Good morning, friends!

We had high hopes for 2021, and well, it turned out to be eerily similar to 2020.

But for me, The Profile has always served as a refuge from the screeching news of the day. As we now know, our content diets determine how we see and think about the world. I’ve discovered that the best way to fall into intellectual rabbit holes is to create an environment full of rich, high-quality content.

Below, I’ve compiled some of the best profiles, interviews, podcasts, and videos that I’ve shared throughout the year. I hope you enjoy.

Here is 2021 through the eyes of The Profile. (If you want more year-end-reviews, check out the 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 editions as well.)

✨ BEST PROFILE DOSSIERS

(These are normally only accessible to premium members but I've unlocked them for a limited time. If you want the full archive, become a premium member here.)

• Nims Purja, the mountaineer who summited the world's 14 'death zone' peaks

• Clarissa Ward, the journalist covering the world's most dangerous places

• Keanu Reeves, Hollywood's most gracious actor

• Edith Eva Eger, the Holocaust survivor who escaped the prison of her mind

• Tobi Lütke, the founder who believes in arming the rebels

✨✨ BEST PROFILE ORIGINAL INTERVIEWS

• Author James Clear offers practical strategies to help us form better habits in the new year

• Legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer delves into how he built a hospitality empire

• Four-time obstacle race champion Amelia Boone discusses mental grit and the art of suffering

• Ex-GE CEO Jeff Immelt explains how he led through crisis and became a master of chaos

• Ana Lorena Fabrega explains why traditional education is broken and how kids can learn to think independently

• Atoms co-founder Sidra Qasim discusses her unlikely journey to building a shoe empire

• Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley shares how one moment of anxiety changed his entire career trajectory

• Three-Time Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce explains why action is the antidote to doubt

…The above is only an excerpt. Read the full article below:

Read the Full Article Here

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PROFILES.

— The founder who wants to take humans to Mars [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The actor who never stops working
— The NBA's forever bad boy
— The revolutionary leading Belarus’s uprising
— The relentlessly optimistic tech pioneer
— The Hollywood star who took a break
— The company recruiting teenage basketball players

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The founder who wants to take humans to Mars: Elon Musk is certainly not short on ambition — his biggest being inhabiting Mars. He has been called many names: clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, and showman. Say what you will, but his rocket company, SpaceX, has leapfrogged Boeing and others to own America’s spacefaring future. His car company, Tesla, controls two-thirds of the multibillion-dollar electric-vehicle market it pioneered. Musk has spent a lifetime defying the haters; now, it seems, he’s finally in position to put them in their place. (TIME) (Read Elon Musk's Profile Dossier here.)

The actor who never stops working: Keanu Reeves is always working—he's starred in 68 movies in 35 years. He's played killing machines, doofuses, romantics, messiahs, and devils. But he's always remained true to himself through gestures of kindness and an ability to listen to and understand fellow human beings. (For more, read Keanu Reeves' Profile Dossier here.)

"We can always do more. We can always do more. There’s no ceiling on that.”

The NBA's forever bad boy: Dennis Rodman had a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, where he pushed buttons and fashioned himself into a gender-exploding rock star. (And collected five rings, too.) But when you peel away the attitude, and the hair, and the piercings and tattoos, who is Dennis Rodman underneath it all? (GQ)

“I like to have a good time, man. Good, clean fun. But for a while it was kind of a little sketchy."

The revolutionary leading Belarus’s uprising: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the accidental revolutionary who challenged the 27-year dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenka. She became the leading voice of Belarus's pro-democracy movement, and her presidential run changed Belarus forever. What a timely and incredible story. (The New Yorker)

“State officials have failed to understand that it’s not individual candidates but the people who threaten their power, and the people are fed up with living in humiliation and fear.”

The relentlessly optimistic tech pioneer: Marc Andreessen helped code the first widely used graphical web browser, co-founded Netscape, and launched the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. After so many decades in tech, he still believes the future is full of opportunity. In this longform interview, Andreessen reflects on the current state of affairs, the future of technology, and how crypto is shaping the future of trust. (Noahpinion)

"I am very optimistic about the future of tech, at least in the domains where software-driven innovation is allowed."

The Hollywood star who took a break: ****After a long break from public life, Jennifer Lawrence returns to the screen in Adam McKay’s end-of-the-world comedy Don’t Look Up, in which she and Leonardo DiCaprio play scientists screaming at a polarized society to take seriously the comet hurtling toward the planet. Why did she decide to step away from the spotlight? "I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I’d gotten sick of me," she says. (Vanity Fair)

“I didn’t have a life. I thought I should go get one.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The company recruiting teenage basketball players: Overtime Elite is a fledgling league for teenagers with N.B.A. aspirations. The coaching staff is run by Kevin Ollie, who coached UConn to a national championship in 2014. The players are given personalized nutrition plans and training programs. They are marketed across Overtime’s social media network. In return, they have agreed to forgo their remaining years of high school and any chance of playing in college. This all sounds great, but what happens if they never reach the NBA? (The New York Times)

“There is a marketplace, and players have varied value.”