Photojournalist and war photographer; Pulitzer Prize winner, 2009
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2017
For a photographer — it’s like actually taking a picture is like five percent of what I do.
Learning a craft
For somebody getting good at something. What the work actually consists of once you are inside it, the part of the skill that does not show, and how the day is arranged around it.
15 people · 123 answers
What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time?
French football manager; Arsenal 1996–2018; FIFA Chief of Global Football Development
Recorded · FIFA Training Centre · 2023
A good coach is somebody who has a clear concept of what they want and what they love in the game, is capable of expressing it in an understandable way, and is able to obtain it on the…
Choreographer, dancer and author
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org) · 1993
We thought that there were certain possibilities, in terms of physical movement, in terms of community, and in terms of what dance could address in our society.
Journalist and columnist, The New York Times; two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2008
I have a bunch of rules for myself. You stop at every village, you ask what the situation is like between this village and the next village, you look for fresh tire tracks.
Novelist and screenwriter; Nobel laureate in Literature, 2017
Recorded · The Nobel Foundation (nobelprize.org) · 2017
I’ve been emphasising here the small and the private, because essentially that’s what my work is about.
44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012
Nothing comes to my desk that is perfectly solvable. … Otherwise, someone else would have solved it. So you wind up dealing with probabilities.
What are you best at that nobody watching would notice?
Neurosurgeon; chair of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2001
I’ve done almost 4,000 operations for brain tumors. I’m thinking of what’s going to happen ten or 12 steps before.
British track cyclist, 1994–2013
Recorded · Cyclingnews · 2008
I just like to get to the start line knowing there was nothing else I could have done, that there wasn't a single session I didn't give 100 per cent.
Novelist and screenwriter
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Professor of computer science at Stanford University; creator of ImageNet
Recorded · Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (Stanford HAI)
Being a scientist is about resilience because science is exploring the unknown, just as an immigrant is exploring the unknown.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945 and 1951–1955; Member of Parliament 1900–1964
Recorded · Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life (Thornton Butterworth, 1930), Project Gutenberg Canada · 1930
Mr. Somervell—a most delightful man, to whom my debt is great—was charged with the duty of teaching the stupidest boys the most disregarded thing—namely, to write mere English.
Playwright and screenwriter
Recorded · The Paris Review, Issue 109, Winter 1988 · 1988
The look of the thing is one thing. The sound of it is more important.
What bad recommendations do people in your field repeat too often?
United States swimmer, 2000–2016
Recorded · CBS News · 2018
I think it's something that nobody's really talked about in the past because we're supposed to be this big, macho, strong person that has no weaknesses.
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
Recorded · Berkshire Hathaway Inc. · 2014
Most investors, of course, have not made the study of business prospects a priority in their lives.
Jazz tenor saxophonist and composer
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
The life of a jazz musician is a difficult life, because you want to play, you want to be, you want to get to the inner spirit and sometimes you drink or you use drugs or you smoke a lot.
Engineer and designer; led the iPod and iPhone teams at Apple, founder of Nest Labs
Recorded · Academy of Achievement · 2016
every time I heard the word “smart” attached to anything, it means it’s pretty dumb, because no one knows what it really does.
Playwright and screenwriter
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Never take advice from anyone with no investment in the outcome.
India Test and one-day international cricketer, 1996–2012; later India head coach
Recorded · ESPNcricinfo · 2011
Let us not be so satisfied with the present, with deals and finances in hand that we get blindsided.
What does the first hour of your day look like?
Novelist, essayist and journalist
Recorded · The Guardian · 2016
When I’m working on a novel I type the initial draft first thing in the morning. Really: first thing.
Kenyan marathon runner
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2020
Our life here is simple, very simple. Get up in the morning, go for a run, come back. If it is a day for cleaning, we do the cleaning, or we just relax.
British Paralympic swimmer, 2008–2021
Recorded · ParalympicsGB · 2021
I love swimming and I'll still be found in the pool, but now I'll be able to do without the 04:30 alarm!
Norwegian chess grandmaster; World Chess Champion 2013–2023
Recorded · Chess.com · 2017
I would want to be a role model. As you talk about an athlete who wakes up at seven every day, then you have two training sessions...for me, it's not like that.
Songwriter, musician and novelist
Recorded · The Red Hand Files · 2024
As many of you know, I observe specific protocols to open the creative mind – I sit at a desk in my office and write, working exclusively between 9am and 5pm.
Co-founder, president and chief executive of NVIDIA
Recorded · The Singju Post · 2024
I begin each morning, I do every single morning exactly the same way, I begin each morning by doing my highest priority work first.
What small daily ritual do you keep that most people would consider a waste of time?
Designer; host of Design Matters; founder of the SVA branding programme
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
I’ve been told that because I like to make up silly songs and then sing them in all sorts of absurd situations and occurrences, that I am trying to turn my life into a Hollywood musical.
Broadcaster; host of Larry King Live on CNN, 1985–2010
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
I have a habit of – thought habits. I try to total up words in a phrase or a sentence and then divide it to see if I get an even number. Like true love divided by two is four.
Composer, pianist and record producer
Recorded · Kinfolk · 2018
It’s wasting time to listen to music when you go outside because there are so many interesting noises. For example, every time it rains, I open the window and put the recorder outside.
Novelist, dramatist and screenwriter
Recorded · The Guardian · 2010
Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It’s research.
Kenyan marathon runner
Recorded · BBC Sport · 2020
When you become a boss, you don't think straight. It's better to be a leader than a boss. That is why I do my share of the cleaning. That is how to show the way to young people.
Everyone here · A–Z
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Chris Hoy, David Vélez, Desmond Tutu, Edmund Hillary, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, John Lewis, Mario Molina, Richard Feynman, Shinya Yamanaka, Simone Biles, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Winston Churchill