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Willem Kolff
Pioneer of Artificial Organs
My father was director of a sanatorium for pulmonary tuberculosis, and at that time there were no antibiotics, tuberculosis was a terrible disease. And, he and I would walk in the woods around that sanatorium and he would discuss his worries about his patients. And from him, I certainly inherited this extreme concern about the well-being of patients. I've seen him very happy when he succeeded after months and months of rest and other things to have these people go home cured. I've also seen him crying and desperate after trying for a long time and a patient did not get well, and went home to die.
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Willem Kolff
Pioneer of Artificial Organs
When I was this young assistant at the University of Groningen my responsibility was for four beds, or rather the patients in four beds. That was all I had to do. And, one of these patients was a young man, 22 years old, who slowly and miserably died from renal failure. He became blind, he vomited, and it was a miserable death. And I, as a very, very young physician, had to tell his mother, in a black dress and a little white cap like the farmers have, that her only son was going to die. I couldn't do a damn thing about it. So, I began to think, "If I could just every day remove as much urea as this boy creates, which is about 20 grams, then the boy could live." Well, he died, but I began to work on that.
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Henry Kravis
Financier and Investor
Today, we have a portfolio of some 15 or 16 companies. We have hundreds of thousands of employees in these different companies, with about 40 billion dollars in revenue. They are counting on us. These people's livelihood depends, in part, upon decisions that we make. I don't want to let those people down. I want to do what I hope is the right thing. Yes, there is some pain going through it. Yes there is some terminations early on, but in the long run, if we can make a company more competitive, and leaner, and more profitable, they eventually are going to hire more people, because they are going to grow. And they are going to be able to make acquisitions, down the road, sensible acquisitions.
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Mike Krzyzewski
Collegiate Basketball Champion
Mike Krzyzewski: With me and basketball, it became part of me. First of all, what happens is, when you're good at something, you spend a lot of time with it. People identify you with that sport, so it becomes part of your identity. I liked that. "Well, here's Mike, he's a basketball player." That connection was good. It helped me have confidence in other areas, because it wasn't just "Mike," it was "Mike, who is also a good basketball player." So I worked at it, and I really liked it. It became a friend. When I had troubles, I'd go out -- with basketball, you can do it by yourself, too. So you'd go out and shoot, and you'd fantasize. Your imagination could run wild. I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one. It helped me become a much more confident person. It was much more than a game to me, and always has been.
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Mike Krzyzewski
Collegiate Basketball Champion
I met my team, and I told them, "We're going to win," and I looked into their eyes. Then, when they sat on the bench, I looked at them again, I said, "We are going to win." I felt we were connected. Then I asked Grant Hill -- instead of telling him what to do -- I asked Grant, "Can you throw the ball 75 feet?" And he said, "Yes, I'll throw it." And by saying it already, I think he had already done it. In fact, I think if you had interviewed him now, he would say that, "Well, I gave my word that I was going to do it." But if I said, "Grant, you throw it," it would have been me telling him to do something. I asked Christian Laettner, "If they ring you up, can you catch it?" He says, "Coach, if Grant throws it, I'll catch it." All of a sudden, there was that -- some people would call that bravado, or cocky talk, but we had gone from walking off the court scattered, mentally and physically, to now, a minute and a half later, to believing that we were going to win.
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