“There is a mistake technical and scientific people make. We think that if we have made a clever and thoughtful argument, based on data and smart analysis, then people will change their minds. This isn't true. If yoy want to change people's behavior, you need to touch their hearts, not just win the arguments. We call this the Oprah Winfrey rule.”

American businessman and former computer engineer, born 1955

Eric Schmidt is an American businessman and former computer engineer. Born in 1955, he is best known for leading Google as chief executive officer from 2001 to 2011, then serving as executive chairman until 2015. He later held senior roles at Alphabet, including executive chairman from 2015 to 2017 and technical advisor from 2017 to 2020. Since 2025, he has been chief executive officer of Relativity Space, an aerospace manufacturing company. He is also known as one of the world’s wealthiest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.