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Larry King
Broadcasters' Hall of Fame
Once I worked for Associated Merchandising Corporation at 1440 Broadway. And that was a company that factored the sale of goods, and you had to call up and get credit lines. I was a mail clerk. But in that building was WOR. And WOR was on the 22nd floor, and we were on the 3rd floor. And almost five or six times a day I would take the elevator up to the 22nd floor and pretend that I was an announcer. Like going down in the elevator to go out to lunch. And sometimes when I'd get on the elevator, some announcers would walk on. And I'd hear them talk, and I just wanted to do that. I just wanted to be that.
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Larry King
Broadcasters' Hall of Fame
When I broke in, in 1957, you didn't have to have gone to college. It was wide open. Now it's a very "in" field. So you're up against strong competition. So the first thing I would say is, it doesn't matter where you grew up. If you grew up in Indiana, or Mississippi, or New York, or you grew up poor, or rich, you've got to want it. You've got want it real -- every one of my friends who are successful wanted. If they didn't know what field they wanted, they knew they wanted to be somebody. That great Marlon Brando line in On The Waterfront , "I could have been a contender!" We wanted to be that. We had a high ratio of success orientation. One of my jokes is, even our criminals went to the chair. We didn't have guys do two to five. Come on! We didn't have no petty larceny. These guys were heavyweights. Tony Mancuso died in the electric chair. He was one of our heroes. I mean, he was a gutsy guy.
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Larry King
Broadcasters' Hall of Fame
I know guys in medicine who are disappointed in medicine. Guys in law who would give it up. Guys in business who say, "I wish I could do something else." I never knew a broadcaster that wanted to make a mid-life career switch. There's something about it. It's an art form that is always as good. In other words, I'm having as much fun today as I did when I made $55 a week, because it is as much fun. I mean, the names are bigger, the show is worldwide, but basically, I get a chance -- and any broadcaster gets this, if you're co-hosting a show, if you're broadcasting a game, if you're doing anything -- you've got a royal pass onto life in the broadcasting business. If you're a disk jockey in Biloxi, Mississippi making a hundred dollars a week, you're having as good a time as me.
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Willem Kolff
Pioneer of Artificial Organs
Willem Kolff: The first years in Cleveland were very, very difficult. Fortunately, I have many interests, so if I cannot make progress with the heart/lung machine, I can improve the artificial kidney. And, I can also then begin this kidney transplantation, and that's what we did. At that time when we entered the field of kidney transplantation, people did not use cadaver kidneys anymore. And, we proved that if we would take a cadaver kidney, put it in a patient without kidneys and dialyze them with one of these machines, that we could keep them alive long enough so that the cadaver kidney would recover from the rigors it had gone through when its previous owner died. That was very important, and also very fascinating and very beneficial.
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Willem Kolff
Pioneer of Artificial Organs
Willem Kolff: The exciting thing of course, is not so much what people say about it, but to see somebody who is doomed to die, live and be happy. I got a letter three days ago from a woman who I've never seen. And, she wrote me, "Dr. Kolff, I've been on dialysis for 18 years. You see here a picture of myself with my first grandchild. I've had a very rich life, a very full life, and thank you very much." That is the reward, that of course makes you [feel] very good. And, that also sustains you to not pay too much attention to the detractors of what you're doing.
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Henry Kravis
Financier and Investor
My career, I have really just loved it. It has been a challenge. There is something new every day for me. I mean, the fantastic thing about the career, it's not just buying and selling companies. It's the fact that we've got a portfolio of companies, that range all the way from hotels and motels, to television stations and cable TV companies, and oil and gas, and consumer products, and industrial products. And anything that I want to know more about, I have that opportunity. It's right there, it's in our portfolio. And I can spend the time at a factory or with the management and learn as much as I want. And so that's wonderful, and that's a real challenge. You can't get bored doing that.
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Henry Kravis
Financier and Investor
Henry Kravis: I like to succeed. I don't want to fail. And I said to you earlier, the fear of failure drives a lot of people. That probably is part of what drives me. I know there will be things that I'll fail at, but I don't want to be a failure. And I come back to the challenge again. You know, why am I in a hurry? Why do I work as hard as I work? I do it because I enjoy it. I don't have to do it, obviously. But I enjoy it. I enjoy creating something -- financial creation.
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Henry Kravis
Financier and Investor
"Henry, I just wanted to let you know, the guys said we've got the transaction signed up and go have a great vacation, and relax." And it's a feeling, obviously, you can see, I get choked up even re-telling the story. Every time I talk about that. Or just that feeling, you know, up there in the air and that camaraderie, and just that excitement of wanting each other to know. It's all part of the teamwork. And it's one of the great pleasures I get as that team, and that teamwork.
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