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I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve.

I hadn't grown up always aspiring to be a CEO.

CEOs can stay too long.

At 25, I made many companies. I was thinking more like a businessman or entrepreneur than a CEO. I created many companies, small companies, medium companies. I tried to be involved in many kinds of activities, in finance, in real estate, in mining.

I've said I will be CEO as long as my colleagues want me.

It turns out that if you're a 24-year-old whose only line on their resume says CEO, you are totally unemployable.

Nobody knows how to be a CEO. It's something you have to learn. It's a very lonely job.

I had a spectacular four years as OpenTable CEO and remain an active executive chairman. I think, for me, some of the interesting observations there are, you know, global is important, mobile is extremely important. And then, network businesses are very attractive.

You can stay too long in a job, that's for sure. But by the same token, in the 12 years I have been CEO of GE, there have been four CEOs of Toshiba. So there's too short a time to do it, and there's too long a time to do it.