Interviews
Purpose is not the pursuit of profits but the animating force for achieving them. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock
Compassion is a central part of what makes us human. It is also the foundation behind conscious business, stakeholder capitalism, and AI for good. Compassion helps us to go beyond our narrow self-interest and to act more broadly towards each other, our community, and the world around us. The question isn’t about building a compassionate business. It is about what happened when compassion is missing as we become more technological. As AI is becoming more human-like, it is challenging us to rethink what we do as leaders and as corporations. We want to share inspirational stories of compassion to show that it is possible to do well and do good as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As we enter the AI era, compassion is no longer optional.
Rob Chesnut, Former Chief Ethics Officer, Airbnb
Integrity is more important than ever in this highly connected world. It is no longer sufficient to focus only on profits, to do only the minimum as required by law, and to care only about shareholders. Companies are now under pressure to do the right thing and to think beyond profits. In this talk, we will hear the inspirational stories of Airbnb, eBay, and Etsy. “You don’t need to choose between doing good and doing good business. They are actually the same thing.”
Heidi Roizen, Partner, Threshold Ventures
Heidi is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and venture capitalist. She is able to achieve great success in tech by putting people first and helping others. In her words, “If I can walk into a transaction with you, my goal is not just to make myself better off, but to make you better off as well.” Her focus on meaningful work and meaningful relationships have brought her both success and happiness!
Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Advisor to Airbnb
Rebel hospitality entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, Chip Conley disrupted his favorite industry not once, but twice. In this conversation, we will talk about leadership, wisdom, and compassion. We will also talk about Airbnb and what makes Brian Chesky a strong leader. Compassion is also the foundation behind their mission of helping everyone feel like they belong everywhere.
Sean O’Sullivan, Founder and Managing Partner, SOSV
Sean is an entrepreneur, inventor, and investor. “How can we be best of service to move the future which already exists, and allow that efficiency to create a world of abundance for everyone on the planet.” For Sean, it is about creating abundance using technology, serving people rather than serving ourselves, and reinforcing the change you want to see happen in the world.
Mark Whitacre, Executive Director of Coca-Cola Consolidated
Mark is known as the highest-level corporate executive in U.S. history to become an FBI whistleblower. He became the subject of a documentary film, The Informant!, played by Matt Damon. At the time, Coca-Cola lost hundreds of millions because of the ADM price-fixing scandal that Mark was actively involved in. If you were Coca-Cola, would you even consider talking to Mark? Today, Mark is hired by Coca-Cola Consolidated as the Executive Director with the mission to do good.
Kevin Panozza and Marc Benioff, Founders of Salesforce Australia and Salesforce.com
Kevin Panozza, CEO and Founder of Salesforce Australia, an Australian company with the same name as Salesforce.com founded by Marc Benioff. Kevin shared his story with Marc when they got into a trademark infringement dispute that was turning ugly because of the lawyers. If you were Marc, what would you do? Surprisingly, they decided to form a strategic partnership to help each other. In addition, they joined forces in establishing a young people’s development center in Laos. As Marc said, “With the right outlook, I’ve found, it’s possible to transform a losing situation into a very lucky break.”
David Hornik, General Partner of August Capital
The venture capital industry is known to be hyper-competitive. Is it possible to survive being a “nice” guy? Being a venture capitalist, David challenged the convention by focusing on the entrepreneurs first instead of looking out for himself. In Adam Grant’s book, Give and Take, it looked like David was losing in the beginning because of his unconventional approach to venture investing. On the contrary, David has a success rate of about 89 percent while 50% is considered good for this industry. David is not just surviving. He is thriving!
Cognitive Dissonance by Elliot Aronson
Dr. Aronson is arguably the most important living social psychologist of our time. His research on cognitive dissonance, which was pioneered by Festinger at Stanford in 1957, is groundbreaking in helping us to understand why we need compassion in tech.
Diversity by Telle Whitney
Dr. Whitney is a tech entrepreneur, a leader, and a recognized expert on diversity, and a true pioneer on the issue of women in technology.
Technology and AI by Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Dr. Wladawsky-Berger is Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, a position he assumed in May, 2007 when he retired from IBM as Vice President of Technical Strategy and Innovation.
Design and Tech by John Maeda
Forbes named Dr. Maeda as one of the most influential people of the 21st century and millions have watched his TED talks.
“The problem isn’t how to make the world more technology. It’s about how to make the world more humane again.”
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