In this episode, my guest is Charles Koch. Charles G. Koch is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held American companies. During his tenure with the company, the estimated value has grown from $21 million to more than $100 billion. Charles has published several books detailing his business philosophy: The Science of Success, Good Profit, and Believe in People.
As an influential philanthropist, he supports education, a community of organizations addressing persistent poverty, and public-policy research focused on developing effective solutions to societal problems. He has founded numerous organizations, including Stand Together and the Cato Institute. He holds two master’s degrees in nuclear and chemical engineering from MIT and lives in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife, Liz.
In this episode, I talk to Charles Koch about his bottom-up approach to social change. Charles recognizes that each individual has a gift; schools and organizations should cultivate these unique strengths instead of trying to force people into molds. Charles asserts that institutions can create more meaningful value this way, by truly believing in people. We also touch on the topics of multiple intelligences, self-actualization, education, innovation, and philanthropy.
Website: charleskoch.com
Twitter: @KochIndustries
Topics
04:02 Multiple intelligence theories
07:44 Finding consistent principles of human progress
10:08 Transforming Koch Industries
14:38 Virtuous Cycles of Mutual Benefit
20:07 Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World
23:51 Empowering contribution-motivated individuals
31:27 Supervisors as self-actualization coaches
37:16 From partisanship to partnership
42:35 Charles’ vision for a self-actualizing society
44:18 Eupsychian Management by Maslow
47:50 Frederick Douglass and Viktok Frankl
51:41 #GiveTogetherNow
53:00 A society that rewards synergy
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