As global leaders disperse from the World Economic Forum, LinkedIn cofounder and tech investor Reid Hoffman breaks down the biggest challenges and opportunities facing business today—from political headwinds tied to immigration and geopolitics to why fears of a tech bubble aren’t shaping his investing. A self-proclaimed optimist, Hoffman urges today’s business leaders to speak up and use their voices to help society “steer toward the good futures.”
This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by former Fast Company editor-in-chief Robert Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.
One of the biggest drivers of U.S. tech leadership has been attracting talent from outside the U.S. … Immigration policies have tightened up. The outside pipeline has basically been cut off. Are we going to start to see any implications from that this year?
Well, I think we already are. A huge amount of the technology advantages the U.S. has had is because of Indian and Chinese talent that’s come over. Well, now, the Indian talent’s going to stay there. It’s going to go to Canada. It’s going to go to Europe. When someone comes and builds a huge company here, it creates lots of jobs for restaurants and accountants and all kinds of services … and then buying stuff from American manufacturing and staying in American hotels and all the rest of the stuff. You’re wiping out all of that, and you’re saying, “Go somewhere else.” It’s like the Bernie Sanders stupid [remark], “No data centers here. Build them all in Canada. Have Canada get all the economic benefits. Let’s make sure we Americans don’t.” And it’s just, literally, up is down. It’s crazy thinking. It’s stupid thinking.
And so, you want that immigration. That’s how we built the prosperity of this country. In 250 years, it comes entirely from a generation of us going, “Here is the way that we will take immigration and be a competitive advantage to every other country in the world.” It’s like, “Oh, well, let’s take our competitive advantage and let’s sabotage it.” Now, none of this says that we haven’t gotten to a place where we have problems with the borders, we have problems with asylum, we have a set of other things that, of course, need to get fixed. People are saying, “Hey, I’m feeling pain in my job, in my community, my environment. What’s going wrong? And help 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 as a start, just as saying, “Hey, let’s re-normalize.” But then you have to understand, for example, the earlier: “Well, we’re going to send ICE after all of the agricultural work.” And then I was, like, “Oh, our farm’s going to stop working. Oh, don’t do that. No, no. Send them into the center streets of Minnesota, so they can beat up people and shoot people. Do that instead.” You’re, like, “Okay, that’s not good either.” It’s frankly catastrophic and terrorizing. So, if you want to see domestic terrorism, see how ICE is operating in some cities and some environments. And so, it’s like, “Okay, what are the things to do to actually really solve Americans’ problems? That’s what we need. And some rationality in immigration is absolutely essential.
How do we have prosperity for our society, for our children, for our grandchildren, and including a bunch of communities that right now feel a lot of pain? How do we solve all those problems?” That’s the thing we need to be doing.
The political climate has made business leaders more cautious about commenting on societal issues. What do you say to people when it’s worth weighing in or even necessary to weigh in or whether now just isn’t the moment?
Look, the theory that if you just keep your mouth shut, the storm will blow over, and it won’t be a problem—you should be disabused of that theory now. That is not what’s happening. Lots of people say, “Oh no, no, this tariffs thing. This is just an early negotiation tactic.” And it’s, “Look, the volatility is a massive sabotage to business. Our young people aren’t being hired.” It’s, “Well, yeah, businesses are in a highly volatile situation.” I’ll say, “Well, we’re not going to do no hiring until we understand what’s going on.” That’s the message that’s being sent from the White House out to the whole business community. And so, you need to speak up and you go, “Well, but what if I speak up, then they’re going to penalize me.”
And they’re, like, “Well, by the way, precisely when you feel fears, you should think about, is this a time for courage?” Because by the way, of course, it shouldn’t be punitive for you speaking up about what your knowledge and expertise and experience and what’s going on is.” I, myself, get regularly called out by the White House and basically only for political persecution purposes. If they would say, “Hey, unlike Trump who has all these pictures of Epstein at parties, I did a little bit of fundraising for MIT. Well, I’m a close associate.” Well, you guys have all the documents. Release all of them. Let’s let people decide the truth of this themselves. So, stop lying about me and reveal all the documents. So, speaking up is actually, I think, really important.
And part of the reason why I do so, is not just because of me and because my sense of moral right—like First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly—but it’s also to try to give other people a sense of, look, you should speak up about the things that you think are real. And if you feel fear, get some other people to speak up along with you and put the energy into it. Don’t just go, “Oh, I’m going to create a rationalization. I’m going to say, ‘Hey, I don’t need … I’m not being fearful. I’m not being a coward. It’s the right thing. It’s the right thing for my business. It’s the right thing.’” And look, human beings first—humanity, society—and you are members of both of those. Speak up, be present on those things.
And by the way, when you’re powerful, one form of power is wealthy. Anyone who’s wealthy in the society should be extremely grateful for being part of the society. You have responsibilities. They’re commensurate with your power. And so, you need to speak up. And by the way, not only does the current administration want to silence all of this as speech and say, “No, no, you’re not allowed to. You must take pledges of loyalty.” But I also get arguments from the lefties who go, “Oh, well, you as a wealthy person, you have no moral right to speak.” I’m, like, “Yes, I do. We all have a right to speak.” Some people might value my speaking by knowledge of how companies are created, how prosperity is created, how you have a vibrant economy.
And that’s part of what creates jobs. I mean, I’m a guy who’s created a site that has many hundreds of millions of people participating in it in order to find work. Should people weigh my opinion on some things more than others? Absolutely. Should they weigh them less than certain things than others? Absolutely. But it’s, we need to be speaking up, and we need to be figuring out how to solve our problems together.
