Wisdom From The Top with Guy Raz

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Author, and business executive Beth Comstock says to Guy Raz in this classic 2021 interview "I'm about change." In college, she wanted to be a doctor, but organic chemistry wasn’t her strong suit, so she shifted to journalism. When journalism didn’t work out, she started working in publicity. So, when GE bought NBC in 1986 right as Beth was starting her career in advertising, she was ready to adapt again. She worked her way to becoming CMO of GE, helping grow revenue, devise a successful green energy program, and more. Then, when NBC began to explore their approach to digital media, Beth couldn't resist returning to the storied network, where a new frontier in media was opening up (for reference: this was around the time Google bought YouTube). While there she helped seed what would become Hulu. Around the time of the 2008 financial crisis, Beth returned to GE as the company's first female Vice Chair of Business Innovations, which was also around the time she penned the inspiring and candid book Imagine it Forward: Courage, Creative, and the Power of Change .

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General David Petraeus is one of those leaders who rose through the ranks to become one of the most well-known military figures of our time. Growing up in the shadow of West Point, General Petraeus defied the odds in a career where becoming a four-star general is nearly as unlikely as being struck by lightning.

Petraeus’s rise to prominence began in 2003, but it was in 2007, as the commander of Multi-National Forces in Iraq, where he made his mark by leading the controversial but pivotal “surge.” He later commanded coalition forces in Afghanistan during one of the deadliest periods for U.S. troops, before transitioning to a new chapter as the Director of the CIA under President Obama.

In this encore episode, General Petraeus shares his insights on leadership, revealing that the key to success lies in “getting the big ideas right,” refining them, and ensuring they’re communicated effectively across an entire organization.

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Terry Lundgren, former CEO of Neiman Marcus and Macy’s, has been instrumental in shaping the American retail landscape. His believes leadership lies dormant in many until an event challenges you to grow. He also believes playing it safe is the biggest risk of all. Despite an entire career in retail, including taking on the role of president of a local department store when he was 35--succeeding a 67-year-old, the road he took to bringing two notoriously competitive retail giants together wasn’t easy. How he merged famous department rivals, double-downed on retail, and turned Macy’s into the first nationwide department store in the United States.

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Jim Collins is one of the most influential business thinkers and writers of our time. Yet, Collins considers himself more of a researcher than an author.He has made a career of extracting the data embedded in the narrative arcs of companies and drawing lessons from them. With bestsellers like Good to Great, Built to Last, and BE 2.0, each of his books represents years of meticulous analysis, all before he even begins to write. What sets Collins apart aren't just his groundbreaking ideas but the unconventional choices that shaped his career. In this interview from 2021, Collins unpacks insights from his research, among them: the fact that ideas don't matter as much as people think they do. In fact, he found a negative correlation between starting a business with a great idea and creating a successful and enduring company. The key lies in "clock building" rather than "time telling," that is—creating a system and structure that transcend any one innovation or product. (He uses examples like Sony, which began with a failed rice cooker). Another side to this concept can be summed up with "preserve the core, stimulate progress." When leaders maintain what is core to the company, they can continually evolve their strategies and other aspects and build companies that last.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.