Bonus: Advice to young people

0:00Hi everybody, I'm Nicolai Tangen and you are listening to In Good Company. Now, you might know that I like to end every conversation on this podcast the same way. Whether I'm sitting across from the head of a Formula One team, the boss of a global bank, or some of the sharpest investors alive, I always ask them the same thing. What's your advice to young people? It's become a bit of a tradition on the show, and to be honest, it's often the part I look forward to the most. So in this special episode, we gathered some of the really great advice from some of our amazing guests. You'll hear about mentors, resilience, and why specializing too early might be a mistake.

0:39And right at the end, one piece of advice I really wasn't expecting. Whether you're a student trying to figure out your path, just starting out in your career, or simply after a bit of fresh perspective, there is a lot of wisdom packed into the next few minutes. Let's start with Zac Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, one of the most famous names in Formula One. His advice is all about mentors, and he explains why the best mentors might be both older and younger than you. Get mentors. Get mentors. I was fortunate at a young age, because I was racing cars, to hang out with CEOs when I was 21 years old.

1:19The gap in experience between being a 21-year-old who's just full of adrenaline and pick an age, 40, 50, 60, 70-year-old. I think about how much – I'm 53 now and I look up to Roger Penske who's 85-ish and I think, look at how much I've experienced. He's got 30 years more of what I'm experiencing and I can't even imagine what I'm going to see in the next 30 years. But if I go talk to Roger Penske, he can share some of that with me. So I think mentors are critical and all along the way, because there's always someone smarter than you, and there's always someone who has more experience than you. And I'm going to want to have that the entire way.

2:07And then when you do get old, which I'm not there yet, but I'm getting old, then you want to be mentored by the youth, because the youth are growing up with technology that us old guys are like, what? So I think you can get mentored by people that are more experienced that are older and people that are more experienced and are younger because of how fast this world is moving. Next, Karin Roström, the CEO of Daimler Truck, one of the world's largest commercial vehicle makers. She shares the advice she wishes somebody had given her earlier. I think one advice I would have needed to hear myself is to just believe in yourself.

2:50I don't think I realized that I could make a difference in the world. So, and also coming in, both applying for my first jobs and coming into my first jobs, I didn't have the self-confidence to believe I could contribute. So even when maybe this gut feeling was telling me things, I was holding it back. But I think that's this energy and the clear-sightedness of young people we need in business. So believe in yourself, speak up, go for it, and really dream big. Anything is possible. Usually it's yourself stopping your mind. Don't make those limits, just think big. Now to Vas Narasimhan, the CEO of the global pharmaceutical company Novartis.

3:45He's got a few connected pieces of advice to share, drawn from a career that hasn't always gone the way he planned. Not one piece of advice, but a few pieces of advice. One, build range, build breadth and experience early on. I mean, try to get diverse experiences. It's so tempting, and I fell into the trap of wanting to race up the ladder. And actually, it's such a, and Novartis actually ended up pushing me into all kinds of lateral directions in R &D, in marketing, in manufacturing. And all of those experiences actually now enable me to do the job that I have right now, though I didn't realize it at the time.

4:21So I think building range and getting different experiences, functions, geographies, even things you may not expect, you'll always learn something if you go in with an open, curious mindset. that. I think too, you know, there's not, it's not a race. I mean, it feels like it's a race. It's not a race in the end that you got to enjoy the whole process of whatever direction. And there's no plan. I never expected to be a CEO. Most of my career moves were not the plan that I actually had. Frankly, they went up going in a different direction. So there's no plan. It's not a race. You've got it. You've got, it sounds cliche, but you've got to find a way to be in the moment of the journey while still obviously pushing yourself forward and then find great sponsors.

5:05I would not be where I am today if some people did not take huge bets on me and you need to find those sponsors. Next up is Dylan Field, the co-founder and CEO of the design platform Figma. He has a message for a generation that can see a lot that needs fixing in the world and a clear idea of what actually gives you the power to change it. I think that if you're young right now, you probably see a lot of problems in the world, a lot of things that could be improved. And I think that it's really important to feel the agency to take a design mindset, to think from a system standpoint, learn as much as you can, be curious, identify your passion, and then identify how that passion can connect to actually helping improve the world in some way.

5:55And I think that requires optimism. And optimism is a choice. You can choose to be optimistic. You can also choose not to be. But if you choose to be optimistic, then you actually can go and try and adjust or make a difference for your society, for your local community, for the global world. and that doesn't mean that you don't have to be cynical or skeptical the two can coexist because i think that some folks that have a optimistic point of view are also running a sub process of okay what are all the ways they can go wrong so i can fix them but you still have to have that element of optimism that's a choice so choose optimism crystal heideman the ceo of the french telecoms giant, Orange, has a simple piece of advice with a sharp edge to it.

6:50Don't let yourself get bored. She explains why and what to do the moment you feel it's creeping in. It's really, if you go to work and you feel you're getting bored, I mean, have the courage to move on and move out of your comfort zone. And of course, being bored sometimes is good because that means you also have some time. But if you get bored and you just go to work thinking, well, I just go to work. I mean, when people are young, I mean, they have their entire life to accomplish. Life is always too short, actually. So don't get bored. I mean, knock on the doors of other people or talk to your managers.

7:28In my case, when I was getting bored in my jobs, I've always, I went to my manager and said, well, I think I'm not learning anymore. What can I do more? Which doesn't mean changing job, but at least making sure you ask for it. Next, the legendary investor Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management. His advice might run against what you'd expect from one of Wall Street's sharpest minds. Don't rush to specialize. Young people who are interested in Wall Street or young people in general. Young people who would like to go into business. My advice to those people has been and is unchanged over a long period of time.

8:08that I value a broad, classic liberal education. They should not take business courses in college. They should take as much history, political science, philosophy, religion, as they can fit in. So what I try to convey is you can specialize in business, the tools of business and trading. I mean, now hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, high tech, whatever. I mean, that's the golden goose. But in all of that, what comes out if you specialize too soon, you get this narrow, deep skill set. and you're not equipped for the things that are actually happening in the world. And so I think that stood me in good stead and being a lawyer has stood me in good stead.

9:18Now, David Rubenstein, the co-founder of the investment firm Carlyle. He steps back to ask the bigger question. How are you actually going to enjoy your life? and makes the case for experimenting before you settle on a path. Well, the most important thing is to figure out how you're going to enjoy your life. So you're on this earth for a relatively short period of time, 60 years, 70 years, 80 years, 90 years. Maybe it'll be in the future 90 years. You have to figure out how to enjoy your life or what's the point of having a life. So figure out what you enjoy and try to pursue that. And I tell people to experiment.

9:52You know, people graduating from college aren't going to necessarily know what they're going to really like. Like, I've had many jobs before I got to doing what I'm doing now, and some things I didn't like. I didn't like practicing law. I wasn't that good at it. And so in the end, experiment, try different things, and then ultimately develop the skill set in areas that you think you're going to enjoy the rest of your life. And then try to do something useful with your life. You're only on the earth for a short period of time, and you're going to feel much better about yourself if you feel you've done something to contribute to humanity, to make your parents proud.

10:19And if you have children, make your children proud. Now, it's easier to make your parents proud than your children proud. Your children are never going to be proud of you, probably, but your parents might be proud of you. And if you're lucky enough to have your parents still alive when you achieve something, that's a great feeling. Amanda Blanc, the CEO of the insurance and savings group Aviva, zeroes in on two things she believes young people need most today. Resilience and the willingness to grab opportunities even when you have no idea where they might lead you. Well, first of all, I think build up your resilience.

10:48I think it's tough for young people today. If we think about, you know, the environment in which they're growing up in, social media, you know, the constant feedback, you know, whether it's climate or the transition, the changing workforce with generative AI, I think they're going to need to be really resilient. So they should really think about things that they can do to build their resilience. And then the second thing I would say is, like, take the opportunities that are given to you. There's so many times that people overthink things. You know, sometimes things will work out and sometimes they will not.

11:17But take opportunities because you just never know where they're going to end up. So whether that's at school, go to different clubs, try singing, try musical instruments, try different sports. Just take those real opportunities and you just never know what might happen. And finally, Chris Horn, the investor and philanthropist behind the hedge fund TCI and one of the most successful investors of his generation. His answer takes us somewhere almost none of these conversations go, and it might be the most personal note we could possibly end on. So my question to him was, what is your advice to young people on a kind of spiritual...

11:55Yeah, go on a spiritual path. Go on a... Study and... I would say the spiritual world is real. soul is uh when i first mentioned this to my son i think it was uh 20 he said dad the soul is a myth he doesn't think that now is it not he doesn't think that now it's definitely not and there are many paths to connect to it and you can connect consciously to it and um and uh whether you go the long way the short way the easy way the far the hard way through suffering you eventually come to to to learn that it the spiritual world is not just real but it's the the whole thing and and so the um and that's the only source of real purpose and meaning and joy, which the world needs.

13:00And I think that if you crack that, then everything else is easy. And lastly, my advice to all of you. A few years ago, I was a bit down and I thought, you know, what do I get to really get a more and cheerful life? And I discovered gratitude. So now I start every day with five minutes where I just go through what I'm grateful for, my health, my family, my job, my friends. And that has really, really made the start of the day much better for me. Then just be curious. Read as much as you can, speak to as many different people as you can, and learn as much as you can. Set your own goals. It's not about money.

13:43It's to do something meaningful and something fulfilling so that when Friday night comes, you feel you have done something great. And then get out in nature. Walk in the forest, get away from digitalization and screens, and say thank you to everybody who helps you. Be grateful and be and give her, and be nice. Be nice to everybody, and in particular, be nice to your mother. Give her a ring straight away.