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Masters of Scale

Rapid Response: Why take on a turnaround, w/Magic Leap’s Peggy Johnson

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Startups, Business, Mindset, Management, Bob Safian, Entrepreneurship, Diversity & Inclusion, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Berman

4.64.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2020

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why leave a storied tech icon to lead a troubled brand? As the pandemic deepened this summer, Peggy Johnson left a safe perch at Microsoft to take the helm of one-time startup darling Magic Leap, which had just barely avoided bankruptcy. Yet with CEO roles for women in tech still unfortunately rare, Johnson felt compelled to take a risk. Now she's betting that the accelerated tech adoption prompted by Covid-19 will boost emerging areas like Magic Leap's AR. All entrepreneurs face moments when the bar seems impossibly high. But even in difficult times, Johnson knows, we can make our own opportunities.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

I had an ambition to be a CEO.

0:06.3

I knew a bit about magically, so I decided to raise my hand very intentionally, but it

0:13.2

was the middle of a pandemic.

0:15.6

That I have to say was a not experienced to step into a CEO role, having never met

0:21.1

any of the team that I was going to be leading.

0:24.6

It was different, but we got through it.

0:29.0

In the early days of wireless, we didn't know where this technology was going.

0:33.5

Yeah, you could make a phone call, maybe from your car.

0:35.5

Wouldn't that be great?

0:37.2

This technology has a similar ability to reinvent the next generation of computing.

0:47.0

My company's vision and priorities can very much be entwined with helping the world find

0:55.9

better solutions both within the pandemic.

0:58.5

And then post pandemic.

1:01.7

One of the rallying cries so often from the tech industry is tech can solve it.

1:07.5

But we had to remember there's people involved too, and tech needs to augment what we as humans

1:14.4

are trying to achieve.

1:15.5

It cannot replace it.

1:20.6

That's Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap.

1:24.5

We made the unusual decision to make a leap herself this year in the midst of the pandemic

1:29.2

from a safe purchase Microsoft to a one time startup darling that's been struggling.

1:35.2

I'm Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, founder of the flux group, and host of

1:40.3

Master's of Scale Rapid Response.

...

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