Latest Interviews
Showing 361–375 of 573 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs22 min
Michaël Jérémiasz, Paralympian and Former Professional Wheelchair Tennis Player
Michaël Jérémiasz, Marilyn Mertz
Former world number one wheelchair tennis player and 2024 Paris Olympic Games ambassador Michael Jeremias leverages his personal journey from a snowboarding-induced spinal cord injury to championing universal accessibility and systemic inclusion. Drawing on his experience as a two-time Paralympic medalist and his observations of media representation gaps, he advocates for a societal shift where disability is treated as a common human issue rather than a niche concern. Jeremias combines his athletic credentials with recent life reflections from the pandemic to promote a future where diversity is naturally integrated into infrastructure and culture.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Bernardine Evaristo, Author of "Girl, Woman, Other"
Author Bernadine Averisto crafted the Booker Prize-winning novel *Girl, Woman, Other* over five years to highlight the scarcity of Black British women in adult fiction, employing her unique "fusion fiction" style to connect twelve diverse characters across a century-long narrative. Her historic victory, facilitated by a judging panel with significant female and minority representation, helped dismantle industry tokenism and coincided with the cultural shifts of the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. Following the award, the publishing sector actively audited its exclusionary practices, leading to a surge in engagement with works on race and gender while elevating emerging voices like poet Derek Owusu and theatre directors Ola Ince and Lynette Linton.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Howard Schultz, Chairman Emeritus of Starbucks Coffee
Under Howard Schultz's leadership, Starbucks transformed from an 11-store startup into a global entity spanning 77 countries while pioneering comprehensive healthcare and equity ownership for all employees. Facing a 2008 insolvency crisis, Schultz rejected shareholder demands to cut benefits, instead investing in manager training and community service to restore financial stability and brand equity. This turnaround established a unique corporate culture where strategic decisions are governed by customer and employee impact, resulting in a company with a 21,000% stock appreciation since its 1992 IPO.
- Goldman Sachs28 min
Anne Applebaum, Author of "Twilight of Democracy"
Author Anne Applebaum analyzes how the professionalization of politics and the shift to digital fragmentation have fueled radical far-right movements in Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States to hollow out democratic institutions. She details specific strategies employed by leaders like Poland's Law and Justice Party and the U.S. Republican Party under Donald Trump, which rely on rejecting opposition legitimacy and manufacturing societal chaos to maintain power. While forecasting divergent 2024 outcomes that could either entrench authoritarianism or force a traditional center-right reformation, Applebaum highlights rising grassroots engagement among younger generations as a critical bulwark against democratic decline.
- Goldman Sachs31 min
Clarissa Ward, Author of "On All Fronts"
ABC News correspondent Clarissa Ward recounts her evolution from a novice reporting on the hunt for Saddam Hussein to a seasoned war correspondent in Syria and Beijing, highlighting the lethal realities of conflict zones and the tactical advantages of gender in conservative regions. She outlines her professional philosophy of bearing witness without activism, arguing that journalists must illuminate human stories while avoiding the trap of assuming responsibility for resolving geopolitical conflicts. Ward concludes by warning of the precarious U.S.-China relations under President Xi Jinping and offering advice to aspiring journalists that only those with immense passion can withstand the career's significant personal sacrifices.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Mike Tirico, NBC Sports Host
Over a 25-year tenure spanning ESPN and NBC, broadcaster Mike Tirico emphasizes storytelling as the core currency of sports media, a philosophy tested by the unique isolation of the pandemic and the geopolitical unity of the Pyeongchang Winter Games. He projects severe economic consequences for both professional and collegiate athletics, warning that prolonged revenue losses could force salary cap adjustments and even eliminate university sports programs reliant on football and basketball subsidies. While acknowledging that remote production technologies may permanently alter industry logistics, Tirico remains committed to preserving the emotional connection between athletes and audiences despite reduced access to players and the heightened platform for racial justice activism.
- Goldman Sachs28 min
Fredrik Logevall, Author of "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956"
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Friedrich Logevall launches a two-volume biography titled *JFK: The Coming of Age in America's Century*, which recontextualizes John F. Kennedy's early life against the United States' ascent to global superpower status. Drawing on extensive family correspondence and archival research, Logevall argues that Kennedy's formative years were defined by his mother's intellectual influence, a critical ideological split with his father over appeasement, and a PT boat experience that instilled lasting skepticism toward military intervention. The volume concludes by detailing how these experiences shaped a pragmatic political philosophy and a unique campaign strategy in 1946 that prioritized volunteer mobilization, bipartisan compromise, and the preservation of democratic institutions.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
Robert Zoellick, Author of "America in the World"
In *America in the World*, Bob Zolig reframes U.S. foreign policy history by spotlighting the pragmatic strategies of key architects like Alexander Hamilton, Cordell Hull, and George H.W. Bush rather than abstract theory. These case studies illustrate how domestic financial stability, rule-based trade systems, and alliance management historically enabled American power, offering a blueprint for contemporary engagement with China. Zolig concludes that effective U.S. strategy today requires bolstering domestic resilience, enforcing intellectual property rights, and actively planning diplomatic off-ramps to de-escalate tensions without isolating the nation.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Ric Lewis, Executive Chairman of Tristan Capital Partners
Tristan Capital Partners Managing Director Rick Lewis outlines the firm's strategic navigation of the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic, highlighting a distinct sector divergence where residential assets rebounded while office demand remains complex despite long-term recovery forecasts. Leveraging these insights, Lewis launched the Impact X Fund to provide growth capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs and restructured his foundation's philanthropy to target 85% BAME scholars, effectively shifting from silent leadership to active advocacy for social mobility. Beyond market analysis, the discussion emphasizes a philosophical call to action for high-performing individuals to prioritize tangible community investment and daily behavioral change over mere awareness to dismantle systemic barriers in both the UK and US.
- Goldman Sachs28 min
"The Battle for Our Screens," Part 3: Social Media in the Social Distancing Age
Heather Bellini, Piyush Mubayi, Jane Dunlevie, Jake Siewert, Heath Terry, Jane Dunleavy
This event analyzed how the 2020 pandemic accelerated social media engagement, drove Zoom's user base to expand sixfold, and normalized short-form video usage in Asian markets while sparking VR/AR adoption. Speakers identified scaling infrastructure and content moderation as critical operational hurdles, noting that platforms like TikTok succeeded through superior UX and algorithmic efficiency. The discussion further projected a robust M&A landscape where acquirers prioritize video capabilities and social commerce, despite a divergence between declining revenue expectations and rising stock valuations.
- Goldman Sachs37 min
"The Battle For Our Screens," Part 1: The Race to Entertain Us
Brett Feldman, Adam Agress, Alekhya Uppalapati, Jake Siewert, Heath Terry, Jake Seward
The pandemic accelerated a structural shift in media consumption, driving a 13% decline in Pay TV households while triggering a 100% surge in streaming engagement and record-breaking mobile gaming spending. Key industry players like AMC and Universal adapted by compressing theatrical release windows to just 17 days, while Disney leveraged its exclusive library to boost Disney+ downloads and test direct-to-consumer models through premium-priced movie releases. As traditional broadcasters face significant ratings erosion, the sector is reallocating $150 billion in legacy revenue toward digital alternatives, with studios and theaters negotiating new financial frameworks to sustain profitability amid heightened production costs and shifting consumer behaviors.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Tristan Walker, Founder and CEO of Walker & Company
Tristan Walker leverages his background as a former Wall Street trader and early tech employee to lead Walker & Company through the dual crises of the pandemic and systemic racism by anchoring decisions in historical trauma and core values. Under his guidance, the firm achieved record revenue by addressing a 150-year market gap in grooming products for men of color, a strategy that ultimately led to the company's acquisition by Procter & Gamble in 2018. Walker now advocates for an "investment mindset" regarding diversity and predicts that brands failing to respect demographic shifts and cultural influence will cease to exist within two decades.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Producer Phil Bertelsen and Historian Abdur-Rahman Muhammad of "Who Killed Malcolm X?"
Phil Bertelsen, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, Jeffrey Scruggs
Following the renewed global focus on racial justice in 2020, the Netflix documentary *Who Killed Malcolm X?* leverages historian Abdur Rahman Mohammed's thirty-year investigation and filmmaker Phil Berthelsen's archival research to re-examine the 1965 assassination. The series highlights historical parallels between past police misconduct, such as the 1962 killing of Ronald Stokes, and modern policing while challenging the official narrative that Malcolm X's death was the work of the wrongfully convicted defendants. This critical reassessment has directly prompted the Manhattan District Attorney to reopen the case, aiming to secure the expungement of wrongful convictions for figures like Mohamed Abdulaziz and to establish a definitive historical account of the tragedy.
- Goldman Sachs36 min
Eddie Glaude Jr., Author of "Begin Again"
Eddie Glaude Jr., James Baldwin, Erica Irish-Brown
Drawing on James Baldwin's biography and 1960s activism, this talk reframes current racial justice movements as a necessary confrontation with America's foundational lies regarding the "value gap" and institutional exclusion. The speaker connects Baldwin's critique of systemic "tinkering" to modern policy demands for resource redistribution, while arguing that the "Black Lives Matter" slogan addresses specific violence rather than questioning the worth of other lives. Anchored in a philosophy of hope that accepts human fragility, the presentation urges voters to abandon political complacency and actively engage with the nation's democratic crisis.
- Goldman Sachs25 min
George Roberts, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of KKR
KKR co-founder George Roberts discusses the firm's unprecedented $18 billion deployment during the pandemic while highlighting a strategic pivot toward diversity mandates and venture philanthropy for reentry populations. Drawing on a 40-year partnership built on equal economics and shared values, Roberts emphasizes that investing success relies on interpersonal judgment and long-term adaptability rather than mere financial analysis. He further outlines KKR's ESG integration and investment philosophy, which aims to transform social enterprises into for-profit entities and encourages competitors to adopt sustainable practices for broader industry benefit.