In the video above, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg — the 87-year-old architect of AIG and current chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co. — speaks his mind in an interview with Carrier Management
He talks about:
- his time in the Korean War
- his “purely by chance” start in insurance after returning stateside
- how he fired the first personnel director he met in the industry (a “jerk” whose “attitude was very, very negative”)
- the mark of a good executive (one who “tries to be himself” rather than just following in someone else’s footsteps “to be like them” — “if you don’t think independently, what are you: You’re just a copycat”)
- How corporate culture evolves over time (“you’ve got to be sensitive to change”)
He has never been a bashful man.