As global leaders disperse from the World Economic Forum, LinkedIn co-founder and technology investor Reid Hoffman discusses the biggest challenges and opportunities facing businesses today, from political headwinds tied to immigration and geopolitics to why fears of a tech bubble aren’t shaping their investments. A self-proclaimed optimist, Hoffman urges today’s business leaders to speak up and use their voices to help society “orient toward a good future.”
This is an abbreviated transcript of an interview with Quick Responsepresented by the former fast company editor-in-chief Robert Safian. From the team behind the Masters of the scale podcast, Quick Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders facing real-time challenges. Subscribe to Quick Response Wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you never miss an episode.
One of the biggest drivers of America’s tech leadership has been attracting talent from outside the United States…Immigration policies have tightened. Basically, the outside pipe has been cut. Are we going to start seeing any implications of this this year?
Well, I think we already are. A large part of the technological advantages that the United States has had are due to the Indian and Chinese talent that has arrived. Well, now the Indian talent will stay there. He’s going to Canada. He will go to Europe. When someone comes and builds a big company here, they create a lot of jobs for restaurants and accountants and all kinds of services… and then they buy things from American manufacturing and stay in American hotels and all the rest. You’re erasing all that and you’re saying, “Go somewhere else.” He’s like stupid Bernie Sanders. [remark]”There are no data centers here. Build them all in Canada. Make Canada get all the economic benefits. Let’s make sure we Americans don’t do it.” And, literally, up is down. It’s crazy to think. It’s a stupid thought.
And so, you want that immigration. This is how we build the prosperity of this country. 250 years from now, this will come entirely from a generation of us who said, “This is how we’re going to take immigration and be a competitive advantage to every other country in the world.” It’s like, “Oh, well, let’s take advantage of our competitive advantage and sabotage it.” Now, none of this means that we haven’t reached a place where we have problems with borders, we have problems with asylum, we have a host of other things that, of course, need to be solved. People say, “Hey, I feel pain in my job, in my community, in my environment. What’s going wrong? And help me fix it.” And we should be doing that. But, by the way, completely closing the border is not the right idea.
I mean, you could do that to begin with, just saying, “Hey, let’s go back to normal.” But then you have to understand, for example, the above: “Well, we are going to send ICE after all the agricultural work.” And then I thought, “Oh, our farm is going to stop working. Oh, don’t do that. No, no. Send them to the central streets of Minnesota, so they can beat up and shoot people. Do that instead.” You say, “Okay, that’s not good either.” It is downright catastrophic and terrifying. So if you want to look at domestic terrorism, look at how ICE operates in some cities and in some environments. And so, it’s like, “Okay, what things need to be done to really solve the problems of Americans? That’s what we need. And some rationality in immigration is absolutely essential.”
How can we have prosperity for our society, for our children, for our grandchildren, including a group of communities that are feeling a lot of pain right now? How do we solve all these problems? That’s what we must do.
The political climate has made business leaders more cautious about commenting on social issues. What do you tell people when it’s worth or even necessary to give an opinion or if now is not the time?
Look, the theory that if you keep your mouth shut, the storm will pass and it won’t be a problem, you should disabuse yourself of that theory now. That’s not what’s happening. A lot of people say, “Oh, no, no, this tariff thing. It’s just an early negotiation tactic.” And he says, “Look, volatility is massive sabotage for business. Our young people are not being hired.” It’s, “Well, yeah, companies are in a very volatile situation.” I’ll say, “Well, we won’t hire until we understand what’s going on.” That is the message being sent from the White House to the entire business community. So, you need to speak up and say, “Okay, but what if I speak up, then they’re going to penalize me?”
And they say, “Well, by the way, precisely when you feel afraid, you should think: is this a time for courage?” Because, by the way, of course, it shouldn’t be punitive for you to talk about your knowledge and experience and what’s going on.” I get called regularly by the White House and basically just for political persecution purposes. If they said, “Hey, unlike Trump, who has all these pictures of Epstein at parties, I raised a little bit of money for MIT. Well, I’m a close associate.” Well, you guys have all the documents. Release them all. Let the people decide for themselves the truth of this. So stop lying about me and reveal all the documents. So, I think talking is really important.
And part of the reason I do it is not just for myself and my sense of moral rights (like the First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly), but also to try to give other people the feeling that they should talk about things that they believe are real. And if you feel afraid, have other people talk to you and put energy into it. Don’t just say, “Oh, I’m going to create a rationalization. I’m going to say, ‘Hey, I don’t need to… I’m not being afraid. I’m not being a coward. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do for my business. It’s the right thing to do.'” And look, human beings first, humanity, society, and you are members of both. Speak, be present in those things.
And by the way, when you are powerful, one form of power is wealth. Anyone who is rich in society should be extremely grateful to be a part of society. You have responsibilities. They are proportional to your power. And so, you need to talk. And, by the way, the current administration doesn’t just want to silence all of this as if it were speech and say, “No, no, it’s not allowed. They must make pledges of loyalty.” But I also get arguments from leftists who say, “Oh, well, you, as a rich person, have no moral right to speak.” I say, “Yes, I do. We all have the right to speak.” Some people might value my speech for its knowledge of how businesses are created, how prosperity is created, and how you have a vibrant economy.
And that’s part of what creates jobs. I mean, I’m a guy who created a site that hundreds of millions of people participate in to find jobs. Should people weigh my opinion on some things more than others? Absolutely. Should some things be weighed less than others? Absolutely. But we need to talk and figure out how to solve our problems together.