Memorable quotes from some of the many guests who have spoken on campus over the years.
Steph Curry | Photo by Saul Bromberger
On any given day at Stanford Graduate School of Business, you might catch a founder dropping into a class, a policymaker keynoting a conference, or a CEO speaking just feet away in CEMEX Auditorium. Here’s a sampling of quotes and quips from a few of the hundreds of guests who have spoken at the school over the years.
Photo from GSB Archives
“I have to be careful what I say here. Let me just say that you need a license to drive a car, but you don’t need a license to be the CEO of a company. And maybe you should need one.”
— Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, 2003
Lou Henry Hoover
Former First Lady, 1936
“Honesty, honor, straight dealing, the inviolability of one’s word… are as essential, and as common, in so-called business as in any other calling by which men and women make their living while serving the needs of others.”
Joel Peterson
The Robert L. Joss Adjunct Professor of Management, in his Last Lecture, 2006
“Trust is important because we don’t trust people when we think they don’t have integrity. If you would be trusted, do something that eliminates the gap between your stated values and your real values.”
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO, receiving the Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award, 2013
“I used to talk to dates about electric cars. It wasn’t helpful.”
Sigourney Weaver
Actress, in Professor Roderick Kramer’s Working in the Film and Television Industry class, 2001
“Never do business with people you wouldn’t have dinner with.”
Malala Yousafzai
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at View From the Top, 2021
“As long as you are speaking the truth and as long as you are yourself, then that should be your form of advocacy…. Some of us want to work from the inside, some of us want to work from the outside. And I think we all have a role to play.”
Illustrations by Jordan Andrew Carter
Sundar Pichai
Google and Alphabet CEO, at the Business, Government & Society Forum, 2024
“You’re always susceptible to someone in a garage with a better idea.”
Zoe Cruz
Banking executive, at an event sponsored by MBA Women in Management, 2010
“Not many leave the comfort of the known voluntarily. Most, including me, need a good shove. But these periods of being shoved outside my comfort zone were the ones that helped me grow the most as a person.”
Leena Nair
Chanel global CEO, at View From the Top, 2024
“I had to continuously remember that it’s a privilege to be first. But I don’t want to be the last…. So ‘lift as you climb’ has become a huge mantra for me. How do I ensure I make it easier for those who come after me?”
Steve Ballmer, MBA ’81
Microsoft CEO, at View From the Top, 2000
“If any of you choose to join companies that think they’re not in the internet business, you should probably have your head examined.”
“Even though I grew up poor, I didn’t have poor dreams. And one thing I never lacked was confidence in myself. I always believed in me.”
— Earvin “Magic Johnson, former NBA player and entrepreneur, at View From The Top, 2015
Photo by Stacy Gieken
Diane von Fürstenberg
Fashion designer, at View From The Top, 2018
“People say I made the dress. Yes, I made the dress. But really, the dress made me.”
Photo by Stuart Brinin
“For any company that wants to be innovative, [there is an] absolutely critical thing to do, which is to not be distracted when people tell you that this is stupid and isn’t going to work.”
— Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, at the Entrepreneurship Conference, 2005
Jack Valenti
Former CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, 2009
“I am a very combative fellow and I will go for jugulars, but I never get personal.”
Priscilla Chan
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative co-founder and co-CEO, at View From The Top, 2021
“If you hide, you’re powerless…. But if you name what’s hard, if you name why you’re different, if you name your story, that gives you power.”
Henry Ford II
Ford Motor Company chairman, at View From The Top, 1979
“It is as fashionable to dismiss political liberalism as it is to dismiss capitalism. The tradition of freedom and tolerance — which many have called the liberal tradition — is, perhaps, capitalism’s greatest contribution and achievement.”
Laurene Powell Jobs, MBA ’91
Emerson Collective founder and president, receiving the Ernest C. Arbuckle Award, 2019
“Shall we defend capitalism? Yes, of course. But we must also acknowledge the many Americans who are denied its benefits. We need capitalism with a conscience.”
Vinod Khosla, MBA ’80
Sun Microsystems founder, at View From The Top, 2015
“Ninety percent of you will do what’s expected of you as opposed to what you want to do…. If I can convert one of you to follow your belief and have the guts to follow your belief, I’ll think of the hour as well spent.”
Steph Curry
NBA player, at View From The Top, 2020
“I don’t take myself ever too seriously in my job because it doesn’t matter how many points I score or if we win or lose. When I come home, I’m Dad. And that’s the best thing about life.”
Yvon Chouinard
Patagonia founder, at the Conradin von Gugelberg Memorial Environmental Lecture, 2006
“Every time we make a decision to do good, it makes us more money.”
President Barack Obama
at the Challenges to Democracy in the Digital Information Realm symposium, 2022
“What recent events remind us is that democracy is neither inevitable nor self-executed. Citizens like us have to nurture it.”
Senator Mitt Romney
at View From The Top, 2015
“Running for president is really fun. It’s like sport for old guys…. If you get the chance to run for president, do it for sure.”
“We understand that we are fundamentally reforming the economic system and essentially producing a new model for the economy. The potential of our people is great.”
— Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, meeting with faculty at the GSB, 1990
Chuck Painters/Stanford News Service
Meg Whitman
eBay CEO, at View From The Top, 2006
“The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake…. Better to make a mistake and fix it really fast than be sort of paralyzed by an array of options and not knowing what to do.”
Photo from Stanford GSB
“I always understood that there really was no difference between me and the audience. At times I might have had better shoes. But at the core, the core of what really matters… we are the same.”
— Oprah Winfrey, media executive, talk show host, actress, and producer, at View From The Top, 2014
Frances Hesselbein
Girl Scouts of America executive director, at an event organized by the Public Management Initiative, 1990
“If you recruit volunteers by saying ‘This won’t be much work,’ you won’t even be able to motivate a puppy.”
Timothy Ling, MBA ’89
Unocal COO, at View From The Top, 2003
“Your values only get tested when you’re truly in situations where those values can cause sacrifices. If you don’t have those values deeply embedded in you, it’s really easy to say, ‘I don’t want to know about it, just get it done.’”
MC Hammer
Musician and entrepreneur, in Professor Jennifer Aaker’s Brands, Experience, and Social Technology class, 2011
“I don’t want to be the flawless hero or Mr. Perfect. None of those guys or brands will survive in today’s real-time world. The new heroes will be the heroes that have flaws.”
Carlos Brito, MBA ’89
AB InBev CEO, at View From The Top, 2008
“A leader is somebody who needs a team to achieve his or her targets.”
Phil Knight, MBA ’64
Nike founder and CEO, GSB commencement address, 2014
“Dare to take chances, lest you leave your talent buried in the ground. And where there is no struggle, there can be no art.”
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View From The Top
View From The Top is the dean’s premier speaker series. It was started in 1978 and is supported in part by the F. Kirk Brennan Speaker Series Fund.
During student-led interviews, well-respected leaders from around the world share insights on effective leadership, their personal core values, and lessons learned throughout their career.
