Latest Interviews

Eric Schmidt: The Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Eric Schmidt, Marty

Goldman Sachs accelerates its cloud migration to leverage superior cybersecurity and specialized hardware for AI workloads, while the broader industry shifts toward data-driven deep learning that prioritizes scale over algorithmic provability. This transition enables "savant systems" in fields like healthcare and finance to automate trial-and-error processes, supported by a global talent market increasingly dominated by computer science graduates. Although these technologies promise to democratize expert-level capabilities through on-device and cloud computing, their adoption faces monetization hurdles and ongoing geopolitical competition, particularly from China.

Mary Barra on Driving Into the Future

Mary Barra, Lloyd Blankfein

GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra is steering General Motors from a post-bankruptcy restructuring into a profitable leader focused on the strategic goals of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. Under her leadership, the automaker prioritized product safety by adopting aerospace standards and launched a "speak up for safety" initiative following the 2014 ignition switch crisis, while simultaneously advancing autonomous vehicle technology through its subsidiary Cruise Automation. Beyond corporate strategy, Barra champions STEM education and female workforce retention through programs like "Take Two" and the Detroit Children's Fund to ensure diverse representation and community economic revitalization.

Diana B. Henriques: “A First-Class Catastrophe”: Lessons Learned from Black Monday

Diana B. Henriques, Sharmin Mosavaramani

This analysis juxtaposes the 1987 Black Monday crash, driven by opaque portfolio insurance strategies and fragmented regulation, with modern market vulnerabilities amplified by trillion-dollar asset managers and enduring regulatory silos. It further examines the psychological profile of Bernie Madoff, highlighting his pathological fear of failure and the spontaneous nature of his fraud's collapse, while detailing the HBO film "Wizard of Lies" production that secured Robert De Niro's casting through authentic in-prison dynamics. Together, these case studies illustrate how historical market failures and individual pathologies continue to inform contemporary debates on financial transparency and systemic risk.

Avoiding War With North Korea

Nicholas Kristof, Jean Lee, Yasuhide Nakayama, John Park, Bill Richardson

Moderated by Nicholas Kristof at the Milken Conference, experts Jean Lee, Yasuhide Nakayama, John Park, and Governor Bill Richardson analyzed the shifting geopolitical landscape of the Korean Peninsula following the Panmunjom Declaration. While Park and Richardson acknowledged tangible momentum such as the dismantling of the Punggye-ri test facility, Lee and Richardson warned that full denuclearization by 2021 remains unlikely due to Kim Jong-un's strategic use of nuclear capabilities for regime survival and internal legitimacy. The panel ultimately characterized the current diplomatic efforts as a fragile "action-for-action" process where South Korea and Japan face risks of marginalization, with prospects for a permanent freeze on nuclear programs rather than immediate total disarmament.

A Conversation With Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall, Brian Sheth, Melissa Stevens

Jane Goodall and Brian Sheth discuss the convergence of private equity capital and global conservation through Goodall's Jane Goodall Institute and Sheth's leadership of Global Wildlife Conservation. They detail the expansion of Goodall's Roots & Shoots program to 150,000 youth groups and the institute's use of satellite technology to protect chimpanzee populations in Gombe and the Republic of Congo. The dialogue concludes with a strategic emphasis on integrating scientific rigor into policy-making and leveraging financial markets to sustain long-term environmental resilience.

Strategy and Leadership in an Age of Disruption

Adam Lashinsky, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Jim McCaughan, Tim Sloan, Julie Sweet, Seth Caller, Jatrice Martel-Gator, Major Ken Tarr, Seema Shah

Leaders from Accenture, Wells Fargo, and 3G Capital discussed how accelerating disruption forces major corporations to shift from control-based leadership to innovation-focused cultures, with artificial intelligence becoming a ubiquitous utility rather than a niche experiment. Panelists detailed specific strategies for this transition, including Wells Fargo's restructuring into unified customer-centric models, Accenture's rapid sprints that delivered complex solutions in weeks, and 3G Capital's internal units dedicated to self-disruption. To sustain these advancements, the group emphasized that ethical AI adoption and proactive workforce reskilling are critical, noting that successful organizations are reinvesting automation savings into talent development while addressing diversity gaps to prevent systemic flaws.

Lord of the Rings: A Conversation With Five-Time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady

Tom Brady, Jim Gray

Tom Brady reaffirmed his commitment to playing through the 2018-2019 season by prioritizing longevity through his TB12 Method, a wellness protocol focused on pliability and injury prevention that aims to extend his career into his mid-40s. During a comprehensive discussion on team dynamics and personal philosophy, he clarified that he had no input on the Super Bowl LII roster decisions while emphasizing his reliance on family for motivation and his distinct approach to leadership. The conversation also covered his skepticism of new NFL rules, his assessment of Bill Belichick's genius, and his belief that the league must balance entertainment value with player safety to sustain industry growth.

Big Tech and Antitrust: Rethinking Competition Policy for the Digital Era

David Faber, Tyler Cowen, Makan Delrahim, Sally Hubbard, Luigi Zingales

Justice Department official Makan Delrahim, panelists Luigi Zingales, Sally Hubbard, and Tyler Cowen debated the implications of the AT&T/Time Warner and T-Mobile/Sprint mergers while critiquing Big Tech's "platform privilege" and data monopolies. Critics argued that digital services function as monopolies through advertising control and product replication, challenging Delrahim's assertion that these firms have primarily benefited consumers through innovation and low prices. The discussion concluded by exploring regulatory remedies ranging from data portability and interoperability to potential common carrier status should antitrust enforcement fail to restore competition.

El Salvador's violent gang members are finding God in prison

Wilfredo Gómez

Following his deportation from the U.S. to El Salvador in 1996, former 18th Street gang member Wilfredo Gómez founded a Christian prison ministry that expanded to house over 900 inmates within a violent, overcrowded system. While the program offered temporary sanctuary and social mobility through a segregated religious zone, its long-term success remains limited as societal stigma and a lack of employment opportunities prevent most converts from maintaining their faith outside prison. Ultimately, the initiative highlights a critical gap between individual rehabilitation within the jail and the structural barriers preventing former gang members from achieving permanent reintegration into Salvadoran society.

When thoughts control machines

Brain-computer interface projects led by entities such as the U.S. Brain Initiative, Kernel, Neuralink, and DARPA are rapidly advancing from controlling prosthetics to decoding entire neural circuits with the goal of restoring motor function for paralyzed patients. As these technologies evolve to read and write neural codes, experts highlight critical ethical imperatives regarding neuroprivacy and the prevention of a societal capability gap between enhanced humans and artificial intelligence. The immediate focus remains on medical recovery, while long-term aspirations address the profound necessity of co-evolving with machines to ensure equitable access and safeguard human autonomy against the rapid pace of technological development.

John Preskill on Quantum Computing

John Preskill, Steven Hawking, Kip Thorne, Craig Cannon

Established by Richard Feynman's early theoretical work, the field of quantum computing has evolved from theoretical challenges in the 1970s to a practical reality enabled by mid-1990s error correction and recent hardware advancements in superconducting and trapped-ion systems. As current devices approach 100 qubits, they are poised to disrupt public-key cryptography through Shor's algorithm while simultaneously offering transformative capabilities in quantum chemistry simulation and materials science. The industry now focuses on bridging these applications through hybrid classical-quantum systems and developing post-quantum security measures to address the imminent threat to existing encryption standards.

Katie Couric on Telling America’s Stories

Katie Couric, David

In a comprehensive interview, pioneering broadcaster Katie Couric details her unconventional path from a CNN failure to becoming the first solo female anchor of the CBS Evening News, where she prioritized substantive coverage of issues like sexual assault over traditional newsroom norms. She discusses her strategic negotiations for professional equality, her pivotal 2008 interview with Sarah Palin, and her current documentary series *America Inside Out*, which seeks to bridge deep societal divides through direct dialogue and the re-examination of Confederate history. Couric concludes by advocating for structural changes such as the Rooney Rule to combat workplace bias and emphasizing the critical role of proximity in fostering empathy across America's shifting demographic landscape.

Online to Offline 2.0: Experiments and Examples from China

Connie Chan, Peter van de Ven

Peter van de Ven outlines the emergence of Online-to-Offline 2.0, a bidirectional retail ecosystem where physical spaces feed consumer data back online to create a continuous cycle of personalized experiences. Major players like Alibaba, Walmart, and Amazon drive this transformation through technologies ranging from frictionless checkout systems and facial recognition to emotion-detecting shelves, establishing a mobile-only model that treats smartphones as primary identity bridges. This convergence of sensors, machine learning, and "super apps" aims to deliver a seamless digital society where every physical interaction becomes a data input for hyper-targeted marketing and automated inventory management.

U.S. Navy, Retired Admiral James Winnefeld, Jr.

James Winnefeld, Jr., James "Sandy" Winnefeld, Jr., Gary Giglio

Retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Winnefeld co-founded the organization SAFE following the heroin overdose death of his son, Jonathan, to address systemic failures in mental health care and pharmaceutical oversight that contributed to the nation's escalating opioid crisis. By citing CDC data that frames annual overdose fatalities as a catastrophic national security threat, Winnefeld advocates for immediate reforms including stricter prescription limits and the removal of stigma surrounding addiction treatment. The Admiral further extends this philosophy to global security, urging a complex diplomatic approach to North Korea while emphasizing that effective leadership requires holding individuals to high standards while providing essential support.

John A. Farrell: The Life, Legacy and Lessons of Richard Nixon

John A. Farrell, Richard Nixon, Jake Seward, Jack Farrell

Journalist Jack Farrell's biography reexamines Richard Nixon by contrasting his resilient childhood trauma and early friendship with John F. Kennedy against his calculated ambition and the fatal "Chennault Affair." The narrative details how Nixon's secret taping system and subsequent admission of Watergate involvement transformed a political scandal into an unprecedented impeachment crisis fueled by his "uncontrolled cruelty" during the final days of his presidency. Farrell ultimately frames Nixon's arc as a Shakespearean tragedy where a tragic flaw derived from his humble origins and a vow to never be out-cheated again led inevitably to his downfall.