Latest Interviews
Showing 496–510 of 573 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Goldman Sachs32 min
Van Jones: A "First Step" in Criminal Justice Reform
Van Jones transformed his early disillusionment with media sensationalism into a decades-long crusade for criminal justice reform, leveraging grassroots activism in the Bay Area and high-level political alliances ranging from the Obama and Trump administrations to launch major policy victories like the First Step Act. Building on bipartisan support that secured overwhelming legislative passage and targeted the opioid crisis, he recently founded the Reform Alliance with $50 million in capital from co-founders Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and Robert Kraft to dismantle the probation and parole systems driving recidivism. His work continues to focus on removing employment barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals and expanding green job initiatives to reintegrate millions into the economy while reducing the racial disparities inherent in the current justice system.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
Marc Benioff: Business is the Greatest Platform for Change
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff leverages the company's Einstein AI platform to drive operational efficiency while advocating for heightened corporate responsibility regarding San Francisco's housing and homelessness crises. To address systemic inequality, Benioff has closed significant internal pay gaps and champions a dual-CEO leadership structure that prioritizes values like trust and diversity over traditional financial metrics. This approach challenges industry norms by expecting business leaders to actively support social legislation and educate peers on managing societal impact alongside profitability.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind's team secured the victory in the global competition to redevelop the World Trade Center site by physically engaging with Ground Zero and proposing a design that treated the specific burial plot as sacred space. His approach rejected centralized megastructures in favor of discrete buildings and symbolic elements like the 1,776-foot Tower One and a "wedge of light" commemorating the attack timestamps. The resulting project transformed an 8-acre public space into a residential and economic epicenter, reflecting Libeskind's philosophical stance that architecture must confront historical trauma rather than repress it.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Parag Khanna: "The Future is Asian"
Parag Khanna, Joseph Kanzelman
Parag Khanna argues that the defining global trend is the "Asianization" of the world economy, driven by a centuries-long reintegration of Asian markets that now trade more with each other than with the West. While the Belt and Road Initiative and AIIB collaboration address historical infrastructure gaps and energy security, US attempts to contain China's industrial rise through tariffs and export controls have accelerated Beijing's self-sufficiency and pushed Asia further toward a unified regional order under the RCEP. Khanna ultimately rejects the inevitability of great power conflict, citing Asia's historical heterogeneity and lack of rigid alliances as stabilizing forces that make a Thucydides Trap less probable than in Europe.
- Goldman Sachs25 min
Gilbert King: Race, Justice and the Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
Gilbert King, Thurgood Marshall, Dave
Author Gilbert King investigates the 1940s Groveland Boys case, a notorious instance of racial injustice in Florida where Thurgood Marshall defended four Black teenagers against a corrupt sheriff and the Ku Klux Klan. King's research, detailed in his books *The Devil in the Grove* and *Beneath a Ruthless Sun*, exposed a system where law enforcement orchestrated frame-ups and extrajudicial violence, yet King documents how legal challenges and modern FOIA requests eventually led to a posthumous pardon sixty years later. By contrasting this era of impunity with contemporary criminal justice dynamics, King highlights both the historical progress made by civil rights advocates and the ongoing absence of a formal national truth and reconciliation process.
- Goldman Sachs45 min
The Maverick Life of Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban discusses his trajectory from a desperate early-stage entrepreneur to the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a *Shark Tank* investor, detailing strategic moves like the $6 billion sale of Broadcast.com and the team's 2011 NBA championship turnaround. He outlines specific governance philosophies, including his controversial stance on the NBA draft lottery and his "10 Plan" for healthcare reform that aims to eliminate insurance companies. Additionally, Cuban addresses his public controversies, his views on internet-driven anti-semitism, and his conditional openness to a presidential run based on non-partisan policy solutions.
- Goldman Sachs20 min
Christian Yelich: The Making of an All-Star
Christian Yelich, Nicole Pullen-Ross
Major League Baseball player Christian Yelich discusses his unique journey from a multi-sport youth to a key figure in the Milwaukee Brewers' dramatic 2018 National League Central division clinch. He attributes this transformative season to a psychological reset following his trade from Miami, a shift that fueled a high-stakes playoff run ending in a narrow Game 7 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Beyond the field, Yelich highlights the evolution of league marketing strategies to engage younger fans and details his philanthropic "California Strong" initiative which raised $1.5 million for wildfire victims through coordinated team efforts.
- Goldman Sachs31 min
Michael Milken on Capitalism and Philanthropy
Following his shift from a scientific career to finance after witnessing racial barriers to capital, Michael Milken founded the high-yield bond market at Drexel Burnham Lambert, creating a robust public and private debt structure that defied contemporary predictions of mass corporate bankruptcy. Beyond Wall Street, he has leveraged the Milken Institute to reduce prostate cancer mortality by over 80% and advocates for structural economic reforms, including replacing student loans with equity models to restore the American Dream of capital access based on merit rather than background. Milken's current global focus addresses the need to democratize advanced medical treatments and resolve U.S.-China tensions by prioritizing intellectual property rights and the shift of manufacturing away from labor arbitrage.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
Emily Weiss: Rethinking the Business of Beauty
Founded by Emily Weiss in 2010, Into the Gloss evolved into Glossier by leveraging over 200 consumer interviews to launch products like Boy Brow with a return rate under 1.5% while rejecting traditional six-month development cycles. Operating as a hybrid hardware and software entity that derives more than 70% of revenue from peer-to-peer channels, the company prioritizes intentional growth over rapid scaling despite facing significant venture capital barriers. Weiss and early investor Kirsten Green have challenged the industry's male-dominated funding patterns, positioning Glossier as a female-led brand that achieves massive scale to validate the viability of women-focused categories.
- Goldman Sachs33 min
General Stanley McChrystal (US Army, Ret.) - "Leaders: Myth and Reality"
Stanley McChrystal, George Washington, Walt Disney, General Stanley McChrystal, David
General Stanley McChrystal challenges the mythological view of infallible leaders in his book *Leaders: Myth and Reality*, profiling historical figures like Robert E. Lee, Walt Disney, and Coco Chanel to demonstrate that human flaws are intrinsic to effective governance. McChrystal further argues that significant societal reforms often rely on resilient systems rather than singular heroic agency, as evidenced by his analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s organizational legacy. Looking toward the future, he advocates for a shift from military victory to geopolitical management in Afghanistan, demands a layered defense against AI-driven disinformation, and proposes a paid national service program to revitalize active American citizenship.
- Goldman Sachs26 min
Beth Comstock: Creating a Culture of Innovation
Beth Comstock, Stephanie Cohen
Former GE Vice Chair Beth Comstock articulates a leadership philosophy that reframes storytelling as the engine of strategy and introversion as a critical organizational asset. Drawing on her tenure under Jack Welch and later at NBC, she critiques the "law of big numbers" for obscuring cohesive narratives while advocating for internal "permission slips" to bypass gatekeepers and foster innovation. Comstock concludes that overcoming structural resistance requires leaders to reframe rejection as deferred action and to prioritize human connection over rigid corporate hierarchies.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Yotam Ottolenghi: “Simple” Cooking for Happy Lives
Yotam Ottolenghi, Philip Berlinski
Chef Yotam Ottolenghi and partners Sami Tamimi, Cornelia, and Noam have built a London-based culinary empire spanning six locations and 300 employees by prioritizing personal relationships over rigid corporate structures. Their latest cookbook, *Simple*, introduces an accessible six-criteria framework to demystify complex flavors for home cooks while the business continues to foster internal talent through co-authored publications. Beyond the kitchen, Ottolenghi details his family's successful journey via gestational surrogacy in Massachusetts, emphasizing the importance of personal identity over generic business concepts for aspiring restaurateurs.
- Goldman Sachs27 min
Joanna Coles: Storytelling in the 21st Century
Former *Marie Claire* editor Joanna Coles leverages her career spanning the *Daily Telegraph* and Snap to examine how digital platforms have reshaped journalism, diversity, and human connection. She critiques the lack of checks in social media and the tech industry's diversity gaps while proposing concrete solutions like hiring for weakness and integrating sociologists into product design. Coles also warns against the isolation fostered by dating apps, advocating for earlier voice interactions to validate compatibility and preserve meaningful relationships.
- Goldman Sachs23 min
Michael Beschloss: Leadership, War and the American Presidency
Historian Michael Beschloss's *Presidents of War* examines eight U.S. leaders from Madison to Johnson, revealing a pattern of growing religious reliance during conflict alongside a systemic erosion of Congressional war powers since 1942. The analysis contrasts empathetic leadership styles that acknowledged human cost, such as Lincoln and Truman, with manipulative tactics exemplified by Polk and Johnson that utilized disputed incidents to justify major wars. Despite the historical value of recorded conversations, the text warns that modern presidents' reliance on electronic communication and legal counsel to obscure paper trails threatens future historical understanding.
- Goldman Sachs22 min
Dan Gilbert: Creating Cultures of Success from Quicken Loans to the Cleveland Cavaliers
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert pioneered the digital mortgage industry by shifting his company from brick-and-mortar to online operations in 1999 before successfully selling the firm to Intuit and repurchasing it in 2002. Leveraging a "yes before no" culture and a commitment to urban vitality, Gilbert relocated 1,400 employees to downtown Detroit in 2010, sparking a corporate-led revitalization that now anchors the city's tech ecosystem. His leadership extends to professional sports ownership in Cleveland, where he applies the same data-driven and culturally focused strategies to navigate the unique constraints of building winning franchises.