Dead or Alive:
Who would you like
to have dinner with?

If I were able to have  dinner with anyone I would choose Steve Jobs. From what I know he is a man of high character with a mind that is always pushing the limits. He had an idea that he wanted to bring to market and poured all his effort into getting it done. He surrounded himself with people who believed in his dream and who could play a role and take ownership in the plan’s success. It is amazing how he remained cutting edge for so long and formed an army of followers inside and outside of his company to believe in him and his direction. 

One of my favorite business related quotes coming from Steve states: “We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do, he hire them so they can tell us what to do”. For someone at his level to have the understanding that it takes a team effort to achieve great things and that arrogance has no place is really telling.

Later in life he understood the sacrifices he made to win in the office and what he may have missed out on in other areas.  With that said I would love to learn what his major takeaways were (or what he would do differently) since he did live that transition. We all understand work life balance is a must. How do the greats do it? 

I would choose having a dinner with Luka Dončić. He is a great basketball player who I followed when he was in the Spanish “Liga ACB”. He is now playing in the NBA with just 19 years, exceeding all expectations.

I think he is an example of sportsman because he knows exactly his abilities, getting better his game style with an enviable facility. For this reason, I would use the possibility to have dinner with him to ask him what he feels when he competes against rivals of high levels like Lebron or Harden.

With no doubt, it must be amazing and at the same time difficult to assimilate – he started as a quarry player and is now playing in the NBA living the dream of any child who plays basketball.

The person I would choose to have dinner with is the Argentinian Football Player Mario Alberto Kempes “El Matador”. Then I could ask him about one of the most glorious times of my football team, Valencia C.F. and what it felt like to be the star of that team and of a national team that became world champion back in 1978.

We would talk about how different football and everything surrounding it (training, fans, teammates, product …) was at that time and I could ask him what he thinks about football and Valencia C.F. today.

I would like to have dinner with tennis player Roger Federer. You may expect me to be interested in in things like how he’s capable of keeping his motivation up and redefining himself over and over again throughout such a long time.

But in the end, I’d say it’s all about having good company for a delicious pizza with a sip of wine and afterwards maybe playing Jass (swiss card game).

As he is a big sports fan and loves to support every kind of athletes, we may watch the Swiss football federation playing after we had dinner (if he isn’t into jassen).

I would choose my friend and PUMA colleague Sanna Jakonen, as dinners with her are always fun and include at least a few bottles of red or white wine (we are not that picky). I met Sanna 7 years ago through PUMA and, since we are both Finnish, immediately bonded. When we met first time it was love at first sight.

We love working and also, during 360, partying together. However, it took us 7 years until I finally was able to visit her in her beautiful home in Finland and she also came over for dinner at my place last September. As these occasions are so rare, I’d choose her.

I would dine with Martin Luther King Jr to hear more about his “dream”.   I’d love to hear about the setbacks that he experienced and to show him the great world of change that he helped to inspire. Sitting at “the table of brotherhood” would be an honor.

I would want to give him a platform to speak one last time. His messages of inclusivity, equality, and character continue to inspire our society, and I would love to have a fresh reminder of some of the roots of change.