83 - Ex-CEOs: Intel, Ford, Qualcomm, WPP – Revisiting Bosses Now Gone

You ever hear about kids taking a gap year after high school? A gap year. It's when they don't go straight to college and don't get a job, they … do something else. Maybe travel to Europe, or hike the Appalachian Trail. Gap years cost money, so mostly rich kids do them. For other people they’re called “being unemployed,” or “vagrancy.”  But! For kids whose parents can afford it? A gap year can be a beautiful period of self-discovery. Or it can be a ticket to delay responsibility.   What does this have to do with tech? Uber just went public days ago, after waiting a long time. Which is kind of like finally starting college after that gap year. How did the stock do? Terrible. Like straight Fs. Priced at the low end of the range, trading 10 percent below that.   I blame the parents. SoftBank and its 100-billion-dollar Vision Fund have been slinging billions of dollars around Silicon Valley like gap years after Andover, helping startups delay their IPOs. The question today? Is SoftBank spoiling the kids?  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

18 Mai 201926min

Uber had an action-packed IPO that did NOT go the way a lot of people expected. And in the lead-up to that, I got a visit from one of the smartest guys in the world in the field of computer vision – which is an important facet of driverless cars. This week on Fortt Knox, Ina Fried of Axios joins me to talk Uber, and Amnon Shashua of Mobileye tells how he went from college professor to billionaire entrepreneur … who is still a college professor.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

11 Mai 201955min

Is Endgame just the beginning? Disney has its eyes on the prize in the streaming wars, and now that it’s clocked the biggest movie opening ever – by a mile – all the pieces might be falling into place.    I now consider myself to be something of an Avengers Endgame expert. I saw it in Orlando on vacation Friday, then got stranded in Vegas for work Monday and saw it again. Don’t ask.   And basically Disney couldn’t ask for a better setup for the launch of its streaming strategy this fall. This year it’s closing out two of the top-grossing movie franchises of all time: Avengers and the Star Wars Skywalker saga. This as some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Google and Amazon, are also suiting up to do battle in streaming. Also: I sat down with VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger to talk about innovation, tech's impact on society, and the challenges of being a person of faith while leading a Silicon Valley company. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 Mai 201950min

I grew up in Washington, DC in the ‘80s. And 4 out of 5 playground fights ended before they started. Oh, there was plenty of trash talk – name calling, threats, even pushing. But when it was time to throw down? Most kids didn’t really want that busted lip.   This week we saw that same story play out in the multi-billion-dollar world of tech. Apple was gonna teach Qualcomm a lesson. Qualcomm wasn’t scared. Yesterday, minutes into their high-stakes court battle, the giants settled.   With me to break down the most important stuff happening in tech: Casey Newton of The Verge.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

22 Apr 201922min

John Rogers, Jr. Is Chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments. It has $13 billion under management. It's the largest black-owned investment firm in the country, and he's been running it more than 35 years.   This week, my conversation with John. We talk about a lot of stuff, including why he likes to eat one meal a day at McDonald’s, and how he once beat Michael Jordan playing basketball, 1-on-1. Seriously. It’s on YouTube.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

13 Apr 201928min

This week I spent some time talking to Ginni Rometty, the chairman and CEO of IBM.   I've been wanting to do a CNBC and Fortt Knox interview with Ginni for years now, and this year, it finally all came together. As a matter of fact, she and I have been making up for lost time. She's been kind enough to sit down with me three times: in January after her keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in February at IBM's Think conference in San Francisco, and this week at CNBC's first Future of Work event of the year in New York. We've got a rhythm going.  After our on-stage interview tackling artificial intelligence, workforce training and more, she joined me for a dive into how IBM is addressing those challenges specifically, and how the themes of technology shifts, equity and discomfort fit her own journey.   This is a quick talk by Fortt Knox standards – but it's packed. Ginni doesn't waste words. Still, she left me wanting more, and I'll wager you'll feel the same. I can guarantee I'll try to get her to spend some time with me on Fortt Knox again.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 Apr 201914min

Apple TV Plus. Apple News Plus. Apple Arcade. Apple Card. We still don’t have all the details, like pricing and mechanics, but Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted Hollywood royalty at the company’s Cupertino headquarters this week. The promise: a new model for digital commerce and digital content that emphasizes privacy over targeting and subscriptions over ads.   But is Apple too late? And for publishers and producers who have been burned by the big platforms before, is this time different?  Joining me to dig for answers, Kevin Delaney, editor-in-chief and co-CEO at Quartz; Stephanie Mehta, editor of Fast Company; and Rebekah Saltsman, CEO of Finji, the game studio behind Overland. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

30 Mar 201929min

Twenty-five years ago today I was probably really stressed out about the college application and admissions process.   Things have arguably gotten tougher since then for students trying to chart their futures. And the headlines this month don’t help.    The U.S. Department of Justice charged 50 people last week in a multi-million-dollar scheme that allowed rich parents to cheat the college admissions system. By faking standardized test scores and bribing athletics officials, those parents managed to get their kids into elite schools like Georgetown, Stanford, Yale, and USC.  But what if you don’t want to commit a crime but still want to succeed in life? What’s the plan? We’re going to discuss.   With me this week: Michael Reilly, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; C.J. Farley, author of the new book Around Harvard Square, and the father of two teenagers; Adam Brownlee, an investment theory instructor at Western Kentucky University who has done the math on whether an Ivy League degree is worth the cost; and CNBC wealth editor Robert Frank.   Also on the podcast: Frank Calderoni is the CEO of software company Anaplan, and he’s the former CFO of companies including Cisco, Red Hat and SanDisk.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

23 Mar 201953min