The CEO Signal

“What if design just ran the boardroom?” In this episode of The CEO Signal with Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky explains how his training as an industrial designer shapes his unconventional approach to running the company. He describes Airbnb as a three-dimensional model in his head and explains why he remains so personally involved in recruiting and organizational decisions. “The founder is the keeper of the dream,” he says. On artificial intelligence, Chesky warns that Silicon Valley is losing touch with the people whose lives its technologies will transform. “Society feels like AI is happening to them, not for them,” he says. Chesky believes the industry needs bridge builders to reconnect with people beyond the Silicon Valley bubble. And he thinks he could help.

After nearly four decades at Honeywell, Vimal Kapur reached the top — and then took on the task of breaking the 140-year-old industrial conglomerate into three companies. Kapur tells Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson how he managed that separation while simultaneously building Honeywell Technologies into a focused automation company, reshaping its portfolio and deciding where the new business should compete. The challenge, he says, is capturing the advantages of focus without giving up the benefits of scale. A big part of that judgment comes from staying close to customers. Kapur explains why he tries to spend roughly a third of his time with them, how those conversations help test major strategic decisions, and why he believes “the CEO should have a founder’s mindset” when it comes to products, innovation and the future of the business.

“Relief or regret?” That is the question Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown uses to test consequential decisions. In a candid conversation with Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Brown explains how nearly two decades of reinvention, activist pressure and private-equity involvement changed the way he leads. Working with activists made him more accountable and pushed him, he says, from thinking “like a manager” to thinking “like an owner.” He is equally open about the moments when that judgment was tested. When Motorola Solutions’ board considered selling the company, Brown told directors: “This is bullshit. And if you want to fire me, go ahead and fire me.” He later apologized for the delivery, but not the substance, then ran the process the board had asked for. No buyer emerged, but the process ultimately led to Silver Lake investing in Motorola. Brown also explains how he decides what Motorola should build, buy or partner on, and how he keeps the company moving through successive…

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby wants to build what he calls the “undisputed flag carrier of the United States.” He argues that airlines are not commodities and that greater scale could benefit customers, but acknowledges a fundamental obstacle to consolidation: “We can’t get it done without a willing partner, and we don’t have one.” In this episode of The CEO Signal, Kirby discusses the decade-long push to transform United and how he thinks about the bets required to do it. A former card counter who says senior executives should play high-stakes poker with their own money, Kirby warns against assuming the answer is in the spreadsheet. “The important thing,” he says, is to understand and question the assumptions. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation also looks back at United’s aircraft strategy during Covid. As competitors retired widebody aircraft and shrank their fleets, United moved in the opposite direction. Kirby believed the risk-reward had shifted: “We don’t…

Jon Gray, chief operating officer of the $1.3 trillion asset manager Blackstone, says one of the firm’s distinguishing habits is to “go big” when it finds a theme it believes in. But he also says successful convictions need to be challenged, particularly as Blackstone invests heavily around artificial intelligence. “You keep pressing against what you’re doing to confirm that you haven’t just sort of fallen in love,” he says. In this episode of The CEO Signal, Gray describes investing as “pattern recognition”: finding “good neighborhoods,” and connecting the dots before others do. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation also explores how Blackstone makes investment decisions at scale and why Gray worries strong systems can “stamp out the entrepreneurial spirit.” Gray also addresses the current debate around private credit. He says lower returns as rates fall and spreads tighten would be a “totally reasonable criticism,” while rejecting claims that the asset class is creating…

Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings says AI could unleash a new wave of “creative destruction” as companies use rapidly improving technology not just to cut costs, but to challenge competitors and build new businesses. In this episode of The CEO Signal, Hastings notes that AI has been getting “roughly twice as good every year” and says CEOs should think of it as the equivalent of doubling their workforce. He also explains why it’s not the paranoid who survive “it’s really the people who have judgment” — leaders who can distinguish the threats and opportunities that truly matter. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation also explores the culture Hastings built at Netflix, why he's taken on the "really hard" challenge of turning around a Utah ski resort, and how he knew when it was time to step away and let Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters lead without him. The CEO Signal is Semafor's interview platform for conversations with the global CEOs whose decisions are shaping…

Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin built his company to behave like your “smarter older sister”: helping customers make better decisions rather than profiting from their mistakes. In this episode of The CEO Signal, he explains how that philosophy shaped Affirm and why it may become even more important as AI transforms consumer finance. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation explores how Levchin has translated that philosophy into Affirm’s products, culture and decision-making as the company has grown. He also explains how his identity as an “immigrant engineer” shapes his leadership, and why he studies dystopian science fiction to help prevent the AI future he is “working very hard to prevent.” The CEO Signal is Semafor's interview platform for conversations with the global CEOs whose decisions are shaping the future of the new world economy. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the show explores the moments of judgment that define leadership. Penny…

Patrice Louvet says Ralph Lauren left about $1 billion in revenue on the table as it pulled back from places where, “frankly, we weren’t proud of being.” When he became CEO in 2017, the company had stretched its brand too far. His challenge was to restore the brand without compromising the creative “magic” that made Ralph Lauren distinctive. After nearly three decades at Procter & Gamble, Louvet came from a world of data, structure and business logic. At Ralph Lauren, he had to learn when the numbers should lead and when they should follow the magic. Defining the company as being in the “dreams business” became the foundation for deciding where the brand belonged, what it should stop doing and how it could grow without losing what made it special. Today, Ralph Lauren has no shortage of opportunities to expand — including into hotels, Louvet says. The challenge is no longer finding new avenues for growth, but knowing which ones to pursue without repeating the gradual dilution that weakened the brand before.…

In this episode of The CEO Signal, Chuck Robbins talks about the people decisions behind a transformation as sweeping as Cisco's repositioning for the age of AI. He says executives need to “disagree and commit,” but warns that CEOs shouldn't tolerate people who aren't on board with the strategy. “The one thing that is like death in an organization is passive aggressive behavior,” he says. Hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the conversation explores how Robbins has pushed Cisco beyond its traditional networking hardware roots toward software, security, recurring revenue and the infrastructure behind AI. He describes Cisco’s role in the AI buildout as supplying the connectivity, silicon and security layer that allows large-scale AI to run. “At the end of the day, you have to connect all these things,” he says. Robbins reflects on how his own leadership has changed after more than 10 years as CEO, including when to step out of the room, so the CEO’s viewpoint doesn’t distort the…

"There should be more voices" in the corporate world speaking up on societal issues, Allstate CEO Tom Wilson says in this episode of The CEO Signal. “CEOs need to stand up and decide what’s important to them, what’s important to their customers — and take a stand.” Wilson has led Allstate for nearly two decades, running a business built on trust at a time when trust in America is under pressure. He explains why declining trust is not just a social problem, but a business risk for an insurance company whose promise is to be there when customers need it most. Wilson discusses why he believes companies have four roles: serving customers, making money for shareholders, creating opportunity for employees, and improving communities. That philosophy has shaped Allstate’s stance on issues from climate resilience and personal privacy to wages, good jobs, and the future of work in an AI-driven economy. He also talks about the 20-year journey of turning purpose from a corporate slogan into daily practice — including…

“If somebody’s going to punch me, I’m going to punch back,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says in this episode of The CEO Signal. Schulman, who came out of retirement six months ago to lead the $200 billion telecoms company, reveals that he initially turned the job down — twice. But his mandate is blunt: stop losing customers to its rivals, regain Verizon’s “swagger,” and move it from a defensive posture to one that is “playing to win.” That reset has come with hard choices. Schulman discusses Verizon’s major restructuring, why he chose to announce 13,000 job cuts all at once rather than “bleed it out over multiple quarters,” and why he thinks about CEOs have responsibilities to employees who are leaving as well as those who remain. Schulman describes the job of leadership as defining reality while inspiring hope — even when the reality is uncomfortable. Schulman also looks ahead to the convergence of AI, quantum computing and robotics, and argues that CEOs need to be open-minded, humble and fast-moving. “A quick…

What does it take to make big bets inside a public company? In this episode of The CEO Signal, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna discusses how he thinks about major strategic decisions at a moment of rapid technological change — from hybrid cloud to AI and quantum. At the center of the conversation is IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat — a decision Krishna helped drive before becoming CEO, and one that reveals how he thinks about conviction, resistance, and making a consequential call before the outcome is obvious. Krishna explains why IBM chose to bet on hybrid cloud rather than try to become another hyperscale player, how he thinks about large strategic bets inside a public company, and how that logic now shapes IBM’s approach to AI and quantum computing. He also lays out the case for a more hybrid AI future, a larger role for domain-specific models, and a quantum shift he believes business leaders should already be preparing for. About the show The CEO Signal is Semafor’s interview platform for conversations…

What does it take to hand over a company after years at the helm? Dame Emma Walmsley reflects on her tenure as CEO of GSK at the moment she was preparing to hand over to her successor, Luke Miels. It’s a rare chance to hear a CEO reflect on the full arc of their tenure, from stepping into the role to shaping their own succession. After nearly a decade leading one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Walmsley speaks candidly about the realities of the job, from navigating activist pressure to reshaping the company’s strategy and structure. At the core is responsibility. “No one should take on these jobs without taking on the accountability,” she says. In moments of pressure, the job is to absorb the noise so the organization can stay focused and perform. During an activist campaign against her leadership, she made a deliberate choice to contain the disruption and keep the company aligned. Inside GSK, she pushed to shift decision-making toward clearer accountability while encouraging open…

Why do some CEOs run toward the hardest challenges in business? In the first episode of The CEO Signal, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol joins hosts Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson to discuss the leadership mindset behind one of the most closely watched turnaround stories in global business. Niccol has built a reputation for stepping into difficult situations. He previously led Chipotle through its recovery following the company’s food safety crisis — and before that took on struggling brands earlier in his career. Now he’s tackling a new challenge at Starbucks, a company under intense scrutiny from customers, employees, and investors. In the conversation, Niccol explains what draws him to these moments of pressure — and how he approaches them. He describes visiting Starbucks stores multiple times a day before officially starting the job, listening to baristas and customers who felt the company had made the experience more complicated than it needed to be. That insight became the foundation of his…

When the business world moves, these are the people turning the wheel. Introducing The CEO Signal, a new show hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson. Episodes are released every two weeks. Building on The CEO Signal newsletter, the essential briefing read by the world’s top chief executives, the show brings that perspective to revealing conversations with the people steering the world’s biggest companies.