Heard at Kellogg

	Photo © Chris Guillen

"People have lost the sense of using democracy as a tool [to solve] public problems [like climate change]. They turn to Starbucks instead of the government to solve these problems."

—  Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School professor and cyber law expert, arguing that current campaign finance practices undermine the public's faith in the political process (March 5, in a Kellogg Distinguished Speaker Series lecture) Read the full article

Photo © Chris Guillen

"People have ideas about what makes some countries rich and some countries poor. I'll just say that if it were [a question of] natural resource endowment, you'd have to explain why Japan has done better than China, and the U.K. better than Spain."

—  Sylvia Nasar, economist, journalist and Columbia University professor, on productivity as a factor in how nations weather economic crises (Feb. 19, in a Kellogg Distinguished Speaker Series lecture) Read the full article

	Photo © Chris Guillen

"We put our patients first and employees second, and treat people with respect … If you put the shareholder first, you compromise everything else." 

—  Bill Weldon, Johnson & Johnson CEO and board chairman, on corporate values (Jan. 25, in a Kellogg CEO Series lecture) Read the full article

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"There were lots of red lights blinking … The critical assumption was that the U.S. financial system was bulletproof."

—  Kenneth Rogoff, economist and Harvard University professor, on signals presaging the current economic crisis (Feb. 24, in a Kellogg Distinguished Speaker Series lecture) Read the full article

	Photo © Nathan Mandell

"Look at the fact that 150 million girls in the developing world woke up this morning and didn't go to school. Why aren't we marching in the streets over that issue? Especially when it costs $250 per girl per year to change that."

—  John Wood '89, Room to Read founder and CEO, on the responsibility of business leaders to address adversity in the developing world (Jan. 14, in a talk before Kellogg students) Read the full article

Photo © Chris Guillen

"The election of the 44th president in my business and in any business will be a point at which we measure the world based on what happened before the Jan. 20 inauguration and after." 

—  Jon Meacham, Newsweek magazine editor, on the impact of the election of President Barack Obama (Jan. 29, in a Kellogg Distinguished Speaker Series lecture) Read the full article

	Photo © Nathan Mandell

"In the last 90 days the Fed has become the largest hedge fund in the world. The joke is that Washington is the new Wall Street."

—  David Chen '84, CEO of Equilibrium Capital Group, on the Federal Reserve's response to the economic crisis (Feb. 26, in a talk before Kellogg students) Read the full article

Photo © Nathan Mandell

"Before 9/11, the FBI was looked at as an entity that after attacks would gather evidence, investigate and bring people to justice. After 9/11, we were now in the business of preventing terrorist attacks."

—  Robert Mueller, FBI director, on the impact the terrorist attacks had on the agency's mission (Jan. 15, in a talk sponsored by the Kellogg Business Leadership Club) Read the full article

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"Demonstrate that you care as much as everyone else. Everything you do becomes important. People learn more from what you do, not what you say."

—  Joe Gutman '81, managing director of Grosvenor Capital Management, on team-building and empowerment (Nov. 12, in a talk before Kellogg students) Read the full article

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"A lot of deals done in 2006-2008 will not return their capital. Some of the best brand-name deals will not survive. Deals going forward are going to be smaller."

—  David Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group, on the impact of the recession on the venture capital industry (Jan. 8, in a J. Ira Harris Series lecture) Read the full article

	Photo © Nathan Mandell

"For us, it's cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. It's de-risking — how do we protect ourselves?"

—  Erwin Aulis '82, COO of Northwood Investors LLC, on how investors are handling the slowdown in the real estate industry (Jan. 21, at an alumni panel discussion sponsored by the Kellogg Real Estate Management Program and Guthrie Center for Real Estate Research) Read the full article

Photo © Nathan Mandell

"It took World War II to get us out of the Depression. I don't think we need another war to get us out of this recession. Let's get out of this together."

—  James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, on the challenges facing the nation as it addresses the economic crisis (Nov. 17, in a Kellogg Distinguished Speaker Series lecture) Read the full article