Kenneth Chenault Quotes

Had anyone told me that I was going to have a career in business, I would have said, 'No way.'

We're all on a journey. The average American switches professions four times. I'm lucky to be in a business where I can change the character I am playing every couple of months.

I went to college, grad school. I got an M.B.A., had a really cush corporate job. But I was just bored stiff. I didn't fit that mold.

I actually had a number of different careers. I worked on Wall Street; I was a Master's in Business. I left that to work in the public sector.

I've never isolated role models based on gender. I have more male role models due to the mere fact that I've done business with more of them and they're leaders within the verticals I work. Of those, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, is an entrepreneur and personal friend that I have a great deal of respect for.

I am just at that stage of wondering where I go from here. I came into this business almost by accident, but now it has become serious. What started as a bit of fun, something to do other than be a model, has taken on a different career curve. I have been forced to ask where that curve is going to end up.

Later, at Stanford University, I thought I'd become a lawyer or businessman, but my father came to me and said he thought there was a big future in the fine-wine business.

A company is only as good as the people it keeps.

I was a little hesitant at taking the job at Atari. I had never programmed for a living and I worried it might get boring (building circuits seemed more fun). But I would probably still be in the video game business.

I just wanted to be a businessman, and to me, the best way to understand business was to be an accountant.

I do not want to be a long-term CEO.

I was always fascinated by the decision-making process and the managerial process and just business in general.

When better business decisions are made, economists won't make them.

I had no choice but to work hard. I was a straight-A student, went to college, and I loved business. I never thought I was going to be a singer myself. It came accidentally.

In my career, I thought I've never wanted to get anywhere in particular. I just wanted to work with interesting people on interesting projects.

Today's business climate is not for me.

I quit my job, and went ashore to become a writer.

I have no doubt that my M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School of Business was one of the best investments I ever made. It helped me climb the corporate ladder and become an entrepreneur.

Television isn't my career. Business is.

I went through a lot of occupations. I was questioning my contribution to the world.

I think it's fair to say I feel much more comfortable in business than in politics.

How can you be on top of the things you do? I think when you are involved in a business, first of all you need to know the business. After that you know the business, you can - the numbers tell you what is happening. You can read with the numbers.

When I came back to India after Harvard Business School, I started as a lawyer and as a trade union leader.

For a long time, I was a career woman and that was it.

Like most people, I was not able to start selling my stories right away. So I had many other jobs along the way to becoming a writer, including toy maker, gravedigger, cookware salesman, and assembly line worker. Eventually, I became an elementary teacher and worked with second and fourth graders.