David M. Rubenstein discusses his path to founding The Carlyle Group and why he believes understanding US history is critical to civil discourse and American democracy.
On the importance of reading history: “My view on reading is that it’s one of the best ways to improve one’s chance of succeeding in life.… A book focuses the mind in a way that nothing else quite does because when you’re reading, you have to put real time into it…. And I tell young students that I talk to: learn how to read and learn how to communicate…. I encourage young people to read and remember that when they graduate from school, their brain is a muscle. It has to continuously be exercised.”
On entrepreneurship: “This is true of all entrepreneurs: if you start a company, you start it not knowing how little you know. If Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs knew how little they knew about the company they were about to start, they probably wouldn’t have done it.”
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