Genius Born or Made?
A podcast about the invisible habits behind extraordinary performance
Each episode, I sit down with a world-class performer — across science, sport, and business — to uncover what actually built them. Not the highlight reel. The invisible decisions, habits, and parenting underneath it.
Latest Episode
Episode 4: No One Is a Born NEET Topper: AIIMS Rank-1 Surgeon Lokesh Agarwal on How Toppers Are Made
Dr. Lokesh Agarwal is firmly in the 'made' camp. A three-time All-India Rank 1 in India's medical entrance exams and now a hepatobiliary, liver-transplant and GI-cancer surgeon at AIIMS Jodhpur, he flunked class 3 and didn't shine early — so he credits no innate talent. He breaks down the 'hunger' that drove him, why his father deliberately refused to fund his education, how to study to the limit of your exhaustion, curiosity-based learning, reframing failure, and what parents should — and shouldn't — do.
Read the full episode — questions, answers & transcriptMore Episodes
Episode 3: IIT JEE Rank 1: What Exams Teach — and What They Don't
Vineet Buch topped India's toughest engineering exam as a teenager — a feat that taught him how to structure hard work and love the process, but, he argues, academics are poor preparation for the messy problems of real life. This episode is about what actually built him, and what school left out.
Read the full episode — questions, answers & transcript
Episode 2: Only 30% Was Talent: Olympian Megumi Field on Discipline, Goals & Pressure
Megumi Field credits only about 30% of her success to natural gifts; the rest is made. The Paris 2024 silver medalist explains how tiny, tangible goals compound, why a little extra effort every day beats heroics, how her family's sacrifice fueled her, and the 'bubble' that let Team USA perform under Olympic pressure.
Read the full episode — questions, answers & transcript
Episode 1: Ex-McKinsey CEO Dominic Barton: What Actually Builds a Leader
Dominic Barton is firmly in the 'made' camp. The former global head of McKinsey breaks down the habits that built him — disciplined homework as a kid, 100-plus mentors, lifelong reading, and resilience through hard career setbacks — and explains why he hires for character over raw intelligence.
Read the full episode — questions, answers & transcriptSeason 1 Guests
Dr. Lokesh Agarwal
3× All-India Rank 1 (medical entrance exams) · HPB, Liver Transplant & GI Oncology Surgeon · AIIMS Jodhpur
Read the episodeVineet Buch
IIT JEE All India Rank 1 · Ex-Director, Google Play · Partner, Firebolt Ventures
Read the episodeMegumi Field
Olympic Silver Medalist (Paris 2024) · Team USA Artistic Swimming · Stanford University
Read the episodeDominic Barton
Former CEO, McKinsey · Chair, Rio Tinto · Chair, LeapFrog Investments
Read the episodeJohn Martinis
2025 Nobel Laureate in Physics · Ex-Head, Google Quantum AI
More guests
Across science, sport, and public life
About the Host
Himanshu Gupta is the CEO of ClimateAi, a WEF Young Global Leader, and a new dad obsessed with one question: what actually builds genius? He started this podcast to find out.
More about HimanshuHelp build the show
The Founder's Office behind the podcast is hiring — a part-time Associate and a Founder's Office Intern, both remote in India. If you want to help more young people find these conversations, come build it.