What Matters Most to Top Business and Political Leaders

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Business leaders from every industry spoke to Stanford GSB about their values. | Natalie White and Stacy Geiken

What matters most to you and why?

It’s a question posed to every applicant to Stanford Graduate School of Business and many of the top business and political leaders who visit campus as part of the school’s View From the Top series.

Here we gathered a selection of responses to that question from leaders including former eBay President Meg Whitman, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and investor Doug Leone.

Do you agree with them? Tell us what matters to you most and why in this survey. Your answers may appear on Tumblr, Facebook, or within Stanford Business magazine.

1: Meg Whitman, President and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

“If your mother or your father or someone you love were reading the New York Times and they knew what you were doing, would they be proud?”

2: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“As a leader I can allow for really talented people to do things that improve people’s chance at a happy life.”

3: Doug Leone, Venture Capitalist

“Have success, but bring others along with you.”

4: Mitt Romney, Businessman and Politician

“I happen to believe that the currency in life is the people that you love and that care for you.”

5. Renee James, Technology Executive

“The ability to know what’s safe and good is going to become even more important to people in a world that’s less physical.”

6: Kent Thiry, CEO of DaVita HealthCare Partners

“Try to become more mindful each day, to tread gently on the planet and the people in it.”

7: Alex Ferguson, Former Manager of Manchester United

“I had parents who gave me good discipline, good advice.”

8: Jill Abramson, Former New York Times Editor

“What matters most to me now is having an opportunity to give back and to help younger people discover a love of story telling.”