Drew Houston Quotes

For me, if I knew that I wanted to be a CEO and I set that final destination right up front, that helped me develop a career track.

I need to aspire to be a great CEO and not just a great product engineer.

Three-quarters of our sites - Kotaku, Gawker, Jezebel, Deadspin, Gizmodo, Lifehacker - are led by editors who built their careers within Gawker Media. That's the career path.

The greatest luck that I've had has been the ability to find men and women who came into my administration who worked with me and brought extraordinary talents that we were able to take full advantage of.

But I'd say my best boss was Tom Barr, who was a partner at Cravath, Swain & Moore in the 1960s. It's because I learned so much from him.

David Moyes was one who, at a certain crossroads in my career, he was there. And since then, I've kicked on. That's why he played such a big role in my career.

I think to some degree one of the strengths of the high tech industry is that people are actually willing to tell you things. When I went to Novell, I didn't know how to be a CEO, so I went in and I called all sorts of CEOs I knew. I called in a favor. I wanted to come by and listen to them tell me what it's like to be a CEO.

In life, you don't have a level of confrontation and the nonsense you run into when you're a CEO. CEOs aren't born.

I started at Pillsbury as a manager in one of their analysis functions, then worked my way up the corporate ladder to become vice president. Moving to Burger King was an important moment in my career.

People don't just show up in the C-suite overnight.

When I was still a bright-eyed McKinsey consultant, I remember hitting a point where I didn't know what to do next, and someone gave me the book, 'How Remarkable Women Lead,' and I read it and scribbled in it, and it felt like a guide in helping me figure out my career.

I don't think everyone wants to be a CEO.

You never stop learning in football management and I certainly believe the invaluable experience from my time as Villa manager will prove hugely beneficial in the next stage of my managerial career.

For me, it is just the total experience - from the time I first started as an assistant coach until I wound up at the University of Texas for 20 years.

I've wanted to manage a long time and I've been moving in that direction.

I seek out a lot of advice from other CEOs.

I think it's critical that you feel you're working for a person who is committed to advancing your career.

While I'm trying to be different, I'm trying to be very conservative at this point in my career.

There has been only one manager, and his name is John McGraw.

I do want to be a manager one day. It might be 10 years, I don't know when.

For the most ambitious young people, the corporate ladder is obsolete.

I've already figured out when I'm going to be No. 2 and No. 1.

I spent 26 years in the business without ever knowing what I was doing a month from now.

I went to a woman for advice about how to be in business, but I learned a great deal from men.

I try getting in front of as many opportunities as possible, but in the late '90s, I had no idea that I'd end up being CFO of a technology company. I'd no idea what venture capital was.