Luis von Ahn was a tenured professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who had sold a company to Google. “You were pretty set, a lot of us would say, so why were you so hungry to build something new with Duolingo?” asks Ayesha Karnik, MBA ’25. “For the first time ever, with phones, we can reach billions of people,” reflects the Duolingo co-founder and CEO. “I want it to be the case that we can show that screen time is actually useful for the world.” From human-computer interaction and pioneering early 2000s consumer tech gamification to his thoughts on leadership and the future of AI, von Ahn shares his unique perspective on where he’s been, what he’s working on today, and the future of learning. There’s also that unpredictable owl mascot. “I wouldn’t say our brand is ‘chaos,’ okay?” he jokes. “We call it wholesome unhinged.”This episode was recorded on May 5, 2025.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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S8E7: Ken Griffin Still Checks His P&L
Ken Griffin heads the most profitable hedge fund in history. But Citadel’s founder and CEO is focused on the future — not the scoreboard. “I like to think I haven’t accomplished yet what I will be remembered for,” Griffin tells Michael Liu, MBA ’25. “That this is not a view from the top, but a journey to a destination yet to be determined.”From entrepreneurship — “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to first learn how to sell” — to the importance of lifelong learning — “If you’re going to go to work at a firm and you’re the smartest person in the room, you have so screwed up your Stanford MBA” — Griffin reflects on what he’s learned since the early days of Citadel and why he's still laser-focused on learning today.“I think legendary investors really know when they have an advantage — and they press it. They’re confident in their conviction, and when they're wrong, they move on.”This conversation was recorded on April 25, 2025.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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S8E6: Aravind Srinivas Has All The Answers
Aravind Srinivas leads Perplexity — whose AI-powered search engine provides direct, sourced answers to any question you might ask it. On this episode of View From The Top: The Podcast, Srinivas joins Aislin Rorth, MBA ’25, for a conversation that provides unique insight into how a young leader steers a late-stage startup with big aspirations — from finding a lane in consumer AI to rounding up investors and fighting the inertia that seems to grip startups as they grow. “If we are a reliable answer machine to everybody and widely accessible, that not just gives you answers but helps you accomplish tasks, too — make transactions, buy things, book things, book flights, get the best deals and make your life more productive, give you back more time — I think we are going to be a pretty industry-defining product and company,” Srinivas says. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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S8E5: Lisa Su Is Still Curious About How Things Work
Lisa Su, the chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), leads one of the world’s most influential technology companies, a pioneer in high-performance computing and designer of chips that power everything from cellphones to supercomputers.On this episode of View From The Top: The Podcast, Su joins Michael Liu, MBA ’25, to talk about what it takes to stay on the cutting edge of technology, the tremendous potential of artificial intelligence, and why her superpower may be her commitment to learning.“Careers are very much by chance,” Su says. “The nice thing about my early career is I was lucky enough to have bosses who asked me all the time, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And I was like, ‘I don't know. Let me think about [it]...what I like to believe is the ability to learn at each step was what really helped me in my career.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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S8E4: Doug McMillon Is Thinking Fifty Years Ahead
Doug McMillon began his career unloading trucks. Forty years later, he’s Walmart’s president and CEO, a role he’s held for more than a decade. On this episode of View From The Top: The Podcast, McMillon joins Aislin Roth, MBA ’25, to talk about what it takes to lead one of the world’s largest companies, from navigating billion-dollar decisions to modeling the retailer’s core values every day. McMillon also explains why trust, speed, and culture matter more than ever, shares how a botched product launch nearly derailed his career, and reflects on lessons learned during the COVID pandemic. “I think my job — and the job of people like me who are given the opportunity to lead some of these great companies — is to change the company in a way that it's relevant for the future,” he says. “So, the only thing I really think about is: How are we making decisions and getting things done such that Walmart is succeeding and creating value 50 years from now?”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Prominent leaders from around the world join MBA students for conversations on effective leadership, core values, and lessons learned throughout their careers. View From The Top, the podcast, is based on the dean’s speaker series at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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