The Profile

Known as the "lord of luxury" and "the Pope of fashion," LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault is the world's richest man with a recent net worth of $199 billion. In this deep dive, Polina analyzes his life and career and breaks down what we can learn from Arnault's massively successful creative empire.

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Jeff Immelt succeeded Jack Welch as the CEO of General Electric, a great American company. When Immelt took over in 2001, he didn't know that he would have a long, turbulent road ahead.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would be the first of many crises that Immelt had to grapple with in his time as CEO. He was at the helm of the company through the bursting of the dot com bubble, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the fall of Enron, and the 2008-09 financial crisis.

Shareholders blamed Immelt for his inability to turn the company around and for allowing GE to lose $150 billion of market value under his watch. In this conversation, Immelt shares what he's learned about leading in crisis, how he's taken responsibility for the consequences of his decisions, and why he believes the next generation of founders and CEOs need to be masters of chaos.

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Dubbed “The Queen of Pain,” Amelia Boone is a corporate attorney at Apple by day and an obstacle endurance racer by night. She signed up for her first Tough Mudder race at age 28 when she realized she couldn’t do a single pull-up.  Since that day, she became obsessed with getting stronger and went on to become a 4-time world champion and one of the most decorated obstacle racers in history — all while working full-time at Apple.

Here's how Boone learned to conquer the mental aspect of racing, how she confronted a years-long challenge with an eating disorder, and why she believes that your profession doesn't have to be your passion. 

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Chris C. Miller, a company commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, helped direct the first, covert invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. A number of Green Berets from the 5th Group were sent to invade Afghanistan and defeat the Taliban — some of them on horseback — in a secret and dangerous mission, which was portrayed in the film '12 Strong.'

In this conversation, Miller explains what training for the Afghanistan mission entailed, how he used his experiences in the field to transition from a tactical position into a strategic one, the challenges of his role as the acting secretary of defense, and the leadership lessons he's learned along the way.

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 - September 11, 2001

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By the time Ana Lorena Fabrega was 15 years old, she had already attended 10 different schools in seven different countries. After five years as a teacher, Fabrega left the traditional school system in pursuit of alternative methods that sparked students' curiosity and love for learning.

Today, Fabrega is the Chief Evangelist at Synthesis, an online enrichment club where kids learn through games and simulations. Here's how she thinks the role of education is changing and how school can promote independent thought, boost curiosity, and better prepare kids for the future.

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Rickey Gates is a writer and adventurer who traversed the width of America in 2017 — from South Carolina to San Francisco. He ran a total of 3,700 miles through trails, roads, rivers, and snowy mountains. His journey painted a portrait of America, one that captures the spirit of the country and makes us realize we're not as divided as we think. 

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Lauren Johnson is a mental performance coach who most recently worked with the New York Yankees, where she helped develop strategies for athletes and sports professionals to help them cultivate mental resilience. In this conversation, Lauren and I deconstruct the strategies and tactics of 7 mentally tough people and how they learned to perform under pressure.

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It's been four years of The Profile. That means that since February of 2017, you've received 208 Sunday emails, 50 Profile Dossiers, and thousands of longform profiles. Every Sunday, we come together to study the most curious, innovative, and successful people in the world. Want to join the club? Sign up here: https://readtheprofile.com

James Clear, the author of New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, has been writing on his website JamesClear.com since 2012. In this interview, Clear explains his writing and idea-generating process and offers practical strategies to help us form better habits in the new year.

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Even though Square transformed the world of payments, it was anything but a smooth ride. Co-founder Jim McKelvey woke up one day to discover that Amazon had copied their hardware, undercut them on price by 30%, and was offering live customer support.

The bitter battle between Square and Amazon lasted more than a year. But McKelvey and Dorsey ultimately did the impossible: Through persistence, determination, and constant innovation, they had defeated the most terrifying company on the planet.

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