#202 Chairman of Qualcomm, Mark McLaughlin: The Right Pitch
Grit5 Aug 2024

#202 Chairman of Qualcomm, Mark McLaughlin: The Right Pitch

Guest: Mark McLaughlin, chairman of the board at Qualcomm

When he was 24, Mark McLaughlin thought his career was over. Since childhood, he had dreamed of attending West Point and joining the Army, but a helicopter crash left him unable to serve, with a medical discharge. However, the crash also let him stay closer to his then-girlfriend Karen. They married and raised three children, and Mark found success in his new career, serving as CEO of Palo Alto Networks and now chairman of the board at Qualcomm. “In hindsight,” he says, “I would tell you the worst thing that ever happened in my life was the best thing that ever happened in my life.”

In this episode, Mark and Joubin discuss semi-retirement, Palo Alto Networks, identity crises, West Point, homeschooling, self-awareness, working on the plane, Walter Reed Hospital, Nikesh Arora, Cristiano Amon, non-founder CEOs, Paul Jacobs, Verisign, reference interviews, rising to the occasion, and fortitude.

Chapters:

  • (00:57) - Mark’s reputation and family
  • (09:40) - “What am I doing?”
  • (14:58) - Deciding to step away
  • (16:55) - Overcoming work addiction
  • (22:15) - Mandatory sacrifice
  • (24:25) - Carl Eschenbach
  • (27:12) - The people who matter
  • (32:11) - Energy vs. adrenaline
  • (37:31) - The helicopter crash
  • (44:02) - Leaving Palo Alto Networks
  • (50:05) - Bungled CEO transitions
  • (54:24) - “Detox” time off
  • (57:32) - Waiting for the right pitch
  • (01:04:48) - The at-home interview
  • (01:08:59) - Work in perspective
  • (01:12:10) - What “grit” means to Mark


Links:

Connect with Mark

Connect with Joubin

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(286)

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company | Anduril’s Trae Stephens

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company | Anduril’s Trae Stephens

Founder quality becomes more important as startups become easier to build.Trae Stephens, co-founder of Anduril and partner at Founders Fund, has spent years backing founders with strong conviction, in...

18 Mai 56min

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino

What does it take to run a company where the business is risk itself?In conversation with Joubin Mirzadegan, Peter Zaffino shares what the role demands at AIG, including high stakes decisions, constan...

4 Mai 56min

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

In a market that hadn’t changed in decades, Linear didn’t win by being faster. They won by being more thoughtful.Karri Saarinen helped shape design at Airbnb and Coinbase before building Linear around...

20 Apr 1h 17min

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

What does security look like when attackers use AI better than you do?Armadin recently raised $200M to build for the “attacker of the future,” where attacks are autonomous and harder to contain.On the...

6 Apr 1h 2min

The Silicon Valley Insider In The Pentagon | DoW Emil Michael

The Silicon Valley Insider In The Pentagon | DoW Emil Michael

Emil Michael went from scaling Uber across 600 cities to rewiring the world's largest military.In the midst of the Pentagon-Silicon Valley debate, the now U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research ...

23 Mar 40min

How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor

How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor

Few founders have seen Silicon Valley from every seat at the table.After co-creating Google Maps at Google, serving as CTO at Facebook, and later as co-CEO of Salesforce, Bret Taylor is now building A...

9 Mar 1h 12min

The AI Era of Cybercrime: How Malwarebytes Is Evolving Its Security Stack | Marcin Kleczynski

The AI Era of Cybercrime: How Malwarebytes Is Evolving Its Security Stack | Marcin Kleczynski

What began as a 14 year old fixing infected computers became Malwarebytes, an 800 person cybersecurity company trusted by millions of customers.On Grit, Marcin Kleczynski joins Joubin Mirzadegan to ex...

23 Feb 1h 3min

The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu

The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu

Can you scale customer support without burning out agents or frustrating customers?Ping Wu shares how Cresta combines AI and human intelligence into a single system that scales sustainably for compani...

9 Feb 43min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-skravla-gar
finansredaksjonen
rss-pa-konto
pengepodden-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-sunn-okonomi
rss-markedspuls-2
liberal-halvtime
utbytte
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
lederpodden