st century.

Mark studied computer science at Harvard University before moving to Palo Alto, California in 2004.

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How did teenage Mark get involved in the world of competitive fencing? [07:01]

What does Mark find particularly compelling about classical studies and history? [10:00]

Influential and recommended science fiction related to virtual realities. [13:32]

How do Mark and his team get an organization of a hundred thousand people on board with long-term project plans that can extend into the next decade and a half? [17:26]

What does Mark do to get comfortable with discomfort and manage his energy for whatever the day throws his way? [23:05]

How long does Mark think it will take for us to realize VR technology as immersive as presented in Ready Player One? What kind of progress can we expect to see in the not-too-distant future? [27:02]

The challenges of making VR a satisfying, nausea-free experience for everyone. [33:35]

Projections for the societal effects of people earning sustainable livelihoods in the metaverse. [39:00]

The new values being built into Meta’s cultural operating system — and the old values being adapted — to prepare for a more distributed, more honest, and faster future. [44:16]

Challenges presented by moving from a Web2 to a Web3 world. [57:35]

Mark’s assessment of Meta’s oversight board. [1:03:07]

To what does Mark credit the longevity of his unique partnership with Sheryl Sandberg, and in what ways has it shifted his life and business over the past 15+ years? What does he consider to be Sheryl’s superpowers? [1:07:49]

How did Mark’s family dynamics growing up shape who he is today and how he parents his own children? [1:12:52]

What role, if any, does religion play in Mark’s life? [1:20:40]

Did Mark go through an emo phase early in life? [1:24:53]

Of the annual personal challenges Mark undertook for 10 years, which were the easiest — and the most difficult? [1:26:12]

Does Mark foresee navigating the metaverse on multiple mobile devices running OSes not necessarily under Meta’s control, or will there be a more efficient, unifying device in the works? [1:30:49]

Parting thoughts. [1:35:15]

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