If you’re not called crazy when you start something new, then you’re not thinking big enough!
Linda Rottenberg is the co-founder and CEO of Endeavor Global, a cutting-edge nonprofit supporting high-impact entrepreneurs worldwide. She has been named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report and one of Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the 21st Century.” A frequent lecturer at Fortune 500 companies, Linda is the subject of four case studies by Harvard Business School and the Standford Graduate School of Business. ABC and NPR have called her “the entrepreneur whisperer” and Tom Friedman dubbed her the world’s “mentor capitalist.” She is author of the New York Times bestseller Crazy Is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for late success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
Around the time that Endeavor reached its ten-year anniversary and I thought we were finally out of the woods, a forest fire swept in that nearly felled me. My husband, a best-selling author known for adventure travel, was diagnosed with life-threatening bone cancer, which somehow robbed me of my motor function. Suddenly, I couldn’t get on planes anymore and could barely even show up to the office. I wasn’t sure if Bruce would survive and, honestly, I wasn’t sure if Endeavor would either. Fortunately, our incredible team stepped up and we grew faster than ever. Perhaps the fact that I wasn’t around to micromanage had something to do with it! But the lesson went deeper than learning not to micromanage. I gained a valuable leadership and life lesson when I returned to work after Bruce was thankfully cured. As a female CEO, I had made a point to lead with strength and confidence…. Never let them see you sweat, or—even worse—cry, right? After I returned to work, that stonefaced posture no longer worked. Team members wanted to know how Bruce was doing, how our young twin daughters were doing, and how I was doing. I had no choice but to let my guard down and be vulnerable for the first time. Shockingly, rather than drive my employees away, it drew them closer. Young team members actually pulled me aside and confessed that they used to think I was “superhuman,” meaning I was unrelatable. Now that I was showing my vulnerability, they said, they would follow me anywhere. The lesson: Rather than striving to be superhuman, I would aspire to be less “super” and more “human.”
Remember, Babe Ruth was not only the home run king, he was also the strikeout king.
Steve Case is one of America’s best-known entrepreneurs and chairman and CEO of Revolution LLC, an investment firm he co-founded. He is a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life. Steve’s entrepreneurial career began in 1985 when he co-founded America Online (AOL). Under his leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company. AOL was the first Internet company to go public and among the best-performing stocks of the 1990s, delivering a 11.616 percent return to shareholders. At its peak, nearly half of Internet users in the United States used AOL. Steve is the author of the New York Times best-selling book The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future. Steve is also chairman of the Case Foundation, which he established with his wife, Jean, in 1997. In 2010, Steve and Jean joined The Giving Pledge and publicly reaffirmed their commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The Third Wave by futurist Alvin Toffler had an enormous impact on my life. It was his vision of a global electronic village that helped put me on the path to co-founding AOL. I read Toffler’s Third Wave as a senior in college and was mesmerized by the idea of connecting people through a digital medium. I knew it was inevitable and wanted to be a part of building that future. The book was so influential, when I decided to write a book, I borrowed the title: The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future. Toffler’s three waves were the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the technology revolution. I focused on the three waves of the Internet: building the platforms to get the world connected, then building apps on top of the Internet, and then integrating the Internet throughout our lives in increasingly pervasive—and sometimes even invisible—ways.
Just say no (to drugs, gambling, eating, sex, etc.) is the least helpful advice one can say to a human being caught up in any addiction. If they could say no, they would.
Dr. Gabor Maté is a physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology. He is well known for his study and treatment of addiction. Dr. Maté has written several best-selling books, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghost: Close Encounters with Addiction. His works have been published internationally in 20 languages. Dr. Maté has received the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, an honorary degree from the University of Northern British Columbia, and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Mothers Against Teen Violence. He is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
A version of Béla Bartók’s string quartets recorded in 1954 by the Vegh Quartet. Perhaps I say so because I’m listening to this CD as I write these words, but I am moved and inspired by the modesty, the dedication to art, and the sheer purity of the performance.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The first book to deeply influence me was Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne. The Bear of Very Little Brain was a beloved companion of my Budapest childhood. (I happen to think the Hungarian translation is even funnier and livelier than the English original, if that’s possible.) Milne’s little universe of characters speaks to the playful child in all of us, who must, eventually, grow up and face life, hopefully with some of our Pooh-like humor and innocent wisdom intact.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Sarah Elizabeth Lewis is an assistant professor of history of art and architecture and African and African American studies at Harvard University. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard, and MPhil from Oxford University, and her PhD in the history of art from Yale University. Before joining the faculty at Harvard, she held curatorial positions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London and taught at Yale University School of Art. Sarah was the guest editor of the landmark “Vision & Justice” issue of Aperture, which received the 2017 Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research. She is also the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery. Sarah has served on President Obama’s Arts Policy Committee and currently serves on the board of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Creative Time, and the CUNY Graduate Center.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
There are two I tend to give: Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost and James Baldwin’s collection of essays, The Price of the Ticket, with one [essay] that should be a map for any innovator called “The Creative Process.” I won’t spoil it by describing it here, but it’s Baldwin. It’s brilliant. Any questions you didn’t know you had about the purpose of the creative spirit for society will likely be answered. Solnit’s book is perfect for someone trying to unlock their passion and is getting up the never to chart a new path.
Back when I was 75 (I’m 78 now), I checked out the local CrossFit “box” and was enchanted by the absence of mirrors and machines, and by the presence of free weight.
Stewart Brand is the president of the Long Now Foundation, established to creatively foster long-term thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years. He leads a project there called Revive and Restore, which seeks to bring back extinct animal species such as the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth. Stewart is well known for founding, editing, and publishing The Whole Earth Catalog (1968-85), which received a National Book Award for its 1972 issue. He is the co-founder of The WELL and Global Business Network, and the author of books including Whole Earth Discipline, The Clock of the Long Now, How Buildings Learn, and The Media Lab. He was trained in biology at Standford and served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are books that have greatly influenced your life?
Four books:
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism by Rodney Stark The Idea of Decline in Western History by Arthur Herman The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
Almost all advice given to writers by supposed experts is wrong.
Brian Koppelman is a screenwriter, novelist, director, and producer. Prior to his hit show Billions, which he co-created and executive produced (and co-wrote on spec), he was best known as the co-writer of Rounders and Oceans’ Thirteen, as well as a producer of The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones. He has directed films such as Solitary Man, starring Michael Douglas. Brian also hosts The Moment podcast. One of my favorite episodes is with John Hamburg, who wrote and directed I Love You, Man and wrote Meet the Parents, among many other films. It’s like film school and an MFA in screenwriting wrapped into one conversation.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
These are the books I have given away/recommended the most. They have all also been crucial in my life.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins City of Thieves by David Benioff
Have the moral courage to live in the gray…. Live the questions so that, one day, you will live yourself into the answers.
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen, which raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing the way the world tackles poverty. Prior to Acumen, Jacqueline founded and directed the Philanthropy Workshop and the Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation. She also co-founded Duterimbere, a microfinance institution in Rwanda. She began her career in international banking with Chase Manhattan Bank. Jacqueline currently sits on the advisory boards of Sonen Capital and the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative. She also serves on the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees and the board of IDEO.org, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, World Economic Forum, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Jacqueline was recently awarded the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I read it as a 22-year-old, and it made me think deeply about how society doesn’t “see” so many of its members. I’m still reminded to pay attention, to recognize people as I pass them, to say hello. It sounds so simple. It changes everything.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The first book I read by an African author. Achebe is unflinching in his portrayal of the challenges of change, the relationships of colonialism, and power/powerlessness. It is still so relevant today.
Think for yourself while being radically open-minded.
Ray Dalio is the founder, chair, and co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates, a global leader in institutional portfolio management and the largest hedge fund in the world ($150+ billion). Bridgewater is known for its culture of “radical transparency,” which includes encouraging dissent, openly airing disagreements, and recording all meetings. His estimated net worth is nearly $17 billion. Along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Ray has signed “The Giving Pledge,” committing half of his net wealth to charity over the course of his lifetime. He has created the Dalio Foundation to channel his philanthropic contributions. Ray has appeared on the Time 100 list of the “Most Influential People in the World,” as well as the Bloomberg Markets list of the “50 Most Influential People.” Ray is the author of Principles: Life and Work, in which he shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant, and River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
A pocket notepad to jot down good ideas when they come to me.
