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From Refugee to the US Cabinet: A Conversation with Carlos Gutierrez on Ambition, Trust and the American Dream

In this interview, I spoke to Carlos Gutierrez, former US Secretary of Commerce and the youngest chief executive in Kellogg's history, about fleeing Cuba as a child, selling cereal from a van in Mexico City, the…

Vikas Shah 19 min read

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Three thousand moments. Three picked at random.

“The 'compare and despair' generation is constantly bombarded with unrealistic portrayals of success, leading everyone to feel inadequate, regardless of their achievements. We all have flaws and recognize our weaknesses, and there will always be someone who seems better in some way.”
— Bruce Hood Psychologist known for research on child development and magical thinking in children
“As we scaled up and prepared to go public, we realized that 'learning by doing' wouldn't always cut it. We needed to bring in individuals with expertise and experience, those who had 'been there, done that.' While we are immensely proud of starting out in Chennai, our aspiration has always been to establish a global presence.”
— Girish Mathrubootham Founder and CEO of Freshworks, cloud-based software company
“Until the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the economy had been measured in tonnes of grain and steel, and because of the crash- economists and politicians decided they wanted some grip over the scale of output of the economy- so they turned to a brilliant young scientist called Simon Kuznets and asked him how they should be measuring economic output. His answer was published in 1930s- he figured out a way to add-up all the tonnes of grains and steel and create a national income figure. He gave the caveat that it would scarcely be taken as the measure of welfare of a nation because it didn't include all the value created in a community, all the unpaid caring work at home, and only measured what was sold- not what was used-up!”
— Kate Raworth Creator of the Doughnut Economics framework for sustainable development

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  1. 01 Business & Economics From Refugee to the US Cabinet: A Conversation with Carlos Gutierrez on Ambition, Trust and the American Dream 364 interviews
  2. 02 Culture, Society, Sports & Arts A Conversation with Jesper Kouthoofd, Founder of Teenage Engineering, on Design, Play and Why Every Product Is an Illusion 237 interviews
  3. 03 Politics & Policy From Refugee to the US Cabinet: A Conversation with Carlos Gutierrez on Ambition, Trust and the American Dream 171 interviews
  4. 04 Science & Technology We Are Not Alone: A Conversation with Jonathan Caplan KC on the Evidence for UAPs, Non-Human Intelligence and Why It Was Never Disclosed 136 interviews
  5. 05 Health & Medicine The Continuum of Mind: A Conversation with Professor Michael Levin on Cognition, Bioelectricity and the Future of Being 74 interviews
  6. 06 Nobel Laureates Markets, Morals and the Road Ahead: A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Professor Alvin Roth 21 interviews

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