Success! How I Did It

Sallie Krawcheck has run Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, US Trust, and Citi Private Bank, and was Citi’s CFO before that. Now she runs Ellevest, an investment firm that helps women create wealth. She may have been regularly referred to in the media as “the most powerful woman on Wall Street,” but that brought its own challenges. Krawcheck tells us what she learned from navigating the boys club of finance, working through the financial crisis, and dealing with two highly publicized firings. She also explains why she hates the phrase “empowering women,” and why she’s found a better alternative.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sam Yagan knows he’s been lucky. He tells us that one of the luckiest moments of his life was meeting his college roommates. Together, they built a study guide website called SparkNotes. Then, they built an online dating empire. They started the site OKCupid while Yagan was getting his MBA at Stanford. Yagan is now the CEO of ShopRunner, but he’s best known for his 7-year tenure as the head of the Match Group, which includes OkCupid, Match.com, and Tinder. He says it was his Syrian immigrant parents who inspired his drive to be an entrepreneur.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Jocko Willink, becoming a Navy SEAL was just like any other career. Willink was the commander of SEAL Team 3, Task Unit Bruiser. It was the most highly decorated US special operations unit of the Iraq War — and the one where Chris Kyle, of “American Sniper,” served. Willink retired from the SEALs in 2010 and started a consulting company called Echelon Front, which he founded with another SEAL named Leif Babin. He and Babin co-wrote the bestselling book “Extreme Ownership” in 2014. He’s also got a hit podcast, a line of jiu jitsu products, and even two bestselling children’s books. Willink says that passing on leadership lessons, whether to executives or kids, is just a continuation of what he did in the SEALs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Business Insider's US Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell was in Berlin last week for the 3rd annual Axel Springer Award, which was an evening honoring Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos sat down with Axel Springer CEO Dr. Mathias Dopfner to talk about his career and future ambitions. (Axel Springer is Business Insider's parent company.) After an intro from Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann, Jeff and Mathias spoke about Amazon, and Jeff's investments in journalism and space exploration. This week's episode of "Success! How I Did It" features that conversation in full.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you’ve verified you’re not a robot online, you’ve used something Luis von Ahn has created. He tells "Success! How I Did It," that he doesn’t read stories about himself, and he’s probably the only CEO our host, Rich Feloni, has ever interviewed who believably says he doesn’t care about money. Von Ahn is the CEO of Duolingo, a popular language learning app. He’s also one of the guys who developed CAPTCHA, those online tests that ask you to type in a word or series of letters when you buy tickets or set up an email account. Von Ahn grew up in Guatemala and he came to the US to be part of the tech scene. He was driven by a goal of getting millions of people to work together online. It made him a pioneer of the now ubiquitous crowdsourcing movement.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Don Katz sounds more like a college English professor than a tech CEO: he’s obsessed with literature and writing. And it’s why he started Audible, the audiobook company now owned by Amazon, in 1995. It was all about the stories, and it was all about the voice of the stories. Katz certainly knows how to run a tech company well, but his passion above all else is storytelling. He was one of the earliest writers for Rolling Stone, where he covered terrorism and revolutions around the world. He then had a long career as a writer. But in his 40s, he decided to take a giant leap into another direction. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tina Brown gets things done. She’s been a leader since her mid-20s, and she’s built the teams that transformed Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. She also created The Daily Beast. Brown grew up in England and became a media mogul in New York. Editors and writers have often questioned her most ambitious plans, but her resume is marked by major successes. A huge exception is a short-lived media brand called Talk that she launched with, of all people, Harvey Weinstein. Today she runs the Women in the World Summit, which highlights the stories of people fighting for women’s rights around the world. It’s allowed her to inspire a new generation of leaders.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cecile Richards has never shied away from controversy. In seventh grade, she got sent to the principal’s office for protesting the Vietnam War. As President of Planned Parenthood, she defended the organization in a heated 2015 congressional hearing. Planned Parenthood is a healthcare provider that offers a long list of services, including cancer screenings and STI treatment. It also provides abortions and birth control services, which has made it one of the most controversial institutions in the country. In her memoir ‘Make Trouble,’ Richards discusses leading the organization for the past 12 years, what she learned from being raised by two activist parents, and the value of being 'trouble maker.'See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anjali Sud has always sought opportunities that seem intimidating. That inspired her to leave Flint, Michigan at 14 for the elite Massachusetts boarding school Phillips Academy on a scholarship. And it led her to become the CEO of Vimeo at 34. Vimeo is an ad-free video platform for filmmakers, and the videos on Vimeo are generally more highly produced than those on YouTube. Sud worked at Vimeo for three years before getting the CEO job in July 2017. It was an opportunity she told me she wasn’t expecting -- and so that’s why she had to take it. Sud told us how she had a new vision for Vimeo as she led its creators team.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tariq Farid was only 13 when his family moved from Pakistan to Connecticut. He started working at a flower shop to make money, and he opened his own at 17. Farid is the founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements. He cornered a market that no one knew even existed: baskets of fruits cut up and carved to look like giant flower bouquets. Today, his business has 900 franchises across 9 countries, bringing in more than half a billion dollars in sales each year. It hasn’t all been easy. He’s had to contend with everything from disgruntled franchisees to conspiracy theories and racist online trolling. But his unwavering optimism has pushed him through struggles from the very beginning.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scott Kelly spent a year on board the International Space Station. During that time, his identical twin brother Mark — who's also an astronaut — was on Earth. Since then, scientists have been watching how differently the two have aged. Kelly's now retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s taking it easy. He wrote a memoir about his year in space called Endurance, and has become an advocate for improving science and math education in the US. On this episode of "Success! How I Did It," host Rich Feloni talks with Kelly about what he saw in space, what he missed back on earth, and how he went from a kid who couldn’t focus to one of the most famous astronauts of our time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nat Turner was 24 when he sold his first company for $80 million. He sold his next one this past February – this time, it was for $2 billion. Nat Turner is the cofounder and CEO of Flatiron Health, a company that's changing the way cancer researchers collect data, with the goal of transforming the way patients are treated. He was inspired to start the business when his younger cousin was diagnosed with leukemia. And while he's been an entrepreneur since he was a kid — in high school he had a thriving snake breeding business — he feels emotionally connected to Flatiron in a way he never had with his past companies. On this episode of "Success! How I Did It," Business Insider's Rich Feloni speaks to Turner about why he built Flatiron Health, what breeding reptiles taught him about entrepreneurship, and the importance of believing in your company's mission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Peter Diamandis has made a career of fulfilling his childhood dreams. He’s the man behind companies that make science fiction come true: The XPRIZE, Singularity University, and Human Longevity Inc. They’re as wild as they sound. On this episode of "Success! How I Did It," Business Insider's Rich Feloni speaks to Diamandis about becoming a doctor to appease his parents, experiencing zero gravity with Stephen Hawking, and how he's working now to increase the human lifespan.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chris Hughes is a Facebook cofounder, and author of the new book "Fair Shot." Hughes worked at Facebook for just three years, but his 2% stake in the company made him $500 million. Hughes' new book reflects on the incredible luck he had early in his career, and how it illustrates something wrong with the economy today. Part personal manifesto, part policy proposal, Hughes makes the case for a a guaranteed income in the US, with people in the highest income bracket – like him – footing the bill. His belief in the the project was borne out of his unexpected career path, and his evolving idea of what it means to be successful.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we have a double header from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and KPMG chairman and CEO Lynne Doughtie.Doughtie spent her entire career working her way up the ladder, and became the first female chairman and CEO of KPMG in 2015. KPMG is one of the big four professional services companies that other companies hire to do things like accounting and auditing. She spoke with Business Insider's US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell about her love for accounting, how she bounced back after not making partner as an auditor, and what it was like to be one of the few female CEOs at the World Economic Forum. Craig Newmark started an email list in 1995. Eventually it became a website by the name of Craigslist, and selling furniture, renting apartments, and finding a missed connection would never be the same. Newmark isn't too involved with the website anymore, but he spoke with Business Insider's UK editor-in-chief Jim Edwards about becoming the Craig of Craigs

Cindy Robbins started at Salesforce 12 years ago, and worked her way up the ranks before getting a life-changing phone from CEO Marc Benioff. Janet Foutty, Chairman and CEO of Deloitte Consulting, has been at Deloitte for 26 years and seen firsthand the challenges women face on their way to the top. Business Insider's US Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell spoke with both Robbins and Foutty in January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. From the gender pay gap to the shortage of women mentors to the importance of taking on projects outside your comfort zone, Shontell, Foutty, and Robbins discuss a range of topics this episode of "Success! How I Did It," from Business Insider.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Peggy Johnson gets paid millions to help make Microsoft billions. Her actual title is executive vice president for business development, and she's helped lead over 40 investments with Microsoft Ventures. One deal was the acquisition of LinkedIn — for $26 billion. She joined the company three years ago after spending 25 years at the telecommunications company Qualcomm. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella personally called her on a Saturday to get her on board. Business Insider US Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell recently caught up with Johnson at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On this episode, Johnson talks about making it to Microsoft and how her team decides which companies to invest in or acquire.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Daymond John. John grew up in Queens, New York, where he dreamed of making clothes for hip hop stars. He turned his mom's house into a factory, used graffiti as marketing, and talked his way on to the sets of music videos. Eventually John built his company, FUBU, into a global brand. In 2009 he became one of the celebrity investors on "Shark Tank," which started a new chapter in his career. He's authored four books, invested in dozens of companies, and opened the coworking space blueprint + co. in Manhattan. His newest title, "Rise and Grind," profiles people who succeeded against the odds. The title of that book has taken on a new meaning for him recently. He spoke with Business Insider senior strategy reporter Richard Feloni.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For a lot of her career, Erika Nardini worked at big companies: Microsoft, AOL, even Fidelity Investments. Then she took a risk by becoming CEO of Barstool Sports. Barstool is a comedy website known for the kinds of things guys talk about over beers: news, sports, and girls. On this episode of "Success! How I Did It," Nardini tells us what attracted her to a site some say is sexist, why as many as 8 million so-called "Stoolies" check out the site multiple times a day, and why she likes to text prospective hires on the weekend.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marc Lore's first big startup sold diapers, and it was bought by Amazon for more than $500 million. Instead of celebrating, Lore felt a let down. After Amazon, he went on to found a competitor, called Jet.com, which he recently sold to Walmart for $3 billion in cash, plus stock. This time, he's had a number of reasons to celebrate. Now he's the president and CEO of Walmart eCommerce in the U.S. The stock is way up. On this episode of "Success! How I Did It," Lore describes how he founded several companies with his childhood friends, and what made the Walmart deal different than Amazon's.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.