I think all women in Hollywood are known as sex symbols. That’s what our purpose is in this business. You’re merchandised, you’re a product. You’re sold and it’s based on sex. But that’s okay. I think women should be empowered by that, not degraded.
I am not a natural fan of Mr Tillerson’s political instincts. Indeed, there maybe few things I would agree with Rex on: for example, he vouched his support for the war in Yemen, approved of Assad’s regime, and has pushed for tax cuts for American big business.
Like any business, the oil industry runs on the basic premise of supply and demand. The more supply – the lower the price. The higher the demand – the higher price. In other words, the more people who can buy oil, the higher the price of oil.
You know, out-of-touch liberals like Barack Obama say they want a strong economy, but in everything they do, they show they don’t like business very much. But the economy, of course, is simply the product of all the businesses of the nation added together. So it’s a bit like saying you like an omelet, but you don’t like eggs.
On the environment and climate change, I suspect that future generations will think there was too much timidity, too much fear of upsetting business. Basically, New Labour was very nervous about regulating business, or requiring it to do anything, even when there was a very clear social or environmental case for doing so.
The power of the individual, market forces, and the private sector permeate our lives. With that power comes responsibility to address huge challenges. Climate change cannot be solved by governments alone. Xenophobia, hatred, and intolerance – more business leaders have to play a role in trying to be positive leaders, civic leaders.
Purpose has always been part of Unilever’s DNA. Our founder, William Lever, built a business around the sale of Lifebuoy soap that was not only profitable and sustainable but also helped transform the health of the poor in Victorian Britain.
I was in the cement end of the construction business, as a laborer. I was pouring concrete, and stripping forms off of set concrete, and pulling nails, and stacking plywood, and doing that kind of thing. I was in peak condition in those days.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve come across countless articles and quotes proudly telling me that I should accept failure, smile, and keep my head up. In other words, I’ve been told to stay positive. The thing is, when you’re forced to shut down a business and let really awesome people you care about go, staying positive is the last thing on your mind.
While I appreciated the educational advantages I enjoyed in the school and was proud of what I could show in mental culture, I had an earnest desire for something more than a mere business education… I desired to study for a profession, and this prompted me to leave my native state.
I founded Atari in my garage in Santa Clara while at Stanford. When I was in school, I took a lot of business classes. I was really fascinated by economics. You end up having to be a marketeer, finance maven and a little bit of a technologist in order to get a business going.
Even when I lost my job at CBS News, I set up shop in my youngest daughter’s bedroom and started Brainstormin’ Productions and the Hannah Storm Foundation. And guess who was there, visiting me and enthusiastically making business charts and graphs that covered my entire kitchen table? My dad, of course.
Roosevelt’s New Deal regulated business, protected social welfare and promoted national infrastructure on the principle that the role of government was not simply to protect the property of the wealthy, but rather was to promote equality of opportunity for all.
My dad owns his own towing business, and my dad used to tow Hulk Hogan’s cars back and forth from Clearwater to different shops and stuff. And they had a relationship where when the cars would get done getting fixed, he’d pick it back up and take it back to Hulk Hogan’s house.
I’ve helped some of my classmates on how to strategize to get to the next level of their businesses. And it’s interesting, because here I am sitting there from the entertainment industry and the fashion industry, and I’m giving a billionaire that has a business that’s been in his family for 300 years – I’m giving him advice about strategy!
When you win a Grammy… you’re thinking about you winning. It is amazing. Your peers and folks in the record business are saying, ‘This is what we think of you.’ And that’s why the Grammy will always be, to me, the ultimate in what you get as far as a music trophy, because it is the one.
City life is stressful. Everybody is running around like crazy, stuck in traffic jams trying to make meetings, trying to make ends meet, trying to meet deadlines, trying to get kids to and from activities. There aren’t enough hours in the day for all this business.
Many years ago, when I was born in the ‘50s – ’50s and ‘60s didn’t belong to girls in India. They belonged to boys. They belonged to boys who would join business and inherit business from parents, and girls would be dolled up to get married.
I’ve talked to several CEOs – from a recycling company in Indiana, a furniture company in Kentucky, a brewing company in Colorado, and more – who believe paying higher wages is both the right thing to do and part of a successful business model.
I’ve always had a strange acting life. I’m the daughter of a director, and a very French, typical director who fell in love with every single one of his actresses. And that’s also something that’s kind of normal in the acting business, because everything is based on desire, one way or the other.
In this age of communications that span both distance and time, the only tool we have that approximates a ‘whisper’ is encryption. When I cannot whisper in my wife’s ear or the ears of my business partners, and have to communicate electronically, then encryption is our tool to keep our secrets secret.
In the United States, because we are a nation of laws, you can lose an election and keep your life. In the United States, you can lose an election where you can disagree with our leaders or our government, and you won’t lose your business; you won’t lose your family, and you won’t lose your freedom.
My show ‘The Big House’ was picked up; they flew me to New York. I’m about to step on stage to announce Kevin Hart’s ‘The Big House.’ And a hand grabs my shoulder, ‘Kevin no, they just decided to cancel it.’ It’s a serious smack-in-the-face business, and either you can take it, or you can’t.
I did not have a happy family life a few years ago. I was divorced, and I was very alienated from my daughter, and I was out there cutting every ribbon and running around New York hosting events for different causes to supplant my loss because I didn’t have a family to go home to. Now I don’t want to be Mr. Show Business anymore.
