In this limited series from the New York Times, hear conversations with business and policy leaders at the heart of today’s major stories, recorded live at the annual 'DealBook Summit' event in New York City.
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Leveraging Innovation to Revive the American Dream
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Prosperity today feels concentrated in a few places, leaving many Americans questioning whether the system still works for them. This panel asks how universities and the private sector can work together to address this critical issue.
Can universities help restore faith in the American dream? Not just by educating leaders, but also by engaging with the private sector and generating the ideas, companies and industries that power national growth? We will seek to have a deeper understanding of how research universities can be engines of opportunity, creating ripple effects across health, technology and the economy, with examples of how innovation in one place can have lasting impact across the country and around the world. What examples of private-sector collaboration should we seek to replicate? Where does this relationship need strengthening? What support systems spur the best innovations, and build communities? And how can these innovative and entrepreneurial partnerships work to revive prosperity in sometimes overlooked parts of the country?
Panelists: Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-chief executive of Warby Parker; Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, chairman and chief executive of Revolution; Kevin Plank, founder, president and chief executive of Under Armour; Carolina Pluszczynski, acting chief executive of Michigan Central; Shivani Siroya, founder and chief executive of Tala
Moderator: Domenico Grasso, president of the University of Michigan
Filmed live at the 2025 DealBook Summit
Follow DealBook’s reporting at https://nytimes.com/dealbook
8 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
The New Rules for Leadership
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The modern business leader walks a tightrope: between fighting for the success of their company and shareholder value; between communication and leadership ability, demands for innovation, media representation, political pressures and international dynamics and besting their competition.
So, we asked: How do they manage these competing interests, and what does it mean to lead with purpose? How do current Fortune 500 leaders see their role today, and what defines their leadership?
We also asked the big question of the moment: How are they approaching the integration of generative A.I. into their business models? And how are they building resiliency in their own companies?
Panelists: Alex Chriss, C.E.O. of PayPal; Beth Ford, President and C.E.O. of Land O’Lakes Inc.; Bob Jordan, President and C.E.O. of Southwest Airlines; Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and C.E.O. of Mattel; Pete Nordstrom, Co-C.E.O. of Nordstrom, Inc.; Emma Walmsley, C.E.O. of GSK
Moderator: David Brooks, Opinion Columnist at The New York Times
Filmed live at the 2025 DealBook Summit
Follow DealBook’s reporting at https://nytimes.com/dealbook
7 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
The Education of Higher Education
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The Trump administration’s funding threats aren’t the only issue colleges and universities are facing. There’s also rising antisemitism on campus, and challenges in managing student free speech and demonstrations. What is the future of research without government grants and funding? How will the courts adjudicate these issues? The Justice Department is also taking specific aim at multiple universities over international student visas, claims of antisemitism, anti-D.E.I. investigations, and trans athletes and Title IX policy. Americans now have $1.8 trillion in cumulative student debt. Administrative costs continue to rise. Are Americans’ value systems changing toward education, and how?
And the bigger question: What do universities’ leaders believe the education they provide is for? What and how are universities contributing to society today? Is there a crisis of faith in our educational system? Universities can be rigid systems. Are they capable of responding to valid criticisms? What do they believe needs to change, and how are they working toward those ends?
And as we examine the future of work — and A.I. in particular on the cusp of transforming the entry-level work force — what does the work force of the next generation look like, and how are universities preparing their students?
Panelists: Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Oberlin College and Conservatory; Sian Leah Beilock, president of Dartmouth; Ron Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University; Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University; James Harris, president of the University of San Diego; John B. King, chancellor of the State University of New York and former U.S. secretary of education; Jonathan Levin, president of Stanford University
Moderator: Jodi Kantor, investigative reporter at The New York Times
Inside a recent episode
Leveraging Innovation to Revive the American Dream
Published 8 Dec 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I think you can access it both ways, but education is one of the reasons why America is in the leadership position it is today. We've always had, at least recently, but again, that was from 250 years of building and investing in the top research universities in the world. And that has led to innovation and has enabled America to continue to lead. Where we've made some policy mistakes, I think, over the last couple of decades is around student debt. And what started with really positive intentions is how do we make sure that as many Americans as possible get a college education has had an unintended consequence of a lot of students graduating with really high debt loads. […]
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