Latest Interviews
Showing 481–495 of 573 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs25 min
POLITICO Playbook’s Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman - Co-Authors of "The Hill to Die On"
Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Jake Stewart
Jake Stewart modernized the Playbook newsletter to serve as a twice-daily insider resource for Washington elites while avoiding broad commercial expansion. In parallel, the analysis of "The Hill to Die On" details how Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell navigated the Trump presidency, noting how healthcare repeal failures inadvertently enabled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Looking toward the 2020 election, the discussion highlights a fragmented Democratic field lacking a clear frontrunner other than Bernie Sanders, alongside media adaptations to better cover Rust Belt constituencies and the administration's use of social media to compress the news cycle.
- Goldman Sachs37 min
David W. Blight: Author, "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"
David W. Blight, Erica Irish-Brown
Historian David Blight's definitive biography, *Frederick Douglass, Prophet of Freedom*, leverages the previously under-documented Evans Collection to reconstruct Douglass's life from his enslavement in Maryland to his transformation into a federal political insider. The narrative details Douglass's strategic break from William Lloyd Garrison, his pivotal advocacy for the Civil War, and his prophetic critique of American society that bridges 19th-century struggles with modern voter suppression and structural inequality. By framing Douglass as a moral prophet who warned of national collapse, Blight highlights how the former slave's vision for biracial equality remains a critical lens for contemporary democratic challenges.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Dame Ellen MacArthur: World Record-Breaking Sailor
Dame Ellen MacArthur broke the world record for solo non-stop circumnavigation after overcoming early financial and logistical barriers to become a top competitive sailor. Following her 2010 retirement, she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to replace the unsustainable linear economic model with a circular system that decouples growth from resource consumption. The organization now advocates for systemic design changes to ensure materials remain in use and to address critical global challenges like soil degradation and volatile raw material costs.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Anya Hindmarch: Fashion Designer
Anya Hindmarch, Niharika Kabyalaveta
Ania Hindmarsh transformed her kitchen startup into a global luxury brand by pioneering a direct-to-consumer model that bypasses traditional retail gatekeepers to address the fashion industry's outdated six-month lead times. Her current strategy replaces physical expansion with immersive digital experiences and bespoke craftsmanship, exemplified by the 2024 "Weave Project" and a sustainability ethos that rejects disposable culture. Hindmarsh champions a leadership philosophy that reframes fear as innovation catalyst and positions emotion as a competitive advantage while leveraging technology to foster direct global storytelling.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
Ajay Banga – President and CEO, Mastercard
Ajay Banga, Harit Talwar, Omar
Former CEO Ajay Banga led MasterCard's transformation from a $30 billion card processor to a $240 billion technology firm focused on financial inclusion, cybersecurity, and AI integration. His tenure prioritized a 100-day listening strategy to navigate post-recession cultural shifts while simultaneously launching initiatives to digitize 380 million unbanked individuals. Banga also championed a strategic rebranding to a dual-circle icon and advocated for policy reforms regarding skilled immigration and consumer data ownership to sustain global competitiveness.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
David Wallace-Wells: Author, "The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future"
New York Magazine Deputy Editor David Wallace-Wells argues that climate change must be framed through the realities of its unprecedented speed, scope, and severity, citing projections of $30 trillion in economic contraction and irreversible ice sheet melting that redefine the 2-degree warming threshold as a likely baseline. To address this existential threat, Wallace-Wells advocates for a World War II-scale global mobilization focused on systemic policy shifts and green technology innovation rather than individual lifestyle changes, emphasizing the rising influence of China and youth-led movements in driving the necessary geopolitical transformation. This approach challenges the outdated consensus that climate action hinders economic growth, presenting data that rapid decarbonization could instead generate $26 trillion in new economic value by 2030 while preventing billions from becoming climate refugees.
- Goldman Sachs32 min
Dr. Zeke Emanuel: Oncologist and Bioethicist
Zeke Emanuel, Rob Mass, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel critiques the US healthcare system for a "perfect storm" of over-utilization and ethically flawed resource rationing that drives excessive costs while undermining other societal needs like education. He highlights the Affordable Care Act's success in cost containment and predicts a legislative shift toward Medicare for America alongside federal regulation of drug pricing to ensure value-based models. Drawing from his dual MD/PhD background, Emanuel argues that current spending levels on treatments like million-dollar drugs are unsustainable and calls for a transparent approach to aligning healthcare investment with disposable income.
- Goldman Sachs24 min
US Sen. Doug Jones: Author, "Bending Toward Justice"
Former federal prosecutor and Senator Doug Jones secured the conviction of the last surviving bombers for the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church tragedy by leveraging new federal subpoena powers and historical FBI wiretaps. In his 2017 Alabama Senate campaign, Jones defeated Roy Moore by centering the race on core working-class values and addressing personal scandals only in a final closing argument. He now applies lessons from these legal and political victories to advocate for a "radical middle" governance model that rejects extremism while addressing the modern resurgence of domestic white supremacy.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Jean Case: Author, "Be Fearless"
Gene Case, Chairman of the National Geographic Society and CEO of the Case Foundation, recounts her career trajectory from a scholarship student to a pivotal figure in the early internet sector who secured a critical $3 million settlement to launch America Online. Critiquing the current lack of venture capital diversity and startup consolidation in the United States, she advocates for a risk-tolerant philanthropic approach that funds "people and ideas that can change the world." Drawing on her book *Be Fearless*, Case emphasizes five principles for navigating change, urging leaders to prioritize bold, disruptive action over the protection of endowments to address pressing social challenges.
- Goldman Sachs30 min
Evan Thomas: Author, "First: Sandra Day O’Connor"
Evan Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor
Appointed by President Reagan as the Supreme Court's first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor leveraged her background as a state legislator and political network builder to become the decisive swing vote in roughly 330 major cases. Her judicial philosophy emphasized strategic compromise and bridge-building, yielding landmark rulings that prohibited gender discrimination in state institutions, refined the "undue burden" standard for abortion rights, and upheld affirmative action. O'Connor transformed the Court's internal culture into a cohesive body through weekly lunches and served as a critical mentor to future female justices, proving that practical negotiation could achieve significant legal progress without rigid ideological activism.
- Goldman Sachs25 min
Julie Sweet: Chief Executive Officer of Accenture
Accenture North America CEO Julie Sweet leverages her legal background and a culture of continuous learning to drive an innovation-led business model, currently prioritizing "natural curiosity" among her 500,000 global employees. Following strategic pivots from a historic earnings miss to a 2014 branding error, she has championed organizational agility and deep diversity initiatives to foster an inclusive environment. Sweet further guides the firm's digital transformation by emphasizing AI adoption, blockchain pilots, and 5G readiness while advising future leaders to master storytelling and embrace calculated risks.
- Goldman Sachs32 min
Ret. US Marine Corps General and Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly
General John Kelly outlines a strategic approach to North Korean denuclearization and trade with China that leverages President Trump's deal-making instincts to manage complex international relations despite significant geopolitical hurdles. Simultaneously, the administration is restructuring domestic policies on drug trafficking and border security by advocating for physical barriers, advanced surveillance technology, and comprehensive demand reduction programs to address rising opioid crises and illegal immigration. Kelly asserts that these initiatives operate within an orderly White House environment that prioritizes diverse internal advice while utilizing direct communication channels to bypass traditional media constraints.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Rosalind Brewer: COO and Group President, Starbucks
Roz Brewer, the first Black and female leader of Sam's Club, transitioned from organic chemistry to executive leadership at Kimberly-Clark, Walmart, and Starbucks, where she famously championed the business value of diversity despite facing public backlash. As Starbucks CEO during a 2018 racial bias crisis, Brewer personally apologized to arrested patrons and orchestrated the closure of 8,000 stores for mandatory internal bias training, a response that solidified her reputation for decisive crisis management. Following her tenure at Starbucks, Brewer joined the Amazon board of directors and continues to advocate for the normalization of Black women's presence in high-level corporate governance while urging the next generation to pursue their goals with perseverance.
- Goldman Sachs34 min
Bret Stephens: "New York Times" Op-Ed Columnist
Bret Stephens, Jake Siewert, Brett Stevens
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Brett Stevens, a former Jerusalem Post editor with a background in political philosophy, delivered a speech titled "The Dying Art of Disagreement" warning that political certitude and the erosion of free press threaten liberal democracy. Stevens critiqued the isolationist trends in U.S. foreign policy, condemned the Republican Party's failure to check executive overreach, and highlighted the dangers of media algorithms creating thought silos. He argued that healthy democracies require robust disagreement and contrarian voices, urging both journalists and voters to reject the toxic "certitudinousness" that fuels extremism and undermines global security.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
"Catch-Up With David": with Chief Executive Officer of Nextdoor, Sarah Friar
Former Square CFO Sarah Friar left her previous role to become CEO of Nextdoor, leveraging the platform's presence in over 90% of U.S. neighborhoods to bridge the gap between digital connectivity and tangible community health. Her strategy targets societal discord by fostering offline neighbor interactions while integrating local businesses to reinvest wealth back into communities, a mission shaped by her experiences with sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and financial exclusion in South Africa. Friar applies rigorous financial discipline and people-first leadership principles to drive an ambitious goal of reaching one billion members while simultaneously championing capital allocation for women-founded businesses to address systemic funding gaps.