Your personal motto is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself,” And not so surprisingly, you are a serial entrepreneur. You have founded several companies including International Space University, XPRIZE, Singularity University, Human Longevity Inc., and Planetary Resources, just to name a few. What art the ties that bind your areas of interest and the companies that you have founded?

P: I think the common theme that binds them together is my passion, which has evolved over time. My passion early on was space, and space has always been one of my core underlying passions.

I think it was during medical school a decade or two later than I became enamored with the idea of longevity as a theme in terms of trying to extend the healthy human lifespan. I was in medical school, and I had been reading about species of life on Earth, such as whales, turtles and certain species of shark that had lifespans measured in hundreds of years. My feeling was that if they can live that long, why couldn’t we? This interest in longevity also stemmed from my interest in space, in the sense that there is a lot to explore, and if we can live longer, we will get to see more of it.

Space led to the XPRIZE, and the XPRIZE led to this real empowerment of the notion that we can do extraordinary things. Technology, in the hands of individuals today, is growing at such an extraordinary rate that we do not need to depend upon a few wealthy robber barons or government officials to solve our problems. Through technology, we are empowered more than ever before to solve our own problems. As a result, the XPRIZE grew from a focus on space to a focus on solving Grand Challenges.

All my companies weave together, they are all passion driven. They all tie back to that theme of “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” It is about creating a future of abundance, a future of an exploring species and a future of healthy longevity. These are areas that I am excited about. 

How do you divide your time, and how do you find your partners across these businesses? You only have so many hours in a day, and you have chosen your partners wisely. I am curious how often the idea comes up and you seek a partner or if it is in the partnership that the idea itself arises.

P: There are a couple of points to make there. I have learned over the years to know what I love doing and what I am reasonably good at, and what I do not love doing and what I am good at. I love the early creative phase, coming up with the idea, brainstorming the idea, laying out the vision, finding the formative team, raising the capital, and then stepping back and hiring a CEO to run it – or if I take the CEO position myself, as I have a few times, replacing myself. The hiring, the firing, and the detailed minutiae is not my forte. In the case with almost everything, I am proud to have a great CEO as a partner there. I typically will take a role as Executive Chairman because while I still am involved in some elements of the day-to-day, it is more the strategic partnerships, the capital and the long term, big picture, not the day-to-day operations of the company.

Singularity University has a track dedicated to foresight and futures studies. As you advise organizations about methods to use to anticipate the disruptive forces in their industries, what are some of the things that you advise they think about?

P: The conversation is a lot around having them understand what is going on in each of the exponential technologies – computation, sensors and networks, artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing, augmented reality, virtual reality, synthetic genomics, and so on. Understanding what is in the lab today, and what is coming to market in a two-to-five year horizon is important. Next, I ask executives, “What are your three biggest problems that, if they were solved, would transform your business.” I also ask them to think about, “What are your three biggest strengths that are the basis of why you are doing well; what are the strength that give your value.” I will then say, ”As we talked about each of these technology areas, how might AI, for example, solve your challenges or disrupt your strengths.” We will go through each of these technology areas and people will gain insights. That is the way companies need to be thinking about it.      

From Forbes

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