My Path to Success

What It Takes is a podcast series featuring intimate, revealing conversations with towering figures in almost every field: music, science, sports, politics, film, technology, literature, the military and social justice. These rare interviews have been recorded over the past 25 years by The Academy of Achievement. They offer the life stories and reflections of people who have had a huge impact on the world, and insights you can apply to your own life. Subscribe to the What It Takes podcast series at iTunes.com/WhatItTakes

Hailed as the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world, South Africa's Athol Fugard has won international praise for creating theater of "power, glory, and majestic language." In more than 20 plays, written over six decades, he has chronicled the struggles of men and women of all races for dignity and human fulfillment. Born and raised in the Eastern Cape, he founded a multiracial theater company in the 1950s in defiance of the South African government's apartheid system. When he and a black colleague appeared as mixed-race brothers in his play The Blood Knot, it was closed after a single performance. In the 1960s, his work found an audience in other English-speaking countries, but after he appeared in The Blood Knot on BBC Television, the government seized his passport. Since the downfall of the apartheid system, Fugard has been honored by his country's government and by critics and audiences the world over. An Honorary Fellow of Britain's Royal Society of Literature, in 2001 he received Broadway's Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. His novel Tsotsi was adapted into the film of the same name, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 2006. He has appeared as an actor in the feature films Gandhi and The Killing Fields. In 2014, he returned to the stage for the first time in 15 years to act in his play Shadow of the Hummingbird at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, he speaks of his youth in South Africa and his early adventures as a merchant seaman. Rather than dwelling on the persecution he suffered as an advocate of racial equality in his country, he focuses on the most basic and satisfying emotions that have informed his life, including the love of other human beings and of nature.

Frances Arnold's techniques of "directed evolution" have revolutionized the science of chemistry by creating new organisms and enzymes for use in medicine, agriculture, manufacturing and alternative energy. She came to her profoundly original research by an equally original career path, one that led her from undergraduate studies in aerospace engineering at Princeton’Ůand an early career in alternative energy in the United States and Brazil’Ůto postdoctoral chemistry studies at Berkeley and an endowed chair at Caltech, where she directs the Rosen Bioengineering Center. A co-founder of the bio-fuel company GEVO, last year she founded a second firm, Provivi Labs, to develop green biocatalytic processes for agriculture and industry. The techniques she pioneered have already led to the development of a new treatment for diabetes and are now reducing industry's reliance on toxic chemicals in manufacturing. Proteins she has created for use in brain imaging may soon lead to improved testing and treatment for depression, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Her work has been honored with an array of awards, including the Charles Stark Draper Prize and the National Medal of Technology. This year she was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Dr. Arnold recounts the unusual career path that led to her revolutionary breakthrough.

Although he is renowned in medical circles as "the father of Viagra," the discoveries of Louis Ignarro have profound implications for all circulatory conditions, not least heart disease, the leading cause of death around the world. Nitroglycerin has been used in treating heart disease since the 1870s, but for over a century no one knew what property of the chemical causes constricted blood vessels to dilate. Ignarro determined that nitroglycerin, and other nitrates and nitrites, are metabolized as nitric oxide, relaxing the smooth muscle surface of the blood vessels, and inhibiting the growth of blood platelets. He was the first to observe that nitric oxide is a neurotransmitter mediating erectile function, a discovery that led to the creation of Viagra and other drugs for impotence, as well as nutritional supplements that improve cardiovascular health and athletic performance. Louis Ignarro embarked on his journey of discovery from humble beginnings. Born in Brooklyn, New York to working-class immigrant parents, he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998. As he told a Congressional committee, "Only in America could the son of an uneducated carpenter win the Nobel Prize in Medicine." In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, he recounts the career path that led to his groundbreaking discoveries.

Vocalist, composer and instrumentalist Esperanza Spalding fell in love with music as a little girl in Portland, Oregon. She first drew acclaim as a child violinist before discovering the upright bass as a teenager. Within months she was playing in local clubs, exploring pop, rock, hip-hop and especially jazz. By age 20 she was an instructor at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, and was performing with singer Patti Austin and a stellar roster of jazz greats. Her 2008 album Esperanza topped Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart. The following year, she was invited to perform at the White House and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Stockholm. At the 53rd annual Grammy Awards, she was honored as Best New Artist of the Year. With her 2011 album Chamber Music Society, she became the bestselling contemporary jazz artist in the world. On the follow-up, Radio Music Society, she played her own compositions alongside an eclectic selection of tunes by everyone from the Beach Boys to one of her heroes, jazz great Wayne Shorter. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Esperanza Spalding performs solo, and in duet with Wayne Shorter. Excerpts from her interview with the Academy of Achievement are interspersed with highlights of that performance.

The events of 2014 drew the world's attention once again to the role of NATO in preserving the hard-won peace of Europe. No individual bears greater responsibility for the readiness and coordination of the world's largest military alliance than the SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe), General Philip Breedlove. As SACEUR, General Breedlove is commander of all U.S. forces in Europe as well as the joint collective security operations of NATO's 28 member nations and its 22 Partners for Peace. A trained fighter pilot with over 3,500 flying hours’Ůprimarily in the F-16 fighter’Ůhe flew combat missions in support of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and implementing the peace settlement in Kosovo. Prior to his assignment with NATO he was Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force; he previously commanded the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano, Italy and the 3rd Air Force in Ramstein, Germany. He is regularly quoted in the press regarding security in Western Europe, particularly in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, past scene of some of history's most vicious conflicts. Through his blog, newspaper columns and other venues, he is a forceful advocate for NATO's readiness to defend the one billion inhabitants of the member nations who depend upon the alliance for their collective security. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, General Breedlove discusses NATO's mission in light of the situation in Ukraine and explicitly condemns Russia's aggressive actions against its neighbor.

When the rest of the world was just waking up to the possibility of cell phones and the Internet, Tony Fadell was already creating the technology behind the smartphone. Author of more than 300 patents, he sold a microprocessor startup to Apple just as he was leaving college. He spent the next decade pioneering mobile technology for the leading electronics companies, but none would fully commit to marketing the devices he created. When investors passed on Fadell's idea for a pocket-sized digital music player, Steve Jobs recruited him to design just such a product for Apple. Fadell led the team that created the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first three generations of the iPhone, rising to Senior Vice President of the iPod division. Not satisfied with revolutionizing the way we communicate, navigate and listen to music, Fadell founded Nest Labs to bring smart technology to the most common household devices. The Nest Thermostat conserves energy by learning the habits of its users and can be managed remotely by smartphone. Nest Protect is an intelligent smoke and carbon monoxide detector that distinguishes between levels of threat and provides relaxed voice alerts instead of piercing alarms. Future products may address areas such as water conservation and home security. Last January, Nest was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, he is joined onstage by journalist and Academy of Achievement delegate Samantha Barry. In their conversation, Tony Fadell, still recovering from a sporting injury, describes his career as an inventor, an Apple computer executive, and as the Founder and CEO of Nest.

This podcast features two of the visionaries of today's world of Internet commerce and social media. Reid Hoffman has been called "the most connected man in Silicon Valley," the "ˆuber-investor" who "has had a hand in creating nearly every lucrative social media startup." He was the originator of the PayPal online commerce tool and is the founder and Chairman of LinkedIn, as well as an early investor in Facebook, GroupOn and Airbnb. Joi Ito, a social media entrepreneur in his own right, is now Director of the MIT Media Lab. A techno-prodigy and onetime nightclub DJ, he founded the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd., and was an early investor in Kickstarter, Twitter and many other innovative Internet companies. One of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom, he has described his vision of a decentralized political structure, mediated through the Internet, in the widely-disseminated essay Emergent Democracy. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, the two friends engage in a freewheeling discussion of today's media landscape, with personal observations of the industry's leaders and a tantalizing peek at its future.

This podcast features two of the visionaries of today's world of Internet commerce and social media. Reid Hoffman has been called "the most connected man in Silicon Valley," the "ˆuber-investor" who "has had a hand in creating nearly every lucrative social media startup." He was the originator of the PayPal online commerce tool and is the founder and Chairman of LinkedIn, as well as an early investor in Facebook, GroupOn and Airbnb. Joi Ito, a social media entrepreneur in his own right, is now Director of the MIT Media Lab. A techno-prodigy and onetime nightclub DJ, he founded the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd., and was an early investor in Kickstarter, Twitter and many other innovative Internet companies. One of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom, he has described his vision of a decentralized political structure, mediated through the Internet, in the widely-disseminated essay Emergent Democracy. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, the two friends engage in a freewheeling discussion of today's media landscape, with personal observations of the industry's leaders and a tantalizing peek at its future.

"If somebody gave me a hundred feet of film, I made a movie out of it." When George Lucas was attending USC Film School he didn't even need a hundred feet. While still a student, he turned 32 feet of 16 millimeter film into a one-minute animated short that not only won awards at festivals nationwide, but set a new standard for animated films. He's been making motion picture history ever since, creating many of the most popular films in motion picture history, including the phenomenally successful Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. For over 40 years, George Lucas served as Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., parent company of LucasArts Entertainment Company and Lucas Digital Ltd. Lucasfilm's THX division has changed the way we hear films in movie theaters and at home. LucasArts Entertainment Company is a leading international developer of entertainment software. Lucas Digital Ltd., which includes Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, is the leading visual effects and post-production company in the industry. In 2012, he sold the company to The Walt Disney Company for a reported price of $4.05 billion. No man comes as close to representing the art, technology, and business of the movie industry as George Lucas. His clarity of vision as storyteller and mythmaker, his zeal for innovation, and his leadership in forging a new relationship between entertainment and technology, has revolutionized the art of motion pictures. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Lucas recounts the obstacles he overcame as a young filmmaker, and gives an eloquent account of the ethical philosophy that informs his tales.

"If somebody gave me a hundred feet of film, I made a movie out of it." When George Lucas was attending USC Film School he didn't even need a hundred feet. While still a student, he turned 32 feet of 16 millimeter film into a one-minute animated short that not only won awards at festivals nationwide, but set a new standard for animated films. He's been making motion picture history ever since, creating many of the most popular films in motion picture history, including the phenomenally successful Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. For over 40 years, George Lucas served as Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., parent company of LucasArts Entertainment Company and Lucas Digital Ltd. Lucasfilm's THX division has changed the way we hear films in movie theaters and at home. LucasArts Entertainment Company is a leading international developer of entertainment software. Lucas Digital Ltd., which includes Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, is the leading visual effects and post-production company in the industry. In 2012, he sold the company to The Walt Disney Company for a reported price of $4.05 billion. No man comes as close to representing the art, technology, and business of the movie industry as George Lucas. His clarity of vision as storyteller and mythmaker, his zeal for innovation, and his leadership in forging a new relationship between entertainment and technology, has revolutionized the art of motion pictures. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Lucas recounts the obstacles he overcame as a young filmmaker, and gives an eloquent account of the ethical philosophy that informs his tales.

For 11 consecutive seasons, 30 million Americans sat down every week to watch The Carol Burnett Show. In sketch after sketch, the star poked fun at her favorite films, punctured the pretensions of the famous, and drew forgiving humor from the embarrassments and misunderstandings that arise in every family. The most honored comic actress of our times, Carol Burnett was raised by her grandmother in a small studio apartment in Hollywood. A starring role in the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress led to regular appearances on network television. In 1967, she inaugurated her weekly comedy-variety program. In its original run on CBS, The Carol Burnett Show amassed 25 Emmy Awards. Since then, Burnett has written three bestsellers, as well as a Broadway play, Hollywood Arms, based on her childhood experiences. She starred on television in two subsequent comedy series, as well as the dramatic film Friendly Fire, and continues to make guest appearances on popular programs including Glee and Law and Order: SVU. She returned to Broadway in shows such as Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together and has acted in numerous feature films, working with directors Robert Altman, John Huston and Billy Wilder. In addition to her Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and Kennedy Center Honors, Carol Burnett has received the Mark Twain Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that America bestows upon its citizens. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Burnett recounts her escape from childhood poverty to achieve success in the theater and television and the institutional sexism she had to overcome to host her own television program in the 1960s and ’Ų70s.

Thomas Keller grew up in the restaurant business in Palm Beach, Florida, working his way up from dishwasher to cook. As a teenager, he fell in love with the art of French cooking, and learned his craft working in restaurants up and down the East Coast before moving to France to complete his training. In 1987, he opened his first restaurant in New York City, but the Wall Street crash of that year hit his business hard and he headed west. In 1994, he set his heart on a converted laundry building in Yountville, in the heart of California's Napa Valley wine country. It took 19 months to raise the money to purchase the place, but in 1994 he opened his restaurant, The French Laundry, and quickly made it a destination for gourmets and connoisseurs from all over the world. Twice named "Best Restaurant in the World" by Restaurant magazine, it was soon joined by other Keller establishments: Bouchon and Ad Hoc in Yountville, and Per Se in New York City. Keller has written five best-selling cookbooks, starting with The French Laundry Cookbook, and has received "Best Chef" honors from TIME magazine, the James Beard Foundation and the Culinary Institute of America. Keller is the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, and is the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France's paramount honorary order. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, he retraces the story of his life in the restaurant business, and the values he learned in building a culinary empire.

On May 1, 2011, President Obama and his national security team gathered in the White House Situation Room to watch a commando raid taking place half a world away. As the mission unfolded, the President was in continuous video contact with the senior military officer directing the operation from a base in Afghanistan, Admiral William McRaven. To this task, Admiral McRaven brought three decades of experience in special operations. The first officer to graduate from the Special Operations and Limited Warfare program at the Naval Postgraduate School, he has held commands at every level of the special ops community, from leading a single SEAL platoon, to his final post as Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). His experience includes commands in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, leadership of SEAL Team Three, and of NATO's special operations command (SOCEUR). At USSOCOM, Admiral McRaven oversaw and coordinated elite forces from all branches of the nation's military, including such storied outfits as the Navy Seals, the Army's Green Berets and Delta Force, and the Air Force Special Tactics Squadron. The success, that night in 2011, of the raid that eliminated Osama bin Laden without a single American casualty was due, in no small part, to the unique expertise of the man who organized and executed the plan, Admiral William McRaven. Earlier this year, Admiral McRaven retired from the Navy to become Chancellor of the nine-campus University of Texas system. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francisco, Admiral McRaven addresses a profoundly simple question, "How do you change the world, when so much lies beyond your control?" Recalling incidents from his own life and service, he demonstrates that we all have opportunities to perform numberless small acts of encouragement, courage and compassion that can have repercussions far beyond our own lives.

At age 15, Francis Collins ’had no interest in biology, or medicine, or any of those aspects of science that dealt with this messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense." A few years later, this farm boy from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley discovered the emerging field of DNA research and changed his whole life direction in life. Already a graduate student with a wife and child, Francis Collins completed his graduate studies in chemistry and enrolled in medical school, determined to learn if the new discoveries in molecular biology could uncover the causes of hereditary illnesses. Dr. Collins developed techniques to map and identify genes that cause human diseases including cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease. As Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, he led one of the largest undertakings in the history of science. By 2003, this effort had decoded the entire human genome, the first essential step to unlocking the mysteries of human heredity. In July 2009, President Obama selected Dr. Collins to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Federal government's primary agency for conducting and supporting medical research. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francsico, Dr. Collins discusses West Africa's Ebola epidemic as well as his work with the Human Genome Project.

At age 15, Francis Collins ’had no interest in biology, or medicine, or any of those aspects of science that dealt with this messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense." A few years later, this farm boy from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley discovered the emerging field of DNA research and changed his whole life direction in life. Already a graduate student with a wife and child, Francis Collins completed his graduate studies in chemistry and enrolled in medical school, determined to learn if the new discoveries in molecular biology could uncover the causes of hereditary illnesses. Dr. Collins developed techniques to map and identify genes that cause human diseases including cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease. As Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, he led one of the largest undertakings in the history of science. By 2003, this effort had decoded the entire human genome, the first essential step to unlocking the mysteries of human heredity. In July 2009, President Obama selected Dr. Collins to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Federal government's primary agency for conducting and supporting medical research. In this podcast, recorded at the 2014 International Achievement Summit in San Francsico, Dr. Collins discusses West Africa's Ebola epidemic as well as his work with the Human Genome Project.

The most successful and admired female songwriter in the history of pop music, Carole King proves that one woman alone at the piano can be more powerful than a four-piece rock band or a 30-piece orchestra. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where her mother was a teacher and her father a firefighter. She learned to play the piano at age four and formed her first band in high school. At age 18, she scored her first Number One hit record - the first of 118 pop hits on the Billboard charts, including such classics as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "The Loco-Motion," "Up on the Roof," It's Too Late, Baby," "I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet," "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" and "You've Got a Friend." To date, she has recorded 25 solo albums, the most successful of which, Tapestry, sold 25 million copies, and for a quarter of a century held the record for a female artist for most weeks at the top of the charts. The recipient of the 2013 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2013 Gershwin Prize, she is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For more than a half century, she has given voice to her innermost truth, and struck a resounding chord in the hearts of listeners around the world. Composer and performer, author and activist, she has brought the same passion, courage and unyielding honesty to her life, to her work, and to her defense of the woods and wildlife of her beloved Rocky Mountains. Carol King received the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement in a ceremony at the Academy's headquarters in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2014. In this podcast, recorded on that occasion, Carole King discusses her life and career. Her remarks are interspersed with excerpts from her performance at the Academy earlier that evening.

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both singer and actress. With a record-setting six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a long list of other accolades to her name, she is among today's most highly regarded performers. Blessed with a luminous soprano voice and an incomparable gift for dramatic truth-telling, she is equally at home on Broadway and opera stages as in roles on film and television. In addition to her theatrical work, she maintains a major career as a concert and recording artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world. Audra McDonald was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 2012. In this podcast, recorded on that occasion at the Academy's Washington, D.C. headquarters, she sings a few of her favorite songs, including 'Summertime' and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' The podcast also includes highlights of an exclusive interview with Audra McDonald.

In a breathtakingly short time, songwriter Christina Perri has earned a reputation for combining infectious, memorable melodies with uncompromising descriptions of difficult emotions. Arriving in Los Angeles on her 21st birthday with one suitcase and a guitar, she struggled to find an audience, then shot to stardom in the summer of 2010, when her song 'Jar of Hearts' was played on an episode of the television show, 'So You Think You Can Dance.' Overnight, the song hit the Top 10 on iTunes and two weeks later, Perri was playing the song live on the popular program. A few days after her first television appearance, Perri signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records. She has since performed on some of the most popular television programs in the U.S., as well as in Britain and Australia. Her songs, such as 'Arms' and 'A Thousand Years,' have been heard in numerous television programs and in the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. In 2011, she released her debut album on Atlantic Records, lovestrong, and embarked on a world tour. As a youth delegate to the 2012 International Achievement Summit, Christina Perri performed several of her compositions as part of the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies, held at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. This podcast features highlights of that performance, interspersed with excerpt from an interview with Christina Perri, recorded by the Academy of Achievement.

Aretha Franklin is known the world over as the Queen of Soul Music. In the 1960s, her hit recording "Respect" became an anthem of the civil rights struggle and a theme song for the dawning women's movement. He musical career began in the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin was the pastor. Young Aretha sang and played piano, and the passion of Gospel music ha remained with her through her subsequent triumphs in secular blues, rock and pop. Franklin began recording when she was only 14. At 19, had won a solos contract with Columbia Records. Columbia tried to promote her as a conventionally smooth pop singer, but Aretha's talent was too volcanic to be contained by the old formulas. In 1966, she moved to Atlantic Records, where she recorded the stirring performances that made her world-famous. Her rendition of songs like "Think," "Chain of Fools, and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" set the standard by which singing in the soul idiom will always be measured. Her breakthrough album was 1967's I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, a Top 40 smash. She continued to deliver hit albums decade after decade, including Amazing Grace (1972) and Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985) and her 1998 effort A Rose is Still a Rose. Since 1961, she has scored a total of 45 "Top 40" hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and 20 number one hits on the R&B charts. She has recorded 14 million-selling singles, the record for a female artist. Between 1967 and 1982 she had 10 number one albums on the R&B charts, another record for a female artist. She sang at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, and at the inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. She has won 18 Grammy Awards and was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite her international fame, she has always returned to her home town of Detroit. The legislature of Michigan has declared Aretha Franklin's voice to be one of the state's natural resources. All Americans can claim her as a national treasure. This podcast was recorded during a performance at the 2012 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. It includes a rendition of her signature song "Respect," as well as rare interview footage recorded during the Summit.