For somebody at the beginning of something — still at school, newly qualified, or one week into work they do not yet understand. Mostly people looking back at who they were, which is the only vantage from which this advice is any good.
23 people · 326 answers
Chairman of Tata Sons, 1991–2012
Recorded · Rediff Business · 2010
I would hope that most of you will in fact strive for leadership in a principled manner with values, because that would be the foundation that this country needs to have if it is to take…
President of Poland, 1990–1995; co-founder and chairman of the Solidarity trade union
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 1983
When I recall my own path of life I cannot but speak of the violence, hatred and lies.
United States international footballer, 2006–2023
Recorded · The Players' Tribune · 2016
Even more simply, you can ask yourself this question: "Do I truly care about equality for all people in this country?" If the answer is yes, then demand to be a better, more educated, more…
President of Toyota Motor Corporation, 2009–2023; chairman from 2023
Recorded · Babson College (Babson Thought & Action) · 2019
Don't screw it up. Don't take it for granted. Try new things, even if you're old. Do the right thing, because if you do the right thing, the money will follow. Decide what you stand for.
United States district judge, Middle District of Alabama, 1955–1979; judge of the Eleventh Circuit
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 1991
Study. Be honest. Don’t violate the laws and get in trouble. Get you a good spouse that will support you, because you never stop working and studying.
Field biologist and conservationist; Wildlife Conservation Society
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2017
Certainly, if you want to get into the field of biology these days, you should also study anthropology because so much work now is with communities. How do you help communities?
President of Costa Rica, 1986–1990 and 2006–2010
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 1987
Seeing that the past dictatorships were only capable of creating misery and crippling hope, how absurd to pretend to cure the evils of one extreme dictatorship by means of its opposite!
Co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management
Recorded · Oaktree Capital Management (client memo) · 2001
There are a few things I dismiss and a few I believe in thoroughly.
Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
every time I heard the word “smart” attached to anything, it means it’s pretty dumb, because no one knows what it really does.
Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
Recorded · Caltech Engineering and Science (Caltech Library archive) · 1974
For example, I was a little surprised when I was talking to a friend who was going to go on the radio.
United States swimmer, 2000–2016
Recorded · CBS News · 2018
I think it's something that nobody's really talked about in the past because we're supposed to be this big, macho, strong person that has no weaknesses.
Songwriter, musician and novelist
Recorded · The Red Hand Files · 2024
Many creative people, especially the young, may feel their chaotic or disordered relationship with the world is indispensable to their creative freedom. The more anarchic, the better!
Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
I had such failure for the first ten years in Silicon Valley. General Magic — over a billion dollars invested in 1990 dollars! Could you imagine what that is today?
Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA
Recorded · NVIDIA Blog · 2024
One setback after another, we shook it off and skated to the next opportunity. Each time, we gain skills and strengthen our character.
Film director, photographer and installation artist
Recorded · Eye For Film · 2018
I have never made any money from my films but I have won prizes and recognition. I have been on the margins forever.
British swimmer; Olympic champion 2016 and 2021
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2024
When I lost that 100m final I spiralled. I went quite aggressive. It is an Adam I don't really recognise.
Baseball player; holder of the record for consecutive games played
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2020
No. I mean if you fail 70 percent of the time, you had a great year. You're dealing with failure seven out of ten times as a hitter.
Film director, producer and screenwriter; director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1999
The Godfather was a very unappreciated movie when we were making it. They were very unhappy with it. They didn't like the cast. They didn't like the way I was shooting it.
Founder, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten
Recorded · Toyo Keizai
In Rakuten's case, adjustment certainly took time. At first, meetings often felt awkward.
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Recorded · Berkshire Hathaway Inc. · 1992
We've just passed a milestone: Twenty years ago, on January 3, 1972, Blue Chip Stamps (then an affiliate of Berkshire and later merged into it) bought control of See's Candy Shops, a West…
Chef and restaurateur
Recorded · The Observer / The Guardian · 2025
My training took seven years. I didn’t learn how to make sushi for the first three years. I only got two days off a month, and slept on the restaurant floor. But I loved the job.
President of Liberia, 2006–2018
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 2011
My journey was supported by my many teachers and mentors who guided me to a world opened up by the enlightenment of higher education, and which led to my conviction that access to quality…
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Recorded · The Giving Pledge · 2021
we should invest the majority of our wealth the same way we are investing the majority of our time- by helping to improve people's lives.
Founder of Patagonia
Recorded · Patagonia · 2022
I never wanted to be a businessman. I started as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my friends and myself, then got into apparel.
Exercise physiologist; professor at McMaster University
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
This question, I’m going to sound like a scientist here but one of the books that I’ve given out a lot is called The Craft of Scientific Writing .
Investor; co-founder of East Rock Capital
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2019
Yeah. So in financial markets, I really like this somewhat obscure book called The Aspirational Investor by this guy, Ashvin Chhabra, who runs Jim Simons’ family office.
American economist
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2020
I’m very suspicious about recommending books to people because there’s the risk they might listen to what you say.
American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2021
A [inaudible 00:42:55] is an article that I know that you’ve recommended a bunch that I’ve gifted to all my entrepreneur friends is 1,000 True Fans .
General partner at Benchmark Capital
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2023
Yes. There are three books that I’ll mention. The first one that I’ve gifted the most is called Complexity by Mitchell Waldrop, which is about the rise of the Santa Fe Institute.
Leadership coach; co-author of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2021
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks is probably the book I've gifted the most, and the one I've recommended the most of any other book.
Animator, cartoon director and screenwriter
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
My mother said — and I didn’t realize how well it works — when I’d bring a drawing to her, she said, “I don’t look at the drawing.
Mountaineer and explorer; first ascent of Everest, 1953
Recorded · Academy of Achievement
My mother used to say to me a thing which, when I look back on it, wasn’t terribly logical.
Conductor; Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
Maestro Abreu always said something very, very beautiful.
Financier; co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 1991
One person that is my role model is my father. ... He’s a man who taught me something very important. And that was — give back to society what you’ve taken out.
Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Recorded · Semana · 2022
¿Es la tecnología, el machine learning y la inteligencia artificial?
War correspondent and author; Pulitzer Prize winner, 1989
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2007
One of my editors once said to me, “If you get invited to the White House, take your notebook with you,” and he meant it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bill Clinton, Charlie Munger, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, David Vélez, Derek Sivers, Desmond Tutu, Edmund Hillary, Jimmy Carter, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, John Lewis, Malala Yousafzai, Marina Abramović, Mario Molina, Mellody Hobson, Mohamed ElBaradei, Richard Feynman, Shinya Yamanaka, Simone Biles, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Winston Churchill